With the 4th of July weekend upon us I took advantage of having Friday off and played the U of M course, Les Bolstad, with some friends.  Now this is not the course the used for men's tournaments anymore because it only stretches out to 6200 yards but the course is fairly well maintained as long as you stay in the fairway and on the greens. 

The course was build in 1929 and features a tree lined course with fast greens that have a lot of slope.  The course has many elevated greens and tee boxes so if you miss a green long or wide you will often find yourself in a world of hurt.  The course is fairly popular and makes the university a lot of money.

I played my best round of the year on shooting an 89 with no birdies but several pars.  It was a pretty good round considering I tripled the second hole and finished with two double boggies.  I easily could have shot three to four shots better if it weren't for some poor swings from good locations on the course.  I hit more than one shot wide right with a wedge or short iron in my hands.  Missing shots like that is absolutely horrible because it takes a birdie chance away and leaves you with a tough up and down.  Twice I doubled boggied the hole after missing those easy shots from the fairway.

Still I am happy with the progress my game is making.  I played steady golf with my tee shots never really causing too much pain.  I was crisp with the irons and hit a lot of greens.  I felt I played the tougher par 3s extremely well (par on the 159yrd 5th and 185yrd 8th) and screwed up the easy par 3s (triple on 163yrd 2nd and double on 145 17th).  I hit six greens in regulation and four of fourteen fairways.  On the front I hit four greens from the rough which is a rarity for me but those four drives that missed the fairway weren't horrible misses.  If I can limit the horrible misses to just a couple a round I can start posting some decent scores again.