The locals I played with were really helpful. There were some tee shots that all you saw was tall grass and had to aim for distant trees. One I remember in particular was one that Phil drove into a bunker. The hole next to the Nathan's hot dog stand
I did the same thing. The bunkers are huge. He chipped out backwards I tried for the green and failed.
It is a long course. The back tees I played were probably 300 yds shorter than the open but the rough and reseeding wasn't mowed yet for the pros so the rough was wicked. Luckly I used my GPS to walk to the point were my ball SHOULD be and did a 10yd circle to finally find it. I still lost 3 balls and shot 91. I was betting with the locals. On one par 5 I was about to declare a lost ball when I almost stepped on my ball 1' from the green. Very easy to loose balls.
18th hole I hit 3i off the tee to a small island of grass in a bunker. Everyone agreed we should find it. The diameter of the grassy island was no bigger than 10' wide. We didn't find it and I had to do the walk of shame back up the hill to rehit.
It took 6hrs to play. The subtleties of the course is I was hitting the ball long but the room of error is small and you run off the fairway often. The greens also have very small breaks I couldn't see. They seemed concave so I just couldnt see the breaks. A lot of 3 putts
I think I didn't get a par until the 7th hole.
Best shot was on the first hole tee. There's the warning sign saying u should not be here. An auditorium ring of people watching you. There were a bunch of Japanese tourists taking photos of everyone teeing off. I smashed my drive 40yds from the hole. I accidently pulled it (lefty) and my playing partner asked if I was trying to drive the green. I straight faced said trying to get close. I was under a tree and chipped to the back of the rough and was afraid to pull out the flop shot and bogeyed.
I'll never forget that trip.
