River Oaks Golf Course

Today, I played River Oaks Golf Course for the third time this year. We had to golf some place close to Winnipeg, in order for one of our group to attend his bowling game at 7 pm.

The course was packed, and the weather was superb - breezy and in the high twenties. The first hole is 407 yards and turns right about 250 yards in. There's also a small pond along the right side, at the corner. I was first up to the tee. I teed up a Titleist NXT, aimed right over the pond, and pounded the ball long and straight. It flew over the hole and ended up about 100 yards from the hole. I ended up with a bogey but it was a great way to start.



The second hole is only 288 yards but it is narrow and turns to the left, before heading over a small ditch. Completely fearless at this point, I hit a blistering, long drive and ended up with an easy wedge shot to the green. Unfortunately, my wedge shot was a tad short of the green and I ended up with another bogey.

The sixth hole is 293 yards, and turns to the right after about 150 yards and is elevated. You can't see the green from the tee box. I teed up a new-ish Callaway Big Bertha ball and drilled it towards the tees, the shortest distance to the green. It clipped a tree high up, changed direction and ended up on the 2nd hole fairway. When I approached what I thought was my ball, I noticed another ball a few feet away from it. It was identical to the ball that I was playing. It was the same brand and model of ball, even with the same Canadian Greek Open logo. Two of hte golfers from the 2nd hole approached and I asked them if they were playing Callaways. I mentioned what specific logo ball I was playing and one of them was bowled over. He said what were the chances that he would meet someone playing the exact same logo ball for a tournament that he was the organizer of!

On the front nine, I shot 46 with one par and my partners shot 45, 48 and 51.

On the back nine, I had three pars on the last four holes. On the 13th hole, a par 5 that runs along the river, I actually drove the ball so straight and long, that it ended up in the trees. From there, I advanced the ball about ten yards after hitting a tree on the way out of the rough. My next shot ended up to pin-hi but to the right of the green. I ended up three-putting for a bogey. In one moment of triumph, all four of us actually parred the 15th hole, par 3. On the 18th hole, I teed the ball up too high, without noticing it, and shot it high but only about 100 yards. Facing about 220 yards to the hole and not feeling confident about playing a long iron or a fairway wood, I opted for my trusty 5-iron. I then proceeded to hit possibly the longest, straightest shot with that club. It actually landed on the green, and enabled me to two-putt for a par four. It was a great way to finish a very satisfying round of golf.

Finding the ball was particularly difficult due to the amount of dead leaves on the ground. There were also a lot of leaves on the greens, too. I shot 47 on the back nine, and ended up with a score of 93. My partners ended up with 91, 96 and 98.