Mars Sandhill Resort Golf Course

Located in Libau (well, actually, 9 kms from the corner of Highway 59 North and Highway 317), Mars Sandhill Golf Course is another course that I had not played before. I knew a little bit about it, but not much. They don't seem to have a website and the other guys in my foursome had not played it before, either.

The front 9 has four par 5's while the back had none. In fact, the first hole opens on a par five that doglegs right to left. I ended was the only one to par it.

My game was characterized by mostly excellent drives, but trouble with fairway shots. I hit my three-wood several times, but rarely did I have a shot that I really liked. A few of them ended up hitting off the toe and into the bush, which is thick and mosquitoe infested. My approach shots with the pitching wedge or 9-iron almost never went as far as I had hoped. I need to hit them harder or use a longer club. The greens were slow and obviously were not cut that day. We saw two cute foxes, one of which was being fed by the snack cart woman.

On the back nine, I was on pace to shoot in 90s until I blew up and a couple of holes due to exhaustion. If I gave myself a triple-bogey on both of those holes, I would have shot 98. The course didn't feel overly tough, and I know if playing conditions were better, I would have played better. It was really warm and humid with no wind. I simply felt worn out and tired after walking the reported distance of 5.9 kms. We saw a lot of dragonflies, but on those occaisions when we entered the bush, mosquitoes followed us out. Twice we had to liberally spray ourselves with repellent.

This is yet another time that I wish the conditions were like in the cooler, pre-mosquitoe season.

The four of us were happy with the course and we will be back eventually.