(Scoring at Post 366) Florida Meetup - The StrappedDraw at Palatka Golf Club, August 1st

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@NoLayovers beautiful write up, I feel personally targeted after thinking about how I pull driver on 80% of these holes. Really looking forward to Saturday!

Just Confirmed tee times for Sunday morning at Jax Beach at 9:33 and 9: 48. Let me know if your planning to play so I can add/cancel spots if needed.

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Thanks for the inside info…I think? Unless your goal was some type of psychological warfare against the field. The big right miss and OB right will be haunting my dreams for the rest of the week. But, as my username suggests, I do some of my best work after pumping one OB.

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Literally have been having the same thoughts all morning… I wasn’t even aware there was this much trouble at Palatka until reading the write up

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Shoutout to the organizers for making it tee times, I’ve never been a fan of shotgun starts.

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I mean my driver game is somewhere between Neil and Soly’s leaning towards Neil so that probably explains all the scar tissue in my course notes. A lot of people (nobody) say Palatka is similar to The Old Course in that you can just miss left, but it leaves you with a shot that makes it tough to score.

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I will spend the rest of the week second guessing the bomb and gouge strategy I was planning to employ. Then I’m gonna proceed to the first tee and comence the bomb and gouge, but without any of the confidence I had previously.

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No OB on the first or second hole, so you’re good!

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Perfect, I’m very easliy lured into a false sense of security.

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Same here. Must be a Long Hitter Privilege situation for @NoLayovers.

I stopped reading early on because I play once a week and my best rounds come when I just take what’s in front of me and go. Having some overarching strategy is the kiss of death.

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I’m at a family get together about 20 miles away in Salt Springs and snuck over today to play 9 with my 11-year old niece. Place is in about as good of shape as you’ll see it this time of year. Greens are firm and really healthy, which can be tough at a Florida muni between the downpours and the heat. The greens there will never be fast, but I was really pleased with the condition of them.

Leave your pitch mark repair tools at home because you wont need them.

Yeah, so…this note on 7. Pin was in the back. Clubbed up from 140 and hit a knuckleball that landed pin high and bounded over the back and up against the fence. Unplayable. Chip to 40 feet. Three-putt. Enjoy your triple. Tough scene.

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Now I’m definitely looking forward to Friday! Can we make bets on furthest OB and par? I’m okay hitting out of someone’s yard if it’s closer to the green. Waaaaay right.

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I’m not making any accusations about Palatka or Hyde Park but I find it hard to believe Ross opened Sara Bay, Bradenton CC, Gulfstream, Palatka, San Jose and Hyde Park all in 1925 while having a major hand in the design and construction.

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You should come play Palatka this weekend just to check, I’m sure the wife can handling the moving boxes.

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Hahaha I’ll have you talk to her about that

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I agree with you. I don’t think anybody believes Ross had a major hand in design and construction. The question is whether he actually reviewed the existing contours and sketched the routing. Either way, the individual who did took a really unique piece of land by Florida standards and laid out some awesome golf holes. I mean, the place has 90 feet of elevation change. You just don’t see that in Florida.

Cliff’s notes of some of my favorite uses of the contours:

  • Carry over a gully on 3
  • Uphill, blind tee shot on 4
  • Sweeping left to right fairway on 5 that makes what should be a really easy approach into a short par-5 play tougher.
  • The way the land falls away behind and to the right of 7 green.
  • Downhill, blind tee shot on the drivable par-4 13th.
  • Sweeping left to right fairway on the 18th that makes for a sidehill approach into a green requiring the correct line over anything else.
  • The one that was probably OK when the course opened but is just bad now is 10. Backside of the dogleg is OB and the bend of the dogleg is wayyyyyy too early for modern equipment.
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you just keep us posted, my pairing does need a 4th …

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Completely agree. I know for a fact he did have a hand from start to finish on SBCC (his home is still on property) and BCC.

Same could be said for Gulfstream and I believe SJCC. I know he had a home in Ortega while working on Timuquana.

Either way I enjoy Palatka and hope to see it thrive. It needs a big influx of cash flow for improvements and the city has always threatened to shut it down, let’s hope it stays open*!

was told to me by an employee at PGC

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I’ll get more into this in “The Unabridged History of Palatka Golf Club”

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Anyone keeping tabs on the looming storm? I’m catching heat from my wife – she’s not psyched about me being a 3+ hour drive from home with a 1 year old at home…hoping for a pattern shift