The Bandit - The Raccoon Nabs Strokes too

Hill Country Golf - The Bandit - The Raccoon Nabs Strokes too

Luckily Keith Foster gave us four warm-up holes when he designed the Bandit golf course. The bad news is that the fifth hole is a brick wall you run in to. Appropriately named Courage Pass, #5 a demanding par-4 that is the first real challenge of the round. Summon up the courage on the tee-box and prior to your approach shot, you will need it to keep from walking away with a double bogie or worse. The fairway slopes very severely from right to left with the bottom of the slope being the creek. It is challenging to stay out of the creek and even if you manage that you may still be on the far left (low) side of the fairway, behind a tree. Aim farther right than your eye and brain tells you, and also fly the ball in the air as far as you can because contact with the ground and subsequent roll scoops your ball left. After you reach the green, remember that the strange gravity on Courage Pass still pulls all putts toward the creek -including those that "appear" to break away from the creek and especially those that look straight. Whatever you wind up shooting on Courage Pass, get over it and put it behind you as there is lots of golf left to play.

Holes 6, 7 and 8 were built with Foster looking over his shoulder and motioning to come-on, "Lets play some golf".

Number 9 "Pinnacle" is the next wake-up call, as this long par-4 (459 yards from the tips) is quite the challenge. There is beauty in the start to the hole as your tee-shot comes out of a chute of protection from the beautiful trees that line both sides of the tee area. The beast bares it's teeth when you prepare for your approach shot and realize that you are in an area that does not have a level lie anywhere around. Small mounds and swales undulate for the last 200 yards in front of the green. Challenging to say the least after slugging your ball down the fairway but still being a considerable distance from the green. Difficult green here too, but more about the greens later.

Bring your A game for holes 13 and 14.

The normally sedate par-3s come roaring to life on "Lake Breeze". A skinny green that runs perpendicular to the tee boxes gets extra small when you see the rocks and watery drink that fronts the green. There are two bunkers at the back of the green that are indeed good targets to shoot for as short shots are painfully lost and there is no apparent drop area, so reload and play better on the next tee swing.

The cussing is almost over, but you still have to sneak past the hole named "The Bandit" (14). This severe dog-leg right hole looks short on the score card, but tell me what you think when you write down the score. There is absolutely no bail-out to the right unless you bomb it 220+ and even then the prevailing wind wants to put your ball in the bunker just short of the green. The smart play is hitting a draw off of the tee-box and aiming for the 150 yard pole. Hit anything that you can draw, but know you need to get it out about 190 yards or more, otherwise your view is obscured for the approach shot.

Tomorrow I describe the greens and their challenges. That discussion will start at #5 for reasons that will be obvious.