My Nemesis
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines nemesis as a formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent; a source of harm or ruin; a curse. And, of all the many rounds of golf; on countless courses, including innumerable holes, only one hole, without a doubt, in my 50 plus years of playing golf matches this description.
It did not start out that way. Although, it has been over fifty years ago, I don’t think I gave much thought to what I was seeing the first time I stepped up to the tee. The scorecard listed it as a par four, 341 yards, number eight handicap hole, a sharp 90 degree dogleg left. And, yes, there was trouble surrounding the hole; woods and OB left, water and marsh right. However, the safe / smart play was mid iron to landing area at bottom of the hill, eight iron to an elevated green; or take driver off tee, cut the dogleg and tried to drive the green (hello big number).
It was a fair risk / reward hole to start your round at Park Mammoth Resort Golf Club in 1971. Playing it safe almost always guaranteed a par; and depending on your ball’s proximity to a young sapling, in the middle of the landing area, a good chance to get it close and make a birdie. And, as many rounds played on this course in the early seventies, it never dawned on me the role this tree would have on playing the hole in the future.
From what I remember, playing down hill, a soft 5 / hard 6 iron (200ish yards) would fly the sapling and put you in the perfect target area. And, that was the shot for a few years, but as the seventies came to a close, the soft five turned into a draw “knock down” four iron to keep the ball out of the branches and falling wherever the golf gods so deemed.
Then, by the early eighties, it started to require a high soft four wood to clear what once was a sapling. Now, with a healthy maturing tree in the middle of the fairway, the playing characteristics of the hole were changing. A score of par was no longer automatic. Also, the trees in the woods on the left had grown correspondingly, so flying the dogleg became more problematic.
Therefore, what once was a fairly straight forward easy par, had evolved into a challenging hole where a bogey was becoming more the norm. As an example, in my golf journal for the period July 1992 thru July 1995, I played Park Mammoth six times (was living in North Carolina during this period) and of those six rounds I recorded one par and five bogeys on this hole. However, my gross scores for those six rounds were 76, 73, 75, 77, 77, and a 74 on July 19th 1995, which was my last round there until 2014.
As detailed in another post, in the Spring of 2014, as my grandson and I started to make plans for what would become our annual golf sojourn, the conversation soon moved to playing Park Mammoth. Therefore, it was just a matter of time before the memories of the tree in the middle of number one surfaced. And, of course, the question, “was it still there?”.
Then, early that summer, I returned to Park Mammoth Golf Course for the first time in almost twenty years. A lot had changed since 1995, the old hotel was showing her age and in need of repairs, all of the things once connected to the resort were gone, except the riding stable. And, the golf course was now known as Cave Valley at Park Mammoth. However, as I stepped up to the first tee, there it was, still in the center of the fairway, protecting the fairway against all but the “purest struck shots” that had the ball speed to carry over the top of a very mature tree. Bogey was now par!
Funny how time changes the way we view things. Gone was the “OMG, what’s it going to take to make par” and replaced with the thought of “how nice it is to see you again, old friend”. Both of us were decades older and starting to show our age. I guess, perhaps, because I had been away from the game for 15 plus years, the score was not as important as the simple fact of just being there. After all, it’s just a game, enjoy the experience.
So, from 2014 until October 2019, I returned periodically to Cave Valley as it was then called. It was always good to see that the tree was still guarding the fairway on number one. I had come to except the fact that a score of a five was routine; a four was a wonderful gift from my old nemesis; and, sometimes, a score unthinkable fifty years prior, a six or more, would happen just to remind me that a short hole can be the most challenging one of the round.
Then in late Fall of 2019, Cave Valley aka Park Mammoth went on the auction block. Given the disrepair of the property, this was not a surprise. And, with it, the end of the era lasting over 50 years, as well as, the uncertainty of what comes next.
However, as the golf gods would have it, the new owners made the decision to save the course and started investing the capital needed to give the old track a totally new look and create something truly special for the local golf community.
Fast forward to Fall of 2021, over the past 18 months or so, periodically I have returned to check on the progress of the new Park Mammoth Golf Club. Although, a lot has happen, such as, new greens, sand traps, paved paths and a new routing; the old tree is still standing.
Upon each return visit, it’s the thing I always look for first. I have to admit, I am surprised to see that it has survived but given the new routing, not sure what, or if any, role it will play in the new design. From what I have been able to gather, the old number #1 will be the new #10, gone is the dogleg, and the tree now guards the left side of a fairway; no longer in the center of the fairway. Will it survive to “Opening Day”, or be removed as part of the continued improvements done to the old course?
At last reported, the new Park Mammoth Golf Club is scheduled to open late Spring / early Summer of 2022, so, I will definitely be interested to see if the tree survives. Whatever happens between now and then, one thing is for sure. I will never be able to step up to the tenth tee box, the old number one, at Park Mammoth without thinking about my old nemesis.
Until next time,
Hit’em Pretty
