Players at Players

I had another call from Australia last night and we figured out that the problem was caused by mixing data files from 2 different systems, some from one used by one company and some from a different one, which were not compatible. It was then easy to sort out.

Today's game was at the Player course, designed by Gary Player and part of the Woodlands Country Club group of courses. It was again not cheap, at $86 for green fees but was an excellent course. In fact it was ranked in the top 3 in Texas in 2007. Ebi played again and the other were Aleck, who is the deputy general manager for Total in Nigeria and Tom, a local and our host who retired from Total but acts as a consultant. He and Ebi met when they had an argument during a partners meeting in Nigeria many years ago. Tom's house is along side the 10th fairway of this course and he possibly put his drive in his own back yard when we played that hole. Again we were all hitting the ball well and driving similar lengths. I seemed to be hitting the ball fairly well but could not put a score together. I didn't have my first par until the 7th, finishing with a 49 on the first 9. It seemed the good luck I had yesterday was being evened out with bad luck today.

Another major difference was that the course seemed virtually empty. Yesterday we seemed to be waiting for our shots and had people waiting on us most of the time. Today we had nobody in front of us for the whole round. A twosome caught up behind us on the 7th, then played down the 18th while we played the 9th and disappeared while we we taking a half time break in the clubhouse.

A drinks cart turned up at the 8th green and Tom bought beers for the guys and after I opted for a diet coke, insisted I have some whisky with it. Something happened. After a straight but not overly long drive on the 10th, I hit a great 5 wood to a foot from the green, then put the 30 m putt into the hole for the only birdie any of us had for the day. This was followed by par-bogie-par-par to be even after 5 holes. A couple of 7s spoilt the run but I had 43 coming home for an 91 overall. I think this reflected the fact this the course was a bit tighter than yesterday's, more than any change in my game or skill levels.

This course was also very picturesque, though possibly not as pretty as Sweetwater. Again there was lots of water about, sand traps and trees, doglegs and so forth to make it quite a challenge. We played from the blue tees, again the second longest.

This course had quite a few holes where a drainage channel ran alongside or often through them. Often you needed to cross one with your tee shot to reach the fairway, with some really good shots penalised for being slightly short or a bit off line. There was also one hole which had two huge mounds near the tiny green which had bunkers cut into the back of them. I'm sure one of them had a 15ft face so bad luck if you got into it. (None of us did).


Ebi once again had the best score - an 82, with the other 2 having similar scores to me. We finished a bit before 6pm so we took over 4 1/2 hours but we did have a longish break after 9 holes and, as I said, were not held up at all. The bar was closed by then and we went our separate ways.

I came back to the apartment and called Mum again. I haven't mentioned it before but the weather has warmed up considerably with temps around 90 both days. (32 deg C) When I got home, it was warm enough to think about a swim. However, by the time I'd checked email, talked to Mum and got around to thinking about it again, it was nearly 8 and no longer warm enough for me to get in the water. I headed over to Crab Daddies again. This time I had the crab risotto with shrimp and scallop. I was planning to have steamed crabs again but this was quicker and cleaner and was quite delicious.





The scenery on some of these courses has been fantastic, but somehow a single photo doesn't do it justice. I have added a movie above with pan around about 270 degrees. The last photo above, right is the 18th with the club house in the distance and is just a bit further along than where the video ended.