Hardest round of golf ever.

cm_qs

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What has been your most difficult round of golf ever and why?

Extra bonus points will be awarded if your horror story is unrelated to weather conditions.

I'll start off with a round with some mates at Lochwinnoch GC outside Glasgow. Perfect conditions - dry and sunny but not too warm - nice gentle breeze.
The course was in excellent condition and was a credit to it's staff and members who were extremely hospitable.
My issue was with the course designer who saw fit to build a course on the side of a mountain. 15 holes are uphill ( or it seemed like that ) and the 3 finishing holes are all downhill but you then need to walk back up the hill to get to the next tee. As if the physical exertion required to play the course wasn't enough, as the first 15 holes all wind their way across the hill and back again even the straightest of drives is virtually guaranteed to catch the slope and run across 3 adjacent fairways.

A hard days golf ( but a good one!)
Scored in the low thousands.
 
Many moons ago I qualified for the “Stars for Spastics” final played at Lenzie golf club. I thought nothing about it until it was mentioned on Scottish television the night before the event. The presenter of the Scottish sports programme mentioned the charity event at the end of the show saying that many sports stars and celebrities were going to be there and asking the public to get down there and support the event.

Well, to say I cra99ed myself would be an understatement. I never got any sleep with the thought of just half a dozen people watching on the first tee, remembering I’m not long started playing golf and was playing off 8 HC at the time. We got there and the carpark was overflowing and it was only 9am. The place was buzzing with football players, managers, the odd pro, lots of spectators………..and me sitting in the loo wishing I had stayed at home.

In time I eventually surfaced and thankfully I was playing with a couple of guys were just as shaky as me and both were qualifiers from other clubs just like me. Thankfully we never got any celebrity so I reckoned very few would want to watch us.

Off to the first tee and there must have been about forty people around the area. Our names were introduced and I was first to tee off and how I managed to hit the ball I don’t know as I was shaking so much that people must have thought I had some form of affliction. Anyway' off we go and thankfully not one person followed us…….well not until later.

I can’t remember, but at one point there’s a par 3, about 180 yards downhill with a road running through the back, a road we need to cross to the next tee. Because of the road many people had gathered round the green and I felt the urge to go to the loo again. I stood up hitting a 5 iron or so and I flushed it straight at the green, hitting it so good I had to shout just in case it hit someone but it cleared them stopping short of the road. I got down there, the crowed parted and I was faced with a slope that was running away from me so I opened the face of my sand wedge and I flicked the ball nicely onto the edge of the green. The ball ran and ran down to the hole stopping about 10 inches away to great applause. I swear, if that putt was 12 inches I would have missed it I was shaking that much.

Worse was still to come, people thought I was a pro and were asking who I was and one asked for my autograph. Can you effin believe that. I told them not me, but some followed me across the road to the next tee. The loo was back on my mind and so I go and line up my shot, take a swing and I take a divot that in turn moves the ball about 10 feet in front of me. I had serious thoughts to run in front of the first car that came up the nearby road but thankfully the people filtered back across the road after my disastrous shot leaving me to hack my way to the next green.

I have never been so nervous playing golf and it makes a medal round a total breeze in comparison. I still play some awful shots to this day, but that was the hardest ever…..so far.
 
Played the Monty at Carton House 2 weeks before the Irish Open a few years ago-this was the Irish Open which left the pros feeling like 24 handicap hackers. The weather was perfect. The rough was horrendous both thick and high, even the 7 handicapper playing with us have major difficulty in playing the course. I lost about 6 balls but found the same amount.

I enjoyed the challenge but it was the hardest round i played excluding playing in horrible weather conditions.
 
I used to be a member of Lochwinnoch, its the worst designed golf course in the area yet at the same time has probably the best greens in Renfrewshire. First 4 holes are excellent then it goes belly up with some shocking holes and some that a bulldozer and 20 tonne of TNT wouldnt sort.
 
Lost 14 balls round braid hills once. Didn't think I had played too badly either. Had played it two days before with no problems, so still can't work it out.
 
La serrena near Murcia, Tee'd off at 8am and found that water was in action in a big way on 16 holes. Lost 12 new balls and took 5 and a half hours to complete in midday heat, ended with 92 excluding the lost balls.
 
I've had the "pleasure" of playing Lochwinnoch some time ago and all previous comments are spot on.

Hardest game ever was undoubtedly at Valderrama in '98. What you don't realise from the TV is that the damn cork trees are everywhere and parts of the course are extremely tight, the 18th in particular is terrifying. Also, the greens were stupidly quick, even the fringes were fast. I think I shot 97 less 8 which I was quite pleased with.
 
Probably the first ever pro-am I played in at Royal Wimbledon. For some reason my mind went to pieces about 30 minutes before I started and I was a bundle of nerves. I'd played the course loads of times (qualifying for the old Aer Lingus schools knockout there once as a kid) so it wasn't the fact that the course was new to me.

Think it was the pressure of representing the club and with loads of our members walking round with me and the fact that my pro had won it the year before. Fortunately my golfing brain kicked in and we managed a credible defence and finshed joint 2nd
 
Mine would have to be the Kings course at Gleneagles back in 1994 (god I'm getting old)it was on the Monday following the last Scottish Open to be played there, I still have the card tucked away in my golf memorabilia drawer.

The fairways were tighter than the wife's purse strings, the rough was waist high and the greens were incredably fast then there was the gorse, I played really well and shot 98 but was elated just to break 100 it was the toughest course setup I have ever played and probably still is one of the toughest courses I play.
 
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