July 23th Day 48 - Westwood Park Golf Course, Norman, OK                                                                                                     Drove 279 miles

Before I get to the golf for this day, I remember something that happened last night when I went out for dinner. I sat at the bar and ate and while I was there an autistic woman came in for dinner in a wheelchair and sat about 3 seats down from me at the nearly empty bar. She could not enunciate words you or I could understand, but she had a typewritten list of words on a sheet of paper she brought with her. When she was having trouble getting her needs across to the bartender / waiter, she pointed at a word (or words) on her list and the waiter knew what she wanted. She is a regular at this place and I think the word list is an extremely clever idea. Having driven special needs school buses occasionally, when I was filling in for drivers on school trips, I think the biggest problem I saw with autistic children was their frustration at NOT being able to get their wants and needs across to others. I know some of my readers are/were educators and just wonder if any of you had experiences like this. On to golf!

If I told you this was a good golf course I'd be lying. It is a decent golf course in relatively poor condition, like a lot of municipal courses are. This is the ONLY golf course I played that I would play again and yet I do not recommend it for others to play because there are so many better courses to be played. I tried to get a tee time at other places, but this being a Friday and me being a single it wasn't going to happen (in the time frame I wanted), so I ended up at Westwood Park.

The park itself is wonderful. There are tennis courts, a water park (right next to the ninth green, I have friends who would be driven crazy trying to putt with screaming kids so close by), a large pool and a large picnic areas for families. When I got to the golf course the parking lot was jammed. It wasn't until I noticed all the other stuff going on that I realized why all the cars were there. The golf course was busy too, but not busy enough to account for all those cars.

Golf was $ 34.00 for green fee and cart. It's a par 70 for men and 71 for the ladies. My tees, the blues, were 5810 yards with a slope of 122 and a rating of 68.5. Margaret would play 4833 yards with a slope/rating of 117/67.9. 5810 doesn't sound long for a relatively flat golf course, but for a par 70 course it is long enough. 

I am not a great golfer, but I have my good moments and at the start of my round I had three pars and a bogie. I was thinking the course rating was a little high as the first holes were pretty easy. I found out different when I ran into the "teeth" of the course on #'s five, six & seven when the fairways got tighter (trees!) and there was water to contend with. After two lost balls and another shot in the hazard I made three sevens in a row. So much for easy course / good round. I parred #8 and bogeyed number nine, but the first three holes of the back nine officially ate my lunch. For the day I lost a total of seven golf balls and that is the main reason I WOULD play the course again. I want to get even!

I had a sandwich at the golf course cafe, then got on the interstate and drove the 270 miles to Amarillo, Texas. 

           Randy’s golf course             ratings          play again               could recommend           Price

Prairieview GC (Byron, IL)               5                  YES                           YES                           $

The Boulder Course (Winchester, VA)    5            YES                           YES                           $$

Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA)         5                  YES                          YES                            $$$

The Walker Course (Clemson, SC)    5                  YES                          YES                            $$

Dakota Winds (Hankinson, ND)        5                   YES                          YES                           $$

The Links at Greystone (Walworth, NY)   4.5        YES                         YES                            $$

Turkey Creek GC (McPherson, KS)   4.5               YES                         YES                            $

Slammer & Squire GC                      4.5                 YES                          YES                           $$$       (St. Augustine, FL)   

Links On The Bayou  (Alexandria, LA)   4.5         YES                          YES                           $ 

Raccoon Creek (Littleton, CO)         4.5                 YES                          YES                           $$

Brooks Golf (Okoboji, IA)                 4                   YES                          YES                           $$

The Legacy (Springfield, TN)            4                   YES                          YES                           $

Awarii Dunes (Kearney, NE)              4                   YES                          YES                           $$

Chicopee CC (Chicopee, MA)           4                    YES                          YES                           $ 

The Architects Club (Phillipsburg, NJ)   4               YES                          YES                           $$

Lake Panorama Nat. (Panora, IA)      4                   no*1                           YES                          $$

Heritage Shores (Bridgeville, DE)      4                   YES                           YES                          $$

Houston Oaks (Paris, KY)                  4                   YES                           YES                           $  

Eagles Landing (Ocean City, MD)     4                   YES                            YES                          $$    

Brandon GC (Brandon, SD)               4                   YES                             YES                         $

Viroqua Hills GC (Viroqua, WI)        4                   YES                             YES                         $

Magnolia Grove Crossings GC          4                   YES                             YES                         $$$

Portland GC (Portland, CT)               4                    YES                             YES                        $

Green Valley CC (Portsmouth, RI)    4                    YES                             YES                        $$

Snow Hill CC (New Vienna, OH)      4                    YES                            YES                        $

Eldon Golf Club (Eldon, MO)            4                   YES                            YES                         $

Links at Union Vale (Lagrangeville, NY)   4           YES*2                         YES                        $$$

Bear Slide GC (Cicero, IN)                 4                    no                               YES                        $$

Pilgrim's Oak (Peach Bottom, PA)    3.5                  YES                             YES                        $

Lochmere G & CC (Tilton, NH)       3.5                  YES                             YES                        $$

Rivers Edge (Burley, ID)                  3.5                  YES ?                          YES                         $

Natchez Golf Club at Duncan Park  3.5                  YES                             YES                        $                 (Natchez, MS)

Eastern Hills (Kalamazoo, MI)         3.5                  YES                              YES                        $

Brattleboro CC (Brattleboro, VT)     3.5                  YES  ?                          YES                        $$          

Monroe CC (Monroe, NC)                3.5                  YES                              YES                        $

Martindale CC (Auburn, ME)           3.5                  YES   ?                         YES                        $$$       

Birch Creek (Smithfield,UT)             3.5                    no                       good golfers only           $

Fort Myers CC (Fort Myers, FL)        3                    YES                             YES                        $

Kimball Golf Club (Kimball, MN)     3                      no                                 no                         $

Buffalo Golf Club (Buffalo, WY)       3                      no                                 no                         $$

Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT)                 3                      no                                 no                         $        Johnny Walker Course (there’s also a Country Club course, but you need to play with a member!)

Westwood Park GC (Norman, OK)   3                  YES                               no                         $

Indian Hills Golf Resort (Fairfield Bay, AR)  2.5       no                                 no                         $

The Brookside Club (Bourne, MA)    2                      no                                 no                         $$

Crosswinds Championship GC          1.5                    no                                 no                         $  (Savannah, GA)

Jones Course (Wheeling, WV)            1                      no                                 no                        $$$

Langston GC (Washington D.C.)        1                       no                                no                        $$

*1 = would play again if a different yardage was offered, with slope and course ratings

*2 = would move up a tee and NOT pay weekend green fee. M-Th fee is $ 77 and $ 61 after 2 p.m. 





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