La Costa - walk with the legends

La Costa has been on my list of golf courses to play for some time now - I get jazzed when I get to play courses that host or hosted PGA (or LPGA) events. I really don't want to walk with Legends I want to play the same golf courses. It's been said that golf is one of the few sports where amateurs have the opportunity to play the same venue/course as the pros. I think it's true. Not to state the obvious, but to get the full experience you have to be willing and able to go to the back tees. It's scary back there.

La Costa in past years was host to the Accenture Match Play Championship. In 2007 the tourney moved to Tucson, AZ - I'm guessing the nicer more predicable weather in Jan or Feb was the main reason. I heard Southern California can be as rainy as Seattle, WA. in the winter and after playing La Costa on Feb 27th - I can confirm that it is not even close to being as nasty as Seattle, WA. - not this year.

The Tournament Course 'Walk in the Footsteps of Golf Legends' front side, holes 1-9 start out on the back side of the south course 10-18. The back side, 10-18 actually starts on the north course front side - holes 1-3 and finish with holes 13-18. Check out the score card(s) below. Total distance from the gold tees, where the "legends" play is 7310 yards. Course rating = 75.1. Slope = 142+.

The front side:
The first 3 holes we're absolutely terrible - windy and rainy. Welcome to Carlsbad I thought. Heck, this is like playing in the northwest. I like warm sunny weather - the body moves better in the nice stuff. The fairways had no roll due to the wet weather and the greens were punched. When you have freshly punched greens and it's been raining the sand in the punch tends to settle down in the little holes and the greens roll like burber carpet - about a 7 or 8 on the stimpmeter and very rough. Needless to say - I putt very well on the front side - or the back as the case may be. I shoot 42 on the front. Overall, not too good but not too bad either - I'm glad I played despite the initial rain and punched greens.

My Playing Partner:
Peter was his name. I meet him on the practice range. He said he played La Costa some 15 years earlier but he didn't remember to much of the course. You could tell he loved the game. It was in his voice, he showed passion and he wore shorts. I found out later that he had both hips replaced two years prior... you could tell he was in pain. At the turn he took two Advil.

The back side:
The grounds were under construction at hole #10 (which is #1 hole on the north course). It was playing about 30 yards short - all the tees - gold, blue and white tees were in the same location. After the first few holes the wind started to kick up. When you have a 460 yard par 4 and the wind is in your face. It can beat you down. The wind messes with your mind and like the devil it makes you do things that aren't natural - grip the club tight and you want to muscle the ball. I managed to get on a roll on the back side - 4 pars in a row. I missed a 3 foot birdie putt on number 11 (Or, #2 on the North course). The back side didn't have punched greens. I couldn't use that excuse. The weather started to get nice - around 60 degrees with a few high clouds - the sun was out and it started to get warm. But, the wind was relentless - 10 to 15 mph. It was a good two club wind at times. I shot 41 on the back side. I had 31 putts overall. For me anything over 29 putts is a bad day. I finished with 5 bogies. Peter told me I was stabbing at the ball with my putting stroke- not good. Putting has been my weakness and it continues to plague me even though I've been working on my putting at the house. No excuse - I thought. I'm thinking of moving to a belly putter - Vijay has one of these things. It seems to promote an on target swing path.



Overall thoughts on the course:
La Costa is worth playing ONCE - especially the Tournament course - 'walk with the legends'. I was not impressed with the course conditions. The fairways were spotty (but, its winter), it was not groomed as nice as most $200+ courses and the greens were punched (no $ discount either – WTF, not nice). IMHO - La Costa needs to sink some dollars into the tee boxes, fairways and greens to bring it up to par with most of the resort courses in nearby Palm Springs/La Quinta. At these prices the customer expects 'much' better.

Overall thoughts on my play:
How to fu_k up a long drive (the title of this blog and my play at times): This time - It came on #10. I hit a a boomer (wind at my back) on a beautiful elevated tee box some 320 yards - dead straight, center cut / in the fairway. I had around 70 yards to the pin. I chunked my 56 degree wedge into the right green side sand trap. I replaced my divot - it was H U G E. Guess I tried steering the club and didn't finish. Luckily, I hit it close out of the trap and made a sandy par.

I shot 83. I’ll take that score this time of year and on this course from 7310 yards. I currently have a 5.8 handicap, round up to 6. Take the handicap differential for the La Costa Tournament course which equals a 7 and add it to the course rating of 75.1 – that equals 82.1. That means to shoot my handicap on the La Costa Tournament course I need to shoot an 82. I shot 83… close enough in my book.