The first day of our Ohio trip was more eventful than I would have liked it to be. It started at Scioto Golf Club, ended with food poisoning and my one and only victory of my buddy Patrick…ever.
Let’s hope day two would go better…
After curling up in the fetal position for the evening, it was time to get my act together, as we had one of my most anticipated rounds ever: Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Ranked #9 on my Top 100 List – this was a round that almost didn’t happen. As you might expect, getting an invite to Jack’s Place isn’t exactly the easiest ticket in town.
Golf is a funny place though, full of generous people and it inevitably being a friend’s, dad’s, friend, who was gracious enough to show us around on this day.
MCGC is basically like Augusta Jr.
Everything is in perfect order, it’s setup to handle massive amounts of people during the Memorial, and it’s a destination club where people often fly in, stay on property, and fly back out a day or two later.
This was illustrated perfectly, as while we were on the range I hear “Patrick? PATRICK?!”
And of course, it’s our friend Jeff who lives in NYC and was there for a night with his boss who was a member.
Small world.
From the moment I stepped up to the first tee, I could tell I was going to like this place.
It’s a very tough, championship course that will punish you on every hole if you’re not on top of your game. Yet at the same time, it felt oddly comfortable, familiar and enjoyable.
As we weaved throughout the course, each hole felt unique, distinctly different, and demanded that you think your way around the course.
On two, sure you could bomb driver but the fairway narrows the farther out you go, and if you push it even a little right, you’ll find yourself in the picturesque creek that runs down the right side.
Then on 3, you can flirt with the tree on the left to give yourself a short approach over the water – but you risk getting blocked out.
Every hole seemingly had a decision like this to make, and it’s going to make watching the annual Memorial Tournament that much more enjoyable next year.
Five was a par 5 that was one of the few holes with split fairways that I thought worked really well.
Unfortunately, as I was saying this to my host, it was at that moment the strap on my Nikon DSLR broke, which led to the camera crashing to the fairway, and breaking the mount on the lens.
So, this meant for the remainder of my most anticipated golf and photography trip of the year – I wouldn’t have my camera.
Not cool.
So I apologize for any lackluster photos from here on out.
That clearly didn’t dampen the trip too much, as I would go on to once again shoot back to back birdies like I did the previous day to close out a front 9 of 38.
Unfortunately, the back 9 would exact it’s revenge on me, and I’d proceed to shoot a 47.
The famous 12th hole, which is Jack’s homage to #12, Golden Bell, at Augusta National, was much bigger, bolder, and more difficult than I’d expected.
Sitting right at 155 yards, it’s all carry to a sliver of green – and it was easily one of the more memorable holes on the course.
I can’t thank Chris enough for having us out. When our updated Top 100 list comes out later this year, this will definitely have a prime spot and strictly from a course perspective, Muirfield Village would be my favorite of the trip.
