Traveler's Quest Adventure Golf (Skokie, IL)

July 1, 2005, afternoon

Drew and I initially intended this to be part of our 72-hole tournament, but as soon as play started I knew that the course was going to be way too par-busting to make it fair.  Things got off to a bad start when Drew had a birdie putt hop out of the cup on the very first hole.  I sank a long putt for a rare birdie, but things didn't get a whole lot better from there for either of us. Drew took a quadruple-bogey six at the second, then gained back all the shots he had lost when I took a triple-bogey five at the fifth, including a hop-out putt.  I managed to squeeze in birdies at 8, 10, and 11, and only made a single score worse than three on the back nine (a 4 at the abominable 17th).  We were tied at 30 at the turn (as Alma and I had been in our previous outing), but I managed to come back in in a "mere" 23, leaving me "just" 13-over for the round.  Drew ended up five shots back and agreed with me that the course was nice to look at but hellish to play.

June 20, 2005, early evening

Though I had been to this Skokie facility before, I'm not sure I had ever been out on the mini golf course.  Maybe once.  Either way, I didn't do very well, though at a mere 40 the par seems awfully low for the course's degree of difficulty.  I didn't help myself on the front nine when I started with a bogey 4, a double-bogey 4, and then a triple-bogey 5 on the first three holes; after failing to record a single birdie, I found myself at ten-over 30 after nine.  I was better, but certainly not good, coming back in; I still failed to record a birdie but at least did not do any worse than bogey, except for at the 17th, an atrocious par-2 whose hole requires a short uphill stroke into a shallow cup (all the cups on this course were shallow, my major complaint, especially after it cost me a stroke at the 12th when my par putt dropped into the hole only to hop out, requiring a tap-in for bogey).  That I managed four at the 17th was fortunate.  I came back in with a 27, leaving me with an ugly 17-over for the round.