Sportsman's Country Club Miniature Golf (Northbrook, IL)

July 8, 2011, late afternoon

Alma's two holes-in-one at the tournament had won her a free round, so we stopped by on our way back from Lake County.  In spite of my somewhat erratic driving, continuing from my two earlier rounds of the day, I improved my score once again thanks to mostly very good putting - and really I should have broken par had it not been for a couple of freakish short misses.  The round started in mediocre fashion - I got onto the green at #1 fine, but missed the par putt, had to settle for par at #2 and bogeyed #3 after failing to navigate my drive between the pillars.  I dropped in a decent putt to save par at #4, having missed one of a similar length last time, but blew that momentum by bogeying #5.  I parred #6 but only after having the ball bounce back to me on my first drive, meaning I could easily have birdied it (as I did the last two times out), then yanked a short bogey putt at #7 that I had been trying to just tap in.  Suddenly I was four over and feeling frustrated.  I closed the front nine birdie-par and made the turn at three-over, actually my worst yet.  The back nine, however, was much smoother - for both myself and Alma, who had gone out in 32, five shots worse than her tournament round.  We both opened the back nine with three straight 2s, two of which (#10 and #12) were birdies.  I parred #13 as well, then - as it turned out - cost myself par for the round when I lipped a short par putt at #14.  I made that shot back with a nice birdie at #15 and parred #16, then had to settle for par at #17, the house hole, when my drive landed in the house but sat next to the hole instead of dropping down it.  Alma's shot dropped down the hole and fell into the cup for another ace; when I tapped the ball down into the hole, it failed to fall into the cup and instead rolled six feet away!  Annoyed, I managed to can the par putt anyway.  Alma followed with an ace at the 18th for an excellent 19 on the back nine; I parred it and settled for 20, good enough for two-under and to get me within a shot of par in my third attempt.  If these trends continue... ayyyyyy.

July 4, 2011, late morning

On our last trip, Alma and I had learned there was a mini golf tournament on July 4, so we signed up for it.  We were among the very few adults competing without kids in tow, but whatever.  I started much more auspiciously with a par at the first, then birdied the second.  I bogeyed #4 by missing a mid-range par putt but got the shot back at #6 after narrowly missing an ace, which Alma carded directly after me.  I bogeyed #7 but got the shot back at #8 with a nice birdie putt and made the turn at one-under.  Things fell apart at the start of the back nine, however, as I didn't get close enough to the volcano hole on #10 to duplicate the birdie I made on it last time, and then ran the par putt off the edge of the volcano for good measure.  I then double-bogeyed #11 after failing to make the ball through the obstacle with my first shot.  I didn't record a single birdie on the back nine, in fact; after four straight pars, I just missed an ace at #16 when the ball hit the hole and bounced away, and then I ended up missing the longer par putt.  At #17 I couldn't make the jump into the hole-in-one track; Alma did and carded her second ace while I settled for scraping par.  Alma set a record for us on the back nine with 23 - had she not ended up in the water at #16, finishing with a triple-bogey 5, her ace would probably have won the day.  As it was I held her off by one stroke.  Tournament results will be revealed later, although I doubt we'll have won anything.  They weren't terrible rounds, but this course's par should be reachable and I've just yet to play well enough to give it a legit run.  Going under par on the front nine was a start, at least.

June 25, 2011, afternoon

Alma and I went by this one, almost certainly the closest course we'd never played, in part because I wanted to scout it out for the planned bachelor party mini golf tournament at the end of July.  From the website I thought it had a bit of a Twin Links vibe to it, and while I'm not going to hold it up on that pedestal, I'd certainly say there are similarities to the late, lamented Mount Prospect course.  Things got off to a rough start at the first, however - the hole features a shot through a tunnel that I missed the first time and then didn't hit hard enough the second.  I ended up with a double-bogey 5, an inauspicious start, but I played at par the rest of the way out - I gained a shot back with a birdie at #3, then dropped to +3 with a double-bogey at #4 when I failed to hit my drive hard enough to make it through a loop-de-loop and onto the green.  I picked up a shot with a birdie at #6 and then another at #8 (a par-four on which I made 3) but bogeyed the ninth when I again failed to make it through a tunnel on the first try.  I made the turn at 26, two over, and promptly birdied the tenth, but that was the high point of my back nine.  I narrowly missed par putts at #13, #14 and #17, along with just missing birdie at #12.  I had to settle for 24 on the back nine, +2 like on the front, leaving me with a total of 50, +4 for the round.  Alma settled down a bit after making the turn at +10, with two birdies on the back nine and a total of 27 to give her 61, +15 for the round.