Wilderness Falls (Bolingbrook, IL) - Bear Course

July 17, 2011, afternoon

There seems to be some rule that whenever I go to Wilderness Falls, it is crazy hot.  For the mini golf tournament, it was in the 90s with a heat index rising into the low 100s - woof.  This didn't stop me from coming out firing on the front nine of the first 18 - I nearly aced the first, but the ball bounced well away, leaving a long (and uphill) birdie putt which I drained.  I made all twos across the front nine save for a bogey 3 at the fifth, so I hit the turn at one-under 19.  Then things fell apart - I started the back nine with three straight bogey 3s, and added bogeys at #14 and #16 just for good measure.  I clawed back a bit with birdies at #17 and #18 (the only two par threes on the back nine) but was still stuck with a 23, leaving me at two-over 42.  Alma struggled on the front nine but came flying in, making just two threes, birdieing #17 and #18 and acing the 14th for the 19 I had put up on the way out.  If only we had been allowed to combine our front and back nines, I think we would have been leading the tournament after the first round.

The second round began pretty much identically for me - I put up eight 2s and one 3 on the front nine, with the only difference being that the 3 came at the sixth, a par-three, so I was bogey-free this time but still just one-under at the turn.  The back nine started better, with par 2s on the first two holes, but I again bogeyed #12 and #16, and this time threw in #15 for good measure.  I only had four scores of 3 on the back nine in the second round, and so ended up with a 22 on the way in for a total of one-over 41.  As of our finishing time, with a couple groups left on the course, my total of 83 was five shots back of the leader and just outside the top ten, which isn't terrible, although I couldn't help but feel that I was capable of playing the back nines a little better than I had, and wasn't too far off from challenging for the lead (the leader's 78 was 43-35, meaning I was actually better than him the first round and he just had a crazy good second round while I played about the same).  Alma played better on the way out with a 26, three shots better than her first round, but unfortunately her back nine wasn't as good as the first time, as she couldn't get as many putts to drop, settling for a lot of bogey 3s, and was stuck with a rough 5 at the 15th.  In the end, her second round was slightly worse, as she finished with a 50.  She did, however, record three holes-in-one during the second round, tying our record for one round and giving her four for the day.  Also, her total of 98 left her in contention for prizes in the women's division.

July 2, 2011, afternoon

Alma and I had signed up for Wilderness Falls' mini golf tournament on July 17, and we wanted to play the courses at least once before then.  Since we were in the area already, we opted to go for it, but it was one of the hottest days of the year so far, which made things a little rough.  Whether it was the heat or just my traditional loss of beginner's luck (see also my second tries at Congo River in Kenosha and Lighthouse in Waukegan), I don't know, but I struggled mightily compared to my last time out, five years earlier.  I started with a bogey at the first when my ball jumped the fairway, then added a double at the second for good measure.  I made six straight twos - only one of which was a birdie - then capped off my front nine with another double at the ninth for a +4 24 on the way out.  Coming in was even worse, as I started the back nine with another double-bogey four, bogeyed #11, #13 and #15, doubled #16, and could only scrape pars on #17 and #18, the two par-threes on the back nine.  I came in with an awful 27 and finished with 51, a full eleven shots worse than my first attempt.  (I also had five scores of four after having only four scores as high as three the first time.)  Alma was not a fan of the conditions and turned on the course quickly when she struggled on the front nine - her ball also jumped the fairway at #1, leaving her with a five, and she had to take a max 6 at the fifth - but she strolled in with a 22, including an ace at #15 and a birdie at the last, finishing just two shots behind me after trailing by seven at the turn.

July 29, 2006, afternoon

Drew, Karen and I made the trek out to Bolingbrook because the two courses at Wilderness Falls looked pretty promising.  As it turned out, they were very good indeed.  Eminently playable courses, thanks to minimal green contouring and what seemed to be larger-than-normal cups, and we all did reasonably well, though the Eagle Course was the easier of the two and featured the better overall scores.  On the Bear Course, I opened strong, firing a one-under 19 on the way out to lead by two strokes at the turn.  I birdied both par-three holes on the first nine, giving a bogey back at the fourth.  Drew aced #2 and was one over through 9.  On #11, however, Drew struggled to a 4 while I made par 2.  Now with a four-shot lead, I cruised in with a one-over 21 to finish at even-par 40; Drew, who hates playing from behind, gave away a shot on each of six straight holes after #11 and finished ten back.  Karen went out in 29, but came back in with a solid 25 to finish with 54.  She nearly aced #12 before the ball, charging right at the hole, zigzagged thanks to a seam in the carpet.