Wilderness Falls (Bolingbrook, IL) - Bear Course

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.