Thanks Corwyn for the "heads up" on Cabo. It's a contender for my favorite course from the tips with starters. I couldn't threaten par after this completely careless miss led to a 4-putt on 12. I also missed sub-5-foot putts on both 1 and 2, although they were regular misses of tough reads, not the inexcusable stupidity displayed on 12!
I matched Corwyn almost inch-for-inch on 14 with this approach leading to the birdie putt. That's a perfectly constructed golf hole when it can't be overpowered by fancy gear. On the down side, Corwyn's tale of his 3-putt on 10 is very familiar, too.
Please note: I used my usual Nike putter instead of the starter. I've been on a bad streak with my reads and need some practice that includes accurate feedback on my misses.
It occurred to me that last week's 18 was on Whistler, which we haven't tried with the starters yet. So I shelled out the credits for a ranked round. I got Moderate wind and the dreaded Champ greens on the big W.
A nice 10 footer on 1 and a lucky 9 iron from an unfamiliar angle on 2 were squandered when my 6 iron on 3 got gobbled up by the pines. It took a couple of hacks to reach the green. I had never played the course with anything lower than the L59 G20s, and It never even occurred to me that I might not clear the trees on my approach.
I played poorly in a general kinda way on 4 and 5, then steadied through the middle holes. A nice wedge birdie on 9 was annihilated by a pitch-when-I-meant-to-hit-full error on 11 that would have been worse without this putt. Uninteresting birdies on 15 and 16 got me back to level. 17 was unreachable (the only such hole on the course) into a headwind and I sent the wedge a little past and watched it roll away to the right down the slope, then pushed the par try.
It was all down to a birdie on 18 for the even par round. Luckily, my 147 yard third shot with a 5-iron played almost exactly like the typical 240 yard 2nd shot with fancies, and I had seen the birdie putt a time or two previously.
With the starters, Whistler was nowhere near as fun as Cabo. This surprised me, as I prefer Whistler with fancies. I was also surprised to look at the cards and see that Whistler is 463 yards shorter than its TruGolf cousin. It's probably because Whistler is always daring you to hit a perfect shot with fancies, right up to the end of a fairway section or into a choke point, while Cabo just surrenders. With starters, Whistler is the one that gives you the fat midsection of its fairways, while Cabo more often requires a plan of attack.
Par isn't a great score with starters from Whistler's tips. A bogey-free round is possible, with plenty of birdie ops along the way.