The best course in America for $20

/ June 28, 2015

Halfway through the back nine at Foxfire Golf Course in Baldiwnsville New York, I made a declaration to KP, Tater and Netti.

This could be the best golf course anybody can play for twenty bucks, I said to my great friends as we waited for our turn to hit on the tee.

A long and tough par five.

A long and tough par five.

Beautiful, but somewhat of a trick that will be explained later.

Beautiful, but somewhat of a trick that will be explained below.

Gorgeous scenery cut into a planned county community of houses and apartment buildings some 20 miles northwest of Syracuse. Testing layout of golf 6434 yards from the white tees, a championship par 72 that tough but fair. Fast, well-kept greens. Cut fairways. Loose sand in the bunkers. And when you answer yes when the man in the pro shop asks you if you’re 55, you only have to hand over a a twenty spot to play and ride in a cart to play on a weekday. So yes, it was crowded around our 9:56 a.m. Thursday tee time.

But what a course for $20.

KP played great.

KP after his chip.

KP after his chip, not Tater’s.

On the third hole, he chipped to within a foot of the hole to save par. That started him off to a day that included a birdie, a handful of other pars and many, many fine shots. He was the overall winner for the day.

I had my one par for the round, but played better than that, actually, with a few really good drives and good play around the greens. I left a couple of par putts just short or rimmed out of the cup.

It was awesome to play with Netti for the first time this season. He was my teammate, so we got to catch up by sharing a cart. We started our re-bonding by wondering how it was that we were the first two to arrive when we also live the farthest from the course.

Put them in.

Put them in.

Tater scored early by pointing out that Foxfire has the shortest ball washers we’ve ever seen, barely three feet tall. Yes, we did make that joke.

My teammate
Big winner.
Always in balance

We did have a bit of an incident after holes 16 and 17. Greenside at both, a player in the group behind us hit into us. The first time, the shot landed past us, and Tater said the offender had hit blindly from a stand of trees. The second time, though, it was a par three, and they were on the tee, and we had just finished putting out. No problems with the sight line. The group yelled “Fore,” as custom, and we all ducked. The ball landed near us. I turned and urged that they should wait until we pulled got on our carts and pulled away from the green until they hit their shots. “Golf etiquette!” is how I finished.” One of them yelled something back, but I did not catch what it was, and Netti was driving us toward the 18th tee.

I asked my friends if I had gone too far by admonishing the group behind us, but they said I was right. Good friends.

Then I bashed my drive down the middle, the longest of our foursome, hit two more solid shots, rattled a chip off the pin and left my par putt an inch short.

If you were wondering, we did not meet up with the group behind us after our round.

What would you do if somebody buzzed you with a golf shot two holes in a row? How often would you wash your golf balls? What are the best nicknames for a foursome among your friends?

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52 thoughts on “The best course in America for $20”

  3. This did look like a gorgeous place to play golf, Mark. I had to get Felicia to pay $10 for more gigabytes to handle the blogging for Cleveland trip:) I am back on track and catching up as fast as I can! Your lively and plentiful posts are all so fun and entertaining, Mark. Not sure if you noticed a friend of yours is not too crazy about new strides for freedom for all. I will have to u follow. Just sad to do so. 😦

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  5. I still havent made it to my favourite course this year….
    would love to try this one!
    Mark- have a great start to a new week!
    hugs

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  6. I have never played golf because here there is no cheap price here in where I live. Here, playing golf is like for the rich. People here say the sport is belong to the rich.

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  15. Sounds like a dangerous sport Mark – at least you didn’t have to go swimming. Ha! 😀 I see you’ve found a way to channel your aggression – keeping the other players straight. Ha! Does the $20 cover removing carts from the water holes?

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