For the second vacation in 3 weeks, I find myself in Kohler, Wisconsin. The cheese part of the wine & cheese vacation: St. Tropez, France and Wisconsin. It's an odd pairing I know and it was very evident yesterday when we first arrived in Sheboygan, trying to find a place to eat. In St. Tropez we were surrounded by the super rich, yachts and the occasional celeb. In Sheboygan, we're eating at Pizza Hut because that was the only reliable place to eat among the not so tempting eateries. This town is so barren that I was expecting tumbleweed to cross our path. You know it's a small remote town when there's hardly any traffic lights and stop signs are the main device for controlling traffic on main street. I've gone from one extreme to another; there is absolutely nothing going on in this part of the world.
I'm here for one thing only and that's to golf at one of the premiere golf courses in the country. We're golfing at Whistling Straits and at Blackwolf Run for 4 days. There is no night time entertainment other than watching Superbad last night at the local multiplex.
We boarded a 6:45am flight out of LGA and landed in Milwaukee. We drove an hour north to Kohler and putzed around for a few hours there before our tee time. I was so tired when we hit the practice range, and I blame fatigue for the awful round I had yesterday: 99. I started the first hole of my golfing vacation by throwing down a double par. Ugly. I landed in bunkers on the first 4 holes, which made it an incredible uphill climb for the rest of the day. The 89 degree weather and humidity was just grilling. Even with caddies handling our golf bags, it was tough walking 7,000 yards. Longer for me because my ball was everywhere; I saw all of the Irish course.
The course was beautiful. It's what a golf course would look like in Ireland -- I imagine because I've never been. There was even sheep roaming the course. Pete Dye is a brilliant golf designer because he knows where you'll miss hit a ball and he makes you pay dearly. You have to prepare to miss in the right places. It was a true test of nerves and strength: battling fatigue, sand traps, heat and a demanding golf course.
Today we played an early 18 at the Meadow Valleys course at Blackwolf Run under colder and drizzly conditions. It was the sight of Se Ri Pak's first US Open championship (1998), where she won in a playoff to Jenny Chuasiriporn from Duke. It to was a beautiful layout but this had trees and not so much of the tall fescue grass on the Irish course. Today's round: 92 -- a significant improvement from yesterday, but I'm still pissed with the triple on the last hole. Not a good finish to an alright round.
Darko was up 8 strokes up on me entering today's round, and I got 2 back. I'm going to rely on Darko's lack of patience to pass him on the last round.
On the way to Whistling Straits, it looked like a scene out of Napolean Dynamite with endless farm fields on both sides of the road. These golf courses are in the middle of America in the middle of nowhere.
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sucka
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