I just got an email from a course called Wedgewood Cove Golf Club in Albert Lea.

The news: They are opening for the season on Saturday.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first that I’ve seen of  a Minnesota course opening.

I have not played Wedgewood Cove, but a friend has and he said it is decent. It’s fairly new, so it probably has decent drainage. In terms of a golf course, it can’t be too awful as the Minnesota Golf Association is going to hold a State Amateur qualifiying event there this summer.

Will I tee it up in Albert Lea on Saturday? The weather forecast right now doesn’t look super great, but I’m not going to rule out the possibility.

Course: Waveland Golf Course

Location: Des Moines, Iowa

Course stats: 6,544 yards, par 72.

Website: wavelandgolfcourse.org

The first round of golf in 2011 kind of came out of nowhere. I had certainly had enough of winter.

I blogged about the idea of driving to Iowa last week. I didn’t really think it was going to happen. It seemed a little bit crazy to be honest.

On Friday, I didn’t think it was going to happen. I was planning on hanging out on Saturday, going to GolfZone and hitting some balls and wishing I was playing golf. But my friend Jason sent me a message on Friday afternoon saying that he was down for the drive, he would pick me up at 7:30 the next morning.

Crazy? Perhaps. Fun? Absolutely.

As we left, there were actually some snow flurries in the air and we didn’t have a tee time in Des Moines. By the time we reached Mason City, the snow was gone and I had secured us a tee time just before noon at Waveland.

We certainly could have played a course that is a little more upscale than Waveland. But Jason grew up playing this parkland course. I didn’t really care where we played, I just wanted to get out and knock the little white ball around.

Playing golf at Waveland is like going back in time. This summer is the 110th anniversary of the course, but it is more than that. In some ways, it is like going back to what public golf used to be prior to the boom of golf course construction in the late 80s, 90s and 2000s.

On the wall of the pro shop is a framed Golf Digest page. I couldn’t see a date on it, but I’m guessing early 80s. The page featured the top 50 public courses in the United States. Waveland was on it. The guy behind the counter then showed me this coffee table book from that same era that had pictures and words about great courses. Again, Waveland was featured.

The actual golf course at Waveland sits on a nice piece of rolling property as you can see in the photo above. This is the fourth hole, a 371-yard par 4 that doglegs to the left. The fairway slopes from right-to-left off of the tee and if you end up in the left rough, you will be forced to hit a draw/hook and will have at least something of a blind shot.

I didn’t really take a lot of photos from Waveland as the weather wasn’t awesome and I was simply trying to work the rust off of my game. Without a driving range, it took a little while to get comfortable. I actually hit the first two greens in regulation and then bombed one off of the planet on the third hold and made a smooth 8.

With all that rust and with the wind blowing like crazy for much of the day, it was tough to get a full sense of the place. Aside from the first par 5 which forces players to essentially hit it down a hallway off the tee before an awkward second shot, I though the rest of the par 5s were good. Unlike a lot of municipal courses, these required a little strategy in terms of where to layup, etc. (getting to these greens in two wasn’t really an option as the course was not firm and fast and because of the cool temperature).

I also liked No. 8, a 182-yard par 3 in which you have to hit it over a valley to a green that appears to sit a little above tee box. This played into the wind and probably played about 200 yards.

How good is this course? First, I must preface by saying we paid $20 to walk. I thought it was a pretty good municipal course. It was much better than any of the Minneapolis city courses. A Twin Cities comparison would be Keller from my perspective. Was it the greatest course I ever played? Not even close? Was it fun? Certainly. There are a number of good holes, a few bad holes (note to Waveland, cut some trees on No. 14 so you don’t have to hit a duck hook off of the tee) and a few holes that aren’t really memorable.

But I got the added bonus of Jason pointing out where a dog once stole his ball and where someone had relieved him or herself on a green. How can you go wrong with that?

The only real complaint I had was that the greens needed some work. There was still quite a bit of top dressing on them (including some rocks to go along with the sand). Because of that (and because I doubt they had been mowed since last fall), the greens were super, super slow. It reached the point where missing the green turned into a better strategy than hitting them.

But it was fine for a season-opening round. While not firm, I was pleased/surprised that the course wasn’t a muddy mess. There were a few mud balls, but nothing major And after getting a bunch of snow here in Minneapolis last night, I would gladly putt this weekend on sandy, slow greens. In a second.

After our round, we stopped and got some food and made our way back to Minneapolis. About 13 hours after leaving, I was back at home. The trip back in time was complete and my first round of 2011 was in the books. I slept great that night and was certainly a little sore in spots after the first 18 holes (walking and carrying) of the season.

Yes, a one-day down-and-back trip to Des Moines for a single round of golf might be a little excessive. But it hit the spot and allowed me to get a little bit of a fix as I patiently wait for spring to arrive here.

This one landed in my inbox today complements of my friend Dan.

The Golfer
He left  home around 8:30 to play golf with his friends. 
On the way  out the door, he answered his wife’s “What time will you be home?” question with
“Probably  around 1:30 – I’ll have lunch at the club.”
 
1:30 came  and went, 3:00 passed, 6:15, still not home.
Finally at  about 7:00 PM he rolls in the driveway, leaves his clubs in the garage, and  presents his wife with a pizza, and begins the apologetic story.
 
“We  finished our game about 11:30, had lunch and I started home, when alongside the  road I saw this attractive girl with a flat tire on her car.  I stopped to  help, got the tire changed, and looked around for a place to wash my  hands. 
She  offered money, but I refused, so she suggested that I at least allow her to buy  me a beer. 
She said  there’s a tavern just up the road, and they have a restroom, you can clean up a  bit. 
I agreed  to stop, we had a beer, then another beer, then a couple more, and I realized  that this girl was not only pretty, she was very friendly, and a good companion  to spend time with. 
Before I  knew it, we were in the motel next door having sex. 
And that  is why I am so late getting home.”
 
His wife  looked him right in the eye and said
“Don’t  bullshit me — you played 36 holes, didn’t you?”

Four months ago — on Nov. 7, 2010 — I played my last round of Minnesota golf. It was a fairly pleasant day. It wasn’t warm, but it also wasn’t stocking cap golf.

To say that I want to tee it up again is a serious understatement.

I recently came across these photos on my digital camera from that weekend (they were actually taken on Nov. 6) and thought I would share a few. The pictures are from Southview Country Club in West St. Paul, a very fun classic course that is nearly 100 years old. Many of the holes were designed by architect William Langford.

I know I like golf to an almost unhealthy level.

So I realize that today, to most of you, is just an average February Wednesday. But not to me.

It’s the first day of the match play. We’re talking 64 players, 32 matches, unbelievable golf. To put it into context, it is like having the Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tournament all on one day.

Plus the whole head-to-head part of match play is a nice change from stroke play. Like watching guys try to match their opponents.

I can’t watch as I’m at work. But I’m following along on the live scoring. And look forward to highlights tonight.

I picked Martin Kaymer to win the whole thing. A bit of a chalk pick, I know. But the German has been awesome. He might not have personality. But he has game.

It was the last afternoon before winter again slapped us across the face and I made my way to the Minneapolis Convention Center, paid my $10 and spent a few hours at the golf show.

I think this is the second year since it moved to the convention center — good timing considering the state of the Metrodome these days — and really not a lot has changed. The biggest difference is that 2nd Swing is the primary sponsor instead of Nevada Bob’s. To me that isn’t that big of a difference.

As always the golf show is part flea market, part travel show, part driving range and part randomness. I don’t usually get a whole lot out of my time there, I don’t usually buy anything, but I do leave again excited about golf.

A few observations:

– The biggest thing I learned came from my guy at 2nd Swing who went to the recent PGA show in Orlando. He knows that I have a weakness for drivers so I asked him some questions. The biggest thing he said was that the TaylorMade R11 is pretty good and is at least worth trying.

– Travel is always a big thing at the golf show. Lots of courses and resorts looking to encourage golfers to visit their facilities and spend some cash money. Often times it is the usual suspects, but sometimes I’m surprised. A year ago, it was cool to talk for a couple of minutes with the folks from The Prairie Club in Nebraska. This year, the biggest surprise was seeing people from Erin Hills, the Wisconsin course that is hosting the 2011 US Amateur and the 2017 US Open. The course received some mixed reviews from people I know and a bunch of work was done recently to correct/improve (choose your term) parts of the initial design. It is a place I’m interested in seeing, but the $200 green fee freaks me out a little bit. I could certainly do it, but I am generally skeptical of triple-digit green fees.

– Where to go? I do have a significant/milestone birthday coming up early in the golf season. I have traditionally played golf on my birthday and sometimes I’ve made a day of it and gone somewhere new or different. So if I do that again this year, where should I go. There are a couple of places that interest me: Giants Ridge has some good early season rates, but going north in May is always risky. Along the same lines, I’m super interested in checking out a couple of the places in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Greywall\’s course at Marquette Golf Club is supposed to be fantastic. There’s also the fairly new Sweetgrass Golf Club that has gotten pretty good reviews. If I go south, there are some Iowa options that could be good. The Preserve at Rathbun Lake looks pretty good and the weather south of Des Moines might be better.

– The biggest surprise from my standpoint was the complete lack of private club presence at the show. I did not see one. And I know that virtually every club in town is looking for members. Now I don’t expect that Interlachen, Hazeltine or Spring Hill is going to be looking for members at the golf show, but it does seem like there could be some value. According to my inbox and a quick look on the interview, there are at least six clubs in town where you can get in with essentially zero initiation fee. I think there is one more in that group. I know there are two clubs that once had initiation fees around $15,000 where entrance can be secured for $1,500 or less. There are others that I would expect are also running deals. I guess that’s why I’m surprised that there wasn’t a single club there. Maybe it is expensive to have a booth, but the opportunity to talk to golfers doesn’t seem like a horrible idea.

That’s about all I have at this point. Maybe I lost some great ideas while blowing snow earlier today.