Golfing Drayton Valley

The great thing about golf is that you always get a second chance. Even if you’ve just shanked your ball into the trees, there’s always another shot to make. Quadruple bogey? Meh. You can shrug it off and try again at the next hole.

But for all that, after some of our efforts last year, our trip to the Drayton Valley course is best summed up as a triumph of hope over experience.

But there was lots to like. The course itself is in very good shape, in spite of our efforts to dig parts of it up with an over enthusiastic pitching wedge. And it was great to get out in some early morning sunshine.

We teed off well ahead of anyone else and the course was ours. My eyes settled on the long stretches of vibrant green fairways, manicured tees and greens, I could hear geese and ducks as we motored by ponds between the holes. There was a wind to be sure but the sun was shining and the day promised to be a good one.

This was the first game of the year for both of us. Taking several months off hasn’t done much to improve our shot making. But golf is about fun. And we had plenty of that.

Every hole up to hole seven had some redeeming qualities – a good putt here or a nice drive there – but no hole was an out and out triumph. Then we approach hole seven, a par three that is just long enough to cause both of us to pause and give careful consideration to our clubs of choice.

I chose too much club and managed to whack the ball out of bounds into a nearby resident’s septic field and spent the next three hits seeking my way back to the green.

My partner, Graham Long, did the opposite and wound up in a greenside bunker. An over cooked sand wedge overshot and missed the green completely. But, in an act of total redemption he managed to make a 20 yard chip roll right into the hole.

“The ugliest par you ever did see,” he said.

Playing a serious 18-hole golf course can be intimidating for the average golfer. But similar to the way using the best knives somehow makes cooking more enjoyable, golfing on an immaculate golf course is a much better experience than wrestling with patchy greens or uncut tee boxes. The greens at Drayton Valley’s course are smooth, fairways are well taken care of, and the fringe transitions allow for course correction without having to bring out the weed whipper. The landscape of the course contributes as much to the experience as a good hole or a good shot.

I had been shooting really well for a couple of holes, with long straight drives, and good iron work. Then we got to hole 12. A good drive was followed by some solid iron hits, and I was in front of the green.

Par or at least a single, (ok double) bogey seemed within reach. Then a shanked chip put me into the sand trap to the left of the green. My aspirations were sand bagged. I really hate the sand. Consistency does not live in the bunker. Hit the ball too soft and you go nowhere, hit it too hard and well…

I lined up, marked the sand where I wanted the club to grab and swung. Whack!

Oh boy. The ball didn’t just pop up onto the green like I planned. No siree. It shot off like a rocket way up over the trees.

“Did you see where my ball went?” I asked Graham.

“Lodgepole,” he said.

The thing about these rural courses is that they are often similar calibre to what you find in the city but they are half the price, and way easier to get a tee time.

Brandy Fredrickson

But as I said, there’s always another hole and there’s always that chance for redemption. And if it doesn’t come, then there’s always another day.

And at the end of it all, we had a great time. The people were friendly. The booking process is easy. And, at the risk of sounding repetitive, the course is in as good a shape as either of us have ever seen it. The thing about these rural courses is that they are often similar calibre to what you find in the city but they are half the price, and way easier to get a tee time.

So what was the final score? There are some things a lady does not divulge, although it’s fair to say it was more than we hoped it would be.

But it’s not all about how you play; it’s about how you feel. And after a few hours of fresh air and some not too vigorous exercise, we both felt pretty good.