Purgatory GC - Noblesville, Indiana

Yes, it's that early.  We're right behind the crew rolling
the greens, and we continue to tee off just after the
sprinklers have ceased at each hole.

Fresh course.  Love it.  

When you think a relaxing three day weekend, you think driving three hours after work to rest up for a brutal 5am wake up. Oh, you don't?  This is the beginning of our Labor Day escape to conquer two states on our list. First stop, Indiana.

Being the type-A individuals we are, Shawn and I researched not only the most interesting and challenging course to play in Indiana, but also ensured our choice would allow us to rack up more Marriott points while providing close proximity to head to that state up north (aka Michigan, for the non-Buckeyes) for our next round.  Thus, we landed on Purgatory Golf Club.

The 5am wake-up call was a little rough, but we had a 7am tee time. Powered by Christmas-like excitement, we found our way to Denny's after a few U-turns. I have to take a moment to commend Denny's-known affectionately by some as "Lenny's."  It has never been a glamorous breakfast joint, but they do breakfast SO well. Has the Grand Slam even gone up in price over the years?  Four items for around $6. It just doesn't get much better than that. At any rate, we bounced into our booth overlooking a group who was obviously still finishing up their evening. A couple cups of coffee and a Grand Slam later, we were leaded and ready for the course. Who am I kidding?  Desite our early-bird mentality, we were still pretty sleepy.

Our drive led us from suburbia to countryside, as we approached Purgatory. Nestled among cornfields, the clubhouse known as The Lodge, sat in the darkness. Red was just beginning to peer out of the horizon, as I was barely able to make out what I later found to be the range.  We had bought yellow balls since we knew golfing in uncharted territory would prove challenging, but I began to wonder if I would need a glow-in-the dark ball.  Entering the clubhouse, there was no sign of life. Clearly, we are the only people crazy enough to be here. Finding our way to the pro shop through what was every bit a mountain lodge, we checked in and collected our logo ball to commemorate the visit.

How did that not go in?  Look for it...

Loading up the cart, I was introduced to my first GPS golf cart.   The touch screen was larger than an iPad, and the graphics were amazing. Shawn and I both use the Golfshot GPS app on our phones to track hits, view yardage, and keep score, but this was just too cool. We would later realize it knew the exact pin placement on each hole. I'm no professional (heck, I'm barely an amateur), but it's pretty nice to have this versus just the front, center, and back green yardages. The grass on the range was perfect. Spongy and forgiving to our divots. There was still no sign of the sun, but the sky was glowing with orange and pink.  I finished up on the range while Shawn went to putt. By the time I hit my last few shots, he was returning-unable to putt, as the green was still being rolled.

Looks easy enough, right? (see photo at right)

Aerial of the same hole from purgatorygolf.com

Our impressions after the first few holes were: this is the nicest sand we've ever seen, every hole is breathtaking, and there was a nice balance of and distance. Course management was going to be a must.  By the fifth hole, the heather and rolling grade conquered two sleeves of golf balls for me alone.  The freshly rolled greens proved quick, and the par fives long. The par threes generally seemed to have some obstacle between the six tee boxes and the green, be it heather, sand, water, or other naturally growing nonsense.  It was hard to believe this was Indiana.

Yeah.  It's kind of like that.  On every hole.
Neon ball.  No help.

If you asked me to pick a favorite (Shawn did), I couldn't pick one. Each hole was different from the next.  Shawn's favorite was hole twelve, a par three.  The green was raised, the front lined with rocks.  Thirteen, another par three, ate my ball, as my tee shot went right into the water between the tee in green. Somehow I knew that would happen, even though it wasn't a long shot, so I played one of the "found" balls in my bag.  Hole sixteen was modeled after Mackenzie, and my extensive vocabulary could only describe the bunkers as reminiscent of a bear claw pastry.   High in the back, low in the front, the bunkers disappeared from view as you looked back from the green.

The view from the sea of bunkers (purgatorygolf.com).

Aerial of 17 from purgatorygolf.com

Seventeen was an island green, and by that I mean it was a sea of bunkers. I'm proud to say I didn't land in the sand. However, in the interest of full disclosure I must tell you my ball landed in a bunker only to bounce into the heather surrounding it. Drop ball.   The third hole was probably my favorite par three, as my tee shot granted great placement on the green.

Purgatory logo.  It's branded on
the sign for every hole.

Luckily, our early start rendered a nice early finish, as the humidity and heat were gaining steam.  As we unloaded our cart, we noticed a gaggle of girls with a coach in a rancher hat at the first tee.  Their bags led us to realize this was the IU golf team.  We sat in awe for a few minutes--watching them tee off.  They make it look so easy and effortless.  One day, when I use my NCAA eligibility...

An early finish means we had time to trek over to a local BW3 to catch the first Buckeye made of the season. Yes, they won. All in all a great trip. Tomorrow's stop: Bath, Michigan.

Purgatory Website

Newport National GC - Middletown, Rhode Island

Lessons with Uncle Chuck.  

Our travels brought us to Rhode Island to celebrate the wedding of my cousin, Chris, and his beautiful bride, Kerry.  The whole extended family was gathering for an extended vacation out east, and we thought this was another great opportunity to play a new course – and cross Rhode Island off the bucket list.  Who knows when we'll be back to Rhode Island.  Newport National kept appearing in my searches for great Rhode Island golf, and the course pictures looked gorgeous.  Newport is a links-style course like our home course, so I was excited to try my hand at little more challenging links track.

Uncle Chuck and Aunt Kathy are my golf icons – they've traveled near and far playing golf.  Now that I have officially committed to learning the game, Shawn and I thought this was a great opportunity to share a round of golf with our loved ones.  Uncle Chuck is working on the fundamentals of the game with my beloved Godson, Tanner, so he decided to make the sacrifice of an early wakeup call to join us.

Aunt Kathy warding off wet.  Thank goodness for neon balls.

The weather is less than ideal.  It could best be described as porridge.  Not even soup.  Soup sounds better than porridge.  The temperature is warm, but you can't see more than 100 yards in front of you due to the dense fog. The moisture is just hanging in the air.  You are wet just standing there, and when you start walking, it's somehow raining on you, even though you don't see rain.  100% humidity?  I think so.  Perhaps my late, golf-loving Grandfather is joining us for the round as well, because it looks like we're playing up with the angels this morning.  While it was evident I wouldn't see all the great landscape I looked forward to from the pictures, we were up for the challenge of playing what could best be described as blindfolded golf.

Shawn launching into the mist.

Our tee time was delayed a half hour to let the fog lift a little, but we all soon realized this is what it was going to be, so we just went for it.  This must mean it's going to clear up be gorgeous for the wedding tomorrow.  On a good day, my drives go about a buck fifty.  With the visibility at 100 yards (or less), I can't see where my shots are going.  Meaning everyone else is really taking a shot in the dark.  That also means we have no idea where the pin is either.  Did I fail to mention the scorecard is lacking a course layout?  *Sigh*

When the visibility was a little better.

I can't tell you what our favorite hole was because we couldn't see any of them, and we all probably played the worst round of golf ever.  This round was still an incredible experience because of the quality time and memories we shared together. The lack of visibility led to more lost balls than I care to mention, and a round of golf that took us six hours to play.  There were a number of times throughout the round we were each ready to throw our towel in, but Uncle Chuck kept pressing through.  Being the young bucks, I felt like we had to follow suit.

Uncle Chuck

Full disclosure: Uncle Chuck is fighting the good fight against Pancreatic Cancer, and the exciting changes brought about as a result of it and chemotherapy.  I don't know how he got through this whole round because I even sat through a few holes.  Meanwhile, he chose to walk instead of ride in the cart, since it was easier to get to the ball.  He is the definition of a rock star.

Despite the rain, she's still one happy camper!

Chris and Kerry: the happy couple.

The sun did start to peek through once we reached 18.  After that memory-filled round of golf, all five of us went to lunch before returning home.  It wasn't our best round of golf, but it is undoubtedly one we won't soon forget.  We might just have to go back, after all, to see what it looks
like in the sunshine.

In case you were wondering, the soupy skies set sail, and the skies were sunny and blue for the wedding the following day.

Newport National Website

Newport National Golf Club (Middletown, RI)