AAGT @ Panther Creek -- review

How's this to start your back nine: 3 - 3 - 3 - 2. Pretty good, huh? It would be, if it were total strokes on a hole.

However, in this case, it was my putting.

Nice.

On a bright, cool, sunny morning the Jacksonville AAGT held its 2nd event of the season at the new golf course Panther Creek. The weather was great for good scoring, but that all changed when the players stepped onto the course. For only the 2nd time ever on the Jacksonville tour, there were only 3 rounds recorded under 80 in an event. This time the course won the battle with the AAGT players. The event saw two playoffs and two new winners.

My amazing 92 was not among them.

The two lowest scores of the day were turned in by John Taylor and Jerome Alba in the Palmer Flight with a 78. Both headed back onto the course for the first playoff of the season, and John prevailed on the 2nd playoff hole as the victor of the flight. In the Nicklaus flight, Steven Davis shot the only other round under 80, with a 79, and held off new member Chad Smith (80) by one shot to win his 2nd consecutive event in a row in Jacksonville.

In the Hogan Flight, new member Jason Odom came out for his 2nd event and shot a great round of 84 with two eagles on his card to win by 4 shots over returning 2002 member Jeff Wyatt (88). Pity the fool, 'cause Jason was not even in the skins game with those two eagles. I bet he will get into the skins game in the future. Another new member who saw victory for the 1st time, was Marshall Coffman in the Jones flight, who shot a solid round of 93 to also win by four shots over tour veteran Christopher Klien (97).

Also we saw two other players continue their great play and get consecutive victories for the season. In the Sarazen flight, three players finished with a score of 86, Joe Denton, Kendrick Duncan, and Stephan Jones. After the 1st playoff hole, Stephan continued his great play and won his 2nd event of the season. In the Snead flight, after one no-show, two withdrawls during the event, it came down to two players, Duke Denson and Mike This. Duke was the winner with a round of 100, with Mike finishing with a socre of 113.

The course was a great challenge for all the players, but fun was had by all. It will be nice to see this course again after it has had awhile to mature.

The next event on the Jacksonville AAGT is going to be held on April 1st at Ponte Vedra Golf & Country Club at Sawgrass, also know as "Oakbridge". We are returning back to this course after a one year break. After the experience of this difficult course at Panther Creek, the players will enjoy this unique layout with 6 par 3's. They say the course is in its best shape in 10 years.

We'll see.

As always, I'm looking for sponsors to help with the costs associated with this Tour. Please contact me for more info.