Redwood Meadows Golf Course: Love/Hate Relationship With Ponds
Most golfers have a love/hate relationship with the ponds on a golf course. They love them because they enhance the aesthetics of the course. Who doesn’t love to stand on the tee box and look out to a lush green and see the trees, cloud and sky reflected in the water of a pond? It can be magical and at the same time, a bit daunting, especially if you put your ball in the water last round.
Redwood Meadows Golf Course has three spectacular par 3s with ponds - 8, 12, and 15, as well as ponds on several other holes. I didn’t realize until I started looking at my photos after the golf season was over, that I took 200+ photos of the Redwood Meadows ponds on as they evolved from spring to fall.
The #12 hole at Redwood Meadows is its signature hole. Ironically so is the #12 hole at Augusta National Golf Course home of The Masters. Both are known for their picturesque setting that includes a water in front of the green.
The interplay of light, shadow, reflection and colour on pond at the 15th hole in September is like a huge colour-field painting.
I never get tired of looking at the reflection of the trees, sky and clouds in the ponds.
Aesthetics & Golf?
I am always a bit surprised at how much golfers pay attention to the aesthetics of the golf course they are playing.
While they may not articulate it as such, for many of us it is like going to an art gallery or art museum, the signature hole arousing feelings an art aficionado gets when they see a masterpiece.
However, the “hate” soon surfaces when your ball ends up in the water.
Sometimes it seems like there is a huge magnet underneath the pond that grabs your ball as it flies over. What should be a simple shot to a large green somehow becomes much harder when there is water in the way.
Terry Bachynski hoping for that miraculous shot.
But, the “hate” quickly evolves into an adrenaline rush when you approach the greenside to discover your ball has just kicked to the edge of the water hazard providing an opportunity for a miracle recovery shot and the glory of the story for the rest of the round…or perhaps the season.
Ah, the love/hate relationship.
However, this year for some unknown reason I really fell in love with the ponds at Redwood Meadows, my home course for the past 20+ years.
Perhaps I can attribute it to COVID, isn’t everything related to COVID in 2020.
Nature Guy Vs City Slicker
Could it be that golf is really an excuse for me to take a walk in a nature (and not just a catchy slogan on a coffee mug)? I am always saying that I am an urban guy. I don’t need to go to the mountains and hike or bike, I can easily do that in the city. I am the guy preaching to explore the neighbourhoods in your city. So what do I do every week, four times a week from May to September, (and maybe even in April and October if Mother Nature will let me) head to Redwood Meadows golf course.
Could it be that the ponds at Redwood are my equivalent of writer Henry David Thoreau’s Walden ponds in Concord, Massachusetts or painter Claude Monet’s pond in his garden Giverny, France?
Thoreau & Monet
Thoreau was an early adopter of “social distancing.” In 1845, he decided to isolate himself from the rest of the world and go live in a hut next to Walden Pond.
While there, he reflected on the meaning of life and experimented with how he could life simply and work as little as possible.
Like Thoreau, during golf season I spend (at least four hours a day, four times a week), reflecting on the meaning of my life and life in general.
Yes this is true! For me, the meaning of life in the summer, revolves mostly around question “How can I become a single digit handicapper?” or “How can I avoid a three putt?”
Serious stuff that makes COVID seem irrelevant.
There is a lot of philosophizing that goes on during the game of golf and afterwards (beer helps us put the world events into perspective). I often wonder why am I wasting my time golfing, when I could be learning another language or to play a musical instrument or volunteering to help others.
But that doesn’t last long, and soon I am Kijiji trolling for a new putter (so I don’t three putt every again) or a driver that will go 10 years further and always land in the fairway. I have 30+ putters and counting…and 4 different drivers and none of them work as I had hoped.
Link: The New Yorker: The Moral Judgments of Henry David Thoreau
Perhaps it is the dormant artist in me that makes me love the ponds more than the average golfer.
Like Monet, I rejoice in the ever-changing light, reflection, distortions, abstractions and colour of nature.
I have always enjoyed nature’s abstractions or should I say distractions caused by reflections - be they in the water of the ponds at Redwood or the glass of the skyscrapers of downtown Calgary.
To me, the ponds at Redwood are like huge canvases that have been painted by some Impressionism artist.
The golf course can be like an outdoor art museum.
Monet’s famous water lilies.
Redwood’s not so famous leaves.
Bachynski Perspective
I thought I would ask my long-time friend, sometimes golf partner, painter and writer Terry Bachysnki what he thought about the love/hate golf relationship.
He responded with:
Among other pearls of wisdom, Mark Twain said, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” I couldn’t disagree more. Walking a beautiful golf course and taking the time between the shots to relax and contemplate the beauty of my surroundings is a huge part of the whole experience. The golf round is a 4-hour experience comprised of 85 (more or less) golf shots, each shot consuming about a minute or so of set up and execution. That leaves approximately 2.5 hours of free time to relax, walk, not worry about hitting a golf ball and just enjoy myself, my companionship with my fellow golfers and the golf course.
Seems like a pretty nice walk to me.
For the artist, a walk on a golf course, especially in the early morning or fading light of autumn can inspire hours of creativity in the studio after the round and season is over. That is why I golf with my camera (set on airplane mode of course)…to catch a fleeting image for a future painting. I hit my ball into the trees and, in my desperate search to try and save a stroke and a ball, discover toadstools the size of hub caps. When I am “in the right place”, I approach a par 3 green unconcerned about the attempt at an up and down from the sand trap as I take in the surrounding of autumn’s glorious colours and the blanket of late afternoon dappled shadows across the putting surface.
Arnold Palmer was golfing in a Pro-Am on the Wednesday before the start of a tournament. One of his fellow golfers was a 15 handicapper. The amateur lined up his shot and duffed it (not for the first time that day) and then proceeded to curse and pound the ground with his club in frustration.
Palmer calmly walked up to the amateur, put his arm over his shoulder and kindly said, “You are not good enough to be angry with that shot.” That is my golfing mantra. I say that to myself easily ten times per round. When I remember that, I enjoy the game, my companions, the walk and the day much more.
Redwood Slideshow
Last Word
Looks like it is going to be a long winter ahead, with limited travel meaning, I will be spending a lot of time looking at my collection of Redwood and other photographs. And doing lots of surfing on Kijiji for that magic golf club.
I think Robin Williams, in his monologue, best puts golf into perspective.
Link: Robin Williams Golf 18 F*** times
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Redwood Meadows Reflections In Black & White