Wilderness 1

1
Par 4, 485 yards

The first is the longest hole. I usually prefer an honest-to-goodness par 4 to start out with--par 5 is too daunting without any holes behind you, and par 3 is too discouraging that if you don't play the first one well, you've got a lot of yardage to go.

The hole is straight enough, though some mounds and a water hazard (marsh hazard now) make it interesting. I send a 3-wood across the street and into the woods--that's my mulligan--then flub a 4-iron short and slightly right. I send one 6-iron to the middle of the fairway, then scuff another 6-iron off to the side. My 9-iron won't carry the darn marsh hazard and stops short, so I pitch it within a couple paces of the green. A 7-iron chip gets me to within one putt, but the strokes have piled up and I have a double-bogey 7.