Double-dipping doesn't pay at East Golf Club

Oldgolfdawg chased the pea with good friend and former Dispatch colleague Jeremy Lynch (aka the Lynch Mob) yesterday at East Golf Club and developed a new-found appreciation for the fifth hole, a 155-yard par 3 that is taking its rightful place on his Elegant Eighteen list.

A shaky start to Oldgolfdawg's round took on considerable water at No. 5 when he sent two new Bridgestones to watery graves at the bottom of the pond protecting the front of the green. It took a nice downhill 12-foot putt from the fringe to escape with a triple-bogey 6. Oldgolfdawg was thanking the golf gods for having pity on him when that putt dropped.

Playing in our group was Dell, a talkative dentist from Virginia, and his son, Keith, who had no doubt heard all of "Dad's stories" before. Anyway, the best score out of our foursome was a 5, and three out of four of us contributed to Davey Jones' locker. Oldgolfdawg led the field in that regard with his double dip. Arrrrgh!

The bottom line is No. 5 is one bad hombre. From the tee, the player takes aim at a green that is 20 yards deep but is set diagonally so that it requires more carry over the pond the farther right one aims. If the pin is placed on the far right, the hole becomes longer than the 155 yards indicated on the scorecard. If the pin is placed on the far left, it becomes shorter but the angle of the green is such that it leaves you with less margin of error. There is a small bailout area to the left, but it leaves one with a difficult and dangerous chip. Landing anywhere on the green, which is also protected by a backside bunker, is worth celebrating. Hitting to the middle of the green, which is sloped mostly from back to front, is the way to go, and then just take your chances on not three-putting. The first time Oldgolfdawg played the hole he watched a fellow pea-chaser putt one off the green into the pond. Ouch!

Wind from the southwest was in our face when our group played No. 5 yesterday, making things more interesting. Oldgolfdawg doesn't need interesting. He needs pars. And he never really recovered from the shock to the system No. 5 delivered on his way to front-nine 44. The back nine was better, a 41, but by that time the damage already was done. Lynch Mob, a sweet-swinging port-sider who routinely hits drives 300 yards plus, schooled Oldgolfdawg with a solid 41-41 82. Well done, lad.

The season is still early but Oldgolfdawg doesn't like the current trend in his scoring: 81 Wednesday at Golf Club of Dublin, 84 Thursday at Blacklick Woods and 85 yesterday at East Golf Club. That said, there's only one way to fix the problem: Keep chasing the pea.

http://www.eastgolfclub.com/