WeKoPa, an 89 and high score for the year!
WeKoPa is without question my favorite desert course. Set on Indian land off Highway 89, you get to enjoy views of nature and pristine Sonoran desert without homes, condos, shopping malls, or roads. It’s hard to concentrate as the beauty and serenity of the place take hold of you.
Well, I wish I could blame my poor golf on the beauty or desert. But for me, it was all just lack of execution.
I started the day slowing my swing down and just trying to get the ball in play. But my timing was so off that I started hitting hooks and draws when my normal straight or even cut shots were expected. This left me in a few tough spots that required far too many shots to make par.
My most painful memory of the tournament will be the 9th hole, a 459 yard par 4 with traps on the middle-right side of the fairway and a pond way off to the right (see detailed image to the right). I busted a drive that caught the lip of the fairway bunker and pushed my ball straight down into the trap. The face was steep. It was a risk, but I decided to take my 5 iron, open the face, and try to blast the ball out for as much distance as possible. It didn’t work as the ball caught the lip again and ended up behind where I made the first attempt. I grabbed my 6 iron. “I think I can…I think I can,” came to my mind. I swung and got the ball to the lip again, but this time the ball fell into another trap just in front of the other. Four shots executed, and I’m still in a trap at 175 yards from the green. I hit the 6 iron again, this time out of the sand for my 5th shot. I hit my 6th shot from about 65 yards with my sand wedge to about 18 feet of of the pin. I looked the line over, figured the speed, and struck my 7th shot with my trusty belly putter. I lipped out. My 8th shot was a tiny 6 incher, and I was off to the 10th hole with fire in belly and as swirling of swear words in my head.
WeKoPa Golf Club
Par: 72
Course rating: 73
Slope: 136
My Score: 89