I was joined by Barry and his wife Heather. Heather wasn't playing, so I enlisted her to shoot some stills with the Nikon. Unfortunately me being the bone head that I am forgot to load it with film. Sorry Heather, I'm sure you had some great shots! As I went, I video taped every second hole, so the shots you see here are frames from the video. The second couple to join us were Bill and Barb. Bill had just returned from the real Mecca of golf in Scotland, so I was hoping some magic would rub off on me, and Barb has just taken up this silly game so maybe some beginners luck would drift my way. I wasn't disappointed. The Algonquin has 8 different tees: platinum, gold, silver, silver(W), bronze, bronze(W), copper, and copper(W). Gold would be blue on most courses and is rated 71.6 with a slope of 130. The silvers, would be whites and are rated 69.3 with a slope of 124. The bronze would be reds and are rated 67.2 with a slope of 120. The course runs 6517 yards off the golds and 6075 yards off the silvers. The only thing missing here are classier tee markers. What they have done is cut arrow heads out of wood to match their logo and painted them to match the colours. They look cheezy! It's also very difficult to tell the difference between platinum and silver which is a little confusing on the few tee boxes that happen to be quite close to each other.

I shanked my 3 iron off the first tee but ended up with a flyer lie in the right rough 150 yards from the pin over water. My second shot ended up well left in tall fescue behind tall spruces totally blinding me from the green. I managed to play a wedge over the trees onto the green and two putt for a 5. On 2 after a good drive, I hit a 3 wood 210 yards towards the green and skipped off the water hazard that completely protects the dance floor and landed just right of the green in the short rough. I chipped on and two putted for another 5.

The rest of the front wasn't too bad except for a triple on #7. I went out with a 46. Barry went out with a 42. I didn't get Bill's or Barb's front scores. But Bill had a solid front and for a newcomer Barb was doing well.

The back opened up well with a good drive to the light rough clearing the fairway bunkers. My approach landed to the left of the green but I duffed my chip and two putted for a 6. Captain Dave joined me at 15 and witnessed my moment of Zen on the short 319 yard par 4, 16th. I drove the ball 250 yards straight as an arrow down the narrow fairway landing in the green side bunker. I had an easy out but couldn't get close to the pin. I ended up three putting for a 5, but what a drive!