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Southern Illinois’s Toughest Holes
And How to Play Them

by Geary Deniston

Residents of Southern Illinois are lucky to have some of the best golf courses in the tri-state region-- five are located within a ten-mile radius of Carbondale, and each course has some of the area’s most challenging holes to play. What follows are the hardest holes as chosen by SIU men’s golf coach Leroy Newton and women’s coach Diane Daugherty, and how to play them.

Hickory Ridge Public Golf Center
2127 West Glenn Road, (618) 529-4386

Hickory Ridge is a public golf center with an eighteen-hole championship course complete with a pro shop, driving range, and putting green. Golfers can find it by heading west from Carbondale on Illinois 13 and turning right on New Era Road for two miles before turning left on Glenn Road. One of the most challenging golf courses around, it is home to the SIU men’s and women’s teams and the Carbondale Community High School boys’ and girls’ golf teams. Newton choose Holes Seven, Ten, and Sixteen, while Daugherty had problems with Six, Fifteen, and Sixteen. Area professional Lance Williams offers his analyses and suggestions for each trouble hole.

Hole Six: Par Five, 534 Yards

"This hole requires a long tee shot because it is uphill over the crest of a mound. If you hit a good tee shot then you are looking at 240 yards to the green with a valley and a ditch about 150 yards further on the tree-lined fairway to clear with your second shot. Basically it requires two perfect shots to negotiate the trees right and left off the tee and a group of trees to the right of the fairway, with a soft dogleg right after the trees.

"You have to be to the right of the fairway to have a legitimate shot at the green. Once you blast through the gap in the trees with anything from a six iron to a three wood on your second shot, then the hole really opens up after that. If you are not on the green with your second shot, it is just a little pitch up with a sand wedge onto the green which has two bunkers guarding the right and left sides with a small mound running from each. The front half of the green slopes away from you, down to a little depression in the middle, and the back half slopes back to the middle of the green. Your best bet is to be just short of the hole so you are left with an uphill putt, which is a type you can be most aggressive with."

Hole Seven: Par Four, 406 Yards

"This is an average-length hole with the fairway ending at about 260 yards from the tee, where anything longer than that starts rolling down a hill into a creek. So your best bet is to hit a three wood or two iron off the back tees, and that will leave you on the top tier in the 150-yard range. From there you’re going over water with a bunker right, left and back of the green, which slopes back to front. So you then use a nine or eight iron into the green, leaving an uphill putt."

Hole Ten: Par Four, 398 Yards

"This is a very difficult tree-lined dogleg-left hole. The problem is that the tees are set up to the left of the fairway, so that really enhances the dogleg. The dogleg starts after 150 yards, so any shot over 240 is about as long as you can hit, so you really can’t hit a driver off the tee. So you need to hit a perfect three wood in order to find the fairway and hit it long enough to have a clear shot to the green.

"The fairway has a big forest on the left and it is tree-lined to the right. So you have to hit it long enough to be around the corner, but you can’t hit it through the fairway because the dogleg is pretty substantial. If you get into the corner you are looking at 140 yards, which sets up another eight or nine iron to the green. The green has a bunker left and mounds along the right side. It is bit flatter than most greens, so anything on the front half is not an easy putt-- but it is not as undulating as on the back half where the mounds influence your shot. So you want to be on the front half to leave you an uphill putt."

Hole Fifteen: Par Five, 529 Yards

"This is a long hole with a dogleg right that is virtually ninety degrees. It is about 280 yards to the dogleg, so most times you can hit a three wood or driver off the tee. It is relatively open on the fairway... the only thing that protects the dogleg is a bunch of mounds with very heavy rough, which makes the second shot very difficult because it goes down a ravine with a creek that splits the fairway and back up again. As you go up that hill, it becomes very tight just like a little chute to the green. If I hit my shot on the fairway with about 240 yards left, I can try to hit a three wood, but the only problem is it is hard to hit a shot high enough out of the rough to carry up the double-tiered fairway. There is a little pocket on the first tier and then a hill that goes up a good twelve feet to the next fairway. If you can get it up to the top fairway, you are left with about seventy yards using a sand wedge into a green that has a bunker left, right and back. The green slopes pretty severely back to front, so you want to hit short of the hole."

Hole Sixteen: Par Four, 417 Yards

"This is easily the toughest hole in Southern Illinois. It’s open until about 220 yards, and then the fairway crests and goes down a very substantial valley that begins about 240 yards. The fairway is table-topped where the balls will tend to roll off both right and left. Off the left side it goes down a twenty-foot drop into a ditch, and the right side has a creek and a forest area, so you really have to hit the perfect shot using a four iron to a three wood off the tee. After you get to the bottom of valley, there is a tremendous uphill rise from there to the green. You hit a six to a four iron on your second shot if you are lucky enough to get it in the fairway.

"Uphill, there is a bunker front-left and a bunker all along the right side of the green. The green severely slopes back to front, so being below the hole is definitely optimal. It is the toughest hole I have probably played anywhere."

Jackson Country Club
6070 Country Club Road, Murphysboro, (618) 684-2387

This is a private club four miles west of Carbondale on Illinois 13 and one mile south on Country Club Road. This short, 5,897-yard, fully watered eighteen-hole course is known for its zoysia fairways and slick greens. Both Daugherty and Newton chose Hole Sixteen as the hole that gave them the most trouble, while Newton added Hole Thirteen. Head golf pro Jesse Barge agreed with Newton that both holes were particularly troublesome.

Hole Thirteen: Par Four, 395 Yards

"This hole is a pretty tight fit, with a treeline down the right side made up of pretty tall pine trees. So if you get it over to the right of the trees, it is really difficult to get the ball back in play-- you almost have to get right of the treeline and try to make your par by pitching on the green and making your putt. The left side has a lateral hazard, a lake-- and if you hit the fairway, then for your second shot you have to go over water because there is water between the fairway and green. So you have a regular water hazard to cross as you approach the green, and if you happen to pull your second shot left, you are into the lake. Being a fairly long hole, it is fairly challenging. It takes a really good tee shot and then you have to be accurate on your approach shot using a five to eight iron. The is the most demanding driving hole on the course, and the green is protected short and left by water, which makes it pretty challenging. But once you get up to the green, it is not much of a problem since it is pretty flat."

Hole Sixteen: Par Three, 205 Yards

"This hole is uphill, so it plays longer than the 205 or 195 depending on the tee and hole location. The green has three different levels to it, so you not only have to hit the green, but the right part of it. Parts of the green have some fairly severe slopes. This is a pretty straightforward hole with an out-of-bounds left, but that doesn’t generally come into play."

Midland Hills Golf Course
309 Midland Hills Road, (618) 529-3698

Midland Hills, a public course, is the oldest in Southern Illinois. It is a hilly nine-hole layout measuring 3,052 yards four miles south of Carbondale on U.S. 51, then one mile south on Old 51 to Midland Hills Road. Newton had not played this course before, but Daugherty and manager Brian Young agreed that Hole Four was not only the worst hole on the course, but possibly the most difficult in Southern Illinois-- it has earned the nickname "The Monster."

Hole Four: Par Five, 618 yards

"You tee off from an elevated tee across a creek and shoot through a huge dogleg left with woods on either side. Usually a person should hit a three iron just to get off the tee and get across the creek, where you have a little landing down there.

"The only problem is... if you just get over the creek you won’t have a shot to a second creek. If you are in prime position after your tee shot, then your second shot is another layup shot using a five iron to the second creek, which is about twenty-five yards wide with trees on the left side and a big pine tree with little ones around it in the middle. So because of those trees in the creek, you have to lay up enough in front of the creek to get around it, with about 150 yards remaining straight uphill to an elevated green using a seven iron for that third shot.

"In addition to those two creeks running east and west, we have two other creeks running north and south with the creek on the left side of the fairway covered with trees. The green is a small green that looks like a big plateau that is sloped downward facing you. There is a hillside on the back end of it, and it has a nice collared fringe around it. It gives you two feet of level on the front of the fringe and three around the back. This hole is one of the longest around here, and with those water and tree hazards it earns its nickname, ‘The Monster.’"

Stone Creek Golf Club
503 Stone Creek Drive, Makanda, (618) 457-5455

Stone Creek is considered the area’s most scenic. Located near the big yellow water tower with the smiley face at the entrance to Makanda and Giant City State Park, it sits six miles south of Carbondale on New Highway 51. It is a six-hundred-acre golf course and subdivision complete with eighteen holes, a driving range, a pro shop, and snack bar, and the public is always welcome. Newton has not played this course, but Daugherty immediately listed Hole Five as the one that gave her trouble. Head golf pro Ramona Young offered these suggestions on how to solve those problems:

Hole Five: Par Four, 383 yards

"This hole has a valley you have to go down through and a narrow entrance to the green with some trees and a water area with a rock ledge on the right. So you would use a driver off the tee and a wedge to get in close to the green for the men, and a seven to nine iron for a woman. But if they get off to the right of the fairway and the hole is not placed right, then that second shot is very demanding. The green has a rock embankment with some water in front, right of the green, and [there’s] a lot of trees. So if the pin is to the right of the green and you don’t get your tee shot on the left of the fairway, you can’t get very close."

Crab Orchard Golf Club
901 West Grand Avenue, Carterville, (618) 985-2321

Crab Orchard Golf Club is located east of Carbondale and north of John A. Logan Community College. An eighteen-hole, semi-private club, it featues a pro shop, driving range, locker room, restaurant, and cocktail lounge. It has a very challenging back nine which attracts some top pros, according to Steve Heckel, the head professional. Heckel said that Holes Twelve to Sixteen will make or break a golfer’s round, because there are no par fives on the back nine. Daugherty, however, chose hole Thirteen as her worst nightmare, while Newton picked holes Fourteen and Sixteen as the most difficult.

Hole Thirteen: Par Four, 390 Yards

" Thirteen requires a very, very well placed tee shot. There is water up at the green and the fairway kind of bends slightly back to the right. It’s tree-lined both left and right, and the trees are lined up so that it is impossible to do much with the ball, so you have to consider laying up or pitching out. If you hit it in the treeline on the right-hand side, you can get an opening because of the angle, and you have a much better chance of getting a shot at the green over the water. If you place the tee shot properly, you will have a nine or eight iron or a wedge with anywhere from 150 to one-hundred yards left to the pin. But you only have an effective fairway of about twenty-five yards. Another way of playing the hole is to take a two iron or three wood and lay it back at 150 yards and then you can get up over the trees on the left. The green is very sloped from left to right and has a bunker in front of it and water about ten yards off it on the right side. It’s a very quick putting surface, which will break either left to right or right to left."

Hole Fourteen: Par Four, 435 Yards

"Fourteen is one of the hardest golf holes in southern Illinois and is rated number one on our golf course.

"Fourteen requires a tee shot that goes 220 yards to get by the dogleg by using a three wood or a driver. If you drive it through the fairway you will be in the trees, and if you drive it to the right because it is a direct ninety-degree dogleg, you will also be in the trees.

"Only the very longest of players in Southern Illinois are able to carry over the trees, but it is a pretty risky shot because if you hit the trees and lose a ball you are going to make a double or triple bogey. You are left with a 170- to 210-yard shot into the green and need to use a two or three iron or a five to seven wood on down to a five or six iron depending on how close to the dogleg you are. The green is about forty yards in depth and doesn’t have a lot of slope so it is not very difficult, but has a bunker on the left side."

Hole Sixteen: Par Three, 220 Yards

"You’ve got about 212 yards to carry a small lake with a big fountain in the middle of it from the back tee on this hole, and the green is not large enough to be played from the back unless you play with very good players.

"The green is about 5,500 square feet and that is receptive to a mid-iron. The hole ranges from 102 yards for the women to 218 yards for the men depending on what tee you select. When you use the back tee and you have that much water to carry, you will use a three wood, two iron, or driver. So you stand back there and with the wind in your face you are trying to hit [this] postage stamp of a green... that is what makes this hole so difficult. Hopefully, you are on the green with your tee shot and the green has trees on the right and a row of pine trees around the back and on the left side. It is much more playable from the left side than the right if you miss the green. It is a flat green, so you’re putting skill comes to play there."

A Duffer’s Guide to Playing the Toughest Holes in Southern Illinois
Part II

by Geary Deniston

Last summer I talked to the local golf pros at Hickory Ridge and Midland Hills golf courses in Carbondale, Crab Orchard Golf Course in Carterville, Jackson Country Club in Murphysboro, and Stone Creek Golf Course in Makanda, and they explained how to play their hardest holes. That article is online on the Treasures of Little Egypt section of the CarbondaleRocks.com website.

This summer I have ranged farther afield and talked to the officials at Colonial Hills LLC, Kokopelli Golf Club, and Lake of Egypt Country Club in Marion, as well as Green Acres Golf Club in Herrin and Union County Country Club in Anna to give golfers a fighting chance while playing their tough holes.

Kokopelli Golf Course
1401 Champions Drive, Marion, (618) 997-5656

Kokopelli Golf Club, opened in 1997, has eighteen challenging holes of golf spread across 160 acres of beautiful terrain designed by renowned golf architect Steve Smyers. It is the hardest-rated golf course in Southern Illinois and is also home to one of the area's finest eateries, the Clubhouse Restaurant. Kokopelli is open to the public and anyone can enjoy a round, novice and scratch golfers alike.

The prominent features of this golf course are its ninety-six bunkers, most of them out of play. There is hardly any water on the golf course because the architect doesn’t believe in water hazards, where golfers can lose their balls. Rather, he wants players to be able to recover from bunkers. The fairways are wide, with a lot of room to drive the ball off the tee. All greens, with the exception of fourteen, give the option of being able to run the ball up on the green. There are no forced carries except for fourteen.

Aaron Fisher, the resident golf pro since Kokopelli opened in 1997, came from the St. Louis area and worked at a private club there for nine years before joining Kokopelli. He had these suggestions for how to play the course’s three hardest holes.

Hole Sixteen: Par Four, 364 to 452 Yards

"This hole is a dogleg left with a double fairway and lots of potential trouble. A less-than-perfect tee shot will ask the player to be smart the remainder of the hole so as to avoid a big score. You will use a driver off the tee. There are bunkers that split the two fairways. If you go down the left side the fairway is much narrower, so that is a very tough tee shot, but you can cut fifty yards off by going that way. If you choose the left you then your approach shot is tougher since you have some more bunkers to shoot over to get to the green. So you will use a six- or seven-iron for your approach shot. If you play out to the right fairway it is much safer. There you will use anything from a three-wood to a five-iron into the green. Once you get to the green there are two more big bunkers around it, right and left. If you play out to the right you will have an opening to run out on the green, but it is a longer approach shot. So this hole is a risk-reward hole. If you want to go left and play the hole shorter you have to flirt with the bunkers, and if you play out to the right the hole plays quite a bit longer, but at least you can run a shot up to the green and you have a little more margin for error.

"The green has quite a bit of slope in it from a tier that runs through the middle of the green that cuts it in half. So depending on where the pin is, you want to be on the correct side of that tier to make it an easy putt, or otherwise you will have to [be] content with the slope on your putt. The thing that makes this hole difficult is not being on one side of the pin or the other, but the fact that there are bunkers all the way down the fairway and bunkers surrounding the green. So it takes two accurate shots to get to the green."

Hole Three: Par Five, 464 to 559 Yards

"This hole has thirteen bunkers down the left side of the fairway before you get to the left dogleg. There is a creek that crosses the fairway about 130 yards from the green. It is not a huge creek, but it messes with you on your layup shot. If you hit a good drive you can knock it over that creek and leave yourself a short approach to the green where you would use a three-wood. If you don’t hit a good tee shot, you lay up short of that creek and then have to hit it into the green from 150-160 yards out using a five- to seven-iron. The green is really unreachable in two shots. The green is not very deep from front to back, only thirty steps deep. There is a big bunker in front and two big bunkers behind the green. The green has a lot of slope in it. There is a great, huge bowl in the middle of the green where all the shots tend to funnel. It really kind of cuts the green into three sections. You have an area on the left that is fairly flat, an area in the middle that is down in that bowl, and an area on the right that is fairly flat. You want to be on one of those three spots depending where the pin is. It is a very small green so you have to have a very accurate approach shot with a little spin on it to hold the green."

Hole Fourteen: Par Three, sixty-one to 146 yards

"Hole fourteen is another hole everybody thinks about because it is a short par-three hole with a small green that plays over the water. It is a downhill shot off the tee over water to the green. The water hazard is an old strip pit about thirty-feet deep. So on your tee shot you want to hit the green because there is very little margin for error. There is a bunker in front of the green and two bunkers behind the green. But the part of the hole that makes it difficult is making sure you get an accurate tee shot over the water so that you are not in the water and over those bunkers. The green slopes from the back left to the front right towards the water. Your best bet is to land your tee shot in the middle of the green and go from there. The change in elevation along with the winds that swirl over the green can make it extra difficult."

Union County Country Club
430 E. Jefferson, Anna, (618) 833-7912

Union County Country Club is a semi-private country club open to the public It an eighteen-hole facility and that added its back nine four years ago. The front nine is a little over fifty years old and is very well matured with a lot of trees. The back nine is more of a link-style course with rolling hills and water and no trees. Thus golfers get two different styles of golf courses one course, making it hard to golf consistently. The holes wander around ponds and the edges of woods on the front side, while the back is pretty much wide open with a lot of water, up and down hills, and some rolling mountains.

Brandon Bierstedt is the pro and a Union County native who graduated from Shawnee High School. He has been in the golf business since 1996 and just moved back to Anna after living in Texas and Florida. He had these suggestions on how to play the hardest two holes.

Hole Four: Par Four, Four-hundred Yards

"This hole is a sharp dogleg right with out-of-bounds on the right, and on the left of the fairway is a parking lot and the driving range. There are trees all the way down the right with out-of-bounds on the right. So if you don’t clear the trees you are in trouble. This is not a hole you would hit a driver off the tee per se, unless you are going to try to go over the top of the trees. From there you would have about one-hundred yards left to the pin and you would use a short-iron to the green. But the average golfer cannot get over the trees, so I suggest you take the easier shot and hit it down the fairway by hitting a long iron off the tee box that will leave you about 180 yards to the hole at the crook of the dogleg. From there you would use a long- to mid-iron to the green. The green is undulating with out-of-bounds on the back and bunkers to the right. Your best bet is to drop your shot as close to the pin as possible."

Hole Seventeen: Par Four, 420 Yards

"This is a straightaway hole with out-of-bounds all the way down the right side and a pond that runs up the left side of the fairway. It has a very small landing area. Off the tee, you can go one of two ways. You either use a driver to try to clear the pond to try to hit the bigger landing area, but to do that you have to carry about 240 yards. Then that will leave a short-iron to the green. Or you can just hit an iron off the tee box that will leave you a long-iron to the green. The green runs up hill and slopes back to front with a sand trap on the right side. You always want to try to put your green shot below the pin."

Green Acres Golf Club
2705 S. Park Avenue, Herrin, (618) 942-6816

Green Acres Golf Course opened in 1968 with the front nine holes; it added the back nine in 1990. Green Acres, open to the public, is designed as a tight course with a lot of water on several holes and fast greens.

This is not a course for the beginning golfer. This course offers a little bit of everything, with pine and oak trees lining every fairway. It offers two kinds of course, with the front nine longer and more wide open and the back nine shorter and tighter. There is no sand on this course-- all six of the bunkers are grass. The bunkers are next to the greens full of about four inches of bluegrass.

One of the owners, Michael Gould, had these suggestions about playing the two toughest holes.

Hole Sixteen: Par Three, One-hundred Yards

"This hole features an island green about forty-five feet wide and eighty feet long surrounded by water with treated lumber and riff-raff all around to the water’s edge. The tee is elevated above the green about twenty feet. So you would hit a wedge right off the tee to hit that green, and depending on how successful your shot was, you are either wet or you are dry. If you hit the green and stay on it then you would have to walk across a little inlet. Even though you can walk across the inlet, it is not wide enough to do golfers much good for bouncing on it since it is out of the way to the right. The green is banked uphill to the back and slopes to the right and left. It is such that you really want to aim the ball to the center of the green or you will end up in the water. If you land too far up the bank or too far to the right or left then the ball will roll into the water. But it does not break all that much, so it is not a tricky green once you are there."

Hole Five: Par Five, 585 yards

"This hole is a long hole with a dogleg to the right. There are out-of-bounds to the right all the way down with tall trees on both sides and another hole to the left of the fairway. If you want to cut the dogleg then you better be able to hit long and high to clear the trees. From the tee, there is a valley in front of you that slopes up to a flat landing area where from there it is a straightaway shot to the green. So with the distance on this hole you use a driver off the tee. On your second shot you would use a three-wood and usually try to hit to the top of the hill where there is a level place that slopes downhill to two ponds in front of the green you have to clear. There [are] thirty yards between the ponds and the green.

"From there it usually takes a sand wedge if you are right at those ponds to get on the green or a six- or seven-iron if you are farther back. The green is elevated about fifteen-feet above the water on a hill. If you miss it on the right, there will be a slope dropoff that your ball is going to kick off about twelve feet. This is the problem area.

"So then you would have to pitch over the embankment to get back on the green. The left side of the green is level, the front is sloped a little bit, and the back is even. The green itself has a two-tier setup with the top third level. There is a hump all the way across the middle of the green that you will have putt over. We put it there to throw people off, and it does its job. When the pin is set on top of the hump it is really hard to putt. So what you want to do is to hit your shot on top of the slope or stay just below the hole. If you get to the side you will have a big old breaking putt, and that is a difficult shot. To add to it, the green is fast, so it will come down that slope pretty quick, so an accurate safe shot is best."

Colonial Hills LLC
1602 Old Creal Springs Road, Marion, (618) 997-1140

Colonial Hills is a nine-hole golf course open to the public with two ponds and no sand. It is a very simple course, which makes it a good one on which beginners can learn. New Bermuda grass has been installed within the past month on the fairways to make this course much more enjoyable and a bit more challenging. Course attendant Stan Stout had these suggestions concerning playing the toughest hole.

Hole Nine: Par Four, 390 yards

"This hole offers golfers a tough challenge when completing their round. The hole is a dogleg left, but many golfers choose to cut the yardage and hit straight towards the green. Left of the fairway before you get to the dogleg is fairly clear before getting to a line of trees with the right side totally open. After the turn of the dogleg a ditch runs across the entire width of the fairway with a cart bridge across it. If you decided to shorten the hole and cut across the dogleg, you must contend with a seventy-foot stately oak tree guarding the green. On the approach shot the smart play is to hit a driver or three-wood down the fairway leaving an unobstructed 110- to 140-yard shot to the elevated green. Along [the] left side of the top part of the dogleg are two more trees beyond the ditch before you get to the seventy-foot oak guarding the green. The right side of the dogleg is still clear. If you take one more club when approaching the green, then par is a definitely a possibility. The green is without any challenging slopes and traps, so the hard part is getting there."

Lake of Egypt Country Club
RR5, Marion, (618) 995-2661

The private Lake of Egypt Country Club has 275 members and a three-year waiting list to join at a cost of $525 a year. The eighteen-hole, six-thousand-yard golf course is thirty-three years old with mature trees, Zoysia fairways and tees, and bent-grass elevated greens. The fairways are only thirty-yards wide with six bunkers, and golfers must contend with Lake of Egypt itself in four of the course’s holes. The greens are fast until the end of June but slower during July and August because the hot weather prevents cutting the grass short. General manager and golf professional Mark Faulkner has these suggestions about how to play its two toughest holes.

Hole One: Par Four, 415 yards

"The first hole is fairly straightaway with a slight bend to the right. There is out-of-bounds to the left with trees and rough on the right side. The fairway slopes left to right so it is a tough fairway to hit and the green is severely elevated. So you would use a driver off the tee or possibly a three-wood, and you want to keep the ball on the left side or it will roll off the fairway into the rough or the trees. If you hit your tee shot 250 yards, then that leaves you with a 160-yard second shot. So you would use anywhere from an eight-iron to a seven-wood for your approach shot. There is a creek that runs across the fairway about eighty yards out from the green, so you have to clear that. The green is fairly flat, with no hazards around it. Our surrounds are mowed to twenty to thirty feet off the greens, so if you miss it then it will roll all the way into the rough. Since this green is severely elevated it is a touchy chip to get and stay on. The green is fast, so take your time when you are putting."

Hole Four: Par Four, 390 yards

"Hole four has an elevated tee hitting down into a hillside about 150 yards out. It is a dogleg left with trees lining the left side of the fairway as well as a bunker 110 yards from the green. There are some younger trees on the right that don’t really come into play much, but the rough on that side is hard to get a ball on the green from. The green is small only twenty-two steps wide and deep and is elevated, so if you go over you are looking at a sure bogie. No one tries to cut this dogleg, so you hit straight down the middle of the fairway. That will leave you short of the dogleg for your second shot. So at this point you could cut off the corner of the dogleg, which right now is not that big of a deal because the trees are only about fifteen-feet tall. There is a ditch that runs across the fairway about 180 yards from the green, so that will come into play for the shorter hitters off the tee. So if you are at the bottom of the hill you would use anywhere from a three-wood to a seven-iron on your second shot. Some of the better amateurs will be able to hit over the hill, and they would [use] sand wedges and pitching wedges [to get] onto the green. The green is small to hit to and it is elevated, so you can’t roll the ball up to it, but it is very flat so there is not problem putting once you get there. However, you have an uphill sidehill... usually on your second shot, so that makes it twice as hard to hit that small green."

Brad Belt: Bard of the Golf Course

by Geary Deniston

Marion native Brad Belt has been a golfer most of his life and has been cussin’ at that little ball for the majority that time. But it took a trip to Nashville, the country music capital of the world, and a suggestion by one of the songwriters there to start Brad thinkin’, and all that thinkin’ resulted in his first CD, Golf Is a Cussin’ Game.

Belt was born in Hardin County and now lives in Lake of Egypt. He got his degree from SIU and taught math back home for a few years. He then attended Notre Dame to get his master’s degree and returned to teach math at Shawnee Community College for twenty-nine years until he retired last July.

"During my trip to Nashville one of the songwriters was telling us that we should write about something that we know about," Belt explains. "Well, I knew I was in trouble right then and there if I wanted to become a songwriter, so I thought about it. I figured other than mathematics, and you can’t write a song about that, I play a lot of golf. So I figured I could write a couple of golf songs that other golfers could relate to, and after a while realized that I had quite a few and needed just a few more for a CD. So I got a little more serious at that point and realized that I might have something that might be marketable."

Belt’s obsession-turned-profession came to fruition April 21 when the CD came out and he had his first CD release party. About eighty people attended and he sold the majority of his stock. He collected enough new stories, complaints, and downright lies for a sequel– and found out that golfers love company, especially if someone is willing to listen.

The first edition includes future classics such as the title song and "Smart Aleck Caddie," "I Don’t Go Golfin’ with My Wife," "That’s Not Why I Play with Lovely Sharlene," "It Don’t Take Brains to Play This Game," and "Double Bogey Blues."

"This is my first CD, so I don’t know what to expect," Belt added. "But people tell me I’m off to a good start and it seems to be taking off pretty good. The title song gets the most response when I’m out playing. I think they like the fact that I’m close to saying curse words without actually saying anything bad.

"I’m fifty-five and been playing golf since my junior year in high school," Belt said. "I might have been good enough to make the team at SIU back in the early sixties, but I just didn’t go out. Looking back, maybe I should have tried."

Belt now spends every Monday playing golf with the senior men at the Lake of Egypt course and has spouted out a few choice words at Hickory Ridge on Hole Sixteen, which gives almost everyone problems.

"That Hole Sixteen is just terrible," Belt said. "I’ve probably said some of my best cussin’ words just trying to hit the fairway. It is probably an unfair hole since you have to be extremely accurate. It is left for me to decide which woods I want to end up in.

"I have also played Number Four at Midland. It is a tough hole, but a good hole. That is an interesting hole and the best hole on the course. I generally do fairly well on that hole and I don’t know why. There are some tees where I walk up and think that I’m going to do well and that one, I actually do it– as opposed to some others that I just can’t do well on. I love playing interesting holes and Number Four has just about everything. I like the fact that you have to lay up with your driver a little bit and get over the first set of woods and short of the second set and it is an angled fairway. Then you got ditches to left and ditches to the right and a bunch of trees when you get into the fairway on your second shot. Your first two shots have to be very good, but for some reason I kind of like that hole."

Belt said that his philosophy about golf is to enjoy everything about the game, including the game itself, the company of fellow golfers, and even the weather and the good old outdoors.

"Golf is the best game in the world and you can play it until you die," Belt said. "I’ve got an uncle that will turn ninety this year and he plays golf every opportunity he gets. He doesn’t hit it very far, but he’s not too bad. If I’m not careful, Uncle Ewing will beat me when I go out with him."

Golf Is a Cussin’ Game was produced at Mad Mama Music in Marion with the final mastering and graphics for the CD done at Noteworthy Studio in Carbondale. To purchase a copy of the CD or for Belt’s booking information, click over to his website at <http://www.bradbelt.com>, phone (618) 964-1840, email <thebelts@midwest.net>, or fax (618) 964-9095.