| Prince Edward Island – Home Of Big Break PEI And Now...My Heart |
Page 2 of 2  The 18th Hole At Rodd Mill Sports Its Share Of Menacing Bunkers Waiting To Gobble Up Wayward Shots And Timid, Sand-Shy Journalists The bunkers on the left of the fairway welcomed more than a few players‟ balls and reminded me of Episode 4 where Caroline holed out from an 18th hole bunker, only to be eliminated later in the show by the fickle sand traps on the 9th. My only thought while sipping my coffee was, “Dear God, I promise to not swear on the course today if you keep me out of the dreaded Mill River sand Brenda warned me about.” After breakfast we headed out to the practice area to discover it had everything we needed only steps from our room: --A fair sized driving range, with two sets of grass tees – one set with tight lies you‟d find in a fairway and one which was more like light rough. (I‟d never seen two setups like that before and thought it was pretty cool), -- a pitching/chipping area, -- a deep practice bunker (Oh joy!), and -- a large putting green. So, using the same logic as one does by carrying an umbrella to keep the rain away, I figured if I played around in the practice bunker long enough, I‟d never have to perform a bunker shot on the course. Make sense? It did to me. The practice green was in good shape, but given how early it was in their season the greens on the course were running a bit slow - around 8 on the stimpmeter.  Janet The Female Starter At Rodd Mill River Resort May Be A Novelty To Some But Not In These Parts We were itching to get onto the course, so we headed to the first tee to meet up with our host, Mark Roberts, Head Professional at Mill River G.C. Mark has been working at Mill River for 28 years and is an expert on the course. He provided great advice off the tees and on Mill River‟s very undulating and multi-tiered greens. He also pointed out all the areas/holes where the Big Break contestants met their fates – good and bad. When we got to the first tee, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover the starter was a woman. In all my years of golf, I‟ve never met a woman starter before. I‟ve met women in pro shops on occasion, but never at the first tee. At the 3 Rodd resorts I visited on this trip, all the starters were women and most of the bag drop staff as well. And at Crowbush, home of the Mike Weir/Vijay Singh Legends of Golf Challenge, the course superintendent is a woman. Now that is unusual. Our starter, Janet, was very helpful pointing out the cart rules, pin positions, snack bar and facility locations as one would expect. But she also showed us their “BB PEI score board” that they update every week after each show. It drove me crazy knowing that everyone at the resort knew the outcome of the show, but none were coughing up any hints as to who was going to take home the big prize. These people know how to keep a secret! About the writer: Gayle Moss is a freelance writer and prolific blogger about “all things golf”. After blogging daily for Golf For Women Magazine’s website (until they ceased operations in the summer of 2008), 2 years writing her own blog, Golfgal-blog, and many years ghost-writing for her corporate clients on technology and business, Gayle learned that the thing she loves to do, next to playing golf, is writing about it. Gayle is an avid follower of the PGA, LPGA, Champions and European Tours. She’s an active participant in golf forums and is probably best known for her post-episode interviews of Big Break and Highway 18 contestants. Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 604-671-4516 |
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