"TAKING A FEW SWINGS" - Gettysburg Times staffers tackle The Links At Gettysburg

BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER

Times Staff Writer

Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 7:34 AM EDT

There’s an old adage in golf that says your first tee shot will be indicative of the round to follow.

Nothing was more true earlier this week at The Links at Gettysburg, where more than twelve dozen Duramed FUTURES Tour stars will convene in late August for the third annual Gettysburg Championship.

Media personalities from around the south-central Pennsylvania region got a crack at the 7000-yard course during an excruciatingly hot Monday afternoon.

Much like the Union and Confederate armies fought one another 145 years ago here, a field of 140 professional female golfers will battle one of the highest-ranked courses in the mid-Atlantic area. The Links at Gettysburg is home to daunting, elevated tee boxes with slender landing areas, 14 lakes and streams, red-rock canyons, and swift, sloping greens.

I ripped my tee shot on the first hole (335 yards; par-4) into the stratosphere – unfortunately, the stratosphere was no where near the first hole fairway.

Two colleagues followed: reporter Jarrad Hedes and award-winning photographer Darryl Wheeler.“You want to stay right on this hole,” warned Darryl.Both partners hit shots that sailed left – way left – into a wooded area that abutted the fairway. Oh well.

The fourth playing partner in our group was Martin’s Potato Chip representative Joe Cuthbert, of the sales development department. Course maintenance crews are still trying to find Joe’s tee shot.

“If we play like this, it might be a long day,” Darryl said as we hopped into our carts.

The professional females on the Duramed FUTURES Tour make it appear so much easier.

“I think we could take them,” quipped Jarrad.Obviously, the heat got to his brain. The Duramed FUTURES Tour, the developmental branch of the LPGA Tour, and the Gettysburg Championship visit The Links at Gettysburg Aug. 22-24.

“You really need to keep your composure when you’re at this course,” FUTURES Tour golfer Ashley Grier told me last year. “This will bring out the best scores from the best players.”

She’s right. I maimed the course Monday, but next month, twelve dozen of the sport’s finest women will master The Links as they compete for a $100,000 purse.

My playing partners finished the first hole with bogeys. Meanwhile, I labored my way to a hard-earned seven.

The par-four second hole, 382 yards from the white tee, wasn’t any more welcoming.

I began losing golf balls in rapid fashion.

Darryl repeatedly reminded me: “This is one of the best courses on the Atlantic coast.”

He’s right: The Links at Gettysburg has been ranked by Golf Digest with a four-star “places to play” rating, and Golfweek named The Links the state’s #9 public course in 2006.

Later, during front-nine play, we learned that the par-five, 440-yard fourth hole is an adventure if you’re not accurate off the tee or fairway. I lost two golf balls, but found three others.

“I just found a ball in the rough,” I exclaimed.

Darryl replied in a sarcastic tone: “That’s OK. You’ve lost plenty.”

Between the four of us, we swung our clubs 27 times on the fourth hole.

About a half-hour later, as we stared at the sixth hole (125-yard; par-three), Darryl remarked: “This one looks easy, but it’s devastating.”

Indeed.

Wheeler poked a putt in the cup for par, but the rest of us finished with bogeys or double bogeys.

“Putting is a mystery to me,” said an exasperated Joe as we walked off the green.

The seventh hole tee box tops a towering cliff that overlooks the fairway, caressed between two intimidating lakes. We dubbed the hole, “The House that Joe Hit,” in remembrance of the gorgeous residence that sits atop a hill just to the right of the playing area.

Joe’s tee shot veered wayward and actually caromed off a picnic deck that fronts the house.

“Do you think we’ll find that ball?” asked Joe.

Maybe if you knock on their front door and ask politely.

Darryl butchered his way to a bogey; I finished with a seven; and Jarrad and Joe followed with an eight and nine, respectively.

We played the final two holes on the front nine in 20 minutes, although the excessive heat made it seem like two hours.

The scores: Darryl 45; Joe 51; Jarrad 54; Scot 57.

As I went into the clubhouse for a snack, I walked by Patriot News Sports Editor Nick Horvath.

“Nice pick to win the Belmont,” I quipped. He picked Tale of Ekati, who I’m not even sure was in the field.

I went with Da’Tara.

As we munched on candy bars, Darryl offered his personal opinion of the back nine.“

There’s a lot of water,” he said.

I found some magic in my irons on the 10th hole – sitting at three strokes in short rough one-foot from the green, my chip peeked inside the cup.

“Now you’re showing off,” Jarrad said as I tapped the putt in for bogey.

On the ensuing hole, Darryl advised: “You just want to punch your ball down the fairway here.”

He could have used a good punch or two Monday for some of his smart aleck comments. The contingent of all-star Gettysburg Times athletes finished #11 (par-four; 342 yards) with an array of pars and bogeys.

At the tee box that fronts the par-three, 135-yard 12th hole – featuring a picturesque green, behind a pond approachable only via a walking bridge – Darryl nearly came out of his cleats after swinging a light iron.

“SIT!” he screamed at the ball.

It’s not a dog, Darryl.

The ball sat anyway, within 20 yards the pin. Darryl two putted for par.

On the unlucky 13th hole (par-four; 400 yards), the scores got ugly.

“I can hit a ball a long way into the woods,” Joe said as he watched the flight of his tee shot sail into a forrest on the right side of the fairway.

The left side of the fairway didn’t provide much comfort either. It’s bordered by a long lake.

At the 15th tee box, Golfing Gods spoke to me.

“Scot, this a par-three,” they said. “It’s only 159 yards. Pull out your seven iron and attack the pin.”

I listened. The ball was all over the stick, and came to rest 25 feet from the cup.

My first putt, on a slight slope, stopped 60 inches short of the hole, so I marked my ball.

Several minutes later, I picked up the marker, placed my ball back on the green, and knocked it in the cup for a par.

Everyone clapped.

“You used my marker,” laughed Darryl.

Crap.

“That’s a one stroke penalty,” said Jarrad.

He’s just jealous since he got a triple bogey.

We dubbed #17 (par-four; 417 yards): “Getting to Know Your Neighbor.”

A row of houses borders the right side of the fairway, and Jarrad immediately found himself in their backyards.

“It’s OK,” he said after his tee shot landed under a children’s swing-set. “I’ve been over there before. It’s not that bad.”

His second shot advanced several households.

“At least I hit it straight,” he said.

He finished with an eight, and blamed it on fatigue.

Darryl had a birdie putt, and I told him that if he made it, I’d write the captions to this story (that’s a pretty big bet in the news industry).

He drilled the putt, and leapt three feet in the air in a wild display of emotion.

As we walked off the green, Darryl turned to me: “Make sure the captions are in complete sentences.”

One hole later, when the bunkers were raked, the divots were repaired, and Jarrad finished apologizing to the neighbors along the 17th fairway, we shook hands and left the course with a newfound respect for the professionals that compete here in August.

Tickets to the event are rather cheap, and it’s money well spent – in contrast, I pity anyone that may have witnessed my golf game Monday.

Darryl shot an 87. I made a late charge on the back-nine with a 48, finishing with an overall score of 115.

Jarrad, clearly agitated with a couple of holes, neglected to fill out his entire score card.

“What’d you finish with?” he asked me in the newsroom Tuesday.

I replied: “115.”

“Well,” he said, “better give me a 114.”

I give The Links at Gettysburg an A-plus.

Scot Pitzer is a Times staff reporter. Contact him at spitzer@gburgtimes.com.