Yesterday my normal Saturday group paid a visit to Edina’s Braemar Golf Course. This course always attracts a large number of golfers and yesterday was no exception. The non-resident 18 hole walking rate was $36.

The pace of play was slow (just under five hours), but the course was actively trying to manage things. The third regulation nine (the newer Clunie nine) is so tight and prone to lost balls that I’m convinced there isn’t much you can do to speed up play significantly.

We played the Clunie nine first (19-27), then went to the Castle nine (1-9). I forgot how long the Castle nine is from the whites – 3,385 yards – with par four yardages of 445, 426, 406, 402 and 380. This was my first round since the Tapemark and I must really prefer non-tournament golf, as I shaved twelve strokes off my last round.

Course conditions were good overall, but several areas had standing water that appeared to be from malfunctioning equipment and not from recent rainfall.

A few things I really liked: active rangers on the course, reasonably priced vending machines at the turn ($1 cans of soda and candy bars), good warm-up and practice areas. One negative: the signs about cell phone use that said they wouldn’t accept cell phone calls from the course about the refreshment carts or reports of slow play.