The only man to have broken par at Cooley Pitch and Putt
Originally posted Monday, June 4, 2012
Cooley
It’s a great little course at Cooley.
Many of the town’s golfers started there.
It has magnificent views over Lough Foyle.
Tough
It is a tough little course too as anyone who played the 3rd hole last year or the 9th will tell you.
It’s playing a bit easier this year.
I asked Andrew Harkin what the course record was.
He said that it was set by James McDermott who is a fireman and lives opposite the school.
Record breaker
As it is a par-three course par is 54.
And the only man ever to have beaten par is James who shot 53.
I’m told that this took place 10 to 12 years ago.
The course is playing easier this year than it has for a few years – certainly at the moment.
It might be a good idea to nip up there and see if you can beat it.
My Best
My best score last year was 61 but already I’ve scored 63, 65, 62 and 55 – the last one just a few days ago.
I started 2, 3, 3, 1 to be three under par after just four holes.
However, that was followed by a 4, 4, 3, 4 sequence to take me back to par by the 8th and convinced me that my chance of the record was over.
Last Hole
However, a 2 at the 15th and just one more 4 took me to the last at level par with a chance pf equalling the record if I got a 2 – or equalling par if I got a 3.
Of course a hole-in-one would have given me the course record but that wasn’t likely.
The 18th is the longest hole and it was just last week that I actually put my first shot past the hole for the very first time.
Extra Power
I needed to at least give myself a chance of making a hole in one or at least a two.
However, my attempt to put extra power into it resulted in my head coming up a little and it went half the distance to the hole.
I still had a putt of about 10 feet to make a par but just missed and it was a 55 for me.
Have a Go
You should go up and have a shot at it while it is playing more easily than normal.
You never know, you might end up with the course record.
Of course my score wouldn’t have counted anyway as there were no witnesses.
It would have been pretty annoying to have broken the course record after all those years and for it not to be counted.