Barranca and Medellin

I was out of town for 2 weeks playing in two courses that were new to me. Well, Barranca was completely new to me, and I didn't remember much about Medellin's Llanogrande course. I played there 10 years ago, so I didn't remember many holes.

Barranca Golf Course was built in the 1940's by Oil Companies that worked in the region. Its only a 9 hole course that is not in the best shape, but it has a pretty interesting design. The greens were Japanese Bermuda, a really weird type of grass, that sometimes grabs and sometimes releases and they roll around 4 on the stimp! (REALLY SLOW) Unfortunately, it was a mud hole this year (see attached cell phone pic). It was hard to find dry land on the fairways and the ball plugged most of the time. I've never played in those conditions, but it was different and fun at the same time. First round (Saturday) I was -3 after 12 holes, when the round got called off due to darkness. I started early on Sunday, but my fortune was turning... On the 14th hole, I hit a drive down the middle and my ball plugged and we couldn't find it, so I had to take a double and things went downhill from there. I ended up with a 73 (+1) for the day. The afternoon was really hot and humid, turning the round into a torture... Needless to say, I didn't do my best to shoot 74 (+2). Monday was a completely different story, I was hanging in there my whole round and ended up with 2 birdies in my last 3 holes for a 71 (-1). My +2 total was good enough for 8th place. It was a new and interesting experience to me!


Medellin (UPDATED)...
The course in Medellin, called LlanoGrande, is a pretty nice design with some really good finishing holes. It played around 7,000 yards, and it was fairly long since it was pretty wet. The downside to the course is that it has 3 types of greens, bent, bermuda and mix, so is hard to get used to the speed. The first 2 days were pretty uneventful, filled with missed putts and a little of bad ball striking on Friday. I shot 75-78 with 34 and 32 putts. Saturday was a good day, I shot 70 (-2) and moved to 16th place, last on the money, so I figured that with a good Sunday round I could probably reach another Top 10. Sunday started off well with birdies on holes 2, 7, 10 and 13, but on hole 14 the rain started and it didn't stop! I was -4 after 14 holes and play got cancelled for the day!!! After talking with some of my fellow pros, I figured that I stood in 9th or 10th place the way my round was going, but the tournament got shortened to 54 holes, so I was last on the money. Not bad for a bad week! Too bad I couldn't finish my Sunday charge, but it left me a good feeling for the upcoming weeks