The majority of our group arrived Friday morning/ afternoon, but a smaller group of us came early Thursday with the expressed mission of finishing Bear. My putting could have been tremendously better, but I walked away with an 82. For as difficult as that course is, and considering how poorly I played on Gold (although I am going to hide behind the excuse that I developed food/water poisoning and had a fever from Friday night to Monday afternoon), I had some tremendously good shots on Bear. I played well on Blueberry (we played a NCAA bracket style challenge, so scores were irrelevant) with my only bad hole being Hole 8. I also had some absolute bombs on Granite, but we played a modified best shot trio which means I had to sit out a few shots, so I have no idea how I would have done there as well. Maybe it was for the best; with my fever, I could reach back and get some serious distance, but if I needed a finesse shot, that was a different story.
My friend who twisted his ankle finished the round on Bear, but he had to take a sitting rest whenever we could. I had my Delta Cart with me knowing he would have to sit. Lugging that around the course was almost impossible, but it was worth it because he was able to sit enough to finish the round. He then excused himself from all our Friday rounds. The only other time I used my Delta was during our bracket round on Blueberry. On Woodland and Gold I used my Grip, and since I was barely conscious when we played our Granite round, I just put four discs (Pure, BioFuzion Truth, Star Leopard3, and a Champion Wraith) in the NutSac.
I can tell you that drive away from Highbridge was the longest of my life. I had to drive straight from Highbridge to Many Point Scout Camp (just north of Detroit Lakes in north-west Minnesota). The trip would have normally been five and a half hours, but with EVERY round in and out of Highbridge except one washed out, I had to backtrack an hour and a half just to get northbound again toward Duluth. I stopped at the Hayward Walmart, picked up some fever medicine, and had to stop every 60 to 90 minutes to take a 20 minute nap. I left Highbridge at 9:30am and arrived at Many Point just after 6pm.
I hope this does not turn out to be my last experience at Highbridge. I need another crack at it, so hopefully all this financial stuff gets sorted out enough to keep the place open. However, my group, which makes this trip every other year, is strongly looking at possibly making a different destination our every other year trip. During the odd years we pick a new place knowing that if that trip fails, at least the following year we would be heading back to Highbridge.
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