Gunpowder Golf Course Review: Part 2

Yes, it's the exciting conclusion to my review of my new home course. It's the back nine today, which in my opinion is the better of the two. Since I've already given my introduction, we'll just get right to business.

The tenth hole is a shortish par 4, with a semi-blind tee shot. The hole is completely straight, and while there is a fairway bunker, I don't have to worry about it. I imagine some people do though. The green is pretty straightforward, though it is slightly elevated above the surrounding fairway. It's one of the few opportunities I get to use my driver, which is very unappreciated on this golf course.

The eleventh hole is a short par 4, doglegging sharply to the left. I suppose that if the tee is positioned correctly and you can hit a big high draw, this green might be drivable. I can do neither of those things, so it's a layup with an iron for me. The second shot plays up the hill to a green with a significant false front. I would highly recommend not going above the hole, especially when the green has dried out and the hole is on the front half of the green. Speaking from experience, it is extremely easy to putt right off the green.

The twelfth hole is a short par 3, playing across a small valley. This is one of those short little par 3's where you really, really want to hit the green, because there really aren't any good places to miss. Right isn't the worst, but short and left obviously leave you a very difficult uphill pitch, and if you miss long, it can very easily bounce off into the trees. Either an easy par or you may have to work for bogey, short of a great recovery shot.

The thirteenth hole is a very drivable par 4, playing slightly uphill. There's a bunker right and slightly short of the green, and a bunker left of the green. Now, I say the green is drivable, but that is mostly theoretical. Because of false fronts, the green plays much smaller than it looks. Chip shots not played towards the middle of the green can easily roll back off. It's still a pretty easy hole, but the difficult green does offer it some defense.

The fourteenth hole is yet another drivable short par 4, even shorter than the last hole. It's actually a really awkward distance for me, it's too short for a 3 wood, but too long for me to reach with an iron. Because of the bunker front-left, it's best to go for the right side of the fairway, but there's a bunker and a scrubby area with some trees and whatnot on the right. The green does have a bit of a false front, but it's not too bad. Otherwise, it's a pretty straightforward green.

The fifteenth hole is the only par 5 on the back 9. Yes, this course is a par 70. Unlike the third hole, which is actually more of a mid-length par 4, this hole is actually par 5 length. Still short, no more than 500 yards, but a legitimate par 5. It doglegs slightly to the right, along thick woods and some out-of-bounds. A slight fade will serve very well, as the fairway also slopes slightly to the right. Assuming the tee shot has been hit well, the second shot is a mid to short iron to a completely open green. It is a pretty tricky green though, with quite a few slopes to make putting and chipping interesting.

The sixteenth hole is a shortish par 4, and if you were to assign this course a "signature" hole, this would be it. The tee shot goes across a valley to an elevated fairway. The ideal tee shot goes about 200 yards to the flattest part of the fairway. From there, it's a wedge over a stream in another valley to the two-tiered green. You definitely don't want to be short on the second. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the hole, but it's definitely pretty unique.

The seventeenth hole is a short par 3. The only real issue on this hole unless you leave the tee shot really short or go really long (which, considering how far my wedges go sometimes, is a bigger issue than it should be) is the big giant slope at the back of green. Technically, there is a tier in the back, and I have seen the hole back there once. It was literally impossible to make a putt longer than a couple of feet. So, the hole is usually in the front half, and the slope presents...well, the sort of problems and opportunities any sort of big slope offers. I do like that picture up there. Definitely the best one I took of the course.

The last hole, fittingly, is a shortish par 4, playing slightly uphill to an elevated green. I don't know what it is, but I have a lot of trouble with this hole. Something about it just doesn't fit my eye. The drive does have to be fairly precise, as there are overhanging trees left of the tee, and a tee shot too far right gets blocked out by more trees. The second shot has to go over a reasonably intimidating bunker short of the green. Because of that, I like to keep my tee shot a bit back so I can go at the green with a mostly full swing. The hole really isn't that tough, the green is pretty straightforward, you just have to fly the second shot over the green.

So, that's Gunpowder Golf Course. It isn't fancy, but it's golf, and it's affordable. I honestly do enjoy playing there, because it really challenges my game. It puts a premium on accuracy and on short game, two things that I am not good and completely horrible at, respectively. And let me tell you, after several months, I have made...well, some progress. I've cut out the big hooks I'd been struggling. My chipping might be a little better, it comes and goes.

I'm not going to give out a numerical rating here. Let's be honest, if I were to be objective here, it wouldn't get a very good score. It's a pretty basic, bare-bone golf course. But that's why I like it. It's a good place for a simple, unassuming golfer to call home.

Gunpowder Golf Course Review: Part 1

This has been a long time coming. Ever since April, Gunpowder Golf Course, located in Laurel, Maryland, has been my home course. It's a bit of a drive from my apartment, but every other golf course in the area is either private or way too expensive. It's not a very fancy place, but that's fine with me. You don't have to wear a collared shirt, and that's a big plus. Anyway, let's get to the course. Since I've played the course quite a lot over the past several months, I'll split the review into 2 parts. Today, we'll talk about the front line.

The first hole is a short par 4 that doglegs to the right. If you can hit a high fade I think the green is reachable from the tee, but I've never tried it. I can't hit a driver high enough. So I just hit a long iron and go at the green with a full lob wedge. There's not a lot of trouble, but I would not recommend going over the green. If you do, you're in a bunch of trees and whatnot. It's not pretty. I'd tell you how long the hole is, but to be honest, I'm not entirely sure. There's a scorecard, but the yardages on there are rather...generous. According to the scorecard, the course is over 6,000 yards, but I can tell you that the course is not that long. Anyway, the first green is pretty simple, if often quicker than the other greens on the course.

The second hole is a slightly longer par 4 that doglegs to the left. Unless you can hit a big draw off the tee, you can only hit the tee shot about 200 yards. Go further than that, and you go into the trees. However, don't hook the tee shot too much, because there are trees on the left that will block you out, and yes, they do come into play if you're on the left side of the fairway. There is a bunker back right of the green, but it really isn't a factor. I think I've only gone in it once. The green plays smaller than it looks, since balls will roll off some of the edges.

The third hole is a very short par 5. When I say very short, I mean very short. At its longest, I can play this as a 3 wood, short iron. If the tee is up, I have to use a 4 iron, because the hole is split around 120 yards from the green by a stream. There's out-of-bounds right, and if you go too far or too far left, trees on the left block the green. There's not a lot of room if you hit your drive a long way, another good reason to hold back off the tee. The green slopes pretty severely from right to left, so you really don't want to go right. It's really hard to keep a chip from the right on the green, especially when you're not particularly good at the whole short game thing.

The fourth hole is a par 3, the longest on the course. This hole is a perfect 7 iron for me. Unfortunately, I don't have a 7 iron, so I don't hit this green very often. The green has a false front, and when I use an 8 iron, I usually hit that false front and spin the ball back off the green. The green's pretty straightforward other than that.

The fifth hole is a very short par 4 with a dogleg to the right. Unlike the first hole, which is pretty wide, this hole is quite narrow. You do not want to go right. You do, that golf ball is pretty much gone. Again like the first hole, this green is reachable if you can hit a high fade. I can't, so it's a long iron, 50 yard pitch or so for me.

The sixth hole is a shortish par 4, and for me personally, the first opportunity to use a driver. The hole goes up a hill, then goes back down at the green. There's O.B right, so I tend to hit pretty far left. The seventh hole runs parallel to this hole, and I'm pretty sure I've hit my drive next to the seventh tee more often than I've hit the sixth fairway. The green has two tiers and has no bunkers.

The seventh hole is another shortish par 4 (Yes, they're all pretty short. This isn't a long golf course). Just like 6, the drive is blind. I think this hole has the most blatant exaggeration on the scorecard. According to the scorecard, this hole is 450 yards. Either that is a huge overestimation, or I'm hitting 375-400 yard drives. There's not much to this hole, it's straight, wide open, and there aren't any hazards to speak of. Just don't go over the green, the ball can really get away from you.

The eighth hole is a short par 3, and while it's only about 130 or 140 yards, it's fairly difficult. The green is small, and there's a false front. Of course, there's the water short, and if you go long, you have to hit a chip from a severe downhill lie to a green that slopes away. As is usually the case, it's easiest if you can hit the green from the tee.

The ninth hole is a shortish par that doglegs sharply to the left. Unlike the other big dogleg par 4's, I can actually cut some of the dogleg off. Not with a driver, but with the 3 wood. This one isn't reachable from the tee. A good 3 wood leaves an approach of around 100 yards. There is a bunker by the green, but it doesn't come into play, really.

So, that's the front nine. My record for the front is a 34, 1 under par. I hope to cover the back nine pretty soon.

Terraforming Mars Just Got a Lot Harder

The act of terraforming a planet, even one as comparatively hospitable as Mars, would never be an easy task. But whenever discussing mankind's future on the Red Planet, it seemed to be the inevitable conclusion. We would colonize Mars, and then change it in Earth's image. It would be a daunting task of engineering, and the ethical dilemma of uprooting any potential native life was not going to go away either, but it almost seemed a foregone conclusion that we would eventually terraform Mars.

Mars is probably going to stay red in the future.

According to data from the MAVEN space probe currently orbiting Mars and studying the Martian atmosphere, however, there may be a big problem with future terraforming endeavors. The infant Mars had a thick atmosphere, but as time went on, that atmosphere was lost. It was assumed that most of the carbon dioxide that originally made up the atmosphere had frozen out into the soil, but that is not the case. Once Mars lost its magnetic field, the solar wind, more active when the Sun was young, pummeled the planet, and Mars, already much smaller and with much weaker gravity than Earth, had no way to hold onto its atmosphere. It took maybe around 500 million years, and by around 3.7 billion years ago, the Mars we know today had taken shape. 

Why is this bad for terraforming? Well, if the carbon dioxide had settled into the Martian soil, warming the planet back up again would release it, building up the atmosphere and setting up a greenhouse effect (a good thing in this case), which would heat the planet up even more, releasing even more carbon dioxide and so on. But the carbon dioxide from the original Martian atmosphere is just gone, lost forever to the cosmos. There is still some on the surface, frozen in the ice caps, but likely not enough to work with. This news does not necessarily mean Mars cannot be terraformed, but in order to do so, it's going to take more than just warming the place up.