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Opinion

Shelledy: Sun City golf courses not retired friendly

Posted

You’re on the 11th hole at the North Golf Course, 12650 N. 107th Ave., and you find yourself in the fairway bunker.

The lip is so high, you can’t even see the green, let alone use a club that will reach the green. The only option you have is to choose your 8- or 9-iron just to get you out of the sand.

Sound familiar? It should because on the five regulation courses in Sun City, there are a total of 63 high-lipped fairway bunkers (maybe more, maybe less), which averages out to 12 per course. The lips are so high in these bunkers the average golfer can’t use the right club to get him or her to the green in regulation. But according to our director of golf, the penalty for being in a bunker is not being able to reach the green from that bunker.

I don’t know about you, but to me, golf has far too many challenges and frustrations as it is without adding another one to the game. The average age of the Sun City golfers is more than 70 and the average handicap is around 25, which I think is a score about 90.

I am not in favor of eliminating fairway bunkers entirely. All I’m asking is that we be given the opportunity to reach the green in regulation from a fairway bunker. Even flat bunkers are the easiest to hit out of properly. Instead of renovating an entire course to the tune of $6 million, why not level out the high lips on the current fairway bunkers. Keep in mind, we are retired people in a retirement community, not Augusta.

If you have the same concerns as I do, Brian Duthu is the director of golf and he would like to hear from you. He can be reached at 623-876-3053.