St. Lazare Golf Club: beware the tricky greens

There’s no such thing as a bad day on the golf course, but St. Lazare Golf Club’s greens can help you get a little cranky if you’re not careful. The nine-hole course, which opened in 2004, is a real diamond in the rough for golfers who are eager to get out and play.

The Duffer’s Guide crew this time out consisted of just two; me, and Pierrefonds metallurgical artist Fred Goulet, a novice golfer and good friend. We spent a few minutes on the club’s driving range warming up before we hit the tee on the 286-yard par-4 first hole, which posits a thick wood on the left of the fairway and a lovely small water hazard at 150 yards. I hit my 4-iron and cleared the hazard and sat down on the left fringe of the fairway, while Fred played his 5-wood and set up a nice second shot for himself. The first – but far from the last – word about the greens at St. Lazare is that you must hit a golf shot to land on one. Should you turn your approach shot into a line drive, you might be a) hunting for it until dark or b) looking at a steep incline just to get up to the green. Such is the case on the first at St. Lazare and I’m pleased to announce we got up to the green in three and putted for par. I parred the hole, but Fred, bless his heart, missed a few putts and carded a nine. Drive for show, putt for dough.

The second and third are tricky little par-3s with a seriously terrifying green on three. Those are followed by the monster of the nine-hole course, the 481-yard par-5 fourth that looks a lot longer thanks to a huge water hazard that stretches 150 yards off the tee to the left. Go left or slice it at all – and you’re going in the drink. Since we played 18, I got two cracks at the monster and for the first time in probably six tries off that tee, I managed to stay out of the water to get things started the second time around.

Two more par-3s later (the fifth has a nice long green, so don’t be afraid to go after it off the tee, while the shorter sixth green is a much smaller target to shoot at) and you’re faced with what I think is the best hole on the course, the 311-yard par-4 seventh, which gives you a nice wide fairway off the tee but which doglegs right and is accompanied by another large water hazard to the right. On the first go-round I parred the hole, but the second time a dastardly three-putt gave me an unacceptable six. The par-3 eighth hole is another classic St. Lazare green – undulating and sitting adjacent to a twenty-foot slope from which I have to assume only few have ever returned. So hit the green and don’t stray into that bunker in front of the green on the right. The par-4 ninth is another dogleg right and is one of those holes that looks a lot shorter than it really is. You know, you’re lining up your second shot and you hammer it, only to realize you’re still thirty yards off the green and wondering how that happened. Frustrating. So are three-putts, which I managed to card five of over the course of the round. Take your time lining up your putts here – it could be the difference between a good round and a great one. <@CP>Chronicle, Nav Pall<@$P>