Boozer's Golf Review Vol. 9 - Lakewood National

As we begin the long off-season for DPT, the BGR still rages on with some backlogged reviews for public consumption to keep the league blog active. We've got some Daytona work to do as well as some recaps from the Rapture courses. First, though, we'll review the site of the final DPT tournament of the year, the DPT Masters at Lakewood National. This is a tough one for me as it's going to take some extra effort to detach my review from the horrific display of "golf" that we put up that day, but these Herculean tasks are what the Boozers of the world deserve.

You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning

Tee times that morning weren't particularly early, but Manatee County does allow for the sale of booze. Beers in the pro shop were $5 each and were of the aluminum bottle variety, which you can feel free to note if you'd like to stealthily bring beers on the course and pretend you purchased them on site. If you want a nice screwdriver or bloody Mary to start your day, you'd better bring your own OJ/mix and vodka, though, as no liquor was available in there and there wasn't anywhere else to buy any on site. 

On-course service

In previous visits, cart girl service had been non-existent due to "car issues," but on this visit the cart girl was able to make it to the course for work, thankfully. It was a very typical cart offering with basic mini bottles of liquor and standard domestics with smatterings of higher end beer. Nothing of note in this, but the availability of the service gives a boost to the rankings for those Boozers who may have not had a chance to properly prepare for the outing.

Thrifty boozing

Despite our league commissioner verbally expressing his pessimism of papoose probability, league hero Brendan was able to walk up to the range with his fanny pack and strap it on with no protestations from anyone employed by the course. Brendan then braved an ornery starter and filled the papoose with booze and ice to the delight of the fourth group. Twisted Teas, Budweisers, and vodka drinks were readily available for the rest of the day. There is no better prepared boozer in the league than Brendan, and those in his group on any given Sunday should feel honored.

Clubhouse

The adjacent building, still under construction, will presumably have a great clubhouse area in which you can have any sort of liquor drink you can imagine. It will also be the base for tennis and have a pretty nice pool area, too. That said, by the time that opens the course will probably go private and won't allow us to play on it anymore. In the interim the course has contracted with Truman's, a bar down the road, to offer a complimentary beer to those who come in with a scorecard from the course. 

Overall

This is not a recommended course for boozing. The beer is on the higher end of the price spectrum, and while there was a cart girl, service was just ok. The complete lack of clubhouse (for now at least) is pretty damning as one of the best parts of league boozing comes from clubhouse pitcher purchases and hearing Ho talk loudly about his round even though no one really cares. If it weren't for the papoose, it would have been a miserable day all around. Two sad beers from Truman's, and Double Points as I put up so many double pars on the day which I'll blame on the poor course booze management.