In a previous post, I listed the overall best and worst rounds I’ve played using the Game Caddie. Now, I’m going to look at the best and worst rounds by course. Some of these made the earlier list and some didn’t.
As of this writing, my Game Caddie Record Book (GCRB) database contains 1,464 rounds of APBA golf played on 17 courses, all of which but one are of APBA design. The one exception is East Lake by ASG, although those rounds were played using the APBA Golf Master Game and its rules.
Except for Birthplace (St. Andrews), all of the round scores reported here were obtained using APBA’s Regular Putting boards. For Birthplace, almost all of the rounds played have used the Major Championship Putting boards.
The course I’ve played the most is Seaside (Pebble Beach) with 278 rounds. That includes 256 rounds, which were played at par 71 for my 2019 US Open replay. (Hole #2 was converted from a par 5 to a par 4, as was the case in the actual event.)
The second most played venue is The Stadium Course (TPC Sawgrass) with 271 rounds, all but nine of which were played in conjunction with my 2020 Players Championship replay. I own four courses that I’ve played fewer than 10 rounds on, but that is certain to change over time. Here’s the full list of rounds played by course:
With that context in mind, here is an alphabetical listing of my best rounds to date by course:
Bryson DeChambeau (2020) and Justin Thomas (2022) have the overall best rounds at 61 (-11) at The Stadium Course and Birthplace, respectively. Thomas’s feat is all the more impressive when you consider that it was done using the Major Championship Putting boards. On those courses where I’ve only played a few rounds (e.g., Angus Links/Carnoustie, Ayrshire/Royal Troon), in some cases my best rounds to date don’t even break par (+3).
My worst rounds on these courses are all above par–sometimes a lot! Tom Watson’s round at Gopher Lakes (Hazeltine National) is my all-time worst (86, +14). While Watson (1977) only had 31 putts that day, he struggled to find the fairways (35.7%) and greens (33.3%). Cameron Smith (2019) was the previous record-holder for bad rounds (84, +13), turned in at Seaside.
I suppose all of this goes to show that even if you play a lot of APBA Golf and use the Game Caddie, there is no guarantee you’ll always shoot well. Yet, some days can be exhilarating! I guess that’s what keeps me coming back for more.