Country Meadows Golf Club in Moncton, NB was a little worn out when we played it in late August, but still provided enough challenge to make a good game for a reasonable cost. They are quite unique in using carved birds as their tee markers and birdhouses for their yardage posts and some excellent flowers. When we played, a tournament for children was about to leave so we rushed out onto the course before we were trapped behind them all. Luckily, everyone is pretty friendly around here so we partnered with a walking single who was kind enough to make sure we didn't get lost.

The clubhouse, shown in the golf photograph above provides clean bathrooms and a simple golf club style lunch.

Most of the holes on this course are pretty flat, with challenges coming from the rivers, brooks, swamps etc. that line the fairways and cross the fairways. Once or twice we got into trouble with the woods. Watch out for holes that run along the woods like this one.

If you go, feel welcome to bring your children along, their likely to have a grand time.

 Walkabout Golf & Country Club in Mims, FL is a fairly low key place--seating for the dining room is in a screened outdoor area with comfortable seats. The price is reasonable for a round and golf cart.

The Walkabout Golf Course is currently in excellent shape with green lush fairways. The mid-nine restrooms come awfully early after the third hole and thirteenth hole. It makes the last six a bit pressured. That's the information. It has two great to play holes that bring fear to the heart of first timers. Here's just a bit of advice to prepare you for playing here. 

One thing you should plan on this course is to play your club that goes straight, otherwise you will likely end up in one of the lakes or woods. Even then, you might end up in a trap. The women's tees make for a short but tough round.

From the sixteenth tee, it looks like all there is is one giant sand trap right in front of your nose. It's night quite true.

Driving to a point just left of the monster trap shown here (about 140 yards for women, 180 for men), will set you up for a easy second shot to the green. After your drive, you can actually see the flag from either side of this mound. You aren't entirely safe, there's lots of water on the left and the green is quite small. I used a seven-wood for another 120 yards, then a small chip to the green. Play it safe but don't get scared by this monster trap.

The eighteenth hole has a creek that you can't see from the tee box, so make sure you have loft on your drive because a low ball ( worm burner ) that bounces down the course will get caught. You have over 150 yards from the women's tee and over 180 yards from the men's tee before running into the river, seen just before the tree. The river is quite wide (thirty feet) so your next hit needs to go up two clubs to the green and over at least 80 yards. I drove (140 yards) then chipped closer to the river (30 yards) before using a seven wood to go another (100+ yards). I still needed to chip onto the green. Near the river is quite wide, but from the tee, you're quite narrow. Choose your straightest, longest drive, the move as close as you can to the river, you'll need it.  The 150-yard distance marker is back 50 yards from the river's edge so a five wood (140 yards for me) might not make the river.  It's best to plan ahead otherwise you'll pay extra strokes for losing your ball.

If you play Walkabout Golf & Country Club golf course, plan on a good challenging round, average food, and a friendly crowd.

It may seem that golf is a very mysterious sport when you are a beginner. After you figure out how far your golf clubs drive a ball on average, the question will always be, how far do I have to hit to get the ball on the green. As this photograph shows, golfers are likely to find posts in the middle of the fairway. Typically, golf courses will place distance posts 200 yards, 150 yards, and 100 yards to the green. White distance posts typically mean there are 150 yards to go. Blue distance posts typically mean there is 200 yards to the green. Red distance posts typically mean that there is 100 yards to the green. But not all golf courses have these posts.

An alternate way of marking distances is by placing a red, white, or blue line distance marker on the golf cart path, sometimes with the distance spelled out. Since golf paths take heavy wear and tear, these may be in variable condition.

A golf path distance marker isn't as helpful as one in the middle of the fairway, because the width of the fairway varies and can add additional distance.

Another alternative to the mid course distance post is colored, mid course cement dots that acts as distance markers that indicate the same distances--blue 200 yards, white 150 yards and red 100 yards. Sometimes the distances may also be found on sprinkler heads.

But given that your ball doesn't lie exactly on the line of the distance marker, its still up to you to figure out how much more distance you have to travel. One way is to use an average step to equal one foot and ten steps to equal another 10 feet. A final indicator, given that all three others are missing, is to look for a tree planted at the edge of the fairway--often these are placed at the 100, 150, and 200 yard distances to make a more permanent indicator.

It all sounds like you need a calculator either in your head or on your golf bag in order to keep track and do the math. One final option is to use a Golf Range Finder, as shown in te video. My husband bought a Bushnell Range Finder--his decision was based on the fact that there was a single button pushed in order to get the answer. If you get one, be sure to keep extra batteries on hand.