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I played Cypress Creek today, a golf course with an incredibly lame website. The course is just north of Boynton Beach Boulevard on Military Trail. Today was a business meeting as well as a chance to see if I was still playing well. The meeting went well, and I played fairly well too.

Cypress Creek is a bit unusual with three par fives on the front and three par threes on the back: 37/35/72. I think they've recently renumbered some holes, because the course used to play 36/36 with a trio of par threes, fours, and fives on the front nine. I'm typing this from memory as I was keeping my playing partner's score today, and thus did not have a chance to use my scoring system.

The first is a short par five, though with the "stick-it-in-the-ground" mucky conditions today, the par fives were playing quite a bit longer. No roll on the drive, no roll on the second shot. At any rate, the first is a dogleg to the left around a lake affecting the second shot. I hit a 3W, having not practice putted nor swing at all, and pulled it a bit left into the rough. My 2I from some goopy rough was pulled and a bit fat, leaving me with a punched PW into the green. I two-putted from 20 feet or so to par.

Two is a 184-yard par four playing straight into the wind. I chose a 4I and hit it off the toe a bit, coming up just short and right. My LW pitch shot landed softly in the fringe and barely made it onto the green. Two putts from 20 feet or so secured the bogey. I've really been coming up short lately with the LW - I've gotta practice a little more with it so that I can get used to its 60° loft - I'd previously been used to using my PW for every shot around the green.

Three is a 507-yard par five that doglegs to the right at the end. I hit a 3W off the tee to be safe, and then a 4I to lay up. My 9I came up on the front edge of the green, 40 feet shy of the pin, and I three-putted for a bogey. I hit my shots solidly on this hole: I just misjudged the approach shot and the wind we had working against us on this hole.

Four is a straightaway par four measuring 389. I hit driver here, flying the ball 260. My ¾ 8I approach landed just right of the hole, but I couldn't drain the ten footer. I parred. Five is a straightaway par four going the opposite direction and measuring 342: a 3W down the left side and a PW that rolled 20 feet backwards led to a chip and two putts for a bogey. I was three over at this point, after five holes, and none too pleased with my play thus far.

Six is a par three measuring 152, and I played a soft 6I off the toe a little, coming to rest short of the green. I chipped on with my PW and holed the eight footer for a par. Seven is the third par five on the front at 538 yards. I played a 3W down the middle, a 2I up the left-hand side, and a 9I onto the green. The uphill six-footer lipped out and I tapped in for a par. This course owed me a putt!

Eight is a darling hole: a 322-yard par four. It doglegs right around a pair of bunkers, and I drove a solid 3W right at then - and over them. With 90 yards to the green I stuck a knockdown ¾ PW to about fifteen feet. The course paid me back when this big, swinging putt plopped into the cup. My playing partner was on the phone and didn't notice that I'd birdied, but I did a little jig (in my mind, anyway).

Nine is a 336-yard par four. I played a 3W off the tee but pulled it off the heel a little bit. I had 115 yards to the green, and the pin was back left with a bunker in front. I had a tree in front of me and could choose to hit a huge hook or a punch-fade. I chose the punch-fade with a 5I. The ½ swing felt good and I jumped out from behind the tree in time to see my ball cutting through the air, just over the bunker, and hitting the green, rolling to a stop about 30 feet from the cup. Two putts for a par, a 39 (+2 on this nine), and a fairly solid finish to a lame first few holes.

Ten is a 476-yard par five - driveable on some days (not today) - with about 50 yards of water protecting the front of the green. I hit an ugly push-cut to the right and into the wind, leaving myself in some snarly snarly rough. I advanced a 7I about 100 yards, and then went at the green with a 4I into a stiff breeze - a breeze stiff enough to send the 4I back at me, 20 feet shy of the green. My pitch checked up early and I missed the par putt.

Eleven is a short par three at 125 yards. My PW landed 15 feet right of the hole, and my birdie putt lipped out. A 381-yard par four twelfth provided the next test: I hit my drive dead straight into the fairway bunker off of which I was attempting to draw the ball. My 6I punch from 140 yards flew up into the breeze and checked up just short, and my LW flew too high once again. Two putts bogey. Pfffft.

Thirteen, a 355-yard par four with water left long and left of the drive as well as short of the green, was tackled with a 3W down the left side and a 9I that must have been a tad fat: 50 feet from the hole. The pin was on a nice slope and I never got the first putt online. Three putts secured a fairly lame bogey.

Fourteen is a 175-yard par four playing across the wind. I hit my 4I off the toe, coming up short and right. I always hit my irons one shorter off of the tee, and I usually like to make smoother swings rather than aggressive swings, but the way I've been playing off the tees on par threes I may have to go back to hitting solid 95% shots. My chip found a slope and carried the ball 12 feet right of the hole. I gave my partner a tip about using the logo on his ball and then promptly rammed my putt in for a par.

The 384-yard par-four fifteenth was next. I drove the ball up the right-hand side but was stymied by a tree. I tried to hit a huge cut with a 7I around the tree, but caught a limb which sent my ball straight to the ground. My pitch to the fatter part of the green left me a 20-footer, which lipped out for another bogey. Four over with three to play.

The sixteenth is the last par five: 517 yards and doglegging left. I smashed a drive up the left-hand side close to the OB but also not too far from the fairway. I played a 7I cut along the row of houses that cut the dogleg and found the far edge of the fairway, leaving me a ¾ PW to the green, which I put 15 feet past the hole. The snaking putt missed two inches right and left only a tap-in for par.

Seventeen is an uphill par three at 177 yards. My 6I stuck just shy of the green, and I two-putted for a par. Eighteen is a 424-yard par four. I hit a driver up the right-hand side leaving only a PW to the green. I went for the fat part, leaving the tucked pin alone, and two putted for a par as well. Four over on the back, another 39 for at total of 78. Much better than I thought I'd score while playing, I can guarantee you that.

Cypress Creek is a nice course that must have undergone some architectural changes. Some sites listed the course as 5900 yards from the back tees, but the course played 6250 from the whites today (6531 from the blues), and closer to 6800 if you factor in the soggy conditions. It's not as tight as some reviews would have you believe, nor are the greens too severe. Water "comes into play" on 14 holes, but only if you spray the ball all over the place or roll it off the tee. For $25 on a Sunday, this was a nice course that would be a lot better dry.

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