Playing the Tough Holes

Randy Cook

Age: 57; Lives: Citrus Heights; Occupation: Retired from federal government; Handicap index: 16.1
• Does best: "Depends on the day – that's why I'm a 16."
• Struggles with: "Depends on … "
• Beyond the scorecard: Played right-handed for years before getting his first set of left-hander clubs in seventh grade
• "Toughest" appeal: Wake-up call that he needs to play more than once a week to get better
Matt Corsaut

Age: 42; Lives: Rancho Murieta; Occupation: Attorney and owner of a residential real estate agency; Handicap index: 5.0
• Does best: Hits the ball a long way
• Struggles with: Irons
• Beyond the scorecard: Has played 367 courses – more than 300 in Northern California
• "Toughest" appeal: Different courses and hard holes
Michael Gelber

Age: 50; Lives: El Dorado Hills; Occupation: Managing partner, RailBridge Cellars; Handicap index: 1.1
• Does best: Driver, short game
• Struggles with: 3-foot putts
• Beyond the scorecard: Made three eagles in a round at Castle Oaks
• "Toughest" appeal: Challenge of beating the best
Kathi McCoy

Age: 58. Lives: Lincoln. Occupation: Auditor for Sacramento State. Handicap index: 17.1
• Does best: Driver
• Struggles with: Not letting her competitiveness take away from her enjoyment of the game
• Beyond the scorecard: Plays every weekend with Joe, her golf buddy and husband of 25 years
• "Toughest" appeal: Seeing how she stacks up
Allan Owen

Age: 58; Lives: Sacramento; Occupation: Attorney; Handicap Index: 6.6
• Does best: Putts
• Struggles with: Irons
• Beyond the scorecard: Drowns bad rounds in his specialty dish of clams and chorizo in a chicken broth saffron sauce
• "Toughest" appeal: Wants to get his butt kicked
Janet Smith

Age: 55; Lives: Fair Oaks; Occupation: Retired; Handicap Index: 4.3
• Does best: Emotional balance
• Struggles with: Staying focused
• Beyond the scorecard: Reads "Decisions on the Rules of Golf" several times a year
• "Toughest" appeal: Playing interesting holes

Six golfers -- Randy Cook, Matt Corsaut, Michael Gelber, Kathi McCoy, Allan Owen and Janet Smith -- volunteered to be part of a Sacramento Bee gang-some, playing and assessing what our subjective judgment determined are the 18 toughest holes on public courses in the Sacramento area. Here's information about them and why they want to test themselves against such golfing treachery.

• Go to Sports Galleries index

About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.