We’ll start with what I saw driving up to Three Elms Golf Course.

There were a bunch of signs marking the Three Elms public access to the Wapsipinicon River, which flows lushly through Independence. As I drove closer to the course, I noticed a golf cart parked in the driveway of a beautiful ranch home. There also was a boat in the driveway.

Honey, I can get used to this place.

That was before playing Three Elms. After, I’m even more into this little stretch of Three Elms Park Road. Take a left, you’re fishing in one of my favorite rivers in our part of the state. Take a right, you’re playing a golf course that is one of Eastern Iowa’s best-kept secrets.

Maybe it’s not a secret. I arrived on a Tuesday morning to find a pretty decent line of folks waiting to tee off at the 7-year-old course. Also, a group of about 20 juniors covered the practice green, listening to tips and diligently practicing the game.

Three Elms isn’t a monster, measuring 2,980 yards from the blue tees. But what it lacks in yardage, it more than makes up for with its greens.

It’s also wonderfully kept. Lush, green and gorgeous.

Most of the greens come with a lot of undulation. On a few, No. 1 for example, I thought a skateboard park was going to break out of the humps and waves. I think we had to shoo away some skater dudes on the No. 8 green, one of the toughest greens I can remember playing in the five

years I’ve been doing this.

Then, Three Elms throws a couple “I think I can do it” drives in front of you.

From the No. 1 tee, you see some yellow ropes and a covered bridge. It’s easy to assume that you’re looking at a creek or some sort of water. As it turns out, it’s a

drainage channel that was dry the day I played. But I didn’t know that. I’m guessing the clear is 225 or so. I went about 245.

No. 4 is a totally reachable 297-yard par 4. From an elevated tee box, you look into a somewhat narrow fairway with a little trouble on the left and the No. 5 fairway on the right. I thought eagle and would’ve had it if my drive had ridden the hill that guards the right side of the green. If I would’ve hit the slope, I would’ve been putting for eagle.

Instead, I rolled on top and had to chip out of the wood chip cart path.

Another fun tee shot was from No. 6, a 501-yard par 5. From the tee, you’re looking at a pond right in front of you. The fairway is right, but the cutoff over the pond is only 225 or so right over the cattails.

For a second, I thought I took my fade a little too far to the left, but I cleared the cattails and the bristly looking cedars that will chew up tee shots, ending up in the rough and only 220 out.

I hooked up with a couple of Three Elms vets, Steve Mace and Gene Steffen, before No.-5.

They were great for yardage and they tried to help with the greens. I obviously didn’t listen, with the three-putt on No. 6 punctuating my ignorance. Steve asked if I know Orlan Love, The Gazette’s outdoors writer and Quasqueton resident. I said, yeah, he’s the guy with the really easy job. He gets to fish and write about fishing. I have to play golf and write about my misery on the golf course.

Our conversation swung around to excuses. I told them how my 5-iron recently snapped on me at Jones Park, how my shoulders have been ravaged by hockey over the last few years and how my left knee doesn’t fire as it used to.

True, true, true. Seriously. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The lowdown

Toughest hole – The card says No. 1, a 424-yard par 4, and I’ll go along with that. From the tee, you see the fairway bends slightly to the left, not quite a dogleg but close. You also see yellow ropes and stakes that keep your cart out of the drainage creek. If you go left, you’re in some trees and trouble. Go right, you’re in more trees, the creek or someone’s backyard. The green, which pushes up slightly, has a decent back-to-front slope and several other humps. The green is divided by a shelf. Today’s pin placement was way right, so a long miss would send you off. My tee shot carried the creek, about 225 yards out. It was a B-plus drive. The approach was an F and from there I double bogeyed.

Easiest hole – I saw the 297-yard No. 4 as an eagle hole. I called it from the tee, I’m going for an eagle here. I called it with confidence. The fairway has no bend to it. The tee sits above the green and everything funnels to it. I didn’t play quite enough fade and rolled my drive up the hill that guards the right side of the green. The drive had plenty of distance, it just missed the slope. From the top of the hill, I chipped out of the wood-chip cart path with a sand wedge, missed the birdie and settled for par.

Overall impression – Every season I’ve done this I’ve found a course that I sort of, kind of knew about but never tried for whatever reason. After I try them, I wonder why I waited so long and when I can do it again. Three Elms fits snugly into that category. The course is playable but keeps you on your toes with tricky greens and some “c’mon, you can pull off this shot” teases. I risked and I was rewarded. I risked and I was punished. The clubhouse folks are pleasant. The drive from C.R. is a breeze. If you fish, make it an all-day deal with a float on the Wapsi. A birdie and a walleye are as good as it gets on an Iowa summer day. For me right now, I think the walleye would be the tougher “get.”

If you play golf long enough, this is what you shoot for. You want a good group of buddies. You want to put a little coin on the round with the group. And you want to talk some genteel trash with the boys. I was lucky enough to be invited for a round with the boys at Marengo Golf Club in mid-May. I came out penniless. Lost my truck and my home. My wife is going to kill me. Kidding, kidding.

Jim Simmons played well enough for both of us, keeping us even with Ron Hurlbert and Lyle Sherman. The fellas put on a show. Jim parked his cart in front of Ron and Lyle as they readied their approach on No.-3. Don’t worry, though, Ron and Lyle gave as good as they got.

We had a bigger group going, but Kevin Alexander and Alan Schumacher, the club president, had to peel away after nine. The course was quiet, so we got away with a sixsome. Plus, we had the club president with us. A lot of benefits go with that … or not.

Sherman, a 75-year-old Amana retiree, has been prez twice in his 50 years as a member at Marengo. (He remembers when the greens went from sand to grass in ’68.) That didn’t get him any strokes during the best shot skins.

The Marengo Golf Club is celebrating its 80th year. In the last year, 140 new members have joined the 2,809-yard 9-holer just a tick south of Marengo. That’s a significant accomplishment if you consider the competition (Amana Colonies Golf Course) and the small market in Iowa County.

When I pulled off M Avenue, I first wondered how in the heck do they play golf on all those hills?

The tract of land is a picturesque hill-a-thon.

No. 3 is a 269-yard downhill par 4 from the white tees. Nothing makes a golfer feel more PGA-esque than a tee shot that sits 2 yards off the green. No. 4 is a par 5 that climbs slightly uphill. No. 6 is the mountain hole, a 140-yarder straight uphill. Seriously, you need

a sherpa on this one. The tee shot from the blue tees (the tips) looked impossible, 180 yards out of a slight chute all the way up Mt. Marengo.

Water only comes into play on Nos. 1, 5 and 6.

No. 5, a 411-yard par 5, is the course’s signature hole, according to the boys, anyway. Off the tee, you’re looking at a hill and a tree line on the left. Right, there’s the creek and a bunch of rough and brush just before the creek. You want to be left.

You have a chance to find the creek on your approach, but you have a better chance to find the tree that guards the green.

The boys and I went with a little best shot skins game the second time around.

After botching two attempts off the No. 1 tee, including one ball that almost hit the big machine shed well off of the No. 1 tee, I stuck a 7 iron 8 feet from the cup on the 165-yard par 3.

Alas, that was the anomaly. Jim and I (mostly Jim) built a two-hole lead. Jim absolutely carved up No. 3. But Ron and Lyle sneaked back into it on 5, where Jim and I missed on chips short of the green.

On 18, we missed putts to take the lead and the match ended in a tie.

“I’m not kissing your sister,” Jim barked at Lyle. We just missed winning a quarter. But I think I owed Jim an apology.

The lowdown

Toughest hole – I’d have to go with No. 5, a short 411-yard par 5. Unless you’ve played the hole before, you’re kind of in the dark with the tee shot. The treeline on the left is the place to be. You’ll likely have a side- or down-hill lie, but you’ll have an open shot at the green, which is totally reachable in two. If you’re right off the tee, you’re probably in the creek or in the heavy grass right next to the creek. The approach isn’t an easy shot, though. You have to carry the creek you cross twice on this hole and deal with a tall tree on the right. Long is the No.-6 tee and a cornfield. The first time through, I lucked out when I went right and stopped just short of the creek. But the tree scared me into going short on my approach. The second time through, I hugged the treeline and had an open look at the green. I missed on a 6 iron and fell short of the creek. Two bogeys.

Easiest hole – Has to be No.-3, a 291-yard par 4. We played the white tees, so the downslope green was only 269 yards off an uphill tee. There’s plenty of room left and right, but you don’t really need it. The only killer here is long. You miss long, you’re in the corn. The first time through, I missed the green by three yards. The second time, I was 20 or so out, but still managed a par.

Overall impression – This is a beautiful course with lots and lots of rolling hills and fun golf shots. When I say fun, I mean fun “easy” and fun “hard.” You have “fun easy,” with No. 3, a downhill 269-yard par 4. Then, you have “fun hard,” with No. 5 and its guarded green and No. 4, a wavy 485-yard par 5. Marengo is closer to Cedar Rapids than you’d think, an easy 40 minutes from the southwest side. If you happen to hook up with Alan Schumacher and the boys, you’re in for a fun day.

LUANA – Luana’s Tri-City Golf Club was an education in “push-up” greens. Most of the greens at this beautiful, 2,821 nine-holer located in the Mississippi Valley hills of northern Iowa are of the push-up variety. They’re located on a slope and off a flat surface. This makes it difficult to roll a ball onto the green.

I am a classic roller-upper. Couple the push-up factor with greens that are faster than the asphalt at Hawkeye Downs, Tri-City quickly becomes a nice little test, especially for the guest from Cedar Rapids.

I played a mid-May round with Steve Russett, an area real estate agent who invited me up. Steve has the 60-some-year-old course down. Hit it in the fairway, hit greens in regulation and scored.

The entire group – John Wagner, Darryl Schlitter and Kerry Seitz – had it down. But the combination of fast greens and big wind made this a testy day for even the most ardent club dog.

I give you the debacle at No. 15 (the course’s No. 6, the debacle came on the second time around). Take me out of the equation. My short irons into par 3s are off-the-charts horrible right now.

I play less than once a week at this point, so there’s no reason for getting all fussed about it. But this 157-yard par 3 might as well have been the island green No. 17 at Sawgrass.

John missed the green, and then followed with a chip that, I thought, anyway, was perfectly placed, above the hole with some roll down that would’ve given him an easy uphill putt for a par save. Well, it didn’t work out that way.

His ball rolled down the “push-up” green and down and down and down. It finally ended up about 3 yards off the green. It was something you’re used to seeing in a U.S.

Open, when a Phil Mickelson putts from one end of the green and off.

John calmly finished for a bogey. The rest of the group was in the bogey to double-bogey range.

“You’ll change the names to protect the innocent, right?” Steve joked.

Steve wouldn’t know a bad golf shot if it tweaked his ear, but, just the same, the names are real.

Hickory Creek comes into play on Tri-City’s first four holes. It’s not a real threat, but it will come into play for big hitters.

Trees come into play on nearly every fairway. No. 8 is tree-lined from tee to green. If you hit it too far left, you’re on No. 9 fairway, so all isn’t lost.

The road into the clubhouse also comes into play, at least it did for me the second time around. A short second shot will leave you with a tricky uphill chip.

The course had a lot to offer as far as golf shots go. I didn’t use a lot of long irons, but that might’ve just been me.

The feature of the day was the wind, a monsoonal 30 to 40 mph.

It was brutal. It was wind I wouldn’t walk across the street to play golf in, but here I found myself two-plus hours from home.

The wind turned No. 4, an already pain-in-the-neck 162-yard par 3, into a pain-in-the-everywhere.

The green sits straight uphill about 40 feet, so you’re already clubbing up. The wind blew into the tee box, making the green feel that much farther away.

Darryl got his driver out. It was the right club.I used a 7 wood and was short right.”OK, imagine if this goes in,” Darryl said. “You know they’re going to ask what club I used. Am I going to say driver?” I’d say whatever works.

The lowdown

Toughest hole – Distance makes the 458-yard No. 3 (white tees) a bit of a bear. From aslightly elevated tee, you look down into a valley with trees and OB on the left and more but less menacing trees on the right. Also, Hickory Creek cuts the fairway in half at 200 yards out. On a windy day, and it certainly was windy my day here, it’s not an easy tee shot. The first time around, I pulled a drive left and ended up on No. 4 tee, just missing a foursome. Second time around, I drove about 235 yards on the right side of the fairway, a good spot to be. I faded an iron right and finished bogey, but the drive went where I wanted it to go.

Easiest hole – If you don’t hit it through the dogleg, No. 7, a 274-yard par 4, is a totally driveable eagle hole. I’m sure more folks would drive the green, but the hole bends right and the green isguarded by a few big trees. It’s doable, but not with a 250-yard drive. The smart shot is to play a long iron or fairway wood onto the fairway and just past the big oak. The first time through, I nailed a drive straight through the bend. I finally found my ball on the middle of a gravel road that leads to the maintenance sheds. Second time, I faded a drive into the middle of the fairway and ruined an easy birdie hole with a short chip andfinished with a par.

Overall impression – Tri-City Golf Club is a beautiful little course (2,821 yards) tucked in the rolling hills of the upper Mississippi River valley in Iowa. The course is immaculate. The greens are speedway fast, which I like and generally use as a gauge for how well a course is kept. The clubhouse has a deck overlooking the course. It looks like a great place for a summertime burger and soda after a round of negotiating the hills and greens of Tri-City. It’s a solid two-hour drive from Cedar Rapids. If you’re in the area for a Mississippi River weekend, give Tri-City a shot.

MANCHESTER – Rest assured, Manchester Golf Club is indeed Manchester Golf Course.

Keith Zietlow, golf manager at Manchester, still gets calls asking if the course is the country club and if it’s open to the public. Even though the card – and the sign on Highway 20 – says Manchester Golf Club, it’s Manchester Golf Course.

It’s open to the public and it should be on your list of Eastern Iowa golf courses to get out and play.

Nine holes were built in 1927. Another nine was added in 2001. The older nine is closer to 20 and the newer is toward the back of the course.

The 1927 nine has the kind of old growth trees you can get only on an 80-year-old course. This includes No.-1, the toughest hole on the course, according to the card and me. An 80-year-old course also comes with a rich history. Sam Snead played a round here in 1947.

Zach Johnson has family from Manchester. He has an uncle who lives off the No.-1 fairway. He dropped in and played a hole late last year. He eagled the 522-yard No.-15, which is nicknamed “The Monster” on the scorecard.

The card gives a name to every hole, including No.-2 – the “Gopher Hole.” In reality, the gopher hole is No.-15, where a pesky varmint has set up house.

Superintendent Chris Oehlert and crew have named the gopher “Laverne.” A local taxidermist will be putting stuffing into Laverne once the varmint is caught, according to Zietlow. Laverne is the only blemish at Manchester, a beautifully manicured course. I almost felt like I littered when I left broken tees.

Chip Hughes, a Cedar Rapids land developer and former parks commissioner, bought the course in the late ’90s and transformed it from a nine-hole private course into the 18-hole public that was named the 2004 Iowa public course of the year by the Iowa Golf Association.

The old and new holes are mixed together. After No.-1, you slingshot to four new holes on the back of the course, including No.-4, a 349-yard par 4 (Timber Challenge, it’s called) that asks for a straight iron to 170 yards. You could try a risk-reward cutoff, but they put up a net because you can’t see where the ball is going and they don’t want a shooting gallery.

You re-enter the old nine at Nos.-6 through 9 and Nos.-10 through 12. The underlying theme of the new nine is links style, with lots of rocks, rolling hills and tall grass. In the coming seasons, maturing trees will have a say in how you attack a certain hole. There are a lot of quirks, including hairpin turns on Nos.-1, 4 and a healthy dogleg right and blind tee shot on No.-8.

The doglegs and hairpins are on the old and new. You don’t see a lot of holes like these anymore and that’s part of the charm here.

Zietlow might be the perfect golf guy for the place, too. This is home for him. The 24-year-old took over golf duties this winter. He worked at a course in Florida and nearly left the business before getting an opportunity to come home.

Zietlow went to high school at Maquoketa Valley. He played football, basketball and golf. He went to Wartburg and played football until a shoulder injury ended his career and was on the golf team for four years.

He grew up playing the Manchester course, and knows every blade of grass on the old nine, having played a ton of high school meets here. That didn’t help me, of course. No amount of local knowledge can save my game at the stage it’s in, which is exit stage left.

Manchester is placed among Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Dubuque. The course attracts a lot of golfers from Cedar Rapids, Zietlow said.

The course is open to the public, and they want you to know that. Manchester Golf Club is Manchester Golf Course, no matter what the card says.

The lowdown

Toughest hole – No.-1, a 387-yard par-4, and it’s not even close. The first shot out of the chute, you’re looking at turn 2 at Talladega. It’s not a dogleg as much as it’s a left turn. It’s about 150 yards to the straight part of the fairway, but there are trees on the left and more trees on the right. Plus, the tee box is elevated and in the middle of everything at the clubhouse. You’re on display. This isn’t a hole for the bashful. When I hooked up with golf manager Keith Zietlow later on the course, he said the first shot is probably Manchester’s toughest shot. I faded a drive through the trees on the left and ended up in the middle of the fairway. But I still was looking at 90 percent of the hole once I got to my ball. Upon further review, I might’ve tried a 3 wood over the trees. It’s a doable cutoff, but I didn’t think about it at the time. I doubled.

Easiest hole – You’re looking at a pond off the tee at No.-3, a 165-yard par 3. But you’re not going there. The green is guarded by small trees on all sides, but a recovery isn’t impossible. I left a 7 iron a little left of the green, rode a chip down the back-to-front slope and putted 8 feet for a par. The only real threat is water. Unless you dink it 40 yards, it’s not a worry.

Overall impression – Manchester Golf Course is a rare mix of old and new course design. Nine holes were built in 1927. They feature tree-lined fairways and large greens. The newer holes, added in 2001, also are tricky. No.-5 is a 503-yard par 5 that plays uphill. No.-4 is a 349-yard par 4 with a landing area just over a creek at 170 yards. Manchester is beautifully maintained. It plays like a younger Ellis or Gardner, Cedar Rapids munis. With it being just a 45-minute drive from C.R., it’s a great getaway for muni golfers tired of the weekend crush.