This week I am on a four-day golf trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama. (I know what you're thinking: Golf in Alabama? Are there actual courses, or do they just dig holes in the trailer parks and use the double-wides as hazards? Yes, there are actual courses. And they are spectacular.)

Sunday I played a course just over the Flori-Bama line in Pensacola, FL, called Lost Key. They have since renamed it "Lost Ball" in honor of me. I lost more balls there than the entire eunuch population of ancient Egypt.

The course went through an unwanted remodeling by Hurricane Ivan a couple years ago, when most of the trees that hugged the fairways were blown down. That doesn't make Lost Key any less challenging. Thick patches of scrub brush and reeds surround, line, and otherwise protect, much of the fairways and greens. Hit your shot a little too far to the left or right and you can kiss your balls goodbye. If you're looking for a course to test your shot placement abilities, this is the one.

Key hole: The infamous par 3 13th, pictured.

www.golfgulfshores.com