Autumn Drive

There's a specific week in Ohio when the course and the hardwoods finally agree on fall. The fairway is still dialed-in green, the trees along the edges have turned into every variation of orange and red, and the light, if you get out early enough, comes in low and warm with almost no haze to cut it. This tee shot on an autumn morning at Four Bridges gave me all three at the same time.

I composed from the tee box, including the two tee markers in the lower corners to give the image a sense of place — you feel like you're standing over the drive yourself. The fairway sweeps forward into the scene, rising slightly, with a small bridge crossing the low ground on the right. The colored canopies on either side create a natural tunnel, pulling the eye straight down the line of the hole, and the fairway bunker in the distance gives the drive its target.

What makes fall golf photography specifically rewarding is the contradictory quality of the light — warm and cool at the same time. The trees glow with borrowed heat from the low sun, but the shadows stay long and blue. Getting the exposure right means protecting both — keeping the reds from burning out and holding detail in the cool shade.

Autumn Drive is the Midwest golf course at its absolute best — the hole waiting, the fall canopy holding the color steady, and the drive ahead feeling like the reason we play in October at all.