Would you like to shave a few strokes off your golf score? Since I can't imagine a single person answering "no" to that question, allow me to make a simple suggestion. Try keeping a journal of your golf outings, especially if you play just once a week or less. Since I began documenting my golf performance on chasingpar.blogspot.com, I've noticed that I'm usually better prepared for upcoming rounds. A day or two before a game, I simply take a few minutes to review my previous posts, reminding myself what went right and what went wrong in previous weeks.
It definitely helped me today, playing at Cardinal Golf Club, located in Kettleby, Ontario. Cardinal boasts two 18-hole championship courses and a shorter, executive course. I played the East Course, which features significant elevation changes on the front nine, and some tree-lined fairways on the back nine. It may have been my best round of the season, even if it wasn't my best score.
Right off the bat, I paid particular attention to my driving, since I did not want to repeat the same mistakes I made a week earlier at Granite Ridge Golf Club. My backswing is always rather slow, but I slowed it down even more, being sure to draw the clubhead back low to the ground in order to maintain a wide arc. At the top of my backswing, I eased into the swing gradually, rather than jerking the club forward. As a result, I hit 6 of 14 fairways, with no drop-off in distance.
I also managed the game well, playing within my ability and making smart decisions, unlike I did two weeks ago at Hunters' Glen Golf Club. Consider what transpired at the sixteenth hole, a 321-yard, par-4 that doglegs left. My 3-wood off the tee popped straight into the air and landed left of the fairway behind a row of trees. Next, I could have punched a 3-iron through the trees in the direction of the green, but elected to punch the ball sideways into the open fairway. Still 180 yards away from the pin, I could have gone for the green, but that meant flirting with more trees on the left side of the fairway. Instead, I punched another low one to the right side of the fairway past the dogleg. From there it was a short pitch and two putts for a double bogey. That's not great, but it could have been a lot worse after the unlucky tee shot.
Overall, it was a satisfying round. Two quadruple bogeys and a triple bogey on three of the par-5 holes did not dampen my spirits. With the exception of the straightforward tenth, the par-5 holes at Cardinal's East Course are quite a challenge, even for the experienced golfer. There's no shame in succumbing to the elevated green on the first hole, a blind second shot on the eighth, or a tree-lined fairway on the twelfth.
Score: 102
Par: 72
Putts: 39
Fairways: 6
Greens: 3
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