Pheasant Run Disappointment

A few days after the fiasco at The Country Club, came my first repeat visit to a golf course this season – not counting the rounds played early on at the Grand Palms Golf Resort in Florida. The scene of the return visit was Pheasant Run Golf Club, located in Sharon, Ontario. I had played there very recently, so I was looking forward to a successful outing.

Unfortunately, the round played itself out much like the one at The Country Club. I collected much fewer penalties, but struggled mightily off the tee, especially with the driver. What happened on the first hole was typical. Concentrating intently on keeping the plane of my swing under control, I struck the ball off the heel of the club, sending it sharply to the left just a few yards away. Considering the disgusting nature of the shot, I was lucky that the ball traveled through some trees and came to rest in a small clearing. I had a perfect lie and an opening to the fairway for my next shot. The only obstruction came in the form of a large tree, with some overhead branches that I had to stay under. It looked like I hit a perfect 3-iron punch shot, but the ball smacked the lowest branch and dropped straight down. After the eventful start, I ended up with a score of eleven on the opening par-5.

I strung together two pars and a bogey on holes three through five before trouble resurfaced in the form of back-to-back par-5’s on holes six and seven. In both cases, I completely wasted my tee shot, sending the ball just a few yards ahead after making contact with the heel of the club. I also had to deal with some impossible lies in fairway bunkers on both holes. It all added up to scores of ten and eight on those two holes. I finished up the front nine with a pair of well-played bogeys, but the damage inflicted by the three par-5’s was too much to overcome.

I tried to treat the back nine as a fresh start, but after a severely pulled tee shot on the eleventh hole lead to a quintuple bogey, I simply lost all patience. I wailed away at the ball for the rest of the round, without much concern for results. Lessons were supposed to help me get better, but three rounds after my first lesson, I’m heading in the wrong direction.

Score: 119
Par: 73
Putts: 40
Fairways: 4
Greens: 0