It was a gorgeous Saturday in Greater Toronto. Temperatures climbed into the twenties (for those in the United States, Liberia and Myanmar, which have yet to embrace the metric system, that's degrees Celsius) and there was no precipitation in sight. It was perfect golf weather, really.
On this particular day, the track of choice was Piper's Heath Golf Club, located in Milton, Ontario. This was the site of my penultimate round last year, a cold and bitter introduction to this Graham Cooke designed, links-style course. The cold conspired with fierce wind that day to inflate my score to 112, so I was eager to get back under better conditions to make things right.
As I pulled into the driveway, I could see some construction taking place on and near the clubhouse. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing closed. The driving range was also shut down, so warming up with a bucket of balls was not an option. I paid for the round in a trailer that had been set up in the parking lot and walked over to the first tee.
I was a little worried that early season work might spill over to the course after playing holes two and three. My drive on number two was picture perfect, landing on the left side of the fairway, which offers the best approach to the green. However, nearly the entire width of the fairway in the landing zone was roped off, due to repair work. A narrow 5-yard strip of fairway on the right side was all that remained, so I dropped my ball there and attacked the green. The ball rolled to the fringe at the back of the dance floor and after a chip and putt I walked away with par. On the third hole, we found about eighty percent of the green covered by a massive tarp. The pin was located right at the front of the green, the only part that remained exposed. My approach skidded off the tarp and came to rest behind the green. I made a nice chip back across the tarp surface and two-putted for bogey. Luckily, the rest of the course was not under repair, so I was able to enjoy it fully.
I played bogey golf for the remainder of the front nine, including one on the seventh hole, a par-5 measuring 465 yards from the white tees. A beautiful drive travelled about 240 yards, coming to rest on the carpet, just past an ominous bunker which pinches the fairway on the left side. A well-struck 3-wood drifted a little further right than I had hoped for, hitting an embankment and rolling into a pond beside the green. I was forced to take a penalty stroke, but managed to chip and two-putt to finish the hole solidly.
The back nine was much like the front nine, as far as scoring was concerned. I triple-bogeyed the tenth hole, then averaged bogey the rest of the way. The back nine at Piper's Heath is rather enjoyable, featuring three par-3 holes and three par-5 holes. I managed a par on each of the par-3 holes, hitting two of those greens in regulation, including a 187-yard gem of a tee shot on number eleven. I didn't fare so well on the par-5 holes, racking up the triple-bogey I already mentioned, along with a pair of doubles.
The shot of the day might have been my third on hole number twelve, a 345-yard par-4. I had yanked my tee shot left of target and followed it up with a 9-iron that drifted well right of the green. I found my ball lodged right up against the tree line, under the leafless branches of a bush. Since I had no backswing and no angle to the green, I thought seriously about declaring the ball unplayable. Instead, I aimed right of the green and closed the clubface dramatically. Aiming to the right afforded me a tiny bit of a backswing, while the closed clubface would theoretically launch the ball in the direction of the green. I wasn't even hoping to get on the green, since it was a good distance away, but that's exactly what happened. I punched the ball out and it skidded right across the grassy hollow, a common feature at Piper's Heath. The ensuing par putt was on line but a few inches short, so I settled for bogey.
Overall, it was a good round for me. Some avoidable mistakes added about nine strokes to my final score. Four of these were poor chip shots, three were balls that I topped from the fairway with the 3-wood, one was a mis-hit from a fairway bunker, and one was a bad putt. The topped balls were somewhat unusual, since the 3-wood is probably the club I feel most comfortable with. Oh well. On a positive note, my driving was much better than the previous week, though the ball was still fading more than I wanted it to, forcing me to start shots left of the intended target.
Score: 95
Par: 72
Putts: 34
Fairways: 7
Greens: 2
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