I'll have more to say later on, but here are my results from the first round of the Duffer's Dream Tour, which was played at Peninsula Lakes Golf Club.
Score: 91
Par: 70
Putts: 39
Fairways: 6
Greens: 5
Joining a league is a convenient and fun way to maximize the number of golf rounds played in a season. First of all, you don't have to worry about booking tee times, rounding up playing partners, or accomodating all their preferences. Secondly, the group aspect of a league makes for good camaraderie and competition.
In addition to the Deepwoods Golf Association Tour, which I am participating in for the third consecutive year, I decided to join the Duffer's Dream Tour this year. The opening round of the Duffer's Dream season was held at Peninsula Lakes, a course that I'm familiar with from my Deepwoods experience.
Pen Lakes features three sets of nine holes, known respectively as Hillside, Orchard, and Quarry. Orchard and Quarry, in that order, were the scene of my Duffer's debut. I had played each of them once before.
Things got off to a bit of a shaky start, with double-bogeys on Orchard #1 and #3. On the first hole, the problem was a mis-hit second shot from a group of trees that border the fairway on the left side. On the third hole, the problem was a 3-putt, courtesy of a poor lag putt from considerable distance. Sandwiched between these two holes was a very nice par on hole #2, a modest 136-yard par-3.
The rest of Orchard was a thing of beauty. I tallied five consecutive bogeys, followed by my first birdie of the season. I hit a fantastic second shot from the fairway bunker on hole #4, and recovered smartly from a poor second shot on hole #5. I hit greens in regulation on hole #6 and hole #7. My drives were a little hit and miss, but my short irons were working superbly. Prior to the round, I spent some time on the practice range, reminding myself to hit down on the ball with my irons and it really paid off.
On Orchard #9, a par-4 measuring 356 yards, I hit a short but straight drive, leaving the ball 148 yards from the green. Next, I hit a beautiful 7-iron directly at the flag. I thought it had rolled ten feet or so behind the pin, but as I got closer, I saw that in fact it was less than two feet from the cup. It was a textbook birdie as I made the easy tap-in.
On Quarry, my game began to falter a little bit. I was still making good shots, but my putting let me down. A series of 3-putts on holes 1, 4, and 5 shook my confidence. One of the missed putts on hole #4 was less than two feet! I actually had a similar number of 3-putts on Orchard, but those resulted in bogeys. On Quarry, they resulted in double-bogeys.
The last three holes of the round were played with some trepidation. I felt as though I was holding on, which is not the ideal state of mind. On hole #7, a par-5, I pull hooked a wicked drive out of bounds. After re-teeing, I actually played the hole in par, but the original drive and penalty stroke meant it went down as a double-bogey on the scorecard. On hole #8, yet another par-5, I recovered from a poor drive right of the fairway with a beautiful blind 3-wood that carried the ball right to the 150-yard marker. Unfortunately, I wasted it with a bad approach and even worse chip attempt from a bad lie. The end result was another double-bogey.
Overall, it was a good start to the Duffer's Dream Tour. I feel like I'm beginning to straighten out my drives, and my short irons (6-iron and above) are really in the groove. I'm not completely in the zone with lower irons (5-iron to 3-iron), but they feel adequate. Chipping was fine, while putting was not. The putting seems to come and go, as it depends so closely on the different green types at all the different courses.
Can't wait to see what happens next.
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