June 08, 2008

Heat Punishes at Woodington Lake

I arrived at Woodington Lake Golf Club as a walk-on late on Saturday afternoon. I thought the timing would be good, because the weather was extremely humid and it would have been treacherous to play during mid-day. As soon as I arrived, the staff was able to send me off, which was fantastic.

The front nine unfolded like many of my rounds this year; at times I was solid, at others, terrible. The solid part included two pars and three bogeys. On these holes, I hit decent tee shots, good approaches, strong chips and efficient putts. The terrible part included four triple-bogeys. On these holes, I mis-hit tee shots and short irons from the rough, while amassing penalty strokes and extra putts. It's difficult to put my finger on what went wrong, since the momentum seemed to swing so frequently and so wildly. The variety of mistakes was incredible.

The back nine is a little easier to explain. In spite of teeing off in the late afternoon, the heat was still stifling. My playing partners were in no hurry to finish the round and the longer I stayed out in the muggy conditions, the worse I felt. Once again, I developed a nasty headache, which made it difficult to concentrate and execute shots. Holes 10 through 14 resulted in two pars and three triple-bogeys, but the wheels really fell off the wagon beginning with hole # 15. I closed out the round going 4 over, 3 over, 1 over, and 5 over. I didn't really care at that point; all I wanted to do was finish the round so that I could recuperate in the clubhouse.

My final score was 109, my worst score of the young season. It's not at all reflective of my ability, but I don't wish to waste rounds this way. I really have to figure out a way to deal with the heat, because it has affected three of my last four rounds.

Score: 109
Par: 72
Putts: 36
Fairways: 4
Greens: 3

No comments:

Post a Comment