Gutting it Out at Deer Creek

For the second consecutive day, I had to grind hard to break one hundred. This time, it was on the South Course at Deer Creek. I got off to an abysmal start that lasted for six long holes. Fortunately, I got on track after that.

On the first hole, I duffed my tee shot and plunked the ball in the pond immediately in front of the tee box. My approach to the green with a sand wedge drifted under a pine tree. Those were the two worst shots en route to a quadruple-bogey. On hole #2, my tee shot went way right, into the hazard. A disastrous triple-bogey ensued. Double-bogey was the result on hole #4, a 137-yard par-3 to a green surrounded by water on three sides. I hit an 8-iron the correct distance, but pulled it left of the green, into the water. On hole #5, a simple par-4 with little danger, I could not hit any clubs correctly. I tallied yet another quad there.

Despite the horrific start, I was still in the game mentally. Usually, that kind of start is enough to send me off the deep end for the rest of a round. On the seventh hole, a 502-yard par-5, the turnaround began. I hit a straight drive into the middle of the fairway, followed by a mediocre 3-wood to the first cut on the left side of the fairway. A pitching wedge from 100 yards put me reasonably close to the hole. I missed the birdie putt, but tapped in for par. On the eighth hole, a par-3 that was playing about 160 yards, I hit my tee shot to within 10 feet of the cup. I proceeded to drain the putt for a rare birdie. I closed out the front nine with another par, leaving me with a score of 51 at the turn.

The back nine was much more consistent, as I completed it with no worse than double-bogey on any hole. One of those, which happened to come on the fourteenth hole, was particularly painful. Measuring 545 yards, this par-5 is quite a good test. I found the fairway with my drive, hit a 3-iron to the fairway, and nailed the green with a 9-iron. I had a very long putt and hit it with the perfect weight, but was about 7 feet right of the target. My next putt was decent, but it burned the edge and travelled a little too far past the hole. Sure enough, I missed the next one! I was on the green in regulation, but 4-putted for the dreaded double-bogey. This could have been a momentum killer, but I just put it out of my mind. I moved on to the next hole and closed out the round going bogey, par, bogey, bogey. The last hole should have been a par, as I missed a straight two-footer.

Overall, the round was not great. However, I was pleased with my mental fortitude and the fact that I did not let a bad start destroy the whole round.

Score: 97
Par: 71
Putts: 37
Fairways: 5
Greens: 6