The 2009 golf season got underway in earnest with a Saturday afternoon round at Saw-Whet Golf Course. Weather was good, except perhaps for the wind, which picked up greatly mid way through the round. Things started off on a sour note, as I forgot my pull cart at home. No worries, I would just carry my bag. Unfortunately, I also forgot my putter. Luckily, I was able to borrow one from the pro shop and it served just fine.
I struggled quite a bit on the front nine, amassing four triple-bogeys and three double-bogeys, to go along with a bogey and a par. My biggest problem was judging the distance with my approach shots. On the second, third and seventh holes, I hit what I thought were excellent approach shots, only to watch the ball sail directly over the greens. On hole #2, I overshot the green with a gap wedge from 105 yards. On #3, it happened with a 7-iron from 150 yards out on a bit of an up slope. On #7, it happened with a sand wedge from 80 yards out. On the last two occasions, penalty strokes were added because the balls were lost in the trees behind the greens. Despite the punishing results, this should be easy to fix. As I progress, I am hitting the ball more consistently on the downswing, reducing loft slightly and getting greater distance as a result. All I have to do is adjust the clubs I use for various distances. Some time on the driving range is called for to really get a handle on my current distances with the irons.
On the par-5 ninth hole, I hit 3-wood a few yards right of the green on my second shot. I managed to pitch the ball over a bunker and landed safely on the green, en route to a par. Looking back at my scorecard, it appears this is where I managed to shake off most of the winter rust, for I managed three more pars and three bogeys on the back nine. The pars all came on par-3 holes. A double-bogey on hole #10 was once again the result of overshooting the green with a sand wedge. The two remaining holes were blowups, only because I got careless with the driver off the tee. Oh hole #13, I pulled my drive out of bounds to the left. On hole #16, I did the same thing again, except this time I did it twice. That adds up to six strokes just given away.
Overall, I am unhappy with my score, but I'm not going to beat myself up too much about it. Except for a couple of wayward drives, the driver was working okay. I just have to remember to keep the game simple by doing what I know I am capable of. When I hit those bad drives, I was trying to pull off shots that just aren't in my arsenal yet. The 3-wood I only hit once, but it was a goodie. I hit a few 5-woods and they were very well struck, both off the tee and from the fairway. The irons were struck solidly all day long, though they all carried longer than I'm accustomed to. The real problem on the day was chipping. I think I hit one good chip shot all day. I simply could not get the ball aloft on my chip shots. After a while, I was trying to bump and run everything and even then I couldn't get the proper contact. This will no doubt improve with some practice and more rounds, so I won't panic just yet.
Looking forward to next week!
Score: 104
Par: 71
Putts: 37
Fairways: 2
Greens: 2
