More Progress at Silver Lakes

A day after having a decent round at Lowville, I headed out to Silver Lakes Golf & Country Club. It was only my second ever visit to the club, the first coming near the end of the 2007 season. I recalled that many of the holes cut through thick forest, so accuracy would be critical.

I played well on the front nine, registering a score of 45 at the turn. On a couple of occasions when I made a bad shot, the forest literally spit my ball back toward the fairway. Golf is primarily a game of skill, but luck comes into play every now and then. Most of the time it's of the bad variety, but sometimes it's good. The key is to capitalize on luck when it's in your favour. I did precisely that on the front nine, hitting four greens in regulation, which translated into four pars. I played very conservatively and felt that I managed my game very well. I used the driver very sparingly, relying on the 3-wood or 5-wood off the tee on most occasions. When I was in a tough position, I took my medicine and simply put the ball back in play.

On the back nine, I started to falter a little bit as my luck turned from good to bad. On hole #11 for instance, a par-3 measuring 158 yards, I made a decent tee shot, but the ball hit a cambered cart path which directed it out of bounds. That hole seemed to take the wind out of my sails and a few mis-hits followed throughout the rest of the round. I still made plenty of good shots, just less consistently than I had over the first nine holes. The back nine produced only one par, which came on hole #14, a par-5 which is the longest hole on the course at 570 yards. My drive was not especially long, but safely in the fairway. The key was a fabulous second shot, a monster with the 3-wood. From 125 yards away, I stuck the ball flag-high, on the low side of the hole. It was a great birdie opportunity, but I just missed and had to settle for par.

Overall, I was satisfied that I broke 100 at Silver Lakes. Over the full round, I collected just one penalty stroke, which was a key stat. The only aspect of the game I was unhappy with was my putting. Just as with the previous round, I had way too many putts. This is definitely something I have to work on.

Score: 98
Par: 72
Putts: 43
Fairways: 5
Greens: 6