With my last three rounds in the nineties (94, 98, 94) it looked like I was headed in the right direction. If those rounds represented two steps forward, then my last round at Kleinburg Golf Club was most definitely a step backward.
My tee shot on the frst hole of the Gold course was a sign of things to come. I realize now that I shifted my weight to the right foot (the classic reverse pivot), causing me to hit the ball very low on the clubface. The flaw led to a double-bogey on that hole, but it would lead to much worse on the next hole. Visual intimidation is plentiful on hole #2, especially from the blue tees which I was playing. Anyone watching might have thought I was psyched out by the gulley and trees immediately in front of the teeing ground. In fact, visual intimidation had nothing to do with my poor shots. I felt very comfortable. The problem was the reverse pivot, which crept into my swing for some reason. On two successive occasions, the flaw caused me to top the ball, sending it dribbling just a few yards into the junk ahead. It was only with my third attempt that I got the ball airborne.
On holes #3 through #8, I continued to make the same mistake but got away with it, putting together a string of bogeys and double-bogeys. On hole #9 I wasn't so lucky. The same move caused me to top the ball again, sending it into some trees just left of the tee box. I actually did well to record a triple-bogey from that position.
I finished the Gold nine with a score of 55. As it turns out, I still have the scorecard from my last visit to Kleinburg in 2007. That day, I shot 41 on the same course, albeit from the white tees. That's a difference of 14 strokes over just nine holes! It's remarkable to see how things can go so well on one day, and so terrible on another.
My 2007 visit to Kleinburg concluded by playing the White course, while this round ended by playing the Red course. On hole #1, I smoked a 3-wood off the tee, leaving just 30 yards to the green. My pitch shot was pretty good, leaving an uphill putt for birdie. I put a good stroke on the putt, but it caught a damaged patch of grass and actually veered to the right. I was extremely upset. The greens at Kleinburg were in absolutely terrible shape, but this was beyond anything I've seen before. I had a hard time clearing my mind for my next putt and missed it as a result. Instead of birdie, I walked away with bogey. A pair of bogeys on the next two holes was easier to take, as I had less than perfect approaches to the greens.
On hole #4, the reverse pivot reared its ugly head again, sending my tee shot left into some trees just ahead of the tee. The ball was lost in the fescue and I was forced to re-tee. When I reached the green, my second putt skimmed the edge of the cup and that upset me again. It's bad enough that I had to hit my third shot from the tee - the last thing I needed was more bad luck on a makeable putt. This put me in a poor mental state and I played the next two holes in a rather undisciplined fashion. It's not surprising then, that I recorded a quadruple and a triple-bogey.
Oh hole #7, I hit a good drive long and in the centre of the fairway. From 85 yards out, I judged the stroke perfectly, landing the ball flag-high, left of the cup. I took my time and nailed the 13-footer for only my second birdie of the season. I followed this up with a textbook par on the next hole, a 166-yard par-3. I closed out the round with a solid bogey. The last three holes helped ease some of the anguish I was feeling.
Overall, I can't sugar-coat anything here. This was a terrible round. I don't know why the reverse pivot surfaced, but I have to eliminate it at my next round, which will be a GTA Amateur Tour event.
Score: 104
Par: 72
Putts: 40
Fairways: 5
Greens: 3
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