Finding Some Consistency

After twenty rounds at twenty different golf courses, I finally paid a return visit to one of them this season. A week after shooting a solid 90 on the Cobalt Course at Granite Ridge, I returned to fire a respectable 92.

Teeing off on the back nine first, I started the round with two consecutive pars. On both holes, I hit the fairway, hit the green, then 2-putted. It all seemed so simple and I was feeling good. Unfortunately, I mis-hit my tee shot on hole #12, which brought me back to reality. It seemed as though I exaggerated my forearm turn, sending a low dribbler to the left less than 100 yards. It was a mistake I made a couple more times during the round, including two holes later on #14. This time, I ended up beneath a spruce tree, which cost me a couple of strokes.

Through the first nine holes, I hit a number of really good wedges and high iron shots. A couple of these were struck after not-so-good shots, when I was just trying to advance the ball down the fairway. In the past, I may have tried to hit 3-wood or 5-wood in those situations, but I relaize now it's simply not worth it. I am more likely to make an error with those long clubs, so it's better to hit a couple of controlled shots instead. Some of those shots were struck so pure, it felt effortless. When the ball pops off the club face like that it's a great feeling.

Even though I was playing fairly well, I still had a score of 48 at the turn, thanks to one very bad hole. I had to turn it around on the back nine in order to salvage a good round. I made par on hole #1, but had to settle for double-bogey on #2 after my tee shot came to rest directly behind a tree trunk right of the fairway. I struck a beautiful shot off the tee on hole #3, a par-3 measuring 139 yards, but the wind fooled me. I added two extra clubs because of a gusting headwind. The gusts must have stopped just as I took my swing and my ball bounced off the back of the green. From thick fescue, I hit a nice wedge to the front of the green, but messed up some putts en route to a triple-bogey.

Luckily, four pars would ensue on the remaining six holes. The key was great iron shots like the ones I already described. When you can hit a green from 100-160 yards out, it makes such a huge difference. Each of the four pars came after hitting the green in regulation with a solid approach shot. Chipping was satisfactory on the day, as was putting. I would really like to improve these aspects of the game, as I feel I can gain three to six strokes almost every round. That would go a long way toward breaking the 90 barrier.

Score: 92
Par: 72
Putts: 36
Fairways: 7
Greens: 7