Grand Niagara

I played in a GTA Amateur Tour event today at Grand Niagara. If not for a couple of silly plays, this would have been quite a good scoring round.

The first trouble surfaced on hole #4, a par-5 measuring 550 yards. Two good shots left me on the right side of the fairway with only 135 yards left to the flag. From that position, the approach is all carry over water. I hit a 9-iron to be sure I would carry the wet stuff. A 9-iron for me usually travels 140 yards. I struck the shot perfectly, but it carried to the back of the green. I thought it was just behind the green, but when I walked up I discovered that the ball had bounced out of bounds. There is a cart path there, which is where carts loop around. Once the ball hit the asphalt, there really was no chance to stay in bounds. It's silly, because it really wasn't a bad shot.

I returned to where my previous shot was played and dropped a ball. Since I carried the ball so far with a 9-iron, I clubbed down to a 52-degree wedge, which I usually hit 115 yards. Again, I struck the shot perfectly. Howver, this time the ball failed to clear the water! I dropped another ball and now split the difference with a pitching wedge, which landed on the green safely. I then 2-putted for an ugly score of nine.

The second silly play took place on hole #17, a par-5 measuring 510 yards. I hit a beautiful drive to the right fairway, leaving 240 yards to the flag. There seemed to be enough room leading up to the green, so I tried to hit a 3-wood to the front of the green. It was a tentative swing - the kind you take when you fear something bad might happen. Sure enough, I didn't make good contact and the ball pushed right into the fescue. The area was staked red, so I was able to drop near point of entry. I then caught my sand wedge thin and sent the ball behind the green. I made a nice chip shot back, but the green runs away when shooting from back there. I did well just to stay on the green. From 70 feet, I hit perfect weight but pulled the ball left of the hole. Next I burned the edge of the cup on a 5-footer, so I walked away with triple-bogey. Why did I try to hit the 3-wood? From 240 yards out, all I needed was a pitching wedge, sand wedge combination to reach the green in regulation. In hindsight, it was a bad decision.

I said in a recent post that I wouldn't focus on the negatives, and here I've just outlined in great detail, the two worst moments of the round. Oh well. Apart from these two plays, the round was very good. I figured out a way to keep my driver on plane during my backswing and I hit a few beauties with it. For example, on holes #10 and #11, I hit drives that travelled about 270 yards. It's no surprise I made par on both of those holes. I also hit many good irons throughout the day. I must say however, that my worst iron shots came off the tee on par-3 holes. It's a weird thing. From the fairway 150 yards out I hit some nice approaches, but from the same distance off the tee, I made some mis-hits. It's completely a mental lapse.

My chipping was excellent on the day. I don't remember making a single bad chip shot. My putting was also good, but you wouldn't know it by looking at my total number of putts - 39. It seems I have been putting pretty well, but the number of putts says otherwise. I either have to chip better to make more 1-putts, or I have to lag the first putts better in order to avoid the 3-putts after a burned edge.

My handicap is back over 20 now, but the good news is I have strung together quite a few good rounds recently

Score: 95
Par: 72
Putts: 39
Fairways: 5
Greens: 5