Earlier in the year, I played a very frustrating round of golf at Crosswinds Golf & Country Club. In fact, I played so poorly that I stopped keeping score halfway through the round. Looking back, that round was a bit of a turning point in my season. It reminded me to examine the technical flaws in my swing and to work on specific techniques to fix them. The renewed focus must have worked, as I went on to score eleven consecutive rounds under 100. Nine of those rounds were 95 or better, while three of them were 90 or better. My handicap factor also dropped by almost four points.
I returned to Crosswinds recently, looking to make up for the poor round on my previous visit. I got off to a poor start on hole #1, a short par-4 measuring 272 yards. I pulled my tee shot just left of the fairway, under a spruce tree. I was forced to play a low chip just to get the ball back in the fairway. After my approach shot came up short, I used the putter from the fringe. With no putts under my belt yet, I struggled to get the right weight and finished with a triple-bogey.
The rest of the front nine was excellent – the kind of golf I know I can play, but don’t seem to do it consistently enough. Over the remaining eight holes, I was four over par. This pretty stretch included four pars and four bogeys. One of the bogeys was the result of a three-putt on hole #2. Another was the result of hitting an approach shot fat on hole #7. Aside from those two minor mistakes, there was nothing else I could criticize. I hit some fairways and some greens, chipped well when I had to, and made some putts. The game seems so easy when you avoid mis-hits and penalty strokes.
A par on hole #10 was followed by a trio of holes that tested my resilience. On holes #11 through #13, I went double-bogey, triple-bogey, double-bogey. On each of these holes, a big problem was getting out of bunkers. I picked a couple of balls way too clean, sending them sailing over the other side of the green. When I tried to adjust, I over-compensated, leaving the ball in the bunker after hitting it fat. Hole #14 provided a brief respite as I registered bogey, but this was followed by a disastrous triple-bogey on #15. I spent a lot of time on the teeing ground waiting for the beverage cart girl to drive away, and then duffed one into the weeds left of the fairway.
To salvage a good round, I needed to finish strong on the last three holes and I did exactly that. Playing aggressively on hole #16, a short par-4 measuring 305 yards, I hit driver straight down the pipe, leaving an approach of 65 yards to the flag. I placed the approach flag high, and then took two putts to hole out for par. On hole #17, a par-3 measuring 145 yards, my approach came up five yards short of the green. It turned out to be no problem, as I hit a perfect chip shot that tracked directly into the cup for birdie! Finally, I finished with a par on hole # 18. My drive found the fairway, while my approach landed just in front of the green. I lagged one near the hole with the putter, and then tapped in to finish with a score of 89. Nice!
Score: 89
Par: 72
Putts: 35
Fairways: 6
Greens: 5
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