June 16, 2010

Good Improvement at Coppinwood

This is another summary that I'm writing well after the round was played, so it may lack some of the more vivid details. A year after playing Coppinwood for the first time ever, I returned to play my second event of the season on the GTA Amateur Tour.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with my performance. I improved my score by twenty strokes over the previous visit to Coppinwood. What was the difference? In one word: experience.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: knowledge of a course goes an extremely long way in helping a golfer score well. Golf is a game of decisions. Do I hit driver or 3-iron off the tee? Do I go for the par-5 green in two, or do I lay up? Can I get out of the rough with a 4-iron, or do I need more loft? Do I give this putt 2 feet or 4 feet of break? How firmly do I have to hit it? Knowledge of a course helps immensely with all of these questions.

At Coppinwood, even a single round played there previously helped me make good choices. I knew what line to take off the tee to avoid hazards and other danger zones. I knew how the greens were tilted and hence, how to approach them. I knew the importance of keeping the ball below the hole. I also knew which holes called for conservative play and which ones I could get aggressive on.

The round was a little bit like my previous round at Hidden Lake. I had a few double-bogeys on the front nine, but I kept my head in the game and avoided any disaster holes. With a score of 49 at the turn, I started to play better, producing bogeys and pars. A couple of those pars were very nearly birdies, but the putts lipped out for me. Once again, I finished with a 43 on the back nine, and 92 overall.

I'll take it. That's three decent results in a row!

Score: 92
Putts: 38
Fairways: 10
Greens: 4
Penalties: 0

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