It was Round 4 of the Deepwoods Golf Association championship and I turned in a complete stinker. Already out of contention for the overall title, I just wanted to show up and put in a decent performance. I failed miserably, shooting a demoralizing score of 126. To put that in perspective, consider that anything over 99 is a loser in my books. I've had far too many rounds of 100 or more this season, including one as high as 109. As bad as that was, this round was 17 strokes worse!
Opening on hole #10, my drive was pulled slightly. With some luck, it would have cleared a bunker and come to rest in the fairway, 150 yards from the flag. With my luck however, it failed to clear the bunker and came to rest close to the front lip. I tried to play the next shot as you generaly play from a fairway bunker: contact the ball first, taking a divot in front of the ball. I used a loft wedge to ensure the ball would get up quickly over the edge. Two attempts at this shot failed, both hitting the lip. I was forced to play like one generally does in a greenside bunker: hit behind the ball, lifting the ball up and out of the bunker on a cushion of sand. It worked, but of course I had already wasted two strokes. After an approach to the green and two putts, I finished with a triple-bogey.
I hit my drive on hole #11 to a perfect position on the left side of the fairway, just 120 yards to the flag. The only real danger was a bunker right of the green. Of course, I pushed the approach shot slightly, just enough to find the sand. I hit a good shot out and 2-putt for bogey, but the pattern had been set. I would find fairway and greenside bunkers with disturbing regularity for the remainder of the round. Hole #12 is a medium length par-3 with a large bunker on the front left side. I avoided the bunker this time, hitting the right edge of the green. I was far from the hole, but manged a 2-putt for par.
Hole #13 is a long par-5, not reachable in two unless you're a pro. In fact, even a pro would be challenged to reach the green in under regulation. I pulled my drive into a bunker, but the ball skipped over the front edge, leaving me with a flat lie in the rough. That was the good part. The bad part was that trees were blocking my advance toward the green. I tried to hit a low hook around the trees. The ball hooked slightly, but not enough to avoid another bunker on the right side of the fairway. Recalling my experience on the first hole of the day, I decided not to flirt with the lip of this bunker, which was fairly close. I opted to play the greenside bunker shot, just to get the ball into the fairway. It worked in the sense that I got out of the bunker easily. It failed in the sense that the ball travelled to the right of my target line, landing in another bunker just a few yards ahead. With no lip threatening my advance this time, I took aim at the green 180 yards away with my 5-iron. I hit a fabulous shot flag high, but on the opposite side of the green. With the cup on a hard-to-read slope, I 3-putt for double-bogey.
With everything that went wrong so far, the round was still far from lost. In retrospect however, my next shot was the one that sent me on a downward spiral from which I would not recover. On a par-3 measuring 186 yards, I hit a 5-iron thin, sending the ball to some fescue just ahead of the forward teeing ground. I extracted the ball with a good pitching wedge, but it bounded toward and into a front right bunker. My first attempt out of the bunker was fat, while my second was fine. I then 3-putt for a quadruple bogey.
Hole #15, a par-4 that is reachable from the tee, provided an opportunity for a quick turnaround. Unfortunately, I hit my tee shot thin once again. The ball travelled 120 yards, coming to rest just behind the 150-yard marker. I considered myself lucky as I reached for a 7-iron. I duffed my next shot to the edge of a fairway bunker. I was not in the bunker, but the ball was well below my feet. I caught the ball fat and now I was in the bunker proper. One fat shot later, I was still in the bunker. The next attempt was over the back of the green. I chipped on and 2-putt for another quad.
That was pretty much it as far as this round was concerned. I scored an 11 on the ensuing par-5, with a penalty stroke mixed in. To be honest, it's a day later and I don't even remember how the hole played out. At this point, it got really cold and the skies opened up. After a brief delay, I made par on hole #17, a par-3. On hole #18 I was back to my regular antics. I duffed a tee shot as a wet grip slipped in my hands. I hit a great 7-iron out of the fescue to advance the ball, but then things got silly. I poured three consecutive balls into the water on the right side of the fairway. I finished with a score of 12 for the hole.
And so it continued for the entire back nine. The lone bright spot was a par on hole #2, a par-3 that was playing about 160 yards long. I would find bunkers again on holes #3 and #5. The one on #3 was not bad, as I splashed out nicely onto the green and proceeded to 2-putt. The one on #5 was much worse. I striped a 3-iron from 215 yards out and it looked like the ball would roll onto the green. However, it just caught the left edge of the bunker and dove inside. Surprise, surprise. After another rain delay, my bunker shot (from wet sand) carried clear past the green, landing in some horific weeds. I tried to play the ball as it lay, but it squirted right into another hazard. After a penalty stroke, my pitch shot almost went in, but I needed one more tap-in for a triple bogey.
At this point, I think I gave up. I sliced my drive on hole #6, but found the ball in the rough 160 yards from the flag. Tall trees stood between me and the green, but since I had nothing to play for, I decided to go for it. I proceeded to pour three consecutive balls into the woods. I finished with a score of 10 on this par-4. I had some good shots on hole #7, a par-5, that resulted in a rare bogey. The respite was short, as I limped into the finish with scores of 10 and 6 on the final two holes, a par-5 followed by a par-3.
I am hoping this is rock-bottom. Only time will tell.
Score: 126
Putts: 38
Fairways: 4
Greens: 3
Penalties: 11
No comments:
Post a Comment