Appropriately,
my last round of golf took place at Tangle Creek Golf Club, located
in Barrie, Ontario. I played there once before, but it was way back
in 2006. I consulted my blog entry for that round to see if I could
glean anything useful, but my effort was fruitless. Considering that
I described my play as “pure garbage,” it's no surprise that I
was rather tight-lipped about the details.
I'm
happy to say that things were quite a bit better this time around. It
was my second round of the season, thanks to a week of remarkably
mild weather. Teeing off in the mid afternoon, I got off to a very
hot start. I striped my drive to the fairway on the opening par-5,
then followed it up with a green in regulation. In fact, I managed to
do the same on the next two holes as well. Through the first four
holes, I amassed two pars and two bogeys.
On
hole #5, the tees were playing well up. I should have had no trouble
clearing a creek that crosses the fairway, but I caught the ball
terribly thin and off the heel. Sure enough, I ended up in the creek.
It was my only bad drive of the front nine, but it was costly. After
taking a drop, my path to the green was completely blocked by a large
tree 40 yards away. A low punch attempt smacked the trunk and I had
to play the same type of shot a second time. Triple bogey was the
result.
After
a magnificent par on hole #6 and an equally impressive drive on hole
#7, the wheels came off. My drive was so good that I ran through the
end of the fairway on this sharp dogleg right. My ball was on a mound
well below my feet. I wanted to hit a wedge about 100 yards, which
would set up an approach into the par-5 from about 150 yards away. I
chose a line left of my target, as the lie has a tendency to push
balls to the right. Surprisingly, the ball travelled precisely on the
line I took, smacking a tree 50 yards away.
Now
I was in the rough just off the fairway, with a slightly downhill
lie. I was 190 yards from the green. There was no way to go for it,
as the fairway sloped down to a creek in the valley, before rising
sharply on the other side to an elevated green. The prudent play was
to pay the price for the poor second shot and just pitch the ball to
the 150-yard stick. I attempted that shot, but completely duffed it,
sending the ball a mere five yards ahead. Conditions weren't much
better for my next shot, though I was in the fairway now. I hit a
4-iron thin, barely clearing the creek. From there, I hit a series of
wedge shots ridiculously short. A 3-putt ensued, bringing my score on
the hole to a pathetic 10.
A
topped 6-iron off the tee on hole #8 was no doubt due to the
frustration that carried over from the previous hole. This is a par-3
with a forced carry over bush. I was forced to declare my ball
unplayable and as a result, ended up with a triple-bogey. I finished
the front nine with a score of 51, in spite of such a promising
start.
On
the back nine, it finally happened. In the first round of the season,
I was guarding against the straight pull off the tee with the driver.
As a result, I hit quite a few slices, both high and low. At the
start of this round, I told myself not to worry about the straight
pull. The result was a lot of pretty baby fades. On hole #10 however,
I pulled a wicked one straight into the fescue that abounds left of
the fairway. I did the same thing on hole #17, pulling a vicious
drive into a massive waste bunker. In both cases, the penalty wasn't
very severe, so I guess it wasn't a very big deal.
I
strung together a bunch of bogeys on the back nine before succumbing
to a triple-bogey on hole #14. The problem this time was sand. A
solid drive carried a couple of ponds to the right rough. From merely
90 yards out, I came up short and landed in a bunker. My first bunker
shot was hit fat, while my second was thin and scooted over the
green. Just like that an easy hole becomes a nightmare. I mis-hit a
couple more bunker shots before the round was over. I was fat both
times.
On
the final hole, a par-5 with a severe dogleg right, my birdie chip
from just off the back of the green stopped two inches right of the
cup. That would have given me a score of 99, which wouldn't be bad
for this course, especially after my long layoff. As it was, I
finished with the frustrating score of 100. Despite the score, I felt
like many things went well. I drove the ball much better than I did
the previous week, my irons were solid, as was my putting. I had some
brain freezes with short pitch shots and with bunker shots, which
I'll need to avoid in the future.
Score: 100
Putts: 36
Fairways: 5
Greens: 3
Penalties: 3
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