The first round of the 2012 Deepwoods Golf Association Championship was contested at Copetown Woods Golf Club, and for a while, it looked like I would walk away with the early season lead. Late in the round, I was also flirting with a personal best. Then suddenly, and without warning, began a collapse worse than any I've ever experienced on a golf course. I had already done well enough to earn a respectable Deepwoods score, but as far as personal bests go, I wasn't even close.
Prior to the round, I spent some time hitting balls out of a practice bunker. Years ago, I had no problem getting out of greenside bunkers. I wouldn't necessarily get the ball near the hole, but I would almost certainly find the green. A couple of years ago, that all changed. I inadvertently started picking balls clean, sending them sailing over the putting surface, often into a hazard or out of bounds. When I tried to adjust, I would hit my shots fat, failing to get out of the bunker. My practice session at Copetown was designed to resolve this, but it only confirmed how bad my sand play was. I flip-flopped between shots hit too thin and too fat. Just one quarter of my attempts turned out well.
The round started with a low, penetrating drive to the left fairway on hole #10. This is a par-5, reachable in two from the white tees, which we were playing. As I did during my previous round at Horseshoe Resort, I employed my stock grip and took a step back with my right foot at address. This approach served me very well for a second consecutive round. Going for the green with my second shot, I duffed a 4-iron from 180 yards away. No worries, as I was left with 130 yards to the green from the right rough. Unfortunately, I hooked my pitching wedge left and deep, sending the ball out of bounds. After a drop, I hit one right and just short of the green. A mediocre chip and two putts followed for triple bogey. What a waste of a wonderful drive!
Next began a string of 13 holes unlike any other I have ever played. During this stretch, I was two over par. I recorded a birdie, 10 pars, a bogey, and a double-bogey. Eleven holes at par or better exceeds anything I have ever done previously, even over 18 holes. When I scored 81 at Deer Creek South (my lowest score ever) I had only nine holes at par or better. Granted, three of those were birdies. When I scored 82 at Granite Ridge Cobalt (which matched the Deer Creek score at 10 over par), I had nine pars and no birdies. The same was true of an 83 that I once shot at Carlisle. Even the 83 that I shot at Willow Valley during the final event of the 2011 Deepwoods season included nine holes at par or better. Two of those were birdies.
So what accounted for this wonderful stretch of golf? Firstly, most of my drives were straight and deep. A spectacular 290-yard blast on hole #15 comes to mind immediately. An 85-yard approach with the lob wedge then came to rest six feet from the hole, setting up the lone birdie of the day. Hole #16 was the stage for another beautiful drive, this one also travelling 290 yards to the left centre of the fairway. Next, a 3-iron that missed the sweet spot rolled down the fairway, leaving 50 yards to the flag on this par-5. I duffed the pitch shot, then put one on the green, 14 feet from the hole. With a spectacular putt, I saved par. Hole # 1, also a par-5, was the scene of another 290-yard drive to the left centre of the fairway. With 160 yards to the pin, tucked at the back of a deep green, I hit a 7-iron right of target. Long fescue was interrupting my backswing, so my chip came up short. No worries however, as I chipped again and made a 6-foot putt for par.
Besides my driving, my short game was also on fire. I managed to get up and down from off the green on holes #11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 1, and 3. The first of these was preceded by a 195-yard 4-iron off the tee on the par-3 hole. The ball bounced just off the back of the green, flag-high. I made a nice chip, followed by a 4-foot putt. Even better chips left just three feet for par on hole #13 and two feet for the same result on hole #3. On holes #12 and #14, putts from off the green eased up to the hole nicely, leaving between one and three feet for par. Up and down on hole #18 was for bogey, after my approach shot found water and I was forced to take a penalty stroke. The putt from the fringe was lengthy and satisfying. Kudos to Copetown Woods for keeping the course in great condition. The consistent rough and greens produced a fair challenge to the short game.
So, what happened over my last four holes? In a nutshell, I closed out with a 7, 6, 8, and 11, or in other words, triple, triple, quadruple, and seven over par. Can you guess what started it all? Yup, my first greenside bunker of the day on hole #6. I was there in two, so I needed an up and down for par, or an up and two putts for bogey. Either would have been fine. As I did so often from the practice bunker before the round, I hit my first attempt fat, failing to get out of the sand. My second attempt was thin, but luckily I hit a mound in front and a slope on the green prevented my ball from rolling too far away. This was followed by a 3-putt, as I didn't give the downhill lag enough respect. On hole #7, a short par-3, I hooked a pitching wedge left of the green. In the fescue, with the ball below my feet, I duffed a shot into a bunker between me and the target. The first attempt out of the bunker was fat; the second was okay. I then 2-putt for another triple. I simply cannot hit sand shots, and haven't been able to for a while now.
The last two holes is when I lost some composure. A 4-iron off the tee on hole #8 didn't get airborne and found the fescue 50 yards away. I hacked out with a pitching wedge, leaving 130 yards to the green. At this point, I think I was rattled and topped an approach shot with the pitching wedge. The ball stopped on the edge of a pond. I had a go at it, poor lie and stance be damned. The result was a ball in the water and a penalty stroke. Dropping from 85 yards, I hit the green and finished with a 2-putt. On the final hole of the day, my driver finally abandoned me. My first tee shot was a complete mis-hit, travelling low and left into some fescue and trees. One of my playing partners helped me look for the ball, to no avail. After waving through a twosome that was behind us, I went back to the tee. My next tee shot drifted right of the fairway, to a fescue-covered mound. I found a ball there, but it wasn't mine. I found another one further ahead on the opposite fairway, but it also wasn't mine. My playing partners were by the green at this point, so I had no help looking for the ball. By the time I found it, another group had played their tee shots, unaware that I was still playing. It took three hacks for me to get out of the fescue. Next, I hit a ball from the fairway, only to find out later that it wasn't mine. That was a two-stroke penalty. Finally, I hit my actual ball, then tallied a couple more strokes on the green.
And that's how you go from a hero to a zero in four holes.
Score: 94
Putts: 29
Fairways: 6
Greens: 4
Penalties: 5
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