My last round was the second in the chase for the 2012 Deepwoods championship. It was played on the Quarry/Hillside nines at Peninsula Lakes Golf Club, with which I am both familiar and comfortable. Prior to the round, I spent some time on the range, trying to figure out why I have been hooking all of my irons. The best I could do was place the ball further back in my stance with high irons in hand. In addition, I focused on getting my weight transferred to the left side to maintain a bit of a forward press at impact. I wasn't very confident in these adjustments, but my ball flight seemed to be straighter, so I went with them.
I blew up on the opening hole for a score of nine on the par-4. My tee shot was a low, hooking driver that found a large pond on the left side of the fairway. After a drop, my attempted approach with an iron was no better. A pitch shot went long, a bunker shot failed to get out, and there was a 3-putt. Over the remainder of the Quarry nine, results were better, but my irons remained terrible. I duffed an 8-iron off the tee on hole #2, as well as a 3-iron off the tee on hole #3. After a good drive on hole #4, I hooked my approach well left of the green. A weak 5-iron off the tee on hole #6 didn't hurt me, but I was clearly not striking the ball even as well as I had been on the range.
My saving grace on the front nine came on holes #7 and #8, which are back-to-back par-5 holes. A good drive found the fairway on #7, while a decent iron shot pierced through the headwind and settled just in front of the green. I then 2-putt from the fringe for par. On hole #8, with the wind now at my back, I hit another nice drive, followed by a pretty drawing 4-iron, leaving just a 50-yard pitch to the green. I hit the front of the green, but the ball released surprisingly all the way to the back edge. Thankfully, I drained a lengthy putt for birdie. Halfway through the round, I was back on track and in position to score well in the Deepwoods system.
Beginning the Hillside nine, I struggled a bit. On Hillside #1, the easiest hole on the course, I mis-hit 3-iron off the tee, leaving a long approach from the left rough. I struck a decent 4-iron, but was just short and left of the green. My pitch shot over a bunker was nice, but the pin was in a tricky position and I 3-putt for double-bogey. On hole #2, my 3-iron off the tee was pushed right. It was a bit of a double-cross, as I was fighting the hook shots all day with the irons. And so, the trouble with my irons continued for the rest of the round. On a couple of occasions, I was so busy trying to figure a solution, that I topped or otherwise completely mis-hit the ball. When there are too many thoughts, that happens.
I don't want to leave the impression that everything was bad. In spite of my terrible iron play, I actually scored pretty well. I closed out the round with five consecutive bogeys, thanks to some good drives, solid wedge recoveries, and good putting. I hit a beautiful drawing drive on the tricky hole #4, perhaps the hardest hole on the course. I smoked another beauty about 290 yards on hole #9, a nice finishing par-5 hole. Unfortunately, my attempt to reach the green in two was foiled when my 4-iron trickled into a bunker in front of the green. One shot was required just to emerge from the bunker, and another to get on the green. In the end, a couple of early double-bogeys on Hillside cost me some critical points. There was no par or birdie this time that enabled me to recover.
My final score of 95 was my second best of the season, a single stroke behind my score earlier in the year at Copetown Woods. I suppose that's good news, but it's hard to see it that way when I have clearly lost a step from a couple of years ago.
Score: 95
Putts: 35
Fairways: 6
Greens: 1
Penalties: 2
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