My first visit to King's Forest Golf Club was in competition four years ago. I shot a gross score 95, which was good enough for low net and victory on the now defunct Duffer's Dream Tour. Since then, I returned to the club four times and have never broken 100. I'm glad to report that I finally broke that streak with my latest visit. I didn't play especially well, but I avoided big numbers and finished with a satisfactory score of 97.
At the start of the round, it looked like I was set to do much better. I opened with a couple of pars, thanks to drives that found the fairways, followed by flag-high approach shots that just missed the greens. On both occasions, I made the up and down look easy. Unfortunately, I made hole #3 look ugly. I topped a 3-iron off the tee, forcing a layup to the 120-yard area. A brutal approach with the gap wedge ensued, followed by a great lofted pitch to a plateau on the green. Unfortunately, I didn't capitalize, making a 3-putt for triple-bogey.
Luckily, that was the first and last blowup of the day. I spent the rest of the round making bogeys and double-bogeys. The only exception was a par on hole #17, a medium length par-3. I was not sharp, but I managed to space out my mistakes. On a couple of occasions, I was forced to take penalty strokes. Whenever that happened, I managed to limit the damage. It's amazing how mistakes in quick succession can have an exponential effect on your score.
Key to breaking 100 was my play on holes #11 through #13, which I consider the hardest stretch on the course. I made a nice drive from the elevated tee on hole #11, leaving about 120 yards to the green. The gap wedge got me safely on the green, but I 3-putt for bogey. Still, it wasn't too bad. On hole #12, my 3-iron off the tee drifted right toward the forest. I found my ball and was able to chip back to the fairway. My third was struck thin and stopped short of the green, but I made a great chip and putt for another bogey.
On hole #13, I hit what I thought was the perfect drive. The ball dropped at the end of the fairway, right in front of the river that bisects the hole. I saw the ball bounce two or three times, so I figured I was safe. When I approached my ball, I saw that I had in fact slipped over the edge of the hazard, by about a foot. I tried to hit the ball as it lay, which was about waist high after I took my stance. It was a dumb move, as I proceeded to shank it. The ball nestled down in some fescue and this time I declared it unplayable. Now playing my fourth, I was unable to clear some trees between me and the green. The ball lay in the right rough, 50 yards from the flag. My next shot was the shot of the day, as I stuck it within two feet of the pin. With a lone putt, I managed to save double-bogey.
Overall, I felt like this was a round I could build on.
Score: 97
Putts: 32
Fairways: 3
Greens: 2
Penalties: 5
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