When you play ten rounds of golf and only break 100 once, you begin looking for small victories wherever you can. The fact that I broke 100 in my eleventh round is one such victory. It was the third round of the Deepwoods season and it took place at Willow Valley Golf Club, where traditionally the fifth and final round of the season has been played.
The front and back nines were reversed this season, restoring the course to its original routing. As a result, the first hole played was a shortish par-4, measuring just 340 yards from the white tees. I hit a picture-perfect drive to the left centre of the fairway, leaving 90 yards to the front pin position. My approach stopped short of the green, but I made a nice chip and a short putt for a satisfying par.
My sole objective on the second tee was to avoid an environmental area left of the fairway. I concentrated so hard on avoiding that spot, that I ended up hitting the ball precisely there. Penalty stroke. After finally making it to the fairway, I pulled a pitching wedge into the fescue and vegetation left of the green. Penalty stroke. I seem unable to avoid a disastrous result over the first three or four holes of a round. This time, I finished with a quadruple-bogey.
I played bogey golf for the remainder of the front nine, amassing one par, five bogeys, and one double-bogey. The par, which came on a 105-yard par-3 hole, was almost a birdie. Putting from an upper tier to a lower one, I got an excellent read from my playing partner. I missed on the low side by an inch, but tapped in the subsequent one-footer. The double-bogey came on a par-5, thanks to another pulled pitching wedge that found the fescue. I absolutely abhor penalty strokes.
On hole #10, I wasted two strokes by pull hooking a 3-iron into a pond left of the fairway. The entire right side on this sharp dogleg is out of bounds. Hitting my third from the tee, I threw caution to the wind by selecting driver. Using that club means aiming over the pond and trying not to run through the right side of the fairway, where nasty fescue abounds. I had hit some excellent drives on the front nine, so I felt comfortable with the club. The result? I did run through the right side of the fairway, but my ball stopped in the rough just before the fescue. I went on to double-bogey the hole. It's a shame, because it would have been a par had I not messed up the first tee shot.
There were a couple more lowlights over the remainder of the round. On hole #12, I took three shots to get out of a greenside bunker en route to a triple-bogey. A 5-foot putt would have saved double and a precious Deepwoods point, but I burned the edge of the cup. On hole #17, a par-3 over water, I got too cerebral again and dunked my first tee shot in the water. Triple-bogey ensued. Finally, a couple of 3-putts crept into my game, which allowed more points to slip away.
Despite the miscues outlined above, I continued to hit good shots every now and then. A nice 8-iron and two putts produced par on hole #13. I also made par on hole #16, a par-5. My second shot on that hole was a 3-wood from the fairway, which I pushed right of the green, but flag-high. A solid wedge shot and very good 2-putt closed things out. In fact, I recovered well on a number of holes after some less than perfect shots. As long as one doesn't make two mistakes in a row, those types of recoveries are possible.
In the end, I broke 100, which is good. I left some Deepwoods points on the table, thanks to a handful of missed putts in the four to six foot range. It doesn't really matter, as I was effectively out of the championship after the second round. The next nine rounds or so represent the heart of the season. My goal, which may be outlandish given the start of my season, is to put together ten consecutive rounds below 100. The first of these is out of the way. Only nine more to go!
Score: 96
Putts: 35
Fairways: 6
Greens: 3
Penalties: 6
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