It was a rare chance to play with some friends, so I was looking forward to my latest golf outing. I met up with Linley, Paul and Luke at The Country Club in Woodbridge for an afternoon round. Given the way I've played this year, I wasn't expecting to post a great score. Still, I went in thinking it would be nice to shave a couple strokes and perhaps break 100. That's not asking much, right?
My drive on hole #1 (East course) drifted right of the fairway toward a group of trees behind the ninth green. The rough underneath wasn't bad, but I couldn't find my ball. Are you freaking kidding me? On my very first shot? Have some mercy, for heaven's sake. Nearer the green, my approach was a hair long, but it caught a mound, propelling the ball further away under some trees and into the fescue. It was impossible to get to the green in one shot from there. Add it all up, and I started the round with a triple-bogey.
I made bogey on hole #2, but it should have been par. I read the break and speed almost perfectly on a lengthy par putt, but was only able to graze the hole. Putting wasn't so good on hole #4, a short par-4. I made a sensational approach, punching from the rough under some tree branches and carrying a large valley in front of the green. Unfortunately, I blasted my first putt right off the green. My second putt was pretty good, but I missed the remaining 4-footer. It was one of those 180-degree lip-outs that make you sick. It was little consolation, but I managed to 1-putt for par on the very next hole.
The next three holes took a shaky start and transformed it into a horrific front nine. Bunkers were mostly to blame. On hole #6, a par-5, I topped my second shot, while my fourth landed in a greenside bunker. It took two shots to get out and two putts to finish with triple-bogey. I could live with the topped ball (it doesn't happen that often) but giving away a stroke in the bunker is just so typical. And it would get worse. On hole #7, a 179-yard par-3, the pin was positioned at the front of the green, between two bunkers. I hit an easy 6-iron that was cutting slightly to the left edge of the green. I hit a mound that pushed the ball left into the bunker. If the ball landed one yard to the right, the mound would have pushed the ball onto the green. As it was, I subsequently picked the ball clean across the green and lost it in the woods. After a penalty, my next attempt was fat and remained in the bunker. My third attempt was a replay of the first. Cutting to the chase, I finished with a score of 10 on the hole. What a loser!
I made par on hole #9 for a score of 58 at the turn. This was a nice 7-iron into a par-3, followed by a near birdie putt. Still, any chance of a good score for the round was long gone. I was trying to focus on each hole and each shot. I played much better on the back nine, finishing with a score of 48, while making no worse than double-bogey on any one hole. There's nothing special about that, but at least I felt like I belonged out there. When you're hacking it around in bunkers, you feel like everyone would be better off if you just walked off the course.
Even though I scored better on the back nine, bunkers were still a problem. I took three shots to get out of a bunker on hole #11, a short par-3. Only an excellent putt allowed me to save double-bogey. I was happy with a bogey on hole #13, a par-4 with a huge tree right in the middle of the fairway that protects the green. I was even happier with par on the next hole, a 126-yard par-3 over water. I hit a gap wedge, but contact was off the toe, so I lost distance. I made an average chip from the edge of the water, followed by an excellent putt. While standing near the water, I also saved Paul's Pro-V1 from getting wet. He picked one out of the bunker on the opposite side of the green. It was a line drive that took one bounce before I stuck out the left hand to stop its progress. I very nearly fell into the pond in the process! That would have been memorable.
Overall, my driving was a little weak, but not terrible. I hit very few fairways, but was never in too much trouble off the tee. My irons were okay as well. When I made decent contact, the ball flight was pretty straight. I hit one iron fat from a par-5 fairway on my second shot, but most iron miscues came from the rough. It was pretty lush in a couple places, leading to at least one topped ball and a bunch of chunky ones. The short game was bad, mostly because of the disgusting bunker play. Though I had a couple of bad putts, I also had some really good ones, so that evened out.
In the end, I shot 106, which is at the upper end of what I've been shooting this year. Failure sucks.
Score: 106
Putts: 36
Fairways: 2
Greens: 3
Penalties: 3
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