Just when I was starting to feel better about my game, I got crushed by a terrible performance. I had been shooting comfortably in the nineties and my handicap factor was slowly creeping back toward the teens. Then I went to Shawneeki Golf Club for an afternoon outing and I left feeling miserable. I played a round at Shawneeki last season, after a seven year hiatus, which left me feeling nostalgic about the course. There was none of that this time around – I just felt bad. There were a few problems.
First of all, it was hot. I teed off in the early afternoon, just when the temperature reached the high for the day. It was 31 degrees Celsius and remained that way for the entire round. Not only was it hot, but it was also very humid. I don't do well in hot and humid. I've gotten sick in similar conditions, mostly with pounding headaches, but sometimes also with nausea. It didn't help that I was walking and carrying my clubs. Shawneeki is not a hard walk, by any means, but given the heat, a power cart might have been a good idea.
Secondly, it was slow. I started as a single behind a couple and caught up to them on the third tee. Another twosome was ahead of them in the fairway, forcing all of us to wait. I didn't feel like joining the couple, and they didn't offer to have me join anyway, so my wait was extra long. The twosome that was slowing things down let the couple behind them and me play through on hole #10. After that, it was a brisk pace, but the damage had already been done on the front nine.
Given the punishing conditions and the slow start, I actually played great in the beginning. I opened with bogey, par, double-bogey, birdie, and par, for a score of 2 over par through five holes. At that pace, I would finish the round with a 79! I wasn't thinking that at the time, of course; it's just funny to realize how good that start was, in retrospect. I didn't drive the ball particularly well during that stretch, but I punched out well when needed, hit a couple of good irons, along with a couple of good pitches and chips. Putting was also good.
Since birdies are few and far between for me, allow me to describe the one I had during that run, which came on hole #4, a par-4. The ideal play is to drive the ball straight, making sure to stop before a hazard that crosses the fairway. From there, the fairway angles a bit to the right. A short iron is enough to carry the hazard and reach the green, which is surrounded by trees. Short and left of the green is better than long or right. My drive was pulled well left of the fairway. In fact, I had to wait to play my second shot, as I was in the way of a group playing another hole. I calculated that I was 130 yards from the flag.
The shot was completely blind, as there were trees between me and the green. They were far enough away that I could get over them with my pitching wedge. I struck the ball right on the desired line, but of course, lost sight of it once it cleared the trees. As I walked to the green, I began scanning for my ball. At first, I saw nothing on the green or in the rough nearby. What the hell? Then I noticed a white bulge at the base of the flagstick. It looked like it might be a ball leaning against the stick! As the angle changed, I realized it was indeed my ball, but it was about a foot away from the cup. What a great shot! Tap-in birdies are always welcome.
So everything was going well until disaster struck on hole #6. Ironically, this was my best hole on my last visit to the club. I made par on that occasion, including a 310-yard drive and a green in regulation. This time, I was conscious that I was hooking most of my drives. Over the last few rounds, I made an effort to swing more from the inside. It was working in the sense that I wasn't hitting disastrous drives, but I was sort of smothering the ball and losing distance. With a wide open fairway in font of me, I decided this was a good hole to counteract that turning over of the club that was causing the hooks. Of course, I overdid it, and my ball leaked short and well to the right, just past the teeing ground of hole #8.
The ball was lost in a hazard and I was forced to take a penalty. With tall trees between me and the 6th fairway, I tried to hoist one over with the lob wedge. Contact was less than perfect and my ball came down amidst the trees. After a good punch out, I was on the left edge of the fairway, 150 yards from the flag. Next, I barely pulled a 9-iron, but it was enough to lose my ball out of bounds! Seriously? After another penalty, I repeated the shot, this time coming up a yard short of the green. A decent chip rolled 8 feet past the hole and I needed two putts to finish. I had just racked up a score of 10 on this par-4.
To say I was livid is an understatement. A couple of rounds earlier, at Bradford Highlands, I survived a score of 12 on a hole (it was also #6) to salvage a score of 97. When the hole was over, I just forgot about it and resumed my good play. This time was different. I was just so disgusted with the outcome of that hole that I couldn't let it go. I basically cursed myself for the next seven holes. It was only on hole #14 that I let it go. Incidentally, I also scored 10 on hole #13, another par-4. I didn't really care, as I had already thrown in the towel after hole #6. I went through the motions, and even continued keeping score, but the last two thirds of the round were just played to get it over with. I considered walking off the course, but decided against it.
The troubling thing is that I am now hooking everything. This is why I hate to get technical about my swing. What starts out as a useful adjustment ends up becoming the problem. It happens time and time again. This time, I encouraged myself to swing more from the inside. It was designed to counteract my tendency to swing from the outside-in. At first, the adjustment helped. With repetition, however, my body and brain began overdoing it. The move from the inside was paired with too much of a “turning over” action at impact and follow through. Now I find myself having to make an adjustment that takes me back to my older movement – a swing that is itself, problematic. It's comical, really.
I had planned to play one more round before the next Deepwoods event, but now I think I'll skip it. Hopefully, that gives my body and brain enough time to forget this move that plagued me at Shawneeki.
Score: 108
Putts: 32
Fairways: 1
Greens: 0
Penalties: 9
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