It looked like it might rain during my latest round at Lionhead Legends, but luckily the storm passed through before my late afternoon tee time. The course had plenty of time to dry out and conditions were actually great. It had been a few years since my last trip to Lionhead and even longer since I last played the Legends course.
I managed to score 100, which is one less than my previous best at the course. Normally, I would be upset at reaching the century mark, but as more time goes by, I really see no difference between 100 or 99. Neither is particularly good, so what difference does it make? I shot 49 on the front nine, but didn't know my back nine score going into the last hole. I just had the feeling it was something similar. When I made quintuple bogey on the last hole, I figured I would finish with 103 or 104, so I actually had a chuckle when I finished at 100 even.
The real problem on this day was that I made no pars at all. Whenever I've had similar scores in the past, there have been three or four pars in the mix. Of course, there were also three or four triple-bogeys to even things out. This time, I almost eliminated the blowup holes. My scorecard included 12 bogeys, 4 double-bogeys, a triple, and the aforementioned quintuple. So what's better? Blowing up for triples and quads while registering a few pars, or riding the bogey train for most of the round with an occasional double? Recent rounds have tended toward the latter. I like the idea of consistency, but I miss the pars.
I used a combination of driver and 5-wood off the tees at Lionhead, except of course on the par-3 holes. I hit 4 of 9 fairways with the driver and 3 of 5 with the fairway wood. When I missed with either club, it was by just a couple of yards. I was never really in trouble off the tee. My worst drive was on hole #14, but even then, I had a sizable opening back to the fairway. Unfortunately, a poor third shot led to double-bogey. I did miss badly with the 5-wood on one occasion, but it was my second shot on a par-5. I sliced it into long fesuce and though I found my ball, I wasted a shot hacking it out en route to another double-bogey.
My irons were not as sharp, though they were not terrible. I failed to hit a few greens when I really should have. I missed the first green, for example, from 145 yards out after a great drive. I missed the fifth green from just 110 yards. On hole #8, a par-3, I finished just left of the green, 150 yards away. On hole #16, the green once again eluded me from 145 yards away. On all of these occasions, I landed in a greenside bunker. More on that in a moment.
My irons did serve me well when I played cautiously. After popping up my tee shot on hole #2, a par-4, I was barely on the fairway, 220 yards from the green. Rather than go for it with the 3-wood, I played a perfect pitching wedge, lob wedge combination and 2-putt for bogey. Despite a good drive on hole #15, a tough par-5, my ball was in some long fescue just right of the fairway. I chopped out with my second shot to the 150 yard stick. Rather than go for the green, which is well protected by a pond left and front, I advanced the ball 90 yards to the end of the fairway and then pitched on from 60 yards out. This took the pond out of play. After a 2-putt, I was satisfied with bogey.
As I hinted at earlier, bunkers were in play often. This is my nemesis right now. A few rounds back, it reached a low point when I needed five shots to get out of a greenside bunker, with a group of Deepwoods colleagues watching in stunned silence. One of them gave me a tip after that incident and it's actually helped me a bit. Whereas in the past, it was guaranteed that I couldn't get out of the bunker safely, I am now getting out in good shape about half the time.
On hole #1, I sculled one into the lip of a greenside bunker, failing to get out. My next attempt was actually very good. Nevertheless, the first miscue led to double-bogey. On hole #5, I popped one out of a greenside bunker nicely, only to watch it roll off the green on the other side, into another bunker! From there, I hit a beauty and tapped in with one putt for bogey. On hole #8, there was water on the other side of the green, so I couldn't afford for the same thing to happen. I hit another beauty from the sand! I did miss the ensuing putt, but still managed bogey. Finally, on hole #16, the greenside bunker shot was a bad one, sailing clear over the green into the woods. After a penalty stroke and drop, I chipped in from off the green to save bogey. As you can see, it's a 50/50 thing right now. Hopefully, it keeps getting better.
Lastly, I'll talk about putting. I had 34 total on the day, including a pair of 1-putts and a pair of 3-putts. The 3-putts came, as they often do, on the two occasions when I reached a green in regulation. The first of these was on hole #10. I faced a long downhill putt and left it too short. I then burned the edge on the remaining 10-footer. On hole #11, which is actually the #1 handicap hole on the course, I hit a perfectly placed drive and very pretty 7-iron. My birdie putt was another downhiller, but not as lengthy as the one on the previous hole. I just made a bad stroke and left it well short.
Score: 100
Putts: 34
Fairways: 7
Greens: 2
Penalties: 4
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