I had only played Silver Lakes on two previous occasions – once in 2007, and again in 2009. I enjoyed the course, so I was looking forward to this round. It's also getting late in the season, so each outing takes on greater importance. My handicap factor stalled at 18.5 this year, and I was really hoping to get under 18 by season end.
I play as a single very often, so I get paired up with all kinds of people. Ninety percent of the time, everything is just fine. Whether I play with men or women, young or old, high or low handicappers, I play my own game and enjoy my time on the course. Every once in a while, however, I get paired up with someone whose on-course demeanour just doesn't suit my game.
One of these personality types is the person who discusses technical aspects of the swing. I know from experience that if I have more than one thing to think about during my swing, chances are I'm going to miss a bunch of shots wildly. When that happens, frustration sets in and spills over to other parts of the game, such as chipping and putting. Try as I may to ignore the person's advice, I find it very difficult to do.
So was the case this time around. I played with a really nice guy – very friendly, clearly enjoys the game of golf, and was a good player too. Unfortunately for me, he just had that inclination to comment on my swing flaws after every bad shot. I'm sure he meant well. Having only met me that day, he just didn't know that on-course critiques like that really throw me off.
I started with a great drive, followed by a weak pitching wedge and a series of absolutely horrific pitch and chip attempts. I was short of the green, short again, sculled one over, and finished with a mediocre chip. After two putts, I had a quadruple-bogey – not the way you want to start.
Then the trouble spilled over to full swing shots. I flared a drive on hole #2 into the woods and had to hit my third from the tee. My fourth shot was a 9-iron that failed to clear a pond in front of the green. Penalty stroke, followed by a thin shot that went past the green. A nice pitch got me on the green, but after a pair of putts, I had a quintuple-bogey! Is that even a proper golf term? Sheesh!
The next thing you know, I rattled off back-to-back pars. Both came thanks to some nice up-and-down plays near the green. No sooner was I back on track, when the wheels came off again. I took another quintuple on hole #5, a par-5. I hit a wicked pull off the tee, though the woods spit my ball back out to the rough before the fairway. I duffed one, hit a nice one, duffed another couple, etc.
I didn't give up at this point, though it would have been easy to do so. I made birdie on hole #6, thanks to a pitch in from just off the green. In fact, I had a stretch of just four putts over five holes, as my short game was working well. Even over the front nine, I had just 12 putts. Unfortunately, another blowup on hole #9 pushed my score at the turn to 56 and the chances of a turnaround were slim.
My play on the back nine was less wild, except for a blowup on hole #11, a par-3. My tee shot found a greenside bunker and that's all it took. I hit my usual “clean pick” out of the sand and finished deep in the woods on the opposite side of the green. Triple-bogey was the final damage. On a positive note, I hit a marvelous approach into the last green and managed to save par.
This was only the third time this year that I reached 100 in a round. I was beginning to feel like I had left those scores in my past. Oh well. I do have three scores in the eighties this season, which provide a sort of offset, at least in my mind. After 13 years or so of regular golf, I am a solid 90's player. Break out the champagne! (sarcasm)
Score: 105
Putts: 31
Fairways: 6
Greens: 2
Penalties: 5
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