With the forecast for the rest of April looking suspect, I decided to play again four days after my season debut. The scene for this round was Oliver's Nest, just west of Lindsay, Ontario. It's about as far from downtown Toronto as Niagara Falls, but takes longer to reach due to lower speed limits along the route. I like trying new courses every once in a while, and I had never been to Oliver's Nest, so I didn't mind making the trek.
The course itself, a Graham Cooke design, is pretty decent. It has plenty of length and a good variety of holes. I found the back nine to be more interesting than the front, as it features more doglegs and better use of hazards. By comparison, the holes on the front nine are fairly straight and open. Elevation changes are very subtle, but enough to factor into things like club selection. The greens have a good amount of undulation, but nothing ridiculous.
It was overcast when I teed off at noon, and the course was a little wet from some rain that passed through in the early morning hours. It was also quite cool, as I played the whole round wearing a pullover. It may be a little unfair to critique the course since the weather was less than ideal. I'm pretty sure it would be more enjoyable under sunny skies after the leaves have grown in. If I lived closer, I would play the course again, but it's hard to justify making a long trip to play there.
In my first round of the year, I played pretty well on the front nine (44) and poorly on the back (55). This round was the complete opposite. I shot a very shaky 51 on the front nine, before settling down for a nice 42 on the back. My troubles began off the tee, where I was having difficulty controlling the driver. I sliced a few attempts badly, while catching others very low on the club face. A few of these didn't even get airborne, requiring an extra shot just to get near the green.
Of course, my typical outside-in swing was the culprit. I was trying to straighten it out with my practice swings, but it seems I couldn't trust the movement when it came time to hit the ball. The only good drive came on hole #6, a 480-yard par-5. My ball travelled 260 yards to the left centre of the fairway. The swing was better with the irons – the best coming with a pitching wedge in hand off the tee on hole #3, a 135-yard par-3. My ball flew right over the flag, leaving a 12-foot birdie putt. I didn't make it, but par was easy.
On the back nine, I really only had one bad hole. That was #13, a 400-yard par-4 with a dogleg left. Once again, it was an outside-in move with the driver that caught the ball on the heel of the club, sending it left and to the old, dry fescue just ahead of the teeing ground. I hit a good 5-wood out of there, followed by a good 6-iron to just in front of the green. Unfortunately, my chip shot came up way short and I 3-putt for triple-bogey.
In fact, my short game was pretty weak for the entire round. On the front nine, it compounded problems I was having with my driver. On the back nine, when my driver was mostly good, it was the sole reason I didn't score even lower. Consider the final five holes, which resulted in three pars and a pair of bogeys. Both bogeys were the result of 3-putts after terribly short lag putts. I mean massively short, like six or seven feet. If my putting was just average over that stretch, I would have finished with five consecutive pars.
Oh well, the putting will come. I don't expect it to be good after five months off. What concerns me right now is the up and down nature of my driving. It was way off at Oliver's Nest. What encourages me is my iron play. I hit some nice ones coming down the stretch and those shots that challenge the greens are among the most fun in golf.
Score: 93
Putts: 38
Fairways: 5
Greens: 6
Penalties: 0
April 23, 2016
April 20, 2016
Beginning at Battlefield
It's been a little over five months since my last round of golf, which is also the last time I took a swing or even touched a club. Some courses have been open for a couple of weeks, but single digit temperatures kept me away. Temperatures climbed significantly this past week, spurring more courses to open and coaxing me to play my first round of the year. Shorts and short sleeves were the apparel of choice, as I headed out to Legends on the Niagara to play an afternoon round on the Battlefield course.
On the opening par-5, I hit my driver directly on target to the right edge of the fairway. This was followed by an equally accurate 8-iron to the right fairway, just before some bunkers. Another 8-iron found the centre of the green, 20 feet from the back-left pin location. I lagged the uphill putt nicely, leaving a 6-inch tap-in for par. It was textbook execution from tee to hole. What an easy game!
And so it continued for much of the front nine. Following a bogey and par on holes #2 and #3, I topped my second shot from the fairway on hole #4. After hitting the subsequent shot into the green, I made a terrible first putt, leading to double-bogey. Similarly, a 3-putt on hole #5 led to bogey. I should mention that I was playing as a single, with another single right behind me. I felt like he was pushing me, so I waved him through after my drive on hole #6.
That was a pulled drive that trickled into the trees on the left. With branches affecting my backswing, I topped an attempted punch shot on this par-5 hole. The next attempt got me back to the fairway, 180 yards from the flag. Into the wind and with a slightly elevated green, I hit a beautiful 4-iron to the putting surface. Next, I drained a 25-foot putt to save par! It seemed like letting the other player through was a smart move.
A slight miss hit with the sand wedge on hole #8 was the only other blemish on the front nine. The ball came to rest in a water hazard, leading to a penalty stroke and a double-bogey. I was proud of how I handled holes #7 and #9, which feature forced carries over large lakes. I played within myself and managed bogey on both. At the turn, I was shooting 44 and it looked like I could cruise along to a sub-90 round in my first outing of the season. Amazing!
Hole #10 did nothing to change my opinion, as I earned a trouble-free bogey with some pretty decent shots. On hole #11, I caught up to the chap I had waved through earlier. He had just caught up to a foursome up ahead, so it only made sense to join him for the rest of the round. He played his game while I played mine, but we had some friendly conversation over the next eight holes. He was as good a playing partner as you could ask for, but my game tanked nevertheless. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe not. I don't know.
All I know is that I shot 45 through the first 10 holes playing by myself, and I tallied 55 over the last eight holes playing with my new companion. This included four consecutive double-bogeys on holes #11 through #14, and a pair of quadruple-bogeys on holes #15 and #18. Errors included a pulled drive into the woods and the resulting penalty, a topped 7-iron from the rough, poor chip shots and some missed putts.
The worst of it came on hole #15, a par-4. A perfect drive left me in the centre of the fairway, right beside the 150-yard stick. A 7-iron to the elevated green squirted barely to the right, landing flag-high in a deep bunker. And then the stupidity began. The first bunker shot was fat. The ball hit the grassy slope and rolled back into the sand. The second bunker shot was my specialty – a ball picked clean that flew over the green and into a hazard, where it was unplayable. A penalty, drop, chip and two putts finished things up for a score of 8.
The quadruple on hole #18 was due to a terrible drive that started over the water and sliced even further into it. Hitting my third from the tee, I pulled one into a bunker guarding the opposite fairway. I certainly wasn't going to slice another one! That third shot actually didn't hurt me, as I made good contact with the 5-wood, advancing the ball back to the correct fairway, 150 yards from the flag. What did hurt me was the approach shot, which drifted right near an embankment that pushed the ball further right and into the lake. Ugh!
So a potential 89 turned into a 99, which is not good, but at least it's under 100! There was enough good play over the first half of the round to be encouraged, but I was also reminded that things can change quickly in this game. Moving forward, I will have to battle the tendency to swing outside-in with the longer clubs. I will also have to regain a feel for the short game. With this one game, my handicap factor jumped up six tenths of a point to 18.2
I've got to move in the other direction, toward 15 and lower.
Score: 99
Putts: 39
Fairways: 8
Greens: 3
Penalties: 5
On the opening par-5, I hit my driver directly on target to the right edge of the fairway. This was followed by an equally accurate 8-iron to the right fairway, just before some bunkers. Another 8-iron found the centre of the green, 20 feet from the back-left pin location. I lagged the uphill putt nicely, leaving a 6-inch tap-in for par. It was textbook execution from tee to hole. What an easy game!
And so it continued for much of the front nine. Following a bogey and par on holes #2 and #3, I topped my second shot from the fairway on hole #4. After hitting the subsequent shot into the green, I made a terrible first putt, leading to double-bogey. Similarly, a 3-putt on hole #5 led to bogey. I should mention that I was playing as a single, with another single right behind me. I felt like he was pushing me, so I waved him through after my drive on hole #6.
That was a pulled drive that trickled into the trees on the left. With branches affecting my backswing, I topped an attempted punch shot on this par-5 hole. The next attempt got me back to the fairway, 180 yards from the flag. Into the wind and with a slightly elevated green, I hit a beautiful 4-iron to the putting surface. Next, I drained a 25-foot putt to save par! It seemed like letting the other player through was a smart move.
A slight miss hit with the sand wedge on hole #8 was the only other blemish on the front nine. The ball came to rest in a water hazard, leading to a penalty stroke and a double-bogey. I was proud of how I handled holes #7 and #9, which feature forced carries over large lakes. I played within myself and managed bogey on both. At the turn, I was shooting 44 and it looked like I could cruise along to a sub-90 round in my first outing of the season. Amazing!
Hole #10 did nothing to change my opinion, as I earned a trouble-free bogey with some pretty decent shots. On hole #11, I caught up to the chap I had waved through earlier. He had just caught up to a foursome up ahead, so it only made sense to join him for the rest of the round. He played his game while I played mine, but we had some friendly conversation over the next eight holes. He was as good a playing partner as you could ask for, but my game tanked nevertheless. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe not. I don't know.
All I know is that I shot 45 through the first 10 holes playing by myself, and I tallied 55 over the last eight holes playing with my new companion. This included four consecutive double-bogeys on holes #11 through #14, and a pair of quadruple-bogeys on holes #15 and #18. Errors included a pulled drive into the woods and the resulting penalty, a topped 7-iron from the rough, poor chip shots and some missed putts.
The worst of it came on hole #15, a par-4. A perfect drive left me in the centre of the fairway, right beside the 150-yard stick. A 7-iron to the elevated green squirted barely to the right, landing flag-high in a deep bunker. And then the stupidity began. The first bunker shot was fat. The ball hit the grassy slope and rolled back into the sand. The second bunker shot was my specialty – a ball picked clean that flew over the green and into a hazard, where it was unplayable. A penalty, drop, chip and two putts finished things up for a score of 8.
The quadruple on hole #18 was due to a terrible drive that started over the water and sliced even further into it. Hitting my third from the tee, I pulled one into a bunker guarding the opposite fairway. I certainly wasn't going to slice another one! That third shot actually didn't hurt me, as I made good contact with the 5-wood, advancing the ball back to the correct fairway, 150 yards from the flag. What did hurt me was the approach shot, which drifted right near an embankment that pushed the ball further right and into the lake. Ugh!
So a potential 89 turned into a 99, which is not good, but at least it's under 100! There was enough good play over the first half of the round to be encouraged, but I was also reminded that things can change quickly in this game. Moving forward, I will have to battle the tendency to swing outside-in with the longer clubs. I will also have to regain a feel for the short game. With this one game, my handicap factor jumped up six tenths of a point to 18.2
I've got to move in the other direction, toward 15 and lower.
Score: 99
Putts: 39
Fairways: 8
Greens: 3
Penalties: 5
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