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
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