I stayed close to home for my latest round of golf, with a visit to Braeben Golf Course, in Mississauga. I pulled my drive into the trees on the opening par-5, requiring another attempt. Hitting my third from the tee, I fired a laser that rode the wind a total of 335 yards. You gotta love it! Unfortunately, the rough pinched in right where my ball came to rest. I was just 165 yards from the green, but the ball was almost at waist level. I choked up and took a baseball swing, advancing the ball only about 100 yards. A pitch to the back of the green and 3-putt produced a triple-bogey.
I had another woeful tee shot on hole #2, a 144-yard par-3. The ball went left and low into a hazard. After taking a drop, I made a great pitch and putt for the up and down to save bogey. With two holes in the books, I already had two penalty strokes. Luckily, they were the only ones I would collect for the entire round. I settled into a groove over the remainder of the day that included seven pars, seven bogeys, and a couple of doubles. My final score was a very respectable 87, which compares nicely with the 85 and 86 that I collected earlier in this young season.
The easiest way to make pars is to hit the greens in regulation. Beginning with hole #3, I hit six of the next eight greens in regulation. Four of those holes yielded pars. Unfortunately, 3-putts resulted in bogeys on the other two holes. Though I was safely on the greens in those cases, I was a long way from the holes. One of these was hole #7, a 138-yard par-3 from an extremely elevated tee. The green is wide and shallow, with a pond and bunkers covering the front. The pin was tucked to the extreme right – the most dangerous position possible. I went to the safer side, which left a ridiculously long first putt across the entire green.
Despite the 3-putts, I wasn't putting poorly. Over the last eight holes, I only hit two greens in regulation, both of which resulted in pars. I was chipping more often, which took the 3-putts out of the equation. While my approaches with irons cooled off, my driving got hot. I hit six of seven fairways over this stretch, and I only missed the seventh by about two yards. The best of the bunch was a 332-yard laser on hole #16, a par-5 that runs parallel to hole #1, where I hit the other beastly drive earlier in the day. I had 145 yards remaining to the hole, but miscalculated on the approach, as the straight line distance was probably just 125 yards. I found myself 20 yards over the back of the green and my subsequent pitch shot was short, landing in a greenside bunker. Bogey was the ultimate outcome.
Overall, I'm happy. I'm playing with some confidence now. Even when I have a blowup hole, I feel like it's a long round and I can still get a good result when all is said and done. My handicap factor is down to 16.4 – less than a point off my personal best (15.7). My next round will be the 2016 Deepwoods opener at Copetown Woods. I'll be starting as a 15 handicap at that event, so I feel ready for the challenge.
Score: 87
Putts: 38
Fairways: 8
Greens: 8
Penalties: 2
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