Coming off two good scoring rounds in a row, I was eager to test myself again, this time at Mystic Golf Club. Weather was fine, albeit a little cool. We played the back nine first, which I ended up not liking so much. Hole #10 at Mystic is the hardest on the course. It's one thing to play it in the middle of a round, but quite another to start there before you've really had a chance to warm up.
It's a long par-5 with three forced carries over brush covered ravines to reach the green. If you don't hit a perfect drive straight and long, you face a severe test just to make it over the second carry. My drive was good, but not exceptionally long, so I opted to lay up with a pitching wedge to just in front of the dangerous ravine. From there, you could try a very long shot into the green over the final two carries, but it's very risky. I opted to hit a 9-iron to the 100-yard stick. Of course, I bladed it into the hillside opposite the ravine. It took a bad bounce into some bushes. I took my first of what would be many penalty strokes on the day. I actually finished the hole strongly with an up and down for double-bogey.
I bladed the 9-iron again off the tee on hole #11, a short par-3. This time, the ball failed to carry a hazard and I was forced to take another penalty stroke en route to double bogey. After this, I started to play better, accumulating a couple of pars and bogeys through hole #16. There was another double as well, thanks to a fat 9-iron off the tee on another par-3, which was compounded by a poor pitch shot and 3-putt. For the life of me, I can't figure out why the 9-iron, of all clubs, was causing me the greatest trouble.
That is, of course, until hole #17, a par-5 that doglegs around a large pond. I took a conservative line off the tee with the driver, but the ball started right and sliced further right until it splashed into the water. I teed up another ball and unfortunately had the same result. The third time was not a charm, as I did the same thing once again. My fourth attempt finally travelled on the intended line and landed safely on the other side of the water. From there, I hit a great 5-wood just right of the green. A beautiful chip left just a tap-in putt. Had the ball over the water been my first, this would have been a birdie. With all the penalties, it was a score of 10 on the card.
I had a lot of work to do on the front nine, but started terribly with a triple-bogey. After a terrible tee shot with the 5-wood, I recovered well, putting myself in a position to still reach the green of this par-5 in three shots. Unfortunately, I completely duffed a 5-iron into another hazard. Rack up another penalty stroke. Two pars and four bogeys over the next seven holes was a nice run, with many good shots, including chips and putts. Unfortunately, I was so bad on those earlier holes that it didn't make much difference. I limped in on the last hole with a double-bogey, which at least was good enough to save a final score of 99.
Score: 99
Putts: 31
Fairways: 5
Greens: 2
Penalties: 7
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