Rain and cold. We've had a lot of it recently and the forecast is for more of the same, so I ventured out on the only dry day we've had or will have any time soon. I knew the ground would be soft from earlier rainfall, but when you have no other choice, the decision is easy. I booked a tee time at the familiar grounds of Bradford Highlands and off I went.
My driving in the first two rounds of the season was not terrible, but misses were to both sides. I hit more fairways at Bradford (8/14), but more importantly, my misses were almost entirely to the left side. This is actually a good thing. When you miss to both sides, it's because your adjustments are much too dramatic. You end up swinging wildly from one extreme to the other. When you miss consistently to one side, it only takes a very slight tweak to straighten things out. Furthermore, my misses at Bradford were just a few yards off the fairway, leaving unobstructed second shots, albeit from the rough. The one exception was also the only drive that I sliced to the right side. It came on hole #9, a par-5. Left of the fairway on this hole is out of bounds, which may have played a factor. The wind was also blowing strong from left to right.
I focused on one thing with the driver swing. Usually, I get relatively little spine rotation during the backswing. Instead, the arms take over and that's what takes the swing off plane. To adjust, I increased the spine rotation just a little bit, while quieting the arms significantly. The end result was a shorter overall backswing, even though my spine was rotating more than usual. It seemed to work at Bradford, so I'll continue doing this in the rounds to come. The key will be not to fall back into old habits.
My iron play at Bradford still left a lot to be desired, but it was improved over the previous two rounds. I had been pushing everything way right, owing to a club face that was far too open at impact. Early in the round, I continued this pattern. My 5-iron from the tee on hole #2 finished flag high, but was 20 yards right of the green. My 8-iron from the fairway on hole #4 was off by about the same distance. At that point, I resolved to fix the problem just by buckling down and closing that club face. I did so at address, so I didn't have to change anything else about the swing. Lo and behold, I didn't push any more iron shots to the right. I did pull a couple, but ever so slightly, so nothing to be too concerned about.
Though my iron play was better, I still wasn't hitting any greens in regulation. It seems I always found a way to trickle off the putting surface. After nailing the fairway on hole #6, a par-4, I had about 110 yards to the back pin position. The sand wedge approach was on line, but landed two yards behind the stick and trickled off. From the fairway on hole #7, another par-4, I pulled a lob wedge left of the flag. The ball landed on the green, but had enough side spin to veer into the left side bunker upon release. It was more of the same on the back nine. I thinned an approach shot on hole #14, causing the ball to release to the back fringe of the green. On hole #15, a short par-4, another wedge approach trickled off the back of the green, tantalizingly close to the back pin position. At least that time, I got up and down for par.
It was mostly a day full of bogeys, with a couple of pars offset by a couple of double-bogeys. I took a triple on the opening hole, as I was rushing on the tee after a twosome suggested I play ahead of them. I hate when that happens! I topped the drive attempt, but followed up with a nice 5-wood. From the soggy fairway, my wedge shot came up short in a pond. This was more a result of the situation than with my ability, so I didn't feel too bad. Overall, this felt like a reasonably good or “normal” round for me, so I'm encouraged that I'm back in the swing of things after the lengthy winter layoff.
Score: 94
Putts: 36
Fairways: 8
Greens: 1
Penalties: 2
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