I've played Grey Silo a handful of times, but not since it was taken over by Golf North a number of years ago. The Deepwoods Tour makes a stop at Grey Silo this year, so I pounced on an opportunity to play there and get reacquainted with the layout. Before the round began, I hit a bucket of balls on the range. I worked my way through a variety of clubs, experimenting mostly with club face angle and the effect it had on my shots.
Early in the round, I had the driver working pretty well. Through the first six holes, I hit three of five fairways. One miss was a slight pull, barely off the left side. The other miss was a ball that I topped really badly on hole #3. Luckily, I followed up immediately with an excellent 5-wood and ended up saving bogey. My second shots on holes #4 and #5, a pair of consecutive par-5 holes, were also excellent 5-wood blasts. Both set me up to approach the green from very close. Par and bogey were the result – the latter owing to a pitch shot that was fat and came up short.
The driver began to fail me on hole #7, a 291-yard par-4. I opted for driver in a bid to get as close to the green as possible, but I sliced it well right into a water hazard. An equally poor effort on hole #9 sliced into some marshland. While I saved bogey on hole #7, the best I could salvage on hole #9 was a double. The driver remained suspect for the remainder of the round. It included another topped ball on hole #14 and a water ball on hole #15. One exception was hole #17 – the third and final par-5 on the course. After nailing that fairway, I followed up with another deep 5-wood, leaving a 30-yard pitch to the green. I just missed the birdie putt, settling for par.
My trouble off the tee wasn't only with the driver. On hole #8, a par-3 that was playing a measly 140 yards to the flag, I pushed a 9-iron just enough to find a green side bunker. Okay, splash out and 2-putt at worst, right? Wrong! I have been struggling with bunker shots for years now, usually with an unintended “clean pick.” I didn't want to let that happen, so I tried to hit a little more sand than usual. The first attempt hit the grassy slope beside the bunker and rolled back in. The second attempt did the same. Only the third attempt emerged safely, though nowhere near the hole. A 2-putt finished things off for a triple-bogey. On hole #16, a 160-yard par-3, I pushed a 7-iron enough to land in a pond. After a penalty stroke and another approach shot, I 2-putt for double-bogey.
In summary, my misses off the tee were very costly. It's one thing to miss a fairway, but when you top a ball or lose one in a water hazard, you are either giving up a lot of real estate or directly giving up strokes in the form of penalties. I had five penalties during this round, which is far too many. There were a lot of good moments during this round, but they are not reflected in the final score. Eighteen holes is a lot of golf and I just can't seem to sustain good play over such a long period.
Score: 96
Putts: 34
Fairways: 5
Greens: 4
Penalties: 5
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