Judging by the forecast for the next couple of weeks, this may have been my last round of the year. I'll pounce on any warm weather that materializes, but right now, it doesn't look good. The round at Calerin began at 11:30 am and it took an hour or so for the temperature to creep into the comfortable range. I had not played in over a week and was a bit rusty. Despite terrible tee shots on the first two holes, I recovered well for a pair of bogeys. On the first hole, I push sliced a drive into the opposite fairway. On the second, I came up short of the par-3 with a sand wedge.
I nailed the fairway on hole #3 with an excellent drive, but exploded for a triple-bogey with a series of missed shots. I duffed two in a row, before pitching to the back edge of the green. My lengthy lag attempt was well short, setting up two more putts to finish up. It got worse on hole #4, beginning with a pulled drive that went out of bounds. After hitting my third from the tee, I recovered momentarily, only to lose another ball short and left of the green. I finished the par-5 with an ugly score of 9.
The rest of the front nine was trouble free, as I recorded five bogeys in a row. I only hit one of those fairways and one of those greens in regulation, but you don't really need those to put together a string of bogeys. When I missed a fairway, it was just by a couple of yards – same thing for the greens. A chip and a couple of putts was the typical finish. It goes to show the importance of avoiding big misses with your full shots. If you can do that for an entire round, breaking 90 is very likely. You'll hit two or three greens and those will be your chances for par.
The back nine was just as consistent as the latter half of the front. I began with a birdie on hole #10, a 472-yard par-5. I split the fairway with my drive, followed by a 5-wood that finished in a bunker, 70 yards short of the green. My lob wedge was a thing of beauty, as the ball hit just beyond the flag and spun back to just in front, leaving an uphill putt of about 6 feet that I drained.
I made double-bogey on hole #11, a par-3, as I once again missed the green. I was in a large waste bunker right of the flag, about 30 yards. Despite making a great shot, my ball rolled off the opposite side of the green. It took a chip and two putts to finish. I recovered well, however, earning bogey and par on the next two holes. Calerin is a 9-hole course that you play twice from two sets of tees, and these were the two holes I blew up on the first time around. As usual, my blowups have much more to do with bad execution than they do with the design of a hole.
Hole #14 is a 142-yard par-3 that produced a double-bogey. My 8-iron off the tee came out low and rammed into the face of a bunker protecting the front of the green. I got out to the rough with a single shot, then made a delicate chip and two putts. I was close enough to finish with just one putt, but I burned the edge with a bad miss. In the last two rounds, I've noticed something wrong with my putter. It appears to have been bent out of shape. When I hold it as I always have, it looks like it has more loft than it did before. To get the face to look normal, I have to use a bit of a forward press. I think this putter is finished. I may have to get a new one for next year.
I finished the round going bogey, par, bogey, bogey. My last three drives were terrible, but in each case, I recovered well. An up and down from 30 yards did the trick on hole #16. A fantastic 5-wood was key on hole #17. I just missed another up and down from just off the green for par. Finally, it was an up and down from about 15 yards that saved bogey on the last hole of the day. 43 on the back nine was pretty good and 93 overall – well, that's pretty typical. Still, I'll take it.
Score: 93
Putts: 34
Fairways: 4
Greens: 3
Penalties: 2
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