Tying My Copetown Woods Personal Best

I shot 84 in the Deepwoods Golf Association season opener at Copetown Woods, equalling my personal best at the course, which came in the same Deepwoods event in 2015. I shot 42 on the front nine, or 7 over par, thanks to 4 pars, 3 bogeys and 2 doubles. After a 280-yard drive on the opening par-5, I needed just 9-iron to reach the green in two. Sadly, I pulled the ball 10 yards left of the green. I needed a good pitch shot just to stay on the green and finished up with a solid 2-putt.

Not surprisingly, most of the other pars also came when I was able to hit greens in regulation. One of these was off the tee on a short par-3, while the other came from a downhill lie in the right rough of a par-4. The two doubles came about for different reasons. On the first, a 50-yard pitch shot from the fescue rolled off the back of the green and was followed by a duffed chip shot. On the other, I pulled my tee shot badly into a strand of pine trees. This inexplicably seems to be my pattern on hole #8 at Copetown Woods.

On the back nine, I also shot 42, but that's just 5 over par. The stretch included 5 pars, 3 bogeys and just 1 double. Hole #10 is a par-5 that began with a drive that split the fairway. Then I hit 5-wood over a massive waste bunker, settling in a greenside bunker. My eagle attempt from the bunker rolled one inch by the hole, setting up a 2-putt par. The other pars once again resulted from good approach shots. There was a 5-wood off the tee on a par-3, a pitching wedge and lob wedge from the right rough, and an 8-iron from the left rough that gave me my best look at birdie all day.

The only trouble on the back nine was on hole #14, which started with a weak drive pulled very near some trees along the OB line. With my backswing impeded, I only advanced the ball a few yards ahead into the fescue. It took two hacks to get back to the fairway. A good approach and two putts followed on the par-5 hole, but that was enough for the double-bogey. The last four holes were also tough due to the intense heat, but I survived.

Score: 84
Putts: 32
Fairways: 5
Greens: 7
Penalties: 0