After an 8-year hiatus, I returned to play Cardinal Golf Club earlier this year. The experience wasn't good, mostly because the course was jammed and it was extremely humid. Except for a memorable eagle, I also played terribly. I returned to the same course at the end of October, expecting cooler weather and fewer people. The weather was fine, but once again, there were far too many humanoids – I mean people. It was a slog.
Inexplicably, carts were restricted to paths only. That's bad enough, but my cart was locking up even when I had four wheels on the asphalt. Give me a break! Worst of all was the compressed air that the course was using to clear its sprinkler lines of water. Imaging trying to take a golf shot with a screaming jet engine just a couple yards away. That's what it sounded like. Now imagine the jet engine following you around the course for seven or eight holes in a row. I know why sprinkler lines need to be cleared, but come on, you're selling a golf experience. It's supposed to be pleasant.
With all this nonsense going on, it's no surprise I was playing terribly. Starting on the back nine first, I double-bogeyed hole 10, before making par on hole 11. Hole 12, a par-5, is the one where I made eagle last time out. This time, it's the one where the screaming sprinklers got started. They threw me for a loop, and I finished the hole with a quadruple-bogey. It was my worst hole of the day. Just three holes into the round and the tone for the day was set.
I finished my front nine with three bogeys and three doubles. I was struggling with the driver off the tee, which was the story of the second half of my season. At the start of the year, I had success swinging more from the inside. My ball flight was straight and only slightly low. As the year went on, I had trouble just getting the ball elevated. I may have to go back to playing a fade. The other option is to tee the ball up a lot higher and catch it more on the upswing. Despite the driver trouble, I could have run off a bunch of bogeys, but a 3-putt and a duffed iron shot crept in there to cause the doubles.
My back nine began with triple-bogey on hole 1, a par-5. I missed the elevated green with a blind shot from just 110 yards away. It didn't help that I duffed the subsequent chip attempt. After a couple of respectable bogeys, I collected another triple on hole 4. I teed the ball up high and tried not to turn the club face over at impact. Contact was great, but the ball faded and went out of bounds. Hitting my third from the tee, I hit perhaps my best drive of the day, but the damage was already done.
I played holes 5 and 6 aggressively, attempting to shorten the holes by driving the ball over the inside corner of these two doglegs. In both cases, I had just a lob wedge into the green on my second shot. Bogey was all I could muster on hole 5, as I missed the green left, but I did collect par on hole 6. My satisfaction was short-lived, as I made double bogey on holes 7 and 8, a par-3 and par-5. The former featured a 7-iron off the tee that was hit ever so fat, with the ball landing in a hazard. The latter featured two excellent shots to start, but a sculled wedge from 70 yards ruined it all.
I managed bogey on the final hole of the day, just to spare me the indignity of shooting 100.
Score: 99
Putts: 33
Fairways: 4
Greens: 0
Penalties: 3
