I played the Original 18 at Glen Eagle and things were looking good after the first two holes. Hole 1 is the harder of the two, but I hit the fairway with a great drive, then nailed the green with a pitching wedge. On hole 2, a par-5, I hit driver to left fairway, followed by a silky 5-iron to the right fairway, and a lob wedge into the green. On both occasions, I made a good lag putt and tapped in for par. Textbook stuff.
Then suddenly, things fell apart. I hooked a 7-iron on hole 3, a par-3, leaving me in a tough position in front of the green. I faced a huge slope to an elevated green, but tree branches interfered overhead. I bumped a shot into the hill, hoping to bounce onto the green. It worked, but the bounce didn't scrub enough ball speed and I rolled off the back of the green. I made a downhill chip and followed with two putts for double-bogey.
You can recover from something like that. What you can't recover from is a score of 11 on a par-5, which is what I registered on hole 4. I pulled my drive badly, hitting some trees left, but followed up with a perfect lob wedge to get back in position. Unfortunately, a side hill lie affected my next shot. It was another pull that ended up lost, perhaps in the woods. The course was dry and hard and the shot was a bullet, so the rough likely didn't slow the ball down much. After taking a penalty and drop, I hit my fifth shot – a punch that finished flag high in a bunker. A splash out and 2-putt would give me a triple-bogey. Instead, I sculled one across the green, then slid a wedge under the ball on bone dry grass, dribbling forward into another bunker. The next shot barely emerged from the sand, only reaching some rough. A chip and two putts were needed to end the misery.
What a bad sequence! It was a comedy of errors. A bogey and par followed on the next two holes, as I tried to put the hole 4 fiasco out of my mind. It appeared I was doing that successfully, but then a green side bunker started another bad sequence. Hole 7 is a straightforward par-4. My second shot found a bunker and I didn't want to repeat what happened earlier in the round. I tried to pick the ball clean this time, and it failed badly. With the ball still in the bunker, I tried the more conventional shot. It was actually pretty good, but the ball carried off the back of the green. I needed a chip and two putts to finish. It was a disappointing triple-bogey. I made bogey on hole 8, but then another triple-bogey on hole 9, thanks to a pushed iron off the tee that earned my second penalty stroke of the day. 52 was my score at the turn.
I wasn't feeling bad, despite the poor front nine. For whatever reason, I just moved along one shot at a time with no regard for earlier results. I carried this attitude for the entire back nine and was rewarded with a 1-over score of 37. Wow, what a turn of events! It helped that I started with a par on hole 10. I didn't even hit the fairway with my drive, but a lovely punch under some trees finished in the fairway, 50 yards from the flag. Up and down from there was well earned.
Hole 11 produced another par, beginning with a 260-yard drive over a pond to an angled fairway. From 95 yards, my lob wedge rolled off the back of the green. No worries, as I made a decent chip, followed by an excellent putt. Holes 12 and 13 both resulted in bogey. A 275-yard drive split the fairway on the former, but my 9-iron leaked right into a bunker. I finally hit a decent bunker shot, then 2-putt. A terrible drive on the latter was saved by a pristine 5-iron that got me to the right fairway, 150 yards from the green. What a sweet shot! My approach was only good enough to find the right fringe, quite a distance from the hole. I 3-putt from there to finish.
Now into the final stretch. I played holes 14 through 18 with a score of 1 under par. Four pars and a birdie did the trick. On hole 14, a 160-yard par-3, I hit the green and 2-putt a good distance from the cup. Putting well helps tremendously. On hole 15, I placed a drive perfectly in the fairway, avoiding a large tree that sits smack dab in the middle. From there, I hit lob wedge into the green and 2-putt once again. On hole 16, my drive landed on the left side of the fairway, but the slope carried it close to the right edge. From 150 yards, I hit the elevated green and was flag high. The birdie putt almost dropped, but an additional tap-in was required. Hole 17 is a short par-3. I hit gap wedge to within 10 feet and stroked in the birdie putt with no difficulty.
Hole 18 is a fun par-5, measuring 537 yards from the white tees. The blues are almost 100 yards further back. I hit a laser drive about 250 yards. From the centre of the fairway, I hit a syrupy 6-iron to the fairway just in front of the green. I mean, this shot was pure as pure can be. I've been hitting the 4, 5, and 6-irons really well. Perfect contact and the ball just pops off the club face, propelled deep on the target line. My approach into the green was a lob wedge from 70 yards that finished behind the hole. The birdie putt stopped on the lip of the cup, forcing a tap-in to finish.
What a wicked finish! This may have been my best nine holes ever.
Score: 89
Putts: 34
Fairways: 8
Greens: 9
Penalties: 2
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