I headed out to Carlisle Golf Club, hoping to extend my streak of six consecutive rounds breaking 90. Typically at Carlisle, I play the North nine, followed by the East nine. This time, they told us to play North/South. I hadn't played the South nine in many years, so it would be interesting.
The North nine began with a double-bogey, solely because of my inability to get out of greenside bunkers. I was in one after my approach shot and proceeded to blast the ball clear over the entire green. For the life of me, I can't figure it out. I try to hit the sand behind the ball, but I get too much ball every time.
I went par, bogey, par over the next three holes, with both pars coming on par-3 holes. Holes 5 through 7 can be difficult, especially 6 and 7. Hole 5 is only trouble if you fail to hit a straight iron off the tee. That's exactly what happened. I duffed my tee shot into a small pond directly in front of the teeing ground. Hitting my third from the tee, I could do no better than double-bogey.
Hole 6 began with a drive into some trees right of the fairway. My ball finished in an opening on the side of a hill, giving me a good chance to recover. Unfortunately, a good 8-iron carried across the fairway, coming to rest against a chain link fence at the edge of the property. I had to declare an unplayable and finished with another double-bogey.
Hole 7 has a large forced carry over a naturalized area. The vegetation was so high that you couldn't even see the landing zone on the other side. It wasn't a huge problem, since I know the hole, but my 5-wood drifted slightly right, smacking a tree trunk and coming straight back about 20 yards. Blocked from attacking the green, all I could do was pitch the ball up to about 130 yards. My approach was short and right, requiring a chip and two putts for another double-bogey.
The double-bogey streak extended to four with another one coming on hole 8, a par-5. I hit driver, 3-iron nicely, but my ball finished in a bunker 40 yards in front of the green. It was right up against the lip, so I had to chip it out sideways. A mediocre pitch from there, combined with a bad bounce left me in a greenside bunker after my fourth shot. Given my struggles with bunker shots, I just used my putter to put one on the green. The left side of the bunker had no lip, so this was a decent play. Of course, I needed two more real putts to finish up. After bogey on hole 9, my score on the North course was 48.
The South nine was much better and could have been amazing, were it not for a triple-bogey on hole 3. I hit a good drive on this par-5, leaving just 180 yards into the green. Going for it comes with some risk, as there is a creek in front and left of the green, while out of bounds looms on the right. I was feeling confident, so I took a chance. My 5-iron was struck well, but pulled ever so slightly, finding the creek on the left side. After a penalty and drop, I butchered a pitch shot from 50 yards, leaving the ball unplayable in some long weeds. Another penalty and drop was followed by a pitch and two putts. Such a shame.
Aside from that, I collected four pars and four bogeys on the South course. A nice 3-iron off the tee on hole 2 set up a lob wedge approach that found the green, leading to the first of the pars. I hit an equally good 4-iron off the tee on hole 5 and once again hit the green in regulation, but a 3-putt spoiled the fun and resulted in bogey. This was followed by a pair of pars on back-to-back par-3 holes. A sweet 6-iron finished flag high on hole 6, while a little gap wedge did the same on hole 7. The latter offered the best chance at birdie, but I blew my attempt well past the hole.
The final par came on hole 8, a short par-4 that begins with a shot over water. My fellow competitors played it aggressively, opting for driver in an attempt to get as near the green as possible. One hit a steep bank and rolled back into the water. The other hit the same bank, but managed to keep his ball dry. I chose 6-iron off the tee and hit as pure a shot as you can possibly hit. I actually drove it through the dogleg fairway, but had a perfect lie and angle into the green from 90 yards. My approach hit a little backstop just behind the pin, leaving a good look at birdie. I didn't make the downhill putt, but tap-in for par was fine with me.
I shanked one of my shots en route to bogey on the final hole, but it was good enough for a score of 43 on the South course. My final score of 91 meant that my sub-90 streak was over. That's okay, a good consolation prize was about to make up for it.
Score: 91
Putts: 37
Fairways: 2
Greens: 7
Penalties: 4
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