I booked a last minute round as a single at King's Forest Golf Club. While checking in with the starter, I noticed a familiar name alongside mine on the tee sheet. Sure enough, it was someone I met over a decade earlier while playing in a golf association. To top it all off, his guest was another familiar member of the same group! It was great seeing those guys again and it was a treat to play together.
King's Forest is a course that has punished me over the years, to put it mildly. My best score there was my very first visit, and that was only a 95. Even during good stretches of golf, I would show up at King's Forest, only to blow up for a huge score. I shot 100 or worse there more times than I care to remember. I'm glad to say that I shot 90 even this time around – easily a personal best for the course.
I shot 42 on the front nine, with four pars, four bogeys, and one double-bogey. After missing fairways on the first two holes, I played smart second shots that enabled me to save a couple of bogeys. I missed the fairway on hole 3 as well, but a brilliant second shot found the green and set up a par.
Hole 4 is the one that resulted in double-bogey. My third shot into this par-5 was pulled into a bunker left of the green. As the bunker had no real lip, I tried to putt one out. I've used this technique successfully before, but this time I finished short of the green. My fifth shot was a chip that went a little long, and it was followed by two putts.
The rest of the front nine was very nice indeed: par, par, bogey, par, bogey. The first of these pars came on a 200-yard par-3 after I found the green in regulation. Up and down from right of the green earned the second par on a par-5 hole. A bunker shot on hole 7 was good enough to set up bogey. Par on hole 8, a 355-yard par-4 was textbook stuff.
The bogey on hole 9 was actually great. I pulled my drive left into a penalty area. After taking a penalty and drop, I faced an extremely steep downslope. Trees on the left were blocking my path to the green. I took a more lofted club to account for the downslope and tried to play a huge hook shot into the green. It came off exactly as I pictured, with the ball finishing 10 feet from the hole. Even though I didn't make the par saving putt, it was a great recovery. That hook was a fun shot to pull off.
I made par on hole 10 before reaching the section of King's Forest that destroys many a round. Holes 11 through 13 can be deadly. I've had success on some of these holes before, but have never been able to make it through all three unscathed. I pulled my drive from the elevated tee on hole 11, but was lucky to avoid trees and catch the cart path, with my ball finishing with an unobstructed path to the green. My approach with sand wedge was flared a little, finishing a yard right of the green. I chipped on and 2-putt for bogey.
Hole 12 is a tight dogleg to the right. Your tee shot has to be straight and also the perfect distance to allow you to even go for the green with your second shot. I hit a laser 3-iron, 220 yards to the right edge of the fairway. It was long enough to get around the corner, leaving an open path to the green. My gap wedge approach was a little disappointing, finishing just right of the green. I chipped on and 2-putt to finish with another bogey. So far, so good.
Sadly, hole 13 got me, producing a triple-bogey. The tee shot on this par-4 does not suit my game. The teeing ground is pressed against the tree line on the left, forcing you to start the ball out to the right. If you can draw the ball, that's fine. If you tend to fade the ball, there's a good chance of finding the woods right of the fairway. You have more margin for error if you play shorter off the tee, but then you face a long second shot over the imposing river, which crosses the fairway. I flared my tee shot right into the woods. After a penalty and drop, I tried to shoot over the river, but dove in the water for another penalty. A brilliant fifth shot from 150 yards gave me a chance to save double-bogey, but I missed the putt, hence taking the triple.
The rest of the round was just bad enough that I failed to break 90; I went bogey, double, double, bogey, bogey. A tiny tree interfered with my second shot on hole 15, a par-5. I recovered with a decent third that finished left of the green. Unfortunately, I duffed a pitch attempt, with my club face sliding right under the ball. Double-bogey was the end result.
A terrible tee shot on hole 16 caused the other double. This is a really short par-4 at just 295 yards. I don't think I was trying to crush the ball off the tee, but I topped it badly. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes. On a positive note, I did save bogey on hole 18, despite taking a penalty stroke for another drive pulled into the woods.
Score: 90
Putts: 33
Fairways: 1
Greens: 3
Penalties: 4
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