I play most of my golf as a single, and I get paired up with all kinds of people: young or old, male or female, people of every conceivable race and religion. I play with students, blue or white collar workers, and retirees, whether they're hackers or single digit handicaps. The vast majority of the time, it's a pleasure. Every once in a while, however, there's someone who just isn't a good fit. Specifically, I'm thinking about the guy (it's usually a guy) who never stops yapping – about anything really, but often about how great a player he is or about what you're doing wrong.
I had the misfortune of being paired up with one of these guys on a recent visit to Mill Run Golf Club. When I find myself in this situation, I just try to focus on my game. I know from experience, however, that I'm not very good at it. Try as I may, the incessant chatter seems to rattle my nerves, and I end up scoring very poorly. A better player is able to play despite these distractions. We played the Grist nine first, which began for me with a bogey on hole 1. I hit a wonderful 7-iron out of a fairway bunker to the fringe in front of the green. A nicely judged putt from there left a 3-footer for par, but it lipped out cruelly.
Hole 2 began with a disastrous drive that I smothered to the weeds just in front of the teeing area. I hit a lofted wedge out of the junk just to reach the start of the fairway. Then it was one error after another. A 5-wood shot was fat and squirted right. A 4-iron was pushed slightly right, coming to rest under some tree branches. A sand wedge from 70 yards found a bunker left of the green. A duffed shot stayed in the bunker. The next one got out, but rolled down a slope into another bunker to the left. My third bunker shot was thinned over the green. My pitch shot back rolled off the other side. I chipped on and 2-putt for a score of 12 on this par-5. Seriously?
In fairness, the disaster on hole 2 had nothing to do with my fellow golfer. I just made bad shots, repeatedly. It would be impossible to score well for the round, so I resolved to play each remaining hole and each shot individually, in order to see what I could salvage. I made bogey on hole 3, a challenging par-3, followed by par on hole 4, a short par-4. On hole 5, a long par-3, I followed up a serviceable tee shot with a thinned pitch shot from the right side of the green. It led to a double bogey that didn't sit well. One blowup hole aside, I was still playing my regular golf, but I was getting increasingly annoyed with my partner by now.
I took scores of 8 on holes 6 and 7, a par-5 and par-4, respectively. The former was due to a drive that I pulled badly into the fescue left of the hole. I was forced to hit my third from the tee. The remainder of the hole was fine, but the damage was done. The latter was also due to a wild drive, but I don't even know where it went. My partner said it went to the right, but a look in that area turned up nothing. I gave myself a 2-stroke penalty and dropped in the fairway. I went on to 3-putt the hole, which was the icing on the cake. I played holes 8 and 9 well enough, carding a couple of bogeys, but my score at the turn was a horrible 55.
The Wheel nine was next, beginning with a challenging par-5. I duffed a couple of shots, leaving me with 200 yards to the green on my fourth shot. I was not in the mood to lay up, so I went for it and hit a beautiful 5-wood. It was a high shot with a little fade that looked like it was going to carry a creek in front of the green and land on the putting surface softly. It was so perfect that I didn't even bother to watch the ball come to rest. I had not hit a 5-wood like that in a long time. Lo and behold, when we got to the green, my ball was nowhere to be found. I have no clue where it could have gone. I just assumed it went in the creek and dropped near there, after taking a penalty. I finished the hole with a double-bogey.
And so it continued on holes 2 through 5 of the Wheel course. I was hitting some good shots, but short game errors were not helping. What looked like a good approach on hole 2 finished in a hollowed out grassy area behind the green. I was unable to get up and down, resulting in double-bogey. A duffed pitch attempt over a greenside bunker on hole 3 splashed in the sand. It took two shots to get out, leading to a triple-bogey! A 5-iron off the tee was hit fat on hole 4, landing in a penalty area. My third from the tee was a wonderful 5-iron, but all that did was help save a double-bogey. I duffed an attempted approach with a pitching wedge on hole 5, completely wasting a shot and taking another double-bogey.
The final four holes were surprisingly good, producing, bogey, par, bogey, and bogey. I hit a spectacular flop over a 30-foot spruce tree near the green on hole 6, landing close enough to the hole that I should have saved par. Alas, I missed the putt. I missed a birdie putt on hole 7, a short par-3, but par was a good result, to be truthful. A nice 5-wood, 6-iron combination put me just left of the green on hole 8, a par-4. Hole 9 is a challenging par-5 to finish, and I navigated it well from tee to green. It would have been nice to hit the green with my third shot, but when you're playing as poorly as I was all day, you can't really be that picky.
I ended up shooting 105 for my worst score of the year. Can I blame the guy I played with, or did I just plain suck? My next post may help answer that question.
Score: 105
Putts: 33
Fairways: 2
Greens: 2
Penalties: 6
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