I don't have a great track record at Kedron Dells Golf Club. Most of the rounds I played there came early in my golfing tenure, but that is little consolation. Every time I visit the course, it seems I get off to a bad start, which immediately ruins the chance of a good score. The first five holes at Kedron Dells are sneaky, with numbers 4 and 5 perhaps being the toughest.
Hole 4 is a long par-4 that requires an accurate drive, followed by a long iron into the green. Miss the drive by just a hair and you're often forced to pitch the ball sideways into the fairway. The approach shot is complicated by a pond with some tall bullrushes that seems to swallow up more than its fair share of balls. Hole 5 is just a long par-3. A couple of small ponds and plenty of bunkers are simply hard to avoid from that distance.
I made double-bogey on each of those holes. My drive on hole 4 was picture perfect, but then I topped my second shot, sending the ball into the bullrushes. I missed the green on hole 5, then narrowly failed to carry a bunker with an attempted flop shot. Now, a couple of double-bogeys isn't the end of the world. However, they were preceded by another couple of doubles and a triple-bogey!
Hole 1 is a straight, flat par-5 that just happens to be long. Since you're more likely to miss long shots, that's how the hole gets you. My drive was perfect, but my second shot was hit fat, setting up a longer approach than I should have had. I pulled a 4-iron ever so slightly and the ball bounced all the way to some long weeds on the edge of the property. It was unplayable, leading to a double-bogey.
Hole 2 is a par-4 that started out well, with a drive to the left fairway, followed by an iron shot that just missed the green to the right. I was surprised that the ball bounced all the way into a back bunker. I got the ball out of there, but it rolled across the green into a front bunker. From there, I rolled across the green again, fortunate not to go into the original bunker for a second time. A chip and two putts later, I had a triple bogey.
Even hole 3, a fairly straightforward par-4 got me. How? Well, this time it was a 3-putt that produced double-bogey. You see, there's always a way. That's the game of golf. So through the first five holes of the round, I was already sitting 11 strokes over par. The good news is that I went 14 over par for the remaining 13 holes, or about bogey pace, but that was too little, too late.
The final 14 holes included a birdie and six pars, but it also included two triple-bogeys and a quad! It was very up and down, to say the least. I would be playing well, when all of a sudden, a bad shot would find a penalty area. I collected a whopping 7 penalty strokes on the day. You simply cannot score well when you have even half that many penalties.
The birdie was on hole 6, a par-5 lined on both sides by mature trees. My drive clipped a tree on the right side, but I got a favourable bounce. Then I hit a beautiful 3-iron from the rough that travelled under some branches and well down the fairway. I stuck a wedge shot close with my third and drained the putt for the rare birdie.
Satisfying pars came on holes 9, 11, 13, 16, 17, and 18. Hole 11 is a par-5 that featured a fantastic up and down from 50 yards. Hole 13 featured perhaps the shot of the day. I drove the ball left of the fairway and not very deep on this par-4. To reach the hidden green 190 yards away, I had to hug a line of trees while keeping the ball below the branches. Another wonderful 3-iron from the rough did the trick, as the ball came to rest at the front of the putting surface.
Finishing with three consecutive pars was nice, especially since they came on a par-4, par-5, and par-3, respectively. By far, the most impressive of these was the par-5, or hole 17. A perfect drive to the sloped fairway was followed by a perfect 6-iron to the 100-yard stick. You couldn't place two shots any better on this hole. My wedge approach was a tad short of the flag, but I was still able to 2-putt from the fringe.
Kedron got me again, it seems. I simply have to start better when I play there.
Score: 96
Putts: 32
Fairways: 5
Greens: 5
Penalties: 7
No comments:
Post a Comment