I've broken 90 many times this year, but not so much lately. My last four rounds produced scores of 94, 96, 91 and 92. I was pleased to return to the 80s at Willodell Golf Club. I played well, except for one disastrous hole.
I shot 45 (9 over par) on the front nine. Two pars offset two double-bogeys, while everything else was a bogey. The first double came on the opening hole after my tee shot found a fairway bunker. I hit the lip of the bunker with my second shot, despite hitting sand wedge. I have no other complaints about the hole; hitting that lip just cost me a stroke.
I got that stroke back on hole 2 by registering my first par of the day. The second of back-to-back par-5 holes began with a drive down the centre of the fairway. A controlled 7-iron, sand wedge combination carried me to just below the front pin position. That was crucial, as the green slopes significantly from back to front. I gave the birdie putt a good chance, but just missed.
A couple of bogeys followed, including a good one on hole 4, the hardest on the course. It's a long par-4, ideally played with a draw off the tee. I don't draw the driver, so I left it in the bag. Instead, I hit 5-wood to the right side of the fairway. I could not reach the green from there, which was fine. I basically played the hole to make bogey, which is what I did.
The second par of the day was on hole 5, a 189-yard par-3. I hit a 4-iron on a rope, but failed to clear a front bunker by a couple feet. The trajectory was a little low. Had I cleared the bunker, the ball would have released nicely to the rear pin location. No worries, as I hit a lovely pitch out of the bunker and 1-putt for the par. It was a true pitch shot out of the bunker, as I intentinally clipped the ball clean. The sand at Willodell isn't the greatest, and I stink at hitting properly out of greenside bunkers.
I closed out the remainder of the front nine with a string of bogeys, except for a double on hole 8. I was in good shape after my drive on this 403-yard par-4, but pulled my approach with the 7-iron well left of the green. The green is deep, but narrow, and flanked on both sides by large bunkers. I had to flop over one of these bunkers and get the ball to stop before rolling into the one on the other side. I managed to do so, but my ball was off the green in the rough. My chip went long and I missed the comeback putt, hence the double-bogey.
I shot 44 (8 over par) on the back nine, but it was a very different nine than the front. I collected a birdie and three pars, but also a double and quadruple-bogey. One of the pars was on hole 10, a par-5. I pulled my drive, but smacked a tree trunk and my ball came back to the fairway. I hit a long iron fat, essentially wasting a shot. My third was a good shot with the 5-wood, but I was still 50 yards short of the green. I then pitched below the hole at the front of the green and rolled in a putt to save the par.
The disastrous quad occurred on hole 11, a 400-yard par-4. I sliced a drive into the trees right of the fairway. I tried to punch out, but hit a lot of ground first. I was back in the fairway, but 100 yards from the green. From there, I pull hooked my sand wedge left of the green. I had quite a few of those pulled wedge shots all day. My fourth shot was a thinned pitch attempt that found a bunker on the other side of the green. Two shots to get out and two putts were needed to finish up. A sequence like that can come out of nowhere, it seems.
After a bogey and shaky double-bogey over the next two holes, I really had to buckle down. With five holes to play, my score was headed almost certainly into the 90s. Fortunately, I remained in the moment and played those last five holes just one over par. The finishing streak went par, birdie, bogey, par, and bogey.
Hole 14 is a short par-4 at just 300 yards. However, a creek crosses the fairway twice and some trees pinch the left side on low trajectory shots from the teeing ground. I was feeling good with the driver and promptly deposited the ball just 10 yards short of the green. It was a difficult up and down for birdie, due to the slope of the green, but I was happy with a chip and two putts for par.
Hole 15 is a 387-yard par-4 with a slight bend to the right and some woods that protect the green on the right side. I was playing with a member at the club who lamented that this was the only hole he hadn't been able to birdie all year. He pulled his drive to an opposite fairway, then clipped some trees trying to reach the green, ultimately making no better than bogey. Meanwhile, I split the fairway, then hit a mid iron to the front of the green. My partner just shook his head as I rolled a 10-foot birdie putt into the heart of the cup. LOL
The last three holes were played under good control. I failed to clear a front bunker on hole 16, a par-3, but played a clean pick out of the sand and followed it up with two solid putts. Driver set me up perfectly on each of the last two holes. On hole 17, I followed up with a mid-iron to the front of the green. The pin was way at the back, so I had to make a great lag putt. It was so good that it almost dropped for birdie. A 4-inch tap-in sealed the par. On hole 18, my approach was a tad short and right, requiring a chip and two putts to take bogey.
Score: 89
Putts: 31
Fairways: 8
Greens: 4
Penalties: 0
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