Like Old Times at Tyandaga

With a single round, my handicap factor zoomed up to 25.5 – an increase of almost a full point. My last official round of 2012, a decent performance at Tangle Creek Golf Club, just came off my scoring record and was replaced by one of my weaker outings this year. As a result, my handicap is back in territory that I haven't seen for seven years or more. It's depressing, to say the least.

I guess it's fitting that my handicap returned to that level after a visit to an old course for me. In my early golf days, I would get out to Tyandaga Golf Course at least a couple of times each year. In the past seven years, however, I've probably visited the Burlington area course once. As I became a better player, I gravitated toward longer courses. Shorter tracks like Tyandaga largely fell out of my rotation.

I wasn't planning to play, but the opportunity presented itself, so I went for it. Despite being a shorter course (5803 yards) with a modest rating/slope (67.5/114), Tyandaga stuck it to me, just like every other course I've played this year. It really is unbelievable. No matter what course I play, or what conditions I play in, I have an uncanny ability to shoot 103, plus or minus a stroke. If they built a golf course on the Bonneville Salt Flats, I think I would shoot 103.

I shot similar scores this year while feeling good about many shots. That wasn't the case this time around. Truth is, I just hacked the ball around the course. I've hit some amazing drives this year, but only hit two that I liked at Tyandaga. One was a slight fade on hole #12, a par-4. The other was a beastly laser on hole #14. That one took advantage of dry, hard conditions to travel 315 yards to the right fairway. I went on to bogey both of these holes.

Similarly, there were only a couple of iron shots that I recall being satisfied with. One was a punched 3-iron that I cut around some trees to the green front on hole #11. The other was a flush 7-iron over some trees to just off the back of the green on hole #16. Both of these shots came after a penalty stroke for losing a ball in a hazard. That tells you the real story, right there. I made double-bogey on #11 and bogey on #16.

Once again, I had bunker trouble near a couple of greens. On two occasions, I didn't exactly make highlight shots, but managed to get out safely. That's all I really ask for these days. On hole #4, however, I was back to my usual bunker play. I hit one attempt fat, then followed up by picking the ball clean and sending it 30 yards past the green. The only good area of my game was putting, but I still had a couple of 3-putts, thanks to some frayed nerves.

I don't know what else to say. The bottom line is that I'm really just a poor golfer.

Score: 104
Putts: 36
Fairways: 2
Greens: 1
Penalties: 5