Bushwood is a course I've played about eight times, but the last time was back in 2008. I have fond memories of playing there with The Unreliables as I started to get more and more into the game. So it was with a bit of nostalgia that I returned to the Markham area course for a late afternoon round. A peek at some previous blog entries showed that I had scored 98, 97, and 97 in my last three visits there. That's nowhere near the course record – 61 by Bubba Watson in July 2005 – but good enough to have some optimism.
I got paired up with another player, who introduced himself on the first tee. In a strange coincidence, it turns out we had the same first name! I've been paired up with plenty of strangers in the past and that has never happened before. He was a good playing partner – friendly, but not too chatty. He wasn't the greatest golfer, but neither am I, and that's neither here nor there.
I struggled to poor scores on just three of the holes played. One produced a double bogey after I inadvertently picked the ball clean from a greenside bunker. This happens way too often! Another produced a triple bogey after a failed layup attempt on my second shot. I was merely trying to pitch the ball 40 yards ahead and duffed it completely. The conservative play was designed to avoid out of bounds on the right and a large pond on the left. Forced to go for the green after the duff, I managed to find the water. The last of the poor holes produced a quadruple bogey, thanks to a second shot that I blocked with the 6-iron out of bounds.
With all the bad stuff out of the way, let's focus on the good, because there was a lot of it. On the remaining fifteen holes, I registered thirteen bogeys and two pars. My driver was not particularly good, but it didn't get me in trouble. In my practice swings, I was trying to make sure I approached the ball from the inside. I tried to shorten the backswing a little and drop the clubhead to the inside at the start of the downswing. In certain situations (i.e. when there was more room for error) I deliberately went back to my “normal” swing. The result of all this was mixed. I pulled a couple to opposite fairways, while flaring a couple others. I also hit some very nice ones, including one on the par-5 fifth hole and my best of the day on the par-4 tenth.
The real story of the day was my iron play. Kudos to a fellow Deepwoods member for pointing out that I was collapsing the left elbow far too early on almost all of my shots. Since that bit of advice, I made an adjustment and the results have been noticeable. It hasn't helped me with the driver, mind you, but it really has improved the feeling I have with all of the irons – from wedges all the way to 3-iron. With high lofted irons, my accuracy has gotten better. With the long irons, I'm just getting much better contact and ball flight.
At Bushwood, I hit great 5 and 3-iron shots especially. I hit a solid 5-iron into the green on hole #2, followed by a marvellous one on hole #7. This is the #3 handicap hole on the course, a long par-4. From 195 yards in the right rough, I took aim over a spruce tree in the distance. Contact was crisp, the ball got up over the tree quickly, and carried easily over a valley in front of the green. The ball came to rest flag high, a yard off the right edge of the green. Only a lip-out from five feet prevented the par. The 5-iron was also good off the tee on hole #8, a par-3.
Perhaps the most impressive 5-iron shot was my third on hole #9, a par-5. From 180 yards out in the left rough, I absolutely launched one toward the green. I had to start it right to avoid a tree just ahead. The ball was a sky high draw. That's right, a high draw! When I draw the ball, it usually flies fairly low, but this one was spectacular. I overshot the green with it, but I loved the contact and shape of the ball flight. Heck, the 5-iron was even useful on my approach on hole #17. It found a greenside bunker, but once again, it was the contact and high ball flight that I liked.
A few 3-iron shots also deserve mention. One was the tee shot on hole #4, a short par 4 that was playing 290 yards. Iron off the tee is the smart play on this one, but as I've said before, good decision making means nothing if you can't follow up with execution. This time, I did precisely that, with a straight, piercing shot that set up a wedge approach. Another great 3-iron shot was also off the tee – this time on hole #13, which was playing 221 yards. There was a bit of a helping wind and the flag was at the front of the green, so I figured 3-iron was a good choice. I hit a crisp laser, right on line. The ball bounced in front of the green, but rolled past the flag and up a steep ridge before settling near the back of the putting surface. I finished with a 3-putt there, but wasn't perturbed, as the tee shot left me with a good feeling.
I could go on describing good iron shots, but you get the picture. What pleases me most is the fact that all my irons were good. I can recall a great 8-iron from an opposite fairway, another over the edge of some trees that was all over the flag. There was a similar shot over some trees with the gap wedge that found the green, and a great shot with the lob wedge from 85 yards to help save bogey on a hole that started poorly. A great putt helped me that time, and in fact I had good putting almost all day. I registered 31 putts for the round, and that could have been lower as I had three or four near misses for par. As usual, when putting numbers are lower, it's usually because your chipping is pretty good. I messed up the odd chip or pitch shot, but I got up and down a fair number of times.
Looking at my final score, the result is merely OK. However, I'm taking away a lot of positives from this round. It really was a fun outing. I've now broken 100 more times in 2014 (six) than I did all of last season (five). Baby steps, for sure, but I've got to start somewhere if I'm to regain my form from three or four years ago.
Score: 94
Putts: 31
Fairways: 6
Greens: 1
Penalties: 3
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