I rip myself pretty hard on this blog sometimes. Golf is not a game of perfection, so there's plenty of opportunity to slam my weaknesses. I have to say though, this year has been a pretty good one. Aside from a handful of blowups, my scores have been evenly distributed in the range from 89 to 101. That puts me back to my 2011 level, which is just slightly worse than my personal best. Getting back to a level that you achieved three years ago may not seem like a big accomplishment, but it actually is, since the intervening couple of years were drastically worse.
My latest round was played at Glen Eagle Golf Club, in Bolton. It was a 7:00 am tee time, which is extremely early for me. Weather experts were predicting a high temperature of 32 degrees, with the humidex making it feel more like 40. Thus, I wanted to finish before the heat and humidity reached a peak. It was a few minutes after sunrise, but due to cloudy skies, it was still a little dark out. Maybe it was that, or maybe I just started poorly, but I struggled terribly on the first three holes.
My drive on hole #1 was off the heel of the club and dribbled just ahead of the teeing ground. I punched through some trees to get back to the fairway, but then hit some weak irons en route to a triple bogey. The result was the same on hole #2, despite a better drive to start things off. A duffed pitch from 40 yards was particularly bad. When you're striking the ball this poorly, the last thing you want to do is step up to a 200-yard par 3 through a chute of trees, but that's exactly what I was forced to do on hole #3. I hooked a 3-iron into a tree, but luckily the ball bounced back into the open. The lie wasn't great, so I came up short of the green again. The final damage was double bogey.
I had one more bad hole – #8, which is another 200-yard par-3. I hit my 3-iron extremely fat, leaving 100 yards to the flag from the rough. That didn't really bother me – it's a long par-3 and I was probably intimidated by two ponds that front the green, one on either side. The next shot, however, bothered me. I must have opened the face of the sand wedge a tad, so the ball leaked slightly right and slightly short. It was in the water and I was forced to take a penalty. I finished with a triple bogey.
So, I was 11 over par for the four holes I've already described. Contrast this with the rest of the round, where I was 9 over par through 14 holes. What a difference! I felt in control of every part of the game, but most importantly, it was fun! When you're keeping the ball in play, hitting fairways and greens, and standing over a fair share of birdie putts, the fun of the game emerges. It's an element that was largely missing over the last two years.
On hole #4, I was surprised that my drive trickled into the left rough. With the pin position in the back left, the ideal approach shot was a draw. I did exactly that with the 8-iron, finishing pin high, just off the back of the angled green. A solid chip left an easy tap-in for par. On hole #5, a par-5, I played driver to the fairway, followed by a half swing 5-iron, leaving 80 yards to the flag. The lob wedge finished behind the hole, but I 2-putt easily for par. My par putt on hole #6, a par-3, came up one inch short of dropping. My tee shot was a bit fat and I pitched onto the green, leaving a realistic par chance. Still, bogey was fine.
Hole #7 is another par-5 that I began by splitting the fairway with my driver. My half swing 5-iron went a little right of the desired target, bringing a medium sized tree into play. From 140 yards, I could not go for the pin, but I could see the left side of the green. I missed the green by three yards, but chipped on and 2-putt for a solid bogey. Hole #9 is a longish par-4 that began with a short, slicing drive. A spruce tree prevented me from going for the green 200 yards away. I played a shorter shot to the edge of the fairway, 80 yards from the hole. Next, I hit a brilliant half swing 8-iron that bumped up at the front of the green and trickled right to the hole. I made the 3-foot putt to save par!
The back nine (or yellow nine) at Glen Eagle was even more fun than the last few holes. Hole #10 is a par-5 with out of bounds along the entire left side. After a short drive to the fairway, I hit 5-wood to get over a pond pinching in on the right side. Due to a headwind, I barely made it over, with my ball settling in some long rough. All I could do was advance the ball, leaving a 40-yard pitch to the green. The fairway was wet, but I could not play a bump and run, due to a grassy hollow right in front of the green. Of course, the lob wedge slid right under the ball and it went only 15 yards. I was not happy about that, as it wasn't really my fault. With an additional shot to get on the putting surface, I finished with double bogey.
The last eight holes of the day resulted in three pars and five bogeys. I did not miss a single fairway on the back nine. In addition, I hit five greens in regulation. I was in complete control of the driver, swinging easy every time. On some occasions, I gave up some distance, but who needs extra distance when you're in the fairway with a mid or high iron? Speaking of irons, they were also very solid. The only thing that could have been working better was putting. I had one lengthy par putt stop with half the ball overhanging the hole. I also had two par putts of about 5 feet just burn the edge. Those went down as 3-putts, but the initial lag putts were from distance and not bad at all. I just needed a little more precision on those intermediate ones.
The funny thing about pars and near-pars is that they're boring to describe. Usually, you hit the fairway, put your approach somewhere on the green, lag a putt close and then tap out. It's boring to hear about, but so much fun to execute! LOL
Anyway, I'm happy with the final score of 92. With a better start, or with a couple more putts dropping, this could have easily been in the eighties. With this result, my handicap factor dipped again, but stubbornly stayed at 20.0 to remain out of the teens.
Score: 92
Putts: 35
Fairways: 9
Greens: 6
Penalties: 1
No comments:
Post a Comment