I showed up as a single at Century Pines and got paired up with another player. As soon as he saw me, he said, “Hey, I played with you last year.” Searching my memory, I realized he was right. We played together last season at the very same course, under similar circumstances. While I didn't remember his name, I did recall he was pretty good company. He actually remembered where I had worked and some other details of the small talk we exchanged during our first meeting. Pretty remarkable!
Anyway, I started the round with a bogey on the opening par-5. I flared my drive to the opposite fairway, but played a fabulous second shot to get back in position. My approach into the green was a bit short, setting up a chip and two putts. I got more shaky over the next three holes, recording two double-bogeys and a triple. I was missing driver and iron shots in all sorts of ways. There were slices, hooks and balls caught thin. While chipping and putting weren't terrible, they weren't helping either.
The next eight holes were played in nine over par, so I settled down somewhat. That little run consisted of one par, five bogeys, and two doubles. Despite the improvement, I was doing a lot of scrambling. On hole #6, I drove the ball to the opposite fairway. Only a great 7-iron over some tall trees got me back in position. On hole #7, a par-3, I hit a poor tee shot, but was lucky to find a greenside bunker. I made a really nice out from the sand. On #8, my drive was in the trees. I punched a low bullet through a chute and found the putting surface. On #9, a par-5, I finally hit a good drive and followed up with a good layup. Then I thinned a pitching wedge into a greenside bunker and had some difficulty getting out, resulting in a double-bogey. On hole #10, I missed a makeable par putt.
The wheels fell off again on holes #13 and #14. The former is a 155-yard par-3 over water. I hit a 7-iron dead straight, but missed the sweet spot of the club face, resulting in a loss of distance. After taking a penalty stroke for losing my ball in the hazard, I limped in with a triple-bogey. The latter is a 475-yard par-5 with a dogleg left. I sliced my drive clear past the opposite fairway, under some trees. I hit a great punched 4-iron that was destined to put me back in position, but the ball smacked a utility cover – the kind that protude about four feet out of the ground. Terrible luck! Worse still, I ended up behind a tree, with no follow through possible. Later on, I pushed a ball into a marsh. It was bad. I finished with a score of 9 for the hole.
And with that bit of nonsense out of the way, I finished the last four holes in fine form, including back-to-back pars on holes #15 and #16. The latter is the toughest hole on the course, even though it is rated the #2 handicap. You have to be precise with your drive to set up a shot into the green on this par-4. A creek meanders across the fairway leading up to the green and along the left side, while the right side is a large pond. If your drive is on the left half of the fairway, there are trees that block you out. I hit a good 5-wood to the centre of the fairway, followed by a nice 7-iron, pin high, left of the green. A pitch and putt made it look easy.
My final score was 99. Whew! I definitely flirted with disaster there. I'm not too concerned; it had been nearly two weeks since my last round, so I was a little rusty. I'll be ready for my next round, which is in a couple of days on the Deepwoods Tour.
Score: 99
Putts: 34
Fairways: 5
Greens: 2
Penalties: 2
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