I didn't feel very good about Maples of Ballantrae the last time I played there, but I decided to give it another try. The opening shot is an awkward one to start a round, so I was hoping for a good one. I opted for 5-iron to carry the edge of the pond and hopefully split the woods on the other side. I ended up hitting my best shot of the day. 5-iron is my 180-yard club, but this ball finished 230 yards down the middle of the fairway! Contact was so pure, I didn't even feel the ball hitting the club face. The trajectory was perfect, with not even a hint of side spin. The first bounce in the fairway was a healthy one, which helped produce the great yardage. Shots like that are what make golf so fun.
Unfortunately, the whole round went downhill from there. I had 95 yards remaining to the flag and tried to take a little bit off a sand wedge. In the air it looked really good, but it went long and finished on the cart path, five yards behind the green. The nearest point of relief was a muddy area with almost no grass. After taking a drop, I tried to pitch on, but the sole of the club reacted strangely to the ground. The ball squirted 45 degrees to the left and I still wasn't on the putting surface. After another try and two putts, I walked away with a disappointing double-bogey. It was such a waste!
The next two holes, a par-5 and a par-4, were fine and produced bogeys. Hole #4 began with a drive that looked good from the tee, but actually trickled into a pond left of the fairway. After a penalty stroke and drop, I pulled an approach left of the green on this par-4. A delicate pitch shot and two pretty good putts could only salvage double-bogey.
At this point, I was already not feeling good about the round. Aside from the fact I was 6-over through four holes, I was preoccupied with the pace of play. It was dead slow and I had somewhere to be after the round, so it looked like I wouldn't be able to squeeze the entire round in. These are not the thoughts you should have if you want to focus on playing well.
I tried to hit a “safe” 3-iron off the tee on hole #5, instead of driver. Well, I pulled the shot left into a water hazard. After a penalty and drop, my path to the green was blocked, so I had to lay up near the 100-yard marker. The ball carried a little too far and I had tree issues on my fourth shot. I avoided the overhanging limbs, but deposited the ball in a bunker behind the green. My sand shot rolled off the other side of the green and I pulled the subsequent chip slightly. This left a tricky breaking putt, which I missed, resulting in a horrific quadruple-bogey.
I was livid at this point and it showed over the next two holes. I made a double-bogey on a par-3 and a triple on a par-4. I duffed a 9-iron attempt into a small pond and duffed two consecutive shots with the lob wedge from just short of a green. It didn't matter that I made bogey and par to close out the front nine. Even the par was disappointing given how the hole started. I blasted a 285 yard drive to the centre of the fairway, leaving just 50 yards to the flag. My pitch shot was long, but found the green. I made a beautiful lengthy putt, only to have the ball stop with a third of it hanging over the hole. Are you kidding me?
Bogey and par started the back nine, but I still wasn't feeling good. The bogey was the result of another nice putt stopping on the edge of the hole. The par was thanks to a greenside up and down, but I hit some ugly looking shots to set that up. Then on hole #12, I went off the rails again. I pushed a drive way right into the opposite fairway. My recovery shot hit a tree and then I thinned one over the green and into some thick woods. I finished with a triple-bogey 7.
The final third of the round produced five bogeys an a double. The double once again began with a drive pushed way right of target. I was taking a short backswing, but really accelerating on the downswing as much as I could. I was in no mood to take it easy out there. Once I knew I would be scoring in the mid to high nineties, there really was nothing to play for. At this point, I really consider anything over 90 to be garbage. When you finish one or two strokes above that level, you're at least in the hunt. When you're four or five strokes above that level, you've just wasted your time. Seriously, the fact that I can't shoot 90 or lower with any consistency is a cruel joke.
Score: 99
Putts: 35
Fairways: 5
Greens: 2
Penalties: 4
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