I've been watching the weather forecasts closely, in search of a good day to score well on the golf course. Another potentially nice day appeared, so I booked a round on the New Course at Hidden Lake. I've played both courses at Hidden Lake often enough, so it's a very familiar environment.
The sun was out and the temperature was fine throughout my entire round. However, it was very windy. Leaves that had been piled up off to the sides of various holes were blown back over the playing areas. As a result, it wasn't unusual to be searching for balls right in the middle of the fairway.
I took a 9 on the opening par-4, though it had nothing to do with the leaves – I simply made a series of bad shots. I recovered well with a par on hole #2, but the good times didn't last long. A great tee shot on hole #3 just clipped the edge of a greenside bunker. I emerged safely, but rolled off the other side of the green en route to a double-bogey. A 3-putt on hole #4 produced the same result.
Holes #5 and #6 were very frustrating. On the first of these, I lost a ball in the fairway and another just behind the green. There were no obstacles whatsoever, but the leaves were particularly bad. I hate losing balls in leaves where there should be none, and I let the dislike carry over into my shots. I finished the hole with a triple-bogey. I didn't lose any balls on hole #6, a par-3, but it took a hole to get over what had happened on the previous one. After pulling my tee shot and duffing a pitch attempt, I walked away with a double-bogey. Through six holes, I was already 14 over par. Geez!
Luckily, the final two thirds of the round was brilliant. In fact, I was only 7 over for the remaining 12 holes. This was a stretch of very consistent golf, including five pars and seven bogeys. The run started with back-to-back par-5 holes that produced a pair of bogeys. Both began with deep, penetrating drives. I did not hit the greens in regulation, however. In one case, I was short of the green, while in the other case, I went long. Hole #9 was a long par-3 over water and into the teeth of the wind. I added two extra clubs and still finished on the front fringe of the very large green. A great lag gave me a chance for par, but I missed it and took my third consecutive bogey.
My score at the turn was 52, but my score on the back nine ended up being 40! Holes #10 through #12 produced bogey, par, and bogey. The par was on a 144-yard par-3 over water. The wind was helping in that instance and I judged it perfectly, finishing very near the flag on the right side of the green. On the other holes, I drove the ball into the fairways and then played low punch shots to just in front of the greens. A chip and two putts finished each hole. The low route seemed to be working much better than the aerial route.
On hole #13, I hit a weak, smothered drive. I tried to recover and actually hit a great 5-wood into this par-4 green. It was destined for the putting surface, but clipped an evergreen at 150 yards out and dropped straight down. I had to play the ball left handed with the back of my blade putter. No problem, as I stuck the next shot from 130 yards onto the green and then putt through a massive collection of leaves and drained it to save bogey. That was a game changer.
Hole #14 is a beautiful par-5, measuring 460 yards from the blue tees. I always remember my buddy Linley going for the green in two and making it with a towering fairway wood that cleared the large pond right in front of the green. Good times! I myself hit a great drive this time, but went with a 3-iron on my second, leaving a 65-yard pitch over the pond to reach the green. I pulled it left and had to putt through quite a bit of fringe. The ball ended up rolling right off the other side. No worries, as I made a spectacular uphill par putt that curled at the end and actually dropped in the cup from the back! I mean directly from the back – not at all from the side. The ball even paused on the lip like that famous Tiger Woods putt on the 16th hole at the 2005 Masters. Great stuff!
I was feeling the high and rode it through the rest of the round. It was still windy as hell, but I played great anyway. After a bogey on hole #15, I rattled off three consecutive pars to complete the round. On hole #16, I went 3-iron, 7-iron to find the green. This was right into a 3-club wind. The 7-iron approach was from just 130 yards. On hole #17, a 157-yard par-3, I nailed the green with a 5-iron. Once again, the wind was hurting, but I judged it perfectly. On hole #18, a par-5, I pulled my third shot into a greenside bunker that was full of leaves. We found the ball and I made a great out to 8 feet. I nailed it and celebrated with a yell and the obligatory fist pump.
There were some shaky moments at first, but the round finished great and was lots of fun.
Score: 92
Putts: 32
Fairways: 6
Greens: 3
Penalties: 0
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