This game is cruel; one day you can hack the ball all over the place and shoot 95, while another day you can be striking the ball seemingly well and shoot...95! The latter occurred to me during Round 1 of the Deepwoods championship at Copetown Woods. I made par on three of the first four holes and was rolling right along. I cooled slightly to finish the front nine with four bogeys and a double, but was still in great shape at the turn. Next thing you know, I blew up on two holes in a row. Though I settled down for the remainder of the round, it was a parade of bogeys and whenever a slight miscue occurred, boom there's a double. I felt pretty good through the entire round, but I finished in the bottom half of the field. So what went wrong?
Duffed shots. Even on holes where I registered a good score, there were duffed shots. On the opening par-5, I split the fairway with my drive, leaving 200 yards to the green. Gotta go for it right? Well, I duffed a 3-iron 70 yards ahead. Okay, I nailed the green from 130 yards and had a good birdie attempt before taking par, but maybe I should have been putting for eagle or had an even better birdie chance. On hole #2, I duffed a 7-iron on my second shot from a clean fairway lie. I got on with a pitching wedge and 3-putt for double-bogey.
On hole #6, I once again split the fairway, only to duff the second shot, sending it half the intended distance. I pitched on with a lob wedge and 2-putt for a respectable bogey, but maybe I should have really made par there. Same thing on hole #8. My 5-wood off the tee was high and held back by wind, but I was in the fairway. Cue up a second shot duff, which dribbled ahead, leaving 95 yards to the green. Lob wedge got me on safely and I 2-putt for bogey. Bogeys are fine, but not really when you duff your way to one. Take out those duffed shots and all the others were executed in textbook fashion. Drives were great and approach shots, albeit from shorter distances, were good too. I was 8-over par on the front nine, but maybe I should have been 3 or 4-over.
Blowup holes. I define a blowup hole as a triple-bogey or worse. I only had two of them, but that's enough to ruin a good score. I can't play a round without a couple of them popping up. They may come right at the start, right at the end, or anywhere in between. One thing is for certain though – they WILL happen sooner or later. On hole #10, a par-5, I pushed a drive slightly right, over a bunker. The ball hit an embankment, which pushed it into a water hazard. After a penalty and drop, I tried the hero shot to reach the green in 3. It was worth a try, as the straight line distance was only 200 yards and my lie after the drop looked relatively decent. Well, the lie wasn't as good as I thought and I advanced the ball a whole 5 yards. Now I took my medicine, and hit a wedge back to the fairway. With a good approach from 150 yards, I could still 2-putt for a double-bogey. Unfortunately, my approach failed to clear a bunker by one foot. It took me two shots to get out, plus the two putts for a score of 9.
On the next hole, a 188-yard par-3, I made poor contact with the 5-iron and plunked a ball into a pond. From the drop zone, I sculled my third shot to the back of the large green, while the hole was in the front. It was legitimate 3-putt territory, and that's what I did to earn a lovely triple-bogey. One mistake on a hole will lead to a bogey. When you string two or more mistakes together, the results are predictable.
Long lag putts. On hole #2, I blew a long uphill putt well past the hole. I was so far away from the hole to start, and the tendency is to leave those uphill putts short, so I clearly over-compensated. I almost made the comebacker, but almost ain't good enough, so a 3-putt it was. On hole #11, the same thing happened, but this time, it was a super long downhill putt. I didn't want to over-compensate and leave the putt short, so well past the hole I went. Chalk up my second 3-putt of the day.
Now hole #13 I was on the green in regulation, facing another downhill putt, though not as long as the other two I described. The memory of being too aggressive on a downhill putt was fresh in my memory, so of course I left this one woefully short. The second putt lipped out and there goes another 3-putt. The exact same thing happened on holes #16 and #17. The latter was particularly bothersome. I was the only one in my foursome to hit the green in regulation on this par-3. Nevertheless, two guys I was playing with chipped on and drained a putt for par, while I 3-putt for bogey. Seriously?
Bunker shots. I'm talking about green side bunkers here. I have been awful at these for a long time now and it's clear I am clueless about what to do. The first bunker I found was the one on hole #10, which as I described, took me two strokes to tame. On hole #15, a par-4, my approach shot hit an embankment two yards short of the green and rolled backwards into a sand pit. For a pro, this is an easy up and down. For your average amateur, it means one shot to get on the green and perhaps two putts. For me, it meant one hack to barely get out of the bunker, a chip to get on the green, and two putts for double-bogey. On hole #16, a par-5, my third shot found the green side bunker. Exactly the same situation. This time, I semi-sculled the shot to the opposite end of the green, setting up a 3-putt. Not once during the round did I hit a nice bunker shot. Every time was a disaster of one kind or another.
So at the end of the day, that's how great shots get wasted. I fired many, many great shots on this day, to no avail. The mistakes listed above erased any advantage those good shots gave me. It's frustrating, to say the least.
Score: 95
Putts: 40
Fairways: 7
Greens: 6
Penalties: 2
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