A day before the next Deepwoods event, I headed out to Thundering Waters Golf Club, in Niagara Falls. It was a long drive, thanks to the weekend traffic. Weather was fine on the drive over, but as I approached the Falls, I saw a black cloud hanging directly over the course. We had a late tee time to begin with, so I was worried that any delay would make it hard for us to finish before sunset. Rain fell as I took my clubs out of the trunk and walked over to the clubhouse. It passed fairly quickly and we were sent off at our scheduled tee time.
I had never played Thundering Waters before, so I was looking forward to it. The reviews I had seen over the years were mixed, so I was anxious to reach my own conclusion. I made bogey on the opening par-4, then piped a drive straight down fairway #2. At this point, it started raining again. I played two poor shots in the rain and then we experienced some thunder and lightning, so we took shelter in the golf carts beside the green. We had to wait a while for the system to pass, after which I chipped on and 2-putt for a double-bogey.
Hole #3 is a very challenging par-3 at 195 yards. I hit what looked like a perfect 3-iron. It was flag high, but rolled off the closely mowed area right of the green. A chip and two putts earned bogey and we were off to the next hole. On tee #4, the rain came back again and not surprisingly, I started hitting bad shots. I sliced my drive into the weeds right. I pulled an iron to the water hazard left. My fifth shot settled just right of the green and we waited there as the thunder and lightning came back. When it was over, I chipped on and 2-putt for a triple-bogey.
The good news is that was the end of the rain, thunder and lightning. I averaged bogey over the remainder of the front nine. Specifically, I collected one par, three bogeys and a double. The par was on a short par-3. It was the only hole on the front nine where I hit the green in regulation. The double was on a long par-3. I pushed my tee shot right near some trees. Some branches interfered with my backswing and cause me to plunk the next shot into a bunker. I then got out safely and 2-putt for the double. At the turn I was shooting 48.
After a bogey on hole #10, another long par-3, I had my best hole of the day. Hole #11 is a 304-yard par-4. If you drive in the direction of the green, you have to carry water most of the way. The safe play is to hit a mid iron toward the fairway and then attack the green with a wedge. I didn't hit a great tee shot, but I finished in the left rough, 135 yards from the green. My next shot was a spectacular pitching wedge that rolled to a stop two inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie.
Hole #12 is a par-5 that was playing straight into the wind. I tried to split two tree trunks on my second shot, but caught one solidly, which deflected the ball to the fairway, but well back. My third shot failed to clear a water hazard crossing the fairway and I was forced to take a penalty stroke. After pitching on the green with my fifth shot, I 3-putt for a disappointing triple-bogey. A bogey on a long par-3 and par on a par-4 helped ease some of the pain.
Unfortunately, the last four holes were something of a struggle. After the long drive to the course and the rain delays, I was feeling pretty tired. We had enough daylight remaining to finish the round, but it was close. I don't like playing while fighting the light – it's just a distraction. I started hitting some bad drives off the heel of the club. I think I was reverse pivoting and sweeping the club face sharply from the outside-in. In some cases, I got away with it, while in others, I didn't. I took a quadruple-bogey on hole #15 and #17. On the former, I pushed my second shot into the woods. On the latter, I pulled my drive into the woods left. In both cases, I had to take a penalty stroke. In fact, I had six penalty strokes on the day. Far too many!
I did manage to make par on hole #16, a par-3 that is all carry over water. I also made bogey on the final hole, a 526-yard par-5. I reached the green fringe in three shots, but a poor lag attempt left me little chance at the par.
Score: 97
Putts: 35
Fairways: 4
Greens: 4
Penalties: 6
No comments:
Post a Comment