Ever wonder what you might score on a golf course if you had the chance to play it a second time, immediately after the first? I got that chance recently at Westview Golf Club and the result was encouraging. My first time through the Middle and Lakeland nines produced a score of 107. My second time through the very same holes resulted in a score of 92. I would say a fifteen stroke improvement is pretty good, no? Okay, the first score may have been an aberration, but still. Westview is a good challenge and 92 is not too shabby.
I hit three consecutive fairways to start things off, but only hit the green in regulation on Middle #2. Two putts finished that hole for par. On Middle #1, I got up and down from just off the green for par. That was well earned. On Middle #3, I failed to get up and down from green side, settling for a 2-putt bogey. Middle #4 is a long par-5 that also finished with a 2-putt bogey. I needed an extra shot to reach the green, thanks to a mediocre drive. A large tree protects the left side and for right handed players who do not draw the ball, it always comes into play.
Going 2-over through four holes is pretty sweet, but the rest of the Middle nine wasn't as generous. On holes #5 and #6, I sculled pitch attempts from one side of the green to the other. In both cases, it added an unnecessary stroke and I finished with double-bogey. I got back on track with a par on hole #7. I also made par on this par-3 earlier in the day. A 3-putt resulted in another double-bogey on hole #8, but I finished well with a bogey on hole #9. My score at the turn was 45, or 9-over.
On to the Lakeland nine and it began with a par! As I did on Middle #1, I got up and down from just off the green. To make par on those two holes is very good. Lakeland #2 and #5 were my blowup holes for the round. I registered triple-bogey on both. A wayward drive led to a penalty stroke on both holes. They were my only penalty strokes of the round. Fortunately, I sandwiched a couple of decent bogeys in between these two debacles.
The last portion of Lakeland was solid, with a pair of pars, a double-bogey and bogey. Holes #6 and #7 were played in textbook fashion – hit the fairway, hit the green, try a putt for birdie and then tap in for par. Boring golf is the best golf! Lakeland #8 burned me for the second time of the day. Both times, I hit the absolute perfect drive, only to mess up with a wedge attempt into the green. This time, I caught the ball a little thin and it rolled into a creek bed behind the green. On the last hole of the day, I almost chipped in for par, but the ball rattled off the flag stick, leading to bogey.
I shot 47 on the Lakeland nine and 92 overall. That felt pretty good – certainly better than 107 did a few hours earlier.
Score: 92
Putts: 36
Fairways: 7
Greens: 4
Penalties: 2
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