I had a good round going at King's Forest, except for the course's toughest stretch. More on that later. The front nine produced three pars, five bogeys, and a double. The first par was on hole 4, a par-5. I hit driver, 4-iron to get on in two. The pin was way at the back of the deep green and I made a decent lag, but missed the 4-foot birdie. The second par was on hole 6, another par-5. I messed up my second shot, but hit a marvellous 3-wood to reach the green in regulation. The final par was achieved in textbook fashion on hole 9, a par-4.
Some of the bogeys on the front nine featured very good recoveries. After pulling an approach shot on hole 2, my next shot was a pitch that I had to keep under some branches, while carrying a bunker and stopping the ball on the elevated green. On hole 3, a poor tee shot was followed by a punch out layup and a pretty 100-yard shot near the flag. On hole 5, a long par 3, my duff off the tee was followed by a mediocre shot to the left rough. No worries, as I finished with a good up and down. The only hole I couldn't recover on was number 7. I pulled a 9-iron off the tee on this par-3 into a hazard left, resulting in a penalty stroke and ultimately, a double-bogey.
The toughest stretch at King's Forest is comprised of holes 10 through 13. Number 10 is a difficult one to par, but bogey is quite achievable, and that's what I scored. The really though stretch is from hole 11 through 13. I've played some of these holes well during previous visits, but I've never been able to escape the entire stretch unscathed. On hole 11, I opted for driver off the elevated tee and pulled it left into some trees. I had an opening to punch a low one toward the green from 150 yards away and gave it a go. I was protecting from pulling the ball into bushes on the left side and flared one out to the right as a result. It dove into a water hazard, leading to double-bogey. The result on hole 12 was the same. I pushed a 3-iron off the tee into the trees on the right and there was no recovery.
Worst of all was hole 13, where I exploded for a score of 9 on this par-4. The teeing ground is wedged against trees and bushes on the left, forcing you to play out to the right. I went too far right with the 5-wood, into some waist high fescue and weeds. After taking a drop, I tried to blast another 5-wood near the green, but duffed it completely, my ball stopping 20 yards in front of a large creek. It was an unintentional layup. Next, I sculled an 8-iron into the creek. After another drop, I pulled my shot left of the green. I finished with a pitch and 2-putt.
I averaged bogey for the remainder of the round. Good pars on holes 15 and 17 were spoiled a bit by double-bogeys on holes 16 and 18. The former is a par-4 that was playing about 300 yards and I tried to blast the driver as close as possible. I buried it in the fescue and had to declare the ball unplayable. A beautiful wedge over some trees found the green, but then came a 3-putt. After two perfect shots to start hole 18, a par-5, I shanked a wedge shot from 100 yards into the lateral hazard on the right. It was just one of those weird things.
Score: 94
Putts: 37
Fairways: 3
Greens: 6
Penalties: 7
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