A Couple of Birdies at Hidden Lake

Round 2 of the Deepwoods season took place on the New Course at Hidden Lake. I wasn't hitting all my shots well, but still had the opportunity to go low. If not for some poor putting, I would have done exactly that. I bogeyed the opening par-4 after beginning with two poor shots. I had a putt to save bogey on hole 2, but just missed and took a double. On hole 3, a par-3, I saved bogey after a duffed tee shot. On hole 4, I reached the green in regulation, but 3-putt for a bad bogey.

Things took a turn for the better on holes 5 and 6. A great drive and approach on the former set up a par. A flag-high approach on the latter, a par-3, set up a huge breaking putt that found the bottom of the cup for birdie. Unfortunately, I made double-bogey on hole 7, thanks to another 3-putt. Hole 7 is a par-5, as is hole 8. Though I made bogey on hole 8, it was thanks to yet another 3-putt, albeit from the fringe. I wasted three beautiful shots that preceded that misfortune. I bogeyed hole 9 for a score of 43 at the turn. It would have been 39, if not for the shaky flat stick.

I missed badly on one additional putt for the remainder of the round. It was a par attempt on hole 10, after splashing out beautifully from the greenside bunker. Bunker shots like that are rare for me, so I wasted an opportunity. Three more bogeys followed over the next three holes, before disaster struck on hole 14. I hit a great drive on this par-5, leaving just 205 yards to the green. The green is fronted by water, so I decided the safe thing to do was lay up to the 100-yard marker. I actually left 90 yards to the green for my third shot. Unfortunately, I caught the lob wedge a little fat and hit a rock on the opposite margin of the hazard. The ball bounced back into the water, leading to a penalty stroke and ultimately, a triple-bogey.

The final four holes saved my round as well as a good Deepwoods point total. I made par on hole 15, getting up and down from just behind the green. I hit 4-iron, sand wedge into hole 16, a short par-4. This was followed up with a long downhill putt for birdie! I splashed out of a bunker to save bogey on hole 17, a par-3. Although hole 18 was interrupted by a weather delay, I found the green in regulation on this par-5 and 2-putt for a solid par. The key to the hole was a punched 5-iron on my second shot, which emerged through a gap in the trees and found the fairway 120 yards from the flag.

Score: 86
Putts: 36
Fairways: 4
Greens: 5
Penalties: 1