I was recovering from a cold, but some nice weather lured me out to play at Doon Valley. The start was fantastic. I hit driver, gap wedge to within 5 feet on the opening par-4, finishing with a birdie putt. On the subsequent hole, a par-3, I hit 7-iron to the left fringe and then 2-putt for par. I had a momentary lapse on hole 3, a short par-4 with a forced carry off the tee. I pulled the tee shot left into the weeds and had to take a penalty. Double-bogey was the result. No worries, as I followed up with a bogey and two pars over the next three holes. The bogey was on a long par-3 into the wind. The pars came on holes that were playing with the wind, which made a huge difference. Through six holes, I was just 2 over par. At this pace, I would shoot 78, matching my all time best!
Holes 7 through 9 produced three consecutive bogeys. Not a bad result, by any means, but I felt like I let two pars slip away. The first was on hole 7, a 355-yard par-4. I hit driver to the right side of the fairway, leaving 115 yards to the green centre. A slight miss with the gap wedge finished one yard short and right of the green. I made a beautiful pitch up a ridge to the back pin location, finishing three feet below the hole. It was a straight putt, but I lipped out on the right side. The second was on hole 9, a par-5. Despite hitting my drive to another fairway, I was just 125 yards away from the green after my second shot. A slight miss with pitching wedge left me flag high in a bunker on the right side. After a good out, I faced an uphill putt of about 9 feet. Unfortunately, I lipped out again, this time on the left side. Through nine holes, I was 5 over par – on pace for 82, or my fourth best ever.
This is the point where discussions of “best ever” go out the window. My drive on hole 10 leaked a bit right and bounced further right into a hazard. I was forced to take a penalty and ultimately made double-bogey. It didn't help that I sculled a chip near the green. On hole 11, a par-3 with a forced carry, my 6-foot par putt lipped out. I was still feeling positive, but this disappeared on hole 12. It's a short par-4, merely 294 yards. My plan was to hit 5-iron, wedge into the green. The 5-iron hooked immediately into the hazard on the left. After taking a penalty and drop, I duffed an 8-iron from the rough. My fourth was a pitching wedge from 130 yards that only reached the front fringe. I was already disgusted and made it worse by 3-putting from there for a triple-bogey.
One of the most important things in golf is forgetting about poor shots or mistakes, so that they don't affect future shots. For me, putting those mistakes behind me is incredibly difficult. I can let one roll off my back without a problem. I'm not a scratch golfer, so I know those things are going to happen frequently. What really gets me is when I string a few mistakes together, leading to a blowup hole. It's just incredible that these things can happen successively, even when you have a good round going. After the mistakes on hole 12, I spent a few holes cursing every little thing that went wrong. It's not the way to play, either to score well, or just to have fun. Sure, I made a nice par on hole 14, but I also made double-bogeys on holes 13 and 16. Hole 15 was a disastrous quadruple-bogey!
In my previous two visits to Doon Valley, I shot scores of 91 and 93. This round started so well, that it looked like I would obliterate those scores. Alas, with two holes to play, it looked like this would be the worst result of all. My goal, at that point, was to par the last two holes and equal my previous best, or bogey the last two holes and avoid a new worst. I made par on hole 17, a 172-yard par-3, thanks to a nice up and down from left of the green. I had to flop over a bunker and stay on the narrow green, which I did. The putt was a perfect 10-footer. Hole 18 is a par-5 along the Grand River. After two shots, I was barely in the left rough, just 105 yards from the elevated green. My wedge shot missed the green to the left, by just a yard. I didn't get up and down, so I took a bogey. I finished with a 92, which is perfectly in line with my previous results at the course.
In fact, my results at Doon Valley are pretty representative of my whole season. Aside from the occasional excursion into the 80s or 100s, I'm that guy who always shoots just above 90 – a true bogey golfer. I really should be in the 80s far more often.
Score: 92
Putts: 34
Fairways: 7
Greens: 4
Penalties: 4
No comments:
Post a Comment