A day after my visit to Braeben, I drove out to Doon Valley. The weather was once again perfect. My drive on the opening hole was just left of the fairway. I was in the same position last time I played there and made a mess of things. It was a case of trying to do too much. This time, I pitched out to the fairway, then pitched to the green for a look at par. It didn't drop, but a tap in bogey was a decent result.
I faced a short breaking putt for birdie on hole 2, a 164-yard par-3. This followed a lovely 8-iron off the tee. I didn't make the birdie and had to settle for par. I played bogey golf for the rest of the front nine, with five bogeys accompanied by one more par and a double-bogey.
I hit a beautiful 5-wood off the tee on hole 3, a short par-4. Unfortunately, my wedge into the green missed by a couple of yards to the right. A chip and two putts earned bogey. I hit a beautiful 5-iron off the tee on hole 8 to lay up before a nasty penalty area. I stuck a lovely 9-iron close to the pin, setting up another short breaker for birdie. I missed that one too, settling for par.
I used driver on the rest of the front nine holes, but I wasn't as crisp as I had been the day before. Besides missing slightly left on hole 1, I pushed one a bit right on hole 5, and sliced a few right on holes 6, 7, and 9. On hole 5, I followed up with an unobstructed 6-iron just right of the green. On hole 6, a par-5, I punched a 3-iron under some trees and well down the fairway. On hole 7, I took the aerial route, flying over some trees with an 8-iron to find the back of the green. There was no such recovery on hole 9, as the sliced drive went into a penalty area. Despite taking a penalty stroke, I still made bogey for a score of 44 at the turn.
The back nine began with a triple-bogey, my worst result of the day. This is a medium length par-4 with woods on the left and a penalty area to the right, from tee to green. I opened the club face of my 3-iron off the tee, sending the ball into the penalty area. After taking a drop, I was still far from the green and tugged a 4-iron left to the edge of the woods. I did well to pitch on from there, but finished with a 3-putt.
Over the remaining eight holes, I played good golf, going just 3 over par. On holes 11 through 14, I went bogey, par, bogey, par. I burned the edge of the cup on hole 11, a par-3. A fantastic 5-iron, sand wedge combo found the green in regulation on hole 12. Another burned edge produced the bogey on hole 13. A beautiful pitch from 30 yards finished within 2 feet on hole 14, setting up the tap-in par.
On holes 15 through 18, I went bogey, bogey, par, birdie. A greenside bunker gave me the usual trouble on hole 15, but I then chipped one to tap-in range to preserve the bogey. An untimely 3-putt was responsible for the bogey on hole 16. Hole 17 is a 172-yard par-3 that played out in pretty textbook fashion for the par.
Hole 18 is a 476-yard par-5 that plays alongside the river. The hole bends to the right, especially near the green, which is cut into the side of a hill and severely elevated. I hit a straight drive to the centre of the fairway, though it wasn't particularly long. From there, I hit an 8-iron to the 100-yard marker. From 105 yards, I clubbed up to gap wedge to account for the elevation change. It was the perfect choice, as my ball finished 8 feet below the hole. I drained the birdie putt for a final score of 86.
Score: 86
Putts: 36
Fairways: 6
Greens:7
Penalties: 3
No comments:
Post a Comment