The great, the good, and the disastrous
18 holes today at Leo J. Martin (white tees, but pushed pretty far forward).
Great: Combined score for 7 holes (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 11, and 15): One under par!
Good: Combined score for 5 holes (5, 8, 10, 12, and 17): six over par.
Disastrous: Combined score for 6 holes (4, 7, 13, 14, 16, and 18): twenty-seven over par.
Total: Thirty-two over par (104).
What the hell happened?
4th hole, par 5 – (1) Tee shot went straight but left, landed on a side-slope in the rough. (2) Tried to advance the ball down the fairway with a seven-iron but pushed it across the fairway and under/between trees. (3) Tried to chip the ball back to the fairway by hitting it hard with the putter. I’d practiced that shot several times before the round. Didn’t work. Left without a clear shot to the green. (4) Little sand wedge to the middle of the fairway, maybe 110 out. (5) Terrible approach shot, short and way right, almost to the tee box on the second hole. (6) Decent pitch shot onto the fringe. (7) Lag putt, left myself about four feet. (8) Missed a makeable putt. (9) Finally home.
7th hole, par 4 – (1) It’s a short dogleg right, so I used 5-wood off the tee, but I pulled it badly. (2) Took an unplayable lie from under the bushes. (3) Kept hitting a tree branch on my practice backswings. Got all out of rhythm and chunked it. Had about 135 left. (4) Hit a pitching wedge pure, way too pure. Sailed over the green and landed near a fence near a tree and in all kinds of nasty stuff. (5) Hard-putted out of there, successfully this time. (6) Muffed what should have been an easy pitch onto the green. (7) Knocked it onto the green but not close. (8) and (9) Two-putted.
13th hole, par 4 – (1) Blocked my drive to the right and landed beneath some trees. (2) With the ball just inches from a tree trunk, my only option was to hit lefty. I decided to use the hard-putt option again. As I took a practice stroke, my putter got tangled in a vine which then yanked on the ball and moved it six inches. It counts as a stroke. (3) I took another lefty whack at the ball and actually hit a great recovery into the middle of the fairway. But I was still 125 out and had a nasty side-hill lie. (4) With the ball much higher than my feet, I choked down on the club but still hit it quite fat, only about 25 yards. (5) I hit a sand wedge onto the green but it rolled off the back edge onto the fringe. (6) A nice chip with a 9-iron to five or six feet. (7) Missed a makeable putt. (8) Tapped in.
14th hole, par 4 – (1) Drove too far right again, right along the tree line. (2) Pitched out into the fairway. (3) Mental mistake – hit a 5-wood instead of an iron. Got good contact but landed in deep rough with a downhill lie, about 70 yards out. (4) Went for the green with a lob wedge, but as a result of either the peculiar lie or just a very bad swing, I shanked it pin-high but 15 yards into the woods where, unfortunately, it was found. (5) Had to swing lefty again. Whiffed. (6) Still swinging lefty, got terrible contact and advanced it only a few feet. (7) Tried to pitch out of the woods but caught thick foliage. Ball dropped into the rough just barely past the bushes. (8) Had no backswing available and chunked it just a few inches. (9) and (10) Everyone else was done with the hole and I wasn’t on the green yet, so I picked up and called it a 10.
16th hole, par 5 – (1) Yet another drive lost to the right, but not in too much trouble this time. Did land in the rough, though. (2) Turned the club-face over with a 4-hybrid and went across the fairway into the rough. (3) Facing a 225-yard shot from the rough, decided to lay up with a gap wedge hoping to have about 100 left. Hit it fat and had 155 left instead. (4) Hit a very poor 8-iron and still had 60 yards to the center of the green. (5) Landed on the center of the green with a lob wedge but it rolled all the way to the back edge. (6) Had a pretty good lag putt to four or five feet. (7) Missed a makeable putt. (8) Tapped in.
18th hole, par 5 – (1) Hit a 3-wood solidly but too straight on this severe dogleg right. Ended up with a very tall tree between me and the fairway. (2) Tried to go right over the tree with a lob wedge but hit the uppermost branches. Ball ended up at the base of the tree. (3) From a tricky lie with the ball above my feet, hit a nice 6-iron to the middle of the fairway, about 155 out. (4) Hit a poor approach shot, short and left of the green. (5) Pitched onto the green but way too hard, and ended up in the rough on an up-slope behind the green. (6) Tried to pop the ball up onto the green but chunked it only a couple of feet. (7) Got it on the green, still quite far from the hole. (8) Put a decent lag putt within 6 feet. (9) Missed a makeable putt. (10) Almost missed the tap-in, but didn’t.
If I’d only been able to limit each of those six disaster holes to double-bogeys, I would have broken 90 for the first time ever. Even with six triple-bogeys I would have broken 100. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
Nevertheless, I feel pretty good about the round. I know that I am physically capable of really good scores, and I’m happy with the 47 I scored on the front 9 (two disasters notwithstanding). So now if I can just stay out of the trees …
