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snowman · #12 (**permalink**) 06-03-2007, 07:34 PM

Round # 3, June 2007.

I played a lot better today. Was shotgun started on #2 so this report will start with #2 and finish with #1.

#2 Par 3: Good range work with my irons paid off as I hit an absolute beauty to 8 ft. Stroked the birdie putt along my intended line but it turned ever so slightly and sat an inch from the hole, tap in par.

#3 Par 5: Reasonably good drive, a couple of irons and a wedge and i'm on in 4, again just miss the putt but tap in for an easy bogie.

#4 Par 4, a tough one for me as OB is all along the right side and if I miss a 5w tee shot it will slice. Manage to limit the slice so that it lands in the rough and then hit a beautiful 5 iron to just in front of the raised green. As the green was raised I took a quick peek up there to see how much green was infront of the pin. What I failed to do was take a few more steps and see that the pin was right at the back of the green, laziness cost me here as I overhit my chip and it went off the back of the green, lesson learned (#1) check how much green you have to work with in both infront and behind he hole, chip back up and 2 putt for a disappointing double bogie.

#4 Par 4 dogleg left. Hit a lovely straight teeshot with the 5w, but when I get to the ball I notice that a tall tree is blocking my view of the green. My buddies all sliced and are in the rough with a long shot at the green. "Great tee-shot there, you'll be mad if you miss the green from there", said one. "I am behind a tree, I might try and pitch it out to safety so I can chip on" I say, "Nah, you'll clear that tree", they reply in unison. Lesson learned (#2), don't trust your fellow competitors. I decide to go for it and hit my 9i really well, it looks good but hits the very top of the tree and richocets off somewhere. Thankfully I find the ball in the woods and hit a miraculous chip out and onto the green, 2 putt for bogie. Lucky escape there.

#6 Par 4 dogleg left. Sliced tee shot leaves me with too far to hit the green, try an easy lay up but flub it, no matter I can hit the green with my SW from here, wrong I pull it and have to chip on. 2putts and its a very disappointing double bogie. Lesson learned (#3), always commit to a lay up shot, I was nothing short of laxidasical and cost myself precious strokes.

#7 long par 3. Slice my 5w but stay in bounds, flub my chip halfway to the hole 2 putt for a bogie.

#8 par 4. Dammit, hit tee shot fat, goes about 30 yards, keep the 5w in hand and then absolutely blast the ball right down the centre of the fairway. Why couldn't I do that on the tee? Iron shot was struck well but comes up a little short, chip is poor and 2 putts gives me a double bogie. I think i'll be definately going for chipping practice in the very near future.

#9 par 3. Just miss green with another well struck iron, chip on and just miss out on par, tap in for a bogie.

#10 par 4, way up hill. Nice tee shot, even better second shot puts me on the green with a look at birdie, read the putt beautifully but it just runs out of legs and leaves me with (another) tap in par.

#11 par 5. Good tee shot, 2nd shot with 5w right up the middle. 3rd shot was shot of the day, faced with about 150 to a raised green with a massive deep bunker right infront I hit a lovely 6i to about 10 feet. This time I was rather aggressive with birdie putt number 3 and just missed, but paid the price as it sped 5 feet past the hole and my come backer stopped just short. After a great start I card a very disappointing bogie.

#12 Par 3. Another good iron shot and i'm on the fringe, great chip and a 1 putt for a par! Yay!

#13 Long Par 5. Get the driver out for the first time, SLICE, driver goes back into the bag. By a stroke of luck I stay in bounds but have a tough shot from a severly sloping lie infront of the ladies tees. Top the ball back onto the fairway and then hit a great 5 wood right down the centre to abput 145. Out comes the 6i and I hit another beauty to about 16 feet. 2 putt for a pleasing bogie.

#14 On a bit of a roll now and playing rather well I hit another lovely tee shot. Learning lessons from past rounds I take a good look at the green and see that if I go past the pin I will have a very difficult putt so I decide to hot the club that if hit perfectly will be on the front of the green, if hit slightly off centre will leave me with an easy chip. 9i was that club and I land on th front fringe, a nice chip and a tap in gives me a well thought out par (maybe i'm starting to understand how to think myself around the course).

#15 Par 5, good tee shot and second shot leave me 175 to the green, grab the 7w and aim a little left just incase I slice it (as I have been lately), hit it right down my target line and the ball comes to rest in some tall grass and rocks next to teh green. Whack it out on the first go but then go and flub an easy chip, 2 putt for a disappointing double bogie.

#16 Par 4. Slice back now (typical re: 15th hole) but keep it in bounds, nearly hit the green with a great 2nd shot (5w from the rough), chip onto the green and just miss out on par, tap in for bogie.

#17 Par 3. Wow this one is a perfect distance for my red hot 6i. D'oh, hooked it right into a water hazard, but then hit a great chip from the drop area and 1 putt for a good bogie.

#18 Par 4. Great tee shot and then just short with a 5w off the fairway. Then disaster strikes. The pin is at the back of the ver large green so a long chip shot is needed. I line up, get into my practice swings and preshot routine, just as I am swinging back to the ball a couple of morons in a cart appear from another hole and insted of respecting the fact I was hitting a shot kept driving dwon the path. That momentary distraction causes me to totally flub the chip, it goes 3 yards at the most. Faced with a very long putt now I 3 putt and card a very disappointing double bogie. Now normally disturbances like that don't effect me but it just seemed to happened at a crucial point in my downswing.

Last hole #1 par 4.
Finish up on 1 after the shotgun start on 2. I regret this but whilst on the tee box we had to wait for a group to clear and like a fool I looked at the scorecard, I didn't add up anything but noticed how many pars bogies and double bogies I had and realised that a decent score on this hole would get me either below 90 or very close to it. Lesson learned, never ever do this, stay in the present (#4). SLICED tee shot, ball lost. Second ball finds fairway. "This is not too bad" I tell myself "i'm lying 4 with a shot at the green". I then procede to hit my worst shot of the day, what should have been a routine 8i turned out to be a horrible toed shot into a drainage ditch. I then hack it out of the ditch and hit the green with a SW. "Okay, okay, this is not great, but i'm on the green in 6, maybe I can 1 putt for a triple, nope I manage to 3 putt from 16 feet for a nasty 9. What a meltdown.

Final card 49-45 for a 94, that becomes an adjusted score of 92 for handicap purposes.

All in all I played very well but a few bad decisions and some poor chipping cost me the chance of getting my first sub 90 round. What is nice though, is that I played quite a tricky course (slope 123) so in the end I was rather pleased with the round even though the last 2 holes (18 and 1) left a very sour taste in my mouth.