Unexpected Round

10/10/10
Not totally unexpected. It was a round planned for Monday. But 10-10-10 looks so much better on the card. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow too, but today was exquisite. Freezing in the morning, in fact they had a frost delay, but sunny and 70 by about 10.

I parred the first hole on Charleston North the last three times I played there, and even though I forgot about this as I tee'd off, I was bound for a seven. And that's the way the whole round went. A 100. Not a single cloud though.

I deserved the 100 for one simple fact. The guys I played with today played from the blues. I had nothing to lose by saying, "I don't mind playing from the blues with you, but I'm not that good. I shoot around 100." If I'd just said that, and broke the ice, and played it, the round would have had a better flow. Instead, I went yellow, playing from the golds.

This meant I had to wait for them to tee off every hole, and then walk up to the golds as they moved up. I don't need any excuses to stink. But it was silly. Most of the holes don't have that much of a difference. Still it's the principle. Isn't it an insult to the game, and to the other players, if I play from the blues and hit 100?

I had a lousy drive left, but not in the bunkers. Near them, under a tree. My second shot was a weak ground ball, but for my third I hit the five iron again, good this time. I was about 125 out on the par 5, but I hit my fourth 120. I chipped on five, about twenty feet away and two putted.

Second hole is a Par 4, 400 from the gold, uphill with some bunkers in the fairway. I had difficulties. Another seven.

Third hole is 398 from the gold, straight,with lots of fescue way left and way right. I drive on into the first cut on the right, a sinking line drive, about 230, a little more. I stop just behind a hill around the bunker. I hit a seven iron from there, but I don't hit it true. Another low line drive that stops just to the right below the green. I used the seven again to punch it uphill, onto the green. I thought I hit it lousy, not a clean chip, but I end up pin high, 18 to 20 feet from the cup. The green was pitched to the front, but I was putting sideways across the tilt, and sank the putt for par. That might have been my best putt of the day.

Fourth hole is a par five with a drivable pond to the left. I drove it way right. I hit my second shot from the first cut rough on the 11th hole, which is coming the other way, but that's another bad shot. The was a five iron. I was hitting it back to the fourth hole fair way, but the pond still comes into play and I was overly cautious right. I was now in deep fescue. I hit an eight iron, a rather decent shot given the lie, because I took one of those 'screw it' swings. This means I just took a chance and swung really hard to get through the grass. That ended up in the first cut rough just before the bunker in front of the green. Now for my fourth I have to chip over the bunker, onto the narrow part of the green. I was twenty to twenty-five yards out. I needed to chip it nineteen yards to clear the bunker but still get it close the pin. I put it right in the bunker. Five got me out of the bunker, but barely. I still wasn't on the green. I short chip it with the seven iron and I two putt.

The fifth hole is a Par 3, 175 from the gold. That same pond from the 4th cuts close to the green. I sculled it off the tee, and was lucky to find the ball, with a bad lie, two feet from impossible grass that grows along the edge of the pond. I take another hard swing through long grass with a nine iron, and hit about pin high, but way right of the green. I chip on three, far, about thirty feet, and two putt.

The next hole, the 6th, is a Par 4, uphill with more fairway bunkers. I manage a five. I had a lousy drive right, then a flub. My third is an OK 100 yard pitching wedge, but it rolls off the green. I chip it back on with my fourth, and I'm miserable because it rolls twenty feet past the pin. Misery doesn't last though, I sink the putt, straight on, slightly uphill.

At the 7th hole, 368 with some fairway bunkers, I hit just about the best drive of the day. There are problems both left and right, and even though I didn't hit it far, I landed safely on some short grass. But, for my second shot, I skull another 7 iron. Instead of a nice lofty shot, it is a seaming line drive that goes past the green. Now I'm in some high grass, chipping down hill. Through shear fear I flub another. Hitting four, I plop it on and two putt, six.

Creme' de le creme comes on 8. It's a 135 yard par three. I hit a nine iron and bounce it three or four feet from the cup, and it stops--a three foot putt away from birdie. I think I may have hit the pin. I make the putt for birdie.

True to form, I start off with a bad drive on the Par 4 9th. It's 389 yards, mostly straight with lots of fescue to the right. I go right. I flub one in the fescue, a seven iron, while trying to only punch it out. I hit another seven, and land 15 yards from the green, behind some trees. I have to chip over a bunker, and do, but land well left of the pin. Then I three putt. That really hurts. A 51 on the front. Not enough to just go home, grasping at the positive.

The tenth is a Par 4 396. I shoot one high and right, and land in a bunker between 10 and 1. I hit it clean off the blade of the five iron for my second shot out of the bunker, but I'm aiming wrong. I go way left this time, into the brush. I drop three, and hit a good chip shot four, which just clears a hill next to the green, and roll down close, about seven feet from the pin. But I two putt it.

I hit a good drive on the 11th, a Par 5 489. The hole dog-legs slightly right, after your drive, and I hit a pretty solid five iron, but it's over a hill blind, and maybe in the woods to the left. I walk down there suspecting the worst, but I find it, a good ten feet from the woods, in some rough. It's not a great lie, and I'm about 130 out, uphill, with the green guarded by some deep bunkers. I manage an awesome nine iron landing right on the green, pin high, but a good thirty five feet away. I hit a weak first putt, still seven feet short, but sink that for par. That nine iron made the hole.

12th is a par 3, 154. I had a boring 4. I mishit the seven again off the tee, chip on, and two putt. Four needed to be saved by a five foot putt.

 

Next I hit a drive in the woods that line the left side of the 13th hole. I hit my third off the tee and that is also a line drive in the woods, but graciously bounces out back to the rough, still short, but hittable. I hit an excellent 3 iron fourth, leaving me 100 out. I plop it on the blind green, but it's a big green. I make a long 45-50 putt, good enough, but not in, and sink the next one for a seven.

Next, 14, is a Par 4, uphill to the center of the fairway, then downhill to the green with a big pond to the right, below the green. Of course I drive it way right, and short, onto the rough of the previous hole, 13, and now have to contend with that pond to get to the green. I hit a five iron for my second, and it skirts around the edge of the pond, safe, but still short of the green, about three feet from the swamp plants. I flirted with them. They came into my mind as I hit my third, uphill, forty yards to the green, and I hit it through the green and over the other side, in the thick rough. I just remember looking at those plants as I swung. For my fourth I flub it onto the green, leaving myself with a thirty foot downhill putt. I three putt, seven. The round was ruined after the first seven, but with this my fifth, along with the eight from the 4th hole, there is no hope of shooting low nineties. The rest is just an exercise in endurance and perseverance. The worst is at least behind me.

The 15th is 526, uphill, and I start the par five with a lousy drive into the rough on the right. Most of my drives sliced right today. I hit a good second shot with a five iron onto the center of the fairway. My third is a 150 yard seven iron, hit well for a change. I two putt for par.

My ball is right of the cart path, of course.

 



On the 16th, a 399 Par 4, I hit a bad drive left this time (that's two hole hooked, two drives hit well, and all the rest right). I find it in tall fescue 180 yards out, and hit a desperation six iron off a really bad lie. The 'screw it' swing works again though, and I'm thirty yards short of the green, in the first cut. My third isn't great though, once again hit through the green and into the rough, leaving me with a downhill chip. I two putt and get a six.

The seventeenth is open for debate. It's a 175 yard Par 3 that's given me trouble in the past, but I hit a good five iron. I'm putting from thirty feet, and putt it to within four feet. However, the group behind us was standing there swinging, and being the last to putt (one of the others in my foursome took a year and a day on every shot) I rushed to shot and missed it. I could have easily made the shot, but I didn't. There is no debate. It was a 4.

17th, Charleston North

For the 18th, I hit a good drive, but this is the narrowest fairway on the course, and I keep it right to avoid the woods on the left. I'm in the rough, about 170 out, on a little hill, and hit a five iron fat. It only goes about 120. From fifty, I make a good chip and land about ten feet away from the pin with a downhill putt. I don't make the putt for par, but tap in five.

18th hole

I was a hero again and walked the course, just under 7000 from the blues, 6400 from gold. There is also plenty of space between holes, with ridiculous space between four of the holes, so I am wiped out now. Not everyone appreciates such heroism, so there'll be no parade. 100? I didn't need one.