It wasn't all that winter. Sunny in the fifties, but with a kicking wind--one and two clubs worth. But it is technically winter today. Tomorrow is the first day of spring. It was another 'built for me' moment. I arrived at the clubhouse at 11:00, was offered a choice of 11:1o or 11:30, and I took the 11:30 North. I got my county card renwed, putt for ten minutes, and was ready to go.
The starter congratulated me on my decision to wear a jacket. More precisely, I had the wife-beater tee, a regular tee on that, a polyester golf tee-shirt over that, and then a fleece and the Vanbro jacket, still kickin' (1996 and 2000 CHAMPS!). I wore the Mets winter hat, in case I appear despondent at any point it's explained, and I needed it because that two club wind was a last punch of the winter variety. It warmed up nice those moments of calm, but they didn't last.
I arrived at the first tee alone and took a few swings. The three others rode up a minute or two later. They were Ryan and Pete, and Mike rode solo. Michael was Pete's dad. He immediately offered me a seat any time I wanted it, which set the tone for the round in general, pleasant company.
Since I was waiting there I tee'd off firstat 1. It was my first swing of the driver this year, since November actually, but I did swing once at the range, last week in fact. You never know what you're gonna get as far as foursome goes when you show up as a single. These guys had solid golf looks, golf clothes, where as I'm a little iffy when it comes to that. I would be suspect if I saw a guy dressed like me, but it's not out of line. Right on the border. The jacket gives me away as a baseball guy, but these fellas dressed golf. Ryan had pink pants on, regular kakies. He pulled if off too. I'm thinking of getting a pair. I like the guys that dress nuts on tour.
As luck would have it, my first drive is a beauty. I'm sure I could use some professional help on my drive. The only one I actually tried to calculate distance came in at 210 yards. But it felt like so much more. I thought I was hitting them 240-250, but who knows. A pro could at least get me to get the most for what I swing. But I hit a solid drive. Charleston North is easy to play in March because the trees are bare and the fescue is still dead. But I was on the fairway. Next I pulled out the five iron, solid shot, but left, off the fairway, but safe. From about 120 on the Par 5 I used a nine iron on my third shot. I probably would be hitting the wedge from there, but that cold wind ate the ball up. Nine was a good choice because I was on the green, putting for birdie from a about 28 feet. Unfortunately when I putt on the practice green, I practiced short putts. So I was way short. I missed the par putt too from six feet, and tapped in six. From birdie to bogie in three easy strokes.
Mike gave me a ride up to the second tee box, a long way from the first green. 2 is an uphill Par 4, 400 yards, with fairway bunkers left and right. I hit one way left, a line drive, but without the fescue it rolls in sight to the seventh tee box, or just before it. This leaves me about one hundred out. I had to wait for three gentlemen to tee off from the whites. They all hit solid drives. I hit a decent shot with my wedge, good loft, but it is left of the green. My third is a twelve yard chip, sideways to the green, as I was pin high. But I don't chip it right, it's more of a liner, but I'm on the green, putting for par from about 20 feet. I miss, but make a good three footer for 5.
3 comes back the other way, a level 398 yarder (distances are all golds). In season there is hopeless fescue left, ten feet from the fairway, and more if you go way right. There is also a bunker right, right distance from the tee. I hit my drive right, but still solid, and I find it just passed the bunker, on the wrong side of the cart path. But it's a decent lie. I was a little over 150 out, normally a seven, but today it was a six iron. Or was it? I hit that six iron very well, and went over the green. I thought I would be safe, but as I got close I couldn't find the ball. I walked out even further, and I was lucky. I hit that six into the wind, with nice loft, and I almost made the pond that is past the green. But I was safe, chipping three. I make good contact with the chip, but not aimed well. I'm 18 feet for par, I miss short, and save bogie from six feet on a slight downhill--could have been ugly if I miss that.
That pond that I just missed with my six iron last hole makes the drive on 4 tricky. This is a Par 5 469. If you hook it at all, you're swimming. If you are safely left though, past a bunker out there, you are in good shape for birdie, but I don't ever try to play it over there. I over compensate right, and end up on the 11th fairway, yelling "fore" but not in a bad spot. Pete skimmed his shot, a low line drive left, that took a dip and skipped out safely. I hit a nice five iron for my second shot, but there are some hills, or mounds running through 4 and 11, so I'm hitting it blind. I aim at the high voltage line towers. I'm not sure where it goes, but it was a solid shot, so I just walk up in the general direction and I find it. I'm about 147 out now, hitting three off a mound beside the fairway, among but not in some fairway bunkers. I grab the eight iron in spite of the strong wind and at the last split second in my swing I try to really groove it, and it goes left into that pond that had been calling my ball for some time now. I drop 4 from the same spot and hit another eight, solid, but short, and land short of the bunker that is four 0'clock from the green. Ryan plugs badly in that same bunker. I chip on six and two putt for a lousy eight.
Number 5 has had my number for a while now, and today is no different. It is a Par 3 181, but there is no room for error left, same pond. I go left, naturally. I always use a five iron, and there was some discussion going on among the three about hybrids and woods here, but I stick five. I mean, I don't stick five, I stick with the five iron, but with the wind it's the wrong club, and I skirt along the water. There is a twosome creeping up on us, and we basically screwed them all day starting right about there, so I hate to hit a second ball if there's a chance I can find the first. But I can't, my second libation to that pond within five strokes of each other, and I drop about where it went in, which left a thirty or forty yard chip for me. I hit it hard, past the pin, past the green, and can only make a halfway decent comeback putt, decent but not in. I finish here with a manufactured six. I say manufactured because I think the rule there is for me to hit that second tee shot, as three, but when you write a six on your card on a par 3, frig the rules, it's a loss anyway.
The uphill drive on 6 isn't horrible, but it's short. It sounded good, felt good, but it was high and into the wind, so it didn't go anywhere. Now I'm still downhill from the hole, and I can't see the bunkers protecting the green. I just see the top of the flag waving. Doesn't matter because I tear up a divot almost as long as a skirt steak, and the second shot goes about 14 feet. Still uphill and blind to the hole, I aim a nine iron at the stick. Wrong club, comes up short again, this time in the bunker I couldn't see. This nine iron was well struck, nice lift, but it probably should have been an eight iron. Anyhoo I hit a good bunker shot, four, and two putt, nothing memorable.
I do a little adding because I know the 8 and the sixes are piling up, and if I can par-out from here, it's a 48, not great, but liveable. I can't par-out. 7 is a Par 4 368 that dog legs a bit right, but that shot is protected by a few bunkers center and right for those aiming to cut a few yards off the hole. I go way right here, but so far right that I pass the big pine trees that are supposed to discourage people from hitting the ball where I did. I didn't try to hit it there, mind you, I tried to hit it where Mike hit his, in the middle of the fairway. But I'm a little over a hundred out, and I chose the nine iron to beat the wind. The wind really does mess with me. I hit a line drive over the green. I'm now chipping my third shot uphill, blind to the green, and I flub it. I get on with the fourth and two putt for another 6.
8 gets birdied and par'd from time to time by yours truly, so I'm going in confident. It's a short par three with bunkers at five o'clock, and nine to ten o'clock. If you are short and right you can lose your ball in the brush, but this being a winter round, none of the brush is grown in. I flirt with that five o'clock bunker, but miss it by a foot or two, ten feet from the green. I scoot on, but still over ten feet short of the pin, and I two put for a four. I was short all day with the putts and had to make a few four footers.
On the 9th, Par 4 389, I hit a drive that is lost in season because it's right in the fescue, but it's short and easy to find today. It's about 150 out and I hit a strong seven, nice clean shot, and I'm on the green in two, putting from a good 25 feet. I am short again by about four feet, but I make this putt for my only par of the day.
10 is a Par 4 396 with a some big trees if you go left or right. There is another big tree in the fairway to the left, and a bunker and pines right. I hit a decent drive here and land just past the bunker on the right. I am just about 185 out now and use the four iron, a questionable call. But I hit a strong shot, even though it is right of the green it is pin high. I do not make my best chip from there, a downhill twenty yarder, and I roll off the edge of the green. I tap it back on and one putt for a 5.
On the Par 5 11th, I hit a strong drive, but this makes the fairway bunker on the right. I hit a lousy six iron out of the bunker, probably only seventy yards. My third shot is not good either, a three iron from two hundred out, which goes only one fifty and right again. So I'm looking at four with a wedge with a green staring back, but I can't make the right shot. I land in a bunker to the left, well below the elevated green. I manage a good sand shot, which is lucky for me as I never know what will happen with the sand wedge. It is my fifth stroke, and though I hit it clean and out of the bunker, it is nowhere near the pin. It takes me three strokes from there for an 8.
The easiest hole is the Par 3 12th, a short 154 yards with a pond if you dribble one left. I hit a clean seven, but the wind is brutal. I am left of the green, about pin high. I chip on two, and two putt for a four. Should have taken advantage of the course there.
The 13th took the spirit right out from under me. I hit a decent drive right of the fairway, but it leaves me about 160 out. I hit a bad eight, scooping up a lot of grass. And then I flub two more. My knees were starting to wobble. I get close with five, chip on six and then two putt, my worst performance of the day even though I had two other eights.
Somehow I manage to come back on 14, a Par 4 359 that can be tough because the slope leaves you hitting your shot mostly blind. I hit a decent drive, but it is right. I am 150 or so out, looking at a pond if I am short and right and I hit an eight iron that I flub . My third is better, but it is still not on. I make a short chip and two putt for another six that does not help my round.
Having thoroughly disgusted my self the last two holes, a I was set up for more misery on the 15th. This is a long Par 5, 526, and it is uphill from the tee, and then somewhat down after about three hundred yards. I flub my drive. My second is a short three iron that put me about where the drive should have. I flub three but nail the fourth, a three iron into a blind fairway. This leaves me about sixty or seventy out, and I hit a nice wedge for my fifth that lands twelve feet from the pin, but I two putt for a seven.
The 16th is a pretty tough Par 4, 399 and another hole where it rises from the tee to midway, and then goes downhill to the green. I hit my best drive of the day here, exhaustion and all, and roll nicely down slope leaving a second shot from 150 out. I stick with an eight iron and hit a nice looking golf shot, but it rolls just onto the fringe. It takes me three to finish, a good opportunity to par blown.
17 is no help either. This is a long Par 3, 175 yards, and I hit a five into the strong wind. I should have gone up a club. But I am pin high, only right of the green. I make a lousy chip that rolls all the way past the pin and past the fringe too. I sweep the seven iron to within about four feet, and save four with a good putt.
I made a valiant effort to finish strong on 18. I hit a nice drive to the middle of a narrow fairway that eats your ball left with woods, and has some mess of hills, bunkers, fescue and giant oaks right. Now the hole is 362, and I'm still 15o out, which puts my drive at 210??? I know it had to be better than that, so maybe a measurement was off somewhere. I sky an eight, but it carries all the way to the back of the green, while the pin sits in the front. I am putting for birdie from thirty, downhill, and I am short still. I two putt from there for a five, and a 104 on the day.
All in all this is a miserable score, but for a first time out in what was technically still winter, there were a few bright moments. I drove mostly well, with only one bad flub on 15, when I needed it most for the long Par 5, so that' my game in a nutshell. I practiced a bunch of short putts before the round, and I was short all day as reality left me some longer ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment