Another fine day weather-wise, I ventured out at Charleston Spring's South Course for an afternoon round. There is nothing like the quiet and stillness on a golf course near the last few holes, still well before dusk but getting there. The sun was hot for a while but very comfortable as the day went on.
I played with Lou, Milan, and Bob. Lou walked and so did I while the other two shared a cart. Lou was older than me, but not by much, maybe forty-five to forty-eight, maybe older. Milan was around my age, probably a bit younger, but more grey than me. Bob was in his sixties. I finally broke down and got myself a push cart, cheap one, Maxflie, $70. We'll see if it was worth it. I had no issues on this Saturday.
The 1st hole at Charleston South is a Par 4 405 from the golds. You are driving slightly up hill, but it turns down on the landing so it is mostly a blind shot. You can see the green beyond the valley. I bang it left side of the fairway, flirting with the rough, but I can't see it land because of the hill. It turned out to be a fine drive, on the fairway, about 125 out. I'm on a down slope, and the green is slightly uphill for me. As with a few other holes, Lou and I are right next to each other. I skull the nine iron, however, but at least it's straight at the green. It looks like it's going to scoot way past, and I look for my ball in the rough down to the right of the green, but no, that was me right next to the fringe, barely un-puttable. I originally thought that ball was Milan, but he's way over on the other side. I tap on the green with a seven iron, but leave it ten or twelve feet for par. I miss it, but I'll take a five.
The 2nd has some trouble if you make a short mistake left and right (unhittable brush, which I've been in). It's a 350 yard Par 4 with a bunker about two hundred out toward the green (center-left), and a pond that starts maybe 300 yards or so straight on from the tee box, and runs up next to the green's right. The green is slighty uphill from the fairway. I hit one that is leaking right, not nearly far enough to reach the water, and I end up on the fairway, but way on the right side. I'm about 135 out, but I have to carry the pond if I aim for the stick. I cowardly, but smartly play it left, hoping for safe green as opposed to being dead on the pin. I go with the full 9 iron instead of the soft eight, thinking a soft shot could easily turn into a flub that goes right in the water. I hit a smooth nine, good loft, but it is short of the green by about ten yards. My third is an uphill shot from about thirty feet, but I hit it too hard. Now I have 10 feet down hill for par, and I miss that way short, a good 3 or 4 feet to go, and yeah, miss that too. That dreaded feeling rolls over, six.
The 3rd is always a tough hole for me, a Par 3 195. I'm at my worst with a three iron, and I flub it off the tee, into six inch tall grass. I flub two with a six iron out of that mess but only six feet, gritting my teeth, and talking under my breath. I hit the six again and it is way left. I pop on from twenty yards with my fourth, while Bob and Lou are hitting their seconds from about that area left of the green and short. Another six here. Stay calm, you can come back. Get the next par.
Four is a tough hole, the number 2 handicap. It is a Par 4 432, and an uphill 432 at that. It is wide enough though, but not enough for me. I hit it hard and far, but drifting right, over the Port-0-john, into some long grass. I have a terrible lie in some high grass and I'm still about two hundred out. I hit a four iron, hoping to just find fairway, but I open the club and slice this one way right, onto the fifth hole fairway, which connects with the deep rough I'm in. I wait for one or two drives coming back at me, and I jog onto the fifth with a seven iron and make one of my patented four-second address/swing sessions. This is a fine looking shot, I was guesstimating the distance, and though I was short of the green, I was quick, and hit a fine lofted shot right at the pin. I tap on from twenty-five feet with the seven-iron again. I mean again as in the previous shot, and again as in that was the third time I was using the seven for a chip around the green. The practice paid off as this one is pin high, though still a good ten feet from the hole. No problem said I, I roll in the putt for a five, easily but unfortunately the best putt of the day. A lesson in golf holes: I started with two awful shots, right and worse right, but I recoved nicely.
The 5th is a Par 4 379 with a nice sized bunker you must aim for and carry from the tee box. I aim, and carry, but I carry way right, nipping some leaves on the one giant tree at the far right edge of the fairway. I am on the fairway, but way right of where I need to be, still about 200 out. As I said before, my three is suspect, and there is water if I miss right again. I fearlessly rip the three iron, and it is mostly a flub, but it travels a good eighty yards, straight but well short of the pond. I'm looking at a pond in front of me that runs right up to the green, and beyond (you can see it in the picture of the 5th hole), and I try to keep it left right at the pin. Those clever devils knew I would be looking to keep it left, so they put a bunker just before the green on the left edge of the fairway, and I find it just fine. The sand is the same disaster my three iron is, the bottom of my game maybe. I am twenty-five feet from the stick, about level, but I hit it fifty feet. I'm on the edge of the large green clinging to 'at least I didn't flub it and stay in the sand'. That would come later on the course's easiest hole. Anyway, I don't want to leave it short, and I don't. I needed twenty-five feet or so, but I hit it thirty-five, and miss the next one too for a 7.
The 6th is a Par 5, 505 that dogs slightly left. They give you plenty of room right to park your drive, but I skim one two feet off the ground. It goes about a hundred yards. I flub the three iron for my second shot, and then hit it pretty solid with my third. For my fourth shot, I'm still over two hundred out, so I just play it safe with a seven iron, and I hit a decent shot. It was one of those situations where the group ahead were still on the green. I had the nice sound on my shot so they may have been like 'wtf' when they first looked up, but I knew I would be fifty yards short of the green. My par shot was an easy wedge that landed pin high, but twenty feet off the pin. I two putt for my second 7. The pain was just beginning.
The 7th is the 18 handicap, a 317 yard Par 4 that urges you to take out a 3 wood, or even a three iron. It is a dog leg right, but there are tall trees protecting, and with the overall shortness of the hole, you have to be crazy not to just bang it out to the plentiful fairway. There is open space but nasty tall grass left. I drift right, into the tall trees, a pin ball crap shoot if I'll have any kind of look at the green. Turns out I'm right near a tree with no shot of getting to the green, so I take a seven iron and punch out to fairway, almost ninety degrees. Distance is not a factor here. It seems like a fine shot, but it is too far because now my eighty yard look at a slightly uphill green has got a deep bunker in front of it, which normally would not scare me, except I'm in a divot. I find the center of that bunker with my third shot, and I find it again with my fourth shot, which doesn't really go anywhere. My fifth shot gets out, but still doesn 't reach the green. I slap the seven iron again to get on with six, and two putt for an 8. Easiest hole on the course, eight. Now the thoughts creep in: why am I here? Do I need this? Is it smart?
It is not smart. But I trudge on. 8 is another Par 5, this one 503. There are power line towers and weeds to the left, and tall trees right. You can't see the pin, or much of the hole for that matter, as it is an uphill drive, and then the hole bends right and downhill. I hit my drive toward the power lines. I can't find it. In a tournament, like on TV, the gallery find that ball for me, so I drop out there. It's just not realistic to walk back to the tee for three when there are groups behind you on a public course. And I hate hitting second tee shots (provisionals). If I ever improve my scores consistently, I'll count this right, but when I'm stringing together sevens and eights, a simple penalty stroke will do. My third goes way right, toward the trees. My fourth is a decent shot, a three iron punch out through those tall trees that catches the hill and rolls way down the fairway, leaving me about thirty yards away, looking way uphill at the green. But my fifth is too strong. I land pin high and roll up a good twenty feet away. I putt six downhill, a pretty nice putt here, what would have been beautiful if it was the fourth stroke. I tap in a 7. The question ('why am I here') isn't just lingering at this point. It's screaming.
There's a bit of a walk to the 9th tee, down a valley, and over a bridge. Nice Jersey woods. The hole is a Par 3 158, slightly uphill, with a deep drop if you go over, and a nice size gully if you are way short and left. I hit a half decent seven iron off the tee, but it is right of the green, just about pin high. The grass is high and thick, but I manage a good wedge shot. If I knew how to hit my sand wedge, that was a good spot to use it, but I don't. I'm most comfortable with the pitching wedge. I two putt for a four. But a 55? Going home after nine is an option. The score is shot.
But my schedule was open that afternoon. This round was sanctioned because May is crazy with events. Maybe I'll break 50 on the back, maybe I could use the practice. So I make the long, hilly walk up to 10, a short Par 4 294, with major trouble left, and a narrow strip that dogs way left to the green. Going for the green is not even an option with me, way too much woods all around the green for me to chance a monster swing. I try to hit the drive nice and easy, knowing I don't need distance, but I drift way right, toward the eleventh tee. I hit the second shot just short of the green, and chip on, managing a five.
I did complete the round with a 51 on the back. As difficult as it was to play through that awful score, it's proving twice as hard to write something interesting about it. There was just one thing though. On the Par 5 16, I was looking at another awful score when I took a blind 'I don't care' swing from about 150 out. The photo here of sixteen is from 100, but from 150, you cannot see the green. I sky it with a seven iron, and land pin high, about five feet away. I still two putt, but that is the one stroke I needed to come back again, a real golf shot, hit clean, lands where it should. I think even pros are occasionally happy to land five feet from the pin.
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