March 27, 2013

Winter golf can be brutal.  Southerners and West Coasters have their share of 50 and even 40 degree days, but in March in the Northeast, this means a sunny day you think is warm, but stiff, blustery breezes blow from the Northwest, loaded with the last stretches of Arctic air.  You have to dress the part with lots of layers and winter golf gloves (which were out of stock at the local big box, leaving me with a thumb-view on the right hand, and a left palm on the other--holy, that is).  The 'Vanbro Champs' jacket is still shamelessly going 13 years later, as a wind blocking shell.

I squeezed in two horrible rounds during my first vacation days of 2013.  I played Wednesday 3/27, and Friday 3/29 (also known as the 'Pontias Pilate Open').  It was in the high 40's, mostly sunny, and as I noted earlier, a blustery 2 club wind.  On 3/27, I had the pleasure of playing by myself, 18 holes in almost 3 1/2 hours.  I managed only two pars, but putt for par several times. 

Things started mostly ugly, but began to turn on the Par 4 3rd, a 420 yard hole that has crippling fescue in season, but was still mostly bare now.  I hit it left, but safe, in the first 'cut' of rough.  I wish I could report that it was my play that turned, but it was the golf gods.

I was way left of the fairway playing four (that's a drive and two flubs), hitting from a place that would be buried in tall grass and ticks in a few months, when I hit a screaming nine iron from about 130 out.  It was screaming right, but luckily I had skillfully played it off that tall tree you see to the right of the green, otherwise it may have stopped somewhere near that rain shelter you can partially see all the way at the edge of the picture.  But I hit just the right spot on the tree.  The ball rebounded onto the green, about 25 or 30 feet from the pin.  Thank you, golf gods.  A two putt six was a victory at this point.
The next picture below was best hole of the day.  It is the Par 5 4th hole, 498 from the blues (I always play from the golds, but they were situated right next to the blues on this Wednesday.  There is a great pond to the left, so if you hit anything to the shortstop or left fielder, you are swimming.  I aim for the center of the fairway, but hit a medium low line drive just inside the shortstop.  I walk out hoping I am safe, and I am better than safe.  If I was a good golfer that knew how to put a ball where he wanted, I would have hit it where I did.  I was on the fairway among some damaging bunkers but not in them.  My second shot was a safe 8 iron (never a thought of trying to carry the second pond 212 yards to go for the green).  My third was a wedge that landed short of my target (the green) leaving me looking at the fourth shot you see here:

Love those power lines.  They have recently knocked down a lot of trees at Charleston Springs North course.  That didn't help the wind, or it did help the wind, but didn't help me.  Anyway, that fourth shot was a pitching wedge which I chipped on to the right of the pin, about ten feet away.  It was a fairly straight, slightly downhill putt for par, which I made, and I rejoiced.  Anyone happening to watch would have seen me do a little jig, pysched for my first par of the year.

I then proceeded to deposit no less than five balls in the pond that makes the Par 3 5th, 203 yards so much fun.  These shots didn't count, of course, because I just became possessed/obsessed with using my 3 wood, and hooked every single shot I took with it.  The club is usually kept in my bag as a hat rack for a reason.  It is pretty typical that I follow a par with a bunch of flubs.  Only lotto can change this, as having a day job pretty much cancels any hope of getting through this at 43 years young.

My next par was the easy Par 3 8th, even if the golds were in the blue tee box, 160 out.  I hit a fine 8 iron, and made the green, still a good 15 or 20 feet for birdie, which I missed, but made the Par.  There is a picture somewhere on this blog of the Charleston North 8th hole.  This hole lost more trees than any other I can tell, and whatever picture I have here surely has more trees than are there now.  It is a windy spot in March.

The rest of the round had only small successes, assuming you consider ball-hawking when there is no one around a sign of success, which I do.  I putt for par a few times, the most exciting coming on the Par 5 15th, a 569 yard marathon, which I started with an awful tee shot, but followed with two nice long irons that left me 40 yards out.  I chipped on and was putting for par, as you see here:

I missed that putt, but made the bogey six.

 Another 3 1/2 hours of precious experience under blue skies and chilly winds, this round was largely forgettable.  The highlights included the two pars (which lead me to believe I can one day make 18 of them) and the blessing from the golf gods (shots off trees that land on greens are signs you should keep playing, if you didn't know). 

And keep playing I did indeed.  On Friday the 29th, Good Friday (not good golf Friday, apparently) I played a round with Alex Klein, a man I met that day, who remarkably mentioned two auto body shops on Staten Island he did business with (there must be 100 of them).  One of the ones he mentioned is the only one I know well, Mola Collision, owned by Dominic, a good friend of my father's.  That is pretty remarkable, another sign of the small world we live in.  However, it was the only miracle on this Friday.

I putt for Par on the difficult 2nd, but missed.

 My only par was again the Par 5 4th hole.  This time I was more traditional, putting for birdie from ten feet.  The ball stopped right on the lip.  I remember a joule is some form of measure of energy, I don't remember what it is, but I needed more joules (half a turn of a golf ball worth) to make birdie, but when you are me, you take the par with a smile.

This is my final iron on 18.  Less than 100 out, you can barely see the pin, back left (click to embiggen).  I landed on the back fringe and three putt.

You may notice there is no mention of a final score on either day.  That's very perceptive of you!