South Shore 3/30/16

South Shore Golf Course

3/30/16

     My first round of 2016 was a disaster of a score, a 105 on an easy course.  I have had to leave behind me the pain and drudgery of north of 100 scores.  Not the scores, obviously, but the hot air that goes with them.  I accept that without consistent practice, this is just how it is.  I can play my heart out for that 90-something.  Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't.  Golf is still a walk among trees, interrupted by challenges of skill, sometimes strength, sometimes delicate touch.  It's about aiming a silly object in a precise direction to achieve a useless end that doesn't change the way of the wind.  But in their different shapes and forms, the different golf swings represent, in a most unmanly way, the different skills of ancient warriors:  the driver not unlike the bronze spear, far shadowing, for launching great distances, nor missing the mark; the high irons are like the bow, skillful volleys, dropping down on their targets; and the sword, of course, like the putter, up close and personal, execution critical.
     South Shore Golf Course on Staten Island is a track whose greatest beauty is its nostalgia, being a place any locals would have played early and often.  I've seen it torn up, and I've seen it bloomed and recovered a dozen times already.  This Wednesday on a chilly March day was one of the better rounds I've played here.  I struck up with two men named Bob, a bit older than me.  I think they both had grandchildren, but they weren't old.  Importantly the place was empty.  This round happened in under four hours.

My first two holes were full of trouble, a 7 and 8, on the Par 4 1st, and Par 5 2nd holes.  My opening drive of the season was a ground ball flirting with a gully, but I found it.  The second stroke had no look so it was just a poke out to the fairway.  I thought I hit it too far across the fairway because I exaggerated the club head to avoid a tree obstructing my line to the green.  This left me about 150 out.  I hit a fine seven iron here, well struck, lofted, but it was off the green by about twenty feet, pin high though.  Would have been really pretty a few feet over, but at least it told the Bob's that I wouldn't be hitting ground balls all day.  I did not get up and down well.  I think I still haven't figured out how fast the greens were on that day, but I knocked the ball around this time for sure.

The second hole is the Par 5 434 Yards.  In theory I can cover that in two strokes.  But it's just a theory.  The layers grew heavy as I carried this ball 8 times, and the temps came up just a bit as we approached 11am, so I lost the gloves and the hat.

With my new look, I faced the Par 4 248 Yard 3rd hole:

3rd Hole  Par 4 248  Yards

I'm not driving balls 265 yards these days, and there is a lost ball to the left, and a dangerous excursion onto the fifth hole if you go too far right here.  I went with safety, since a short iron can get you to 150 out.  I hit a four iron, and struck it ok, but it did fade to the right, just off the fairway.  This made my approaching second shot difficult, because it is a small green, narrowest from my angle, and I had a bunker in my line to the cup.  I played it safe with a wedge, aiming for the part of the green without the bunker.  It was a decent chip, and left me with a twenty foot putt for birdie.  I missed it, too fast, but made the four foot putt for par.  In fact all three of us made par on this hole.  Three holes in I had my first par of the year.

The fourth hole is another short one,  Par 4 265 Yards, with a great view of the abandoned tanks along the West Shore Expressway:

Par 4 4th, 265 Yards

I just don't have any excuse for this hole.  There isn't anything I can say that makes it more challenging.  If you shank your drive right, you are in trees.  I'd be lying if I said there were less than a few of my balls in those woods from all the years, but you can find just about everything else you hit.  I followed my par with a lousy drive, left of that tree that is midway to the left the fairway in this picture.  My second was completely playable with a short wedge, but I found a bunker instead of the green.  Did my usual back and forth here and landed on 6.  So it took me 5 strokes to go about sixty yards.  It hardly seems possible as I write that.  And embarrassing.  This green is actually a challenge though, with steep inclines and deep bunkers, full of flat hard sand, by the way.  Just saying.

I barely had any memorable golf through 5, 6, and 7.  On 5, which is a Par 5 529 (a real par 5), I did hit a magical third shot.  After two so so's on my first swings, I was about 190 out and needing to carry a gully to reach the elevated green.  I was along the left side off the fairway, and hit a nice 3 iron, but a little too far left, directly over the woods that line the hole.  I knew I was pin high though, and strolled up along the woods, basically expecting not to find the ball.  But my screaming line drive managed to sneak through lots of trees.  I was off the green, right on the edge of the woods, such that my chip was obstructed with brush.  I hit a tough chip, too far, but on the green.  I two putt from about thirty feet, so that was decent.

The eighth hole never was lined with homes when I played here in my youth.  But the nineties took their toll on Staten Island.  I guess every decade has.  Now since we are in March and no leaves have grown in (buds were barely visible this day...in fact it was the first day they started to really appear in any number), you can see the homes that run along the eighth green and ninth tee box.  They are nice homes.  Some have small balconies over looking the course.  Must be pleasant for a coffee.  I had a four on the Par 3 8th, 148 yards.  I landed my drive off the green, but pin high.  I had to use my 7 iron sweep-on shot, but I had no touch and hammered the ball past the pin.

Par 3 8th, 148 yards

9th Green, and one of the Bobbies

The ninth has a tough drive, narrow and into a hill, with trees to the right and left.  I chose the trees on the left, following the Bobby in the pic, who skimmed through the left trees but landed safely.  My shot was a little more challenging.  I stayed along the trees all the way to the green.  That pic was from the spot of my approach and I went off the back of the green with it.  I came back on, again with no touch, leaving a good thirty foot putt through ridges, which I buried, the putt of the day!  Good to know I have that shot in my bag one day when I need it in a tournament.  ( I never played in a tournament).

Among the better holes I played was the Par 5 12th, 417 yards.  That seems absurdly short for a par 5, but this is a huge uphill tee shot, blind, and the hole plays much longer.  My second shot landed here:

Par 5 12th, 417 Yards

Again, I'm scratching my head as I can't believe it's just 417 yards.  But after a good drive and a decent second, I was just about 100 yards out for my third.  I shanked it though, or flubbed it, dribbling the ball about 75 yards.  I took three shots to make that 'dice bubble in the game of Trouble' sound, for a six.  My bogeys are the holes I brag about (gulp).

An old Asian man managed to wedge in between my threesome and the twosome in front of him.  One the Bobby's yelled at him, because he was extremely slow, and it is common golfer courtesy to group up.  He could have come back to make us four, or gone ahead to play with the two.  But as annoying as it was to wait a few times, this day's round rolled along quickly.

Here is the Par 3 14th, 130 yards:

Par 3 14th, 130 Yards (that's Wang, playing slow)

Here I hit my nine all wrong, and caused a screaming line drive.  I rolled past the green and I thought into the trees beyond the hole, but when I got down there I saw the bunker.  It is off the backside of the green, to the right, but I managed to miss this and had one of those downhill, hanging over the bunker shots.  I made a fair shot here, but left a good 20 feet for a par putt, which I missed.  I tapped in bogey.  This green was all but gone a year or two ago, and was in great shape today.  Hats off to the greens crew here.

The 15th has some length, a Par 4 377, with a deep valley and elevated green.  I hit a lousy drive left, and my recovery shot put me here:

Par 4 15th, 377 yards

This was maybe my best shot of the day.  I was a five iron away, and I skied a real golf shot.  It looked like I was good and close to the blue flag way up on the green, but it was really a long up hill putt which I missed by a lot.  And then I missed the bogey putt too.  But it was fun to putt for par.

So I struggled with fatigue the rest of the way.  After walking the nine miles, I couldn't wait to get home to hear about how I 'relaxed' and 'enjoyed myself' and played golf, so now I can serve.  But I flubbed and skulled my way through the 16th and 17th.  On 17 I took the hat off of my 3 wood, the hat that tells me never to use my 3 wood, but the hole was a Par 3 200 yards, uphill with stiff wind.  Surprisingly, I hit a very good, straight shot with the 3 wood, but I hit it 195 yards.  I chipped on, and two putt, bogey 4.

The last hole is a nice one too, pretty wide open, but somewhat blind.  It is hard to believe I even considered playing two rounds in a day in the past, much less did it, but there was no second round after I finished this hole.  I could barely get back to the car.  After a lousy drive, I hit my approach shot just under 200 yards, just short of the green.  I was dangerously close to the duck pound, or goose pond, or whatever.  I had a shot to make a four before going away, but no.  Couldn't close the deal.

The Iconic Clubhouse, 18th hole, South Shore Golf Course

So you really can't see the green buds, but they were just starting to open.  This day started out pretty cold, in the forties, but ended up nice in the fifties, and look at that sky.  If nothing else, I got a little color.  At least this spot on Staten Island was quiet for three hours and change.  As far as closing the gap between my visions and my golf score, well I am one round closer to ironing out the wrinkles.  Always beats a day at work.