July 17th 2018 Golf Round Review
I titled one of my earlier golf round reviews “Blow Up Holes”. It’s hard to recover from a 9 on a hole. As your game progresses, your definition of what a blow up hole is changes. For my game at the moment, I feel I can recover from a few double bogies and still post a final score I’m happy with. I currently consider a triple bogey to be a blow up hole, a score which will be more difficult to recover from.
I had a few streaks going over the last few founds. My penalty stoke free streak came to an end this round at 21 holes. But even with penalty strokes on back to back holes this round, I was still able to salvage double bogey on each, post my season best front nine score of 44, and run my current streak of holes since my last triple bogey to 27.
Although I hit a few poor tee shots, incurred two penalty strokes (one related to a poor tee shot and one not), and three putted the last hole, I was still able to avoid any blow up holes and piece together a good round of 44.
Putting needs to continue to be my area of focus. Only one putted a green once and missed a three footer for birdie on the first hole. As Rickie Fowler said during the Scottish Open last week, slow greens reward good putting. Slow greens will also penalize poor putting in my opinion. My putting is still less than stellar and the greens at Pinewood are slow this year.
I continued my great driving of late with one right down the middle on the first hole. I had 250 yards left, so instead of hitting a 3 wood 20 yards short of the green, a shot which has a lot of risk and little reward, I hit a 7 iron and laid up to 100 yards. I then hit my gap wedge to three feet from the hole. It would have been great to start off the night with a birdie, but my short putting woes continued and I missed the putt and had to settle for par.
My run of great drives came to an end as I pull hooked my driver left into the woods off the 2nd tee. In a stoke of remarkable luck, it bounced back out and actually advanced up the left rough a few yards. When you get a break in golf, you need to take advantage of it. I had a great lie but 200 yards left to the green. The 2nd hole is extremely uphill and we were into the wind, so I wasn’t sure even my 3 wood would get there but a gave it a shot. I hit a great shot that almost made it, stopping 5 yards short of the green. I chipped on and left my first putt 3-4 feet short. They are leaving the greens longer so they don’t burnout with the lack of rain, but it does make them slow. I made the second putt for a bogey.
I hit my gap wedge a little long and left off the 3rd tee. The tee shot on this little hole plays a lot harder than it looks. I was able to pitch on and two putt for a bogey.
I made a course management mistake on the 4th hole. I have hit 4 iron off the tee all year long, but for the second time this year I failed to clear the mud on the backside of the first pond. I had to take a drop. I hit a 5 iron that rolled off the back of the green. I chipped on and two putted for a double bogey. It’s hard to overcome penalty strokes. This was my first penalty stroke in 22 holes. I’m going to have to hit 7 wood from the 4th tee from now on.
I hooked another driver off the 5th tee but it stayed in play, ending up on a slope in the left rough. I was 121 yards out with the ball very much below my feet. As these shots will many times go right, I aimed left but unfortunately my shot stayed left, 5 yards too far left and into the woods. I had to take an unplayable and pitched on for my 4th shot. I two putted for another double bogey. Two holes in a row with a penalty stroke! The saving grace was that I recovered on each hole to avoid the blow up hole.
I hit my usually 4 iron for my tee shot on the 6th hole. It was right side of the fairway, which is not ideal but it was OK. I had 128 yards left up the hill. I clubbed up to a 7 iron and hit a great shot over the trees on the right side, just a bit too much club, and a half yard off the back of the green. I putted on and drained a 4 footer for par, a nice recovery after two double bogeys in a row.
I haven’t found the green on the 7th hole in my previous attempts this year, but this time I hit a great 4 iron to within 15 feet of the hole. It was straight downhill to the hole and I was worried about running it way past. So I of course left my birdie 3 feet short but was able to make the next for two pars in a row.
I hit the fairway with my driver off the 8th tee and had 125 yards left. I hit a nice 9 iron but didn’t quite get all of it and was a yard short of the green. I putted on and then two putted for a bogey.
I hit my driver slightly right again which left me 170 yards to the hole. I made decent contact with a 4 iron to right of the green. I didn’t hit a good pitch. It was on the green but 20 feet from the hole. I three putted, my only one of the night, for a double bogey. Last week I was able to break my curse on the 18th hole by getting a par, but I still haven’t been able to solve the riddle on the 9th hole, where I haven’t scored better than double bogey all year.
My scores have been trending down throughout the season. I’m still hitting a few errant shots, but we all with do that. Overall my ball striking is getting a lot more consistent, and when I do make a bad shot I am able to minimize the damage.
I still feel if I can improve my short game, especially my putting, even a small amount I can see my scores progress even lower.