If you are one of the 4 followers of this blog you should be aware I have been somewhat in a slump with my game. Whether I'm thinking too much to score low or not concentrating enough, the proof is in the pudding(or scorecard). Prior to this weekend my scores for the past month or two are as follows: 90, 83, 91, 80, 95, 88, and 98. An average of 89.29, basically playing bogey golf. Nothing great, nothing too terrible. I personally would like to be on average at around 85. My last post I was in the belief where I will have no expectations on scoring due to my better days on the course resulted in having no expectations at all and whenever I attempted to score low, the opposite would occur. So for the time being I will use that philosophy. There is no need to put unnecessary pressure while on the golf course, the game is hard enough itself to concentrate for 18 holes. As a note especially for those of you starting out I like to break up the 18 holes into couplets. Depending on how your concentration level is, I tend to tell friends to look at the 18 holes into 3 hole intervals. It is almost immpossible for a beginner to concentrate for 18 holes and to set a realistic goal for those 18 holes. If you break up the holes over the course of the 18 holes you will eventually be able to handle concentrating for more holes. ie. if you start with 2 hole intervals work you way up to 3,4, a 9 etc. For those of you trying to break a 100 on a consistent basis I'm talking to you.
Now this past Saturday my friend and I decided to play 36 holes. Since I knew I wasn't available to play this upcoming weekend I would need to balance it out by playing 36 holes. I'm using the fuzzy math methodology in my thinking. We played 18 holes at two locations. The first 18 was played at Stonewall Golf Course in Gainesville, Va and the 2nd 18 was played at Heritage Hunt and Golf Club also located in Gainesville, VA. Stonewall an upscale public golf course where the course is usually kept in great conditions did not meet my expectations this past weekend. The greens were not in tip top shape and the fairways were patchy in a lot of places. Not sure if the lack of rain in the area is the culprit but for a course that charges a premium, it was dissappointing to see. On the other hand Heritage fairways were in great condition and was located 15 minutes away. At Stonewall I was unable to get a true feel for the greens as my 36 putts would reflect my issues. I ended up shooting a 92 on a course with a 70.2 rating and 136 slope at 6191 yards. I don't think I necessary played a bad round but the poor putting probably added 5 to 6 strokes to my round and on top of that I struggled from the bunkers. When I say struggled I can remember two holes, one on a par 5 where I attempted to reach the green in two and found the greenside bunker. I'm thinking to myself hit a decent bunker shot and I'll give myself a good look at birdie, what happened was I skulled the bunker shot probably about 40 yards past the green out of bounds. I end up taking a drop back into the bunker and leaving the hole posting a double bogey 7. On the other hole also a par 5 where I was trying to reach the green in two(common theme here) I reached another bunker approximately 30 yards to the green. This time I skull the ball 40 yards past the green into a hazard where I'm able to locate the ball. I hit the ball in the hazard back into the original bunker I skulled the first shot. I leave this hole with a snowman 8. And folks that is how you shoot a 92 hitting 71.4% of your fairways.
Now for better news the 2nd 18 holes were played roughly 45 minutes after our 1st 18 holes. Heritage Hunt and Golf club is actually a private course that my friend and I were trying out. For a country club its really cheap with no initiation fees and no minimum spending a month. So whenever something sounds too good to be true it usually is but in this case I was pleasantly surprised. The course is intertwined in a retirement residental community for people over the age of 55 and up. So you can guess on who makes up the majority of the golf community and why the membership is fairly inexpensive. The rating and slope from the tees we played from were as follows 70 rating and 127 slope at 5809 yards. Yes very short and not very difficult. The only thoughts I would take into the round were that a driver would not be necessary for this round. I would use irons/hybrid/4 wood off the tee and worst case scenario use a driver for par 5's or really wide fairways. I end up shooting my best round to date with a 77. Shooting a 38 on the front 9 and a 39 on the back 9. My stats for the round were surprisingly average only hitting 50% of my fairways, 31 putts and hitting 55.6% of greens in regulation. I would definitely say my short game around the greens allowed me to break 80. For most of the round I used an iron to tee off occasionaly using a 4 wood or hybrid. As my scorecard shows I also used my driver on a few holes and the lone double bogey was due to losing my drive into the woods. But there was one thing I forgot to account in my round. I retee'd my ball on the first hole. I hooked my 5 iron into someone's yard and I only remember this due to the fact I recorded the incident. I recently started to record my swing on the range and with time permitting on the course. So technically instead of the par I posted on my scorecard for the 1st hole, I actually had a double bogey 6 for a total score of 79, tying my personal best. So no personal records were achieved this weekend but I will take two things from this weekend, 1 keep the driver in the bag and 2 continue to have no expectations on scoring. I've posted the video of the retee and the scorecard below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnXAKYOKg9o
I hope one day Pete can become as honest with his score card as you. We can only hope...
ReplyDelete