The entire group was super excited about this. One last big blast of an experience that we were able to do together.  All four of us had become very close over the week and it is hard to imagine a better group to play Pebble with.  We all had the commonality of golf tying us together and getting to play one of the most famous courses in the world was something that would strengthen the bond that had already been building between us.  I think that’s one of the best things about golf:  sharing the experience, both highs and lows, with a group of friends old or new.

At any rate, Pebble was going to be played and we also had the pleasure of playing it the day after the tournament and from the same tee boxes as the pros and to the exact same pin placements.  All they did for the Monday round was pick up the flags, mow and roll the greens and then replace the flags.  It was a good challenge and after seeing how the PGA guys played on Sunday it was also a great yardstick for my own progress.

Tim and I decided to go early that morning as we hadn’t really hit balls in a handful of days and wanted to make sure we warmed up properly.  We got to the Pebble range at about 7:15 and it was exciting to be the first ones out there:

After grooving the swing and short game for about an hour I headed down to the iconic putting green near the first hole in order to get the flat stick in line:

After that it was just about hearing the rules and getting everyone together (it was a shotgun event so all of the players had to gather on the first hole and get in their carts) before heading out for the round.  And then we were off.  We followed the lead and worked out way to the 15th hole which was where we would start the day.

The 15th was a good hole to start on.  You tee off through a shoot of trees and then the hole opens up pretty wide, although there are a number of bunkers throughout the fairway.  It is a forgiving hole, but one where you have to be relatively straight off the tee, although can hit anything from 3-iron to driver.  I decided to give driver a whack and was so nervous on the tee shot that I could tell I was shaking a little.

The thing is, playing Pebble for the first time is like going on a date with someone way out of your league.  I hadn’t felt anything like this on any of the other hundreds of courses that I have played in my golfing days.  On pebble, you just wanted to please the course and not say/do anything stupid.  I felt like it took a handful of holes to really relax and even then you got up to the tee boxes of some of the iconic parts of the course and it was very hard to calm down and go through a normal routine.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever have the chance to play it again, but it’s one of those courses that take a few rounds under your belt in order to really just play the course.  Just too amazing, truly.

On that first hole I was visibly shaking and nervous, but managed to move the ball more-or-less forward.  I pushed it a little but it was findable in the rough.  After we all teed off we did some poses for a few photos and were already running a bit behind.  Tim parked on the cart path (it was cart path only, but carts were enforced this day) and I ran across the fairway to speed things up a bit just to realize that I had not brought the right club, so had to run back and grab a 7-iron and then run again across the fairway.  My heart had been racing before the round even started and now it was out of my chest.  I squared up and tried to make a good approach shot, but again pushed it and it clanked on the top of the bleachers next to the green.  Probably would have seriously injured someone, but luckily there were minimal observers this day.  The ball bounced off the grandstand and I had a nice pitch up to the green and then just barely missed the par putt.  Started the round with a little bogey.

On the 16th hole I hit hybrid and then an 7-iron which landed about a foot short of the green but was on the pin side so hit a tiny chip to a foot and made the putt, my first par at Pebble.

17 is a classic Pebble par 3.  Longish hole with a very small green.  On this day it was playing into the wind as the clouds and wind had picked up on Monday.  The pin sits on the left side of a kidney shaped green playing right at the ocean and the distance was 188 yards to the hole.  I decided to try and but a 4-iron to take a little off but allow for wind and it landed pin high which was awesome.  What I didn’t realize was that pin high on the right side of the green was perhaps worse than landing short in the bunker on the left side.  Katie ended up there too and we literally didn’t have a putt.  If it was the tournament I would have hit a flop shot off the putting green over a hump, but seeing as we didn’t want to take a big pelt on a Pebble Beach green we both putted and ended up about 20 feet below the hole.  It was literally as good as we could have done for the putts we had.  Two putted from there for another bogey.  Live and learn.

And then there was the iconic 18th.  I was so happy that we didn’t start on this hole as I wanted to be warmed up and in it by the time we hit the 18th.  Such an amazing golf hole.  Being a lefty with a tendency to draw the ball on this box with nothing but water out to the left was a bit intimidating, but it also forced one to make a good swing.  I cut the ball along the fairway with the ultimate goal of hitting to the tree that’s 280 yards from the box.  Ended up nicely just through the fairway in the first cut of rough.

I don’t have a 3-wood with me right now and the thought of going for it with a hybrid didn’t sound too tempting so I laid up with an 8-iron to a good number: 120 yards.  I had a good club in my hand and a great number in front of me. I wanted to stick it close, but honestly was looking around too much and in the moment just didn’t focus well and pushed the shot to the left side rough about 2 feet off the green.  It was disappointing as I REALLY wanted to birdie this hole, but it was what it was.  I chipped up to about 4 feet and thought I hit a great putt but it broke the exact opposite way which it seemed like it would and lipped out.  Had to settle with a bogey.

This was a common theme out there.  Everyone said the ball breaks towards the water, but without having a caddy help read the putts they were extremely subtle and hard to figure out.  Yet another reason why it would be amazing to play a track like this a handful of times.  Next time I’m there a caddy will definitely have to be a part of the round as they could have saved me a handful of strokes this day.  We were having a great time and playing an amazing course so it really didn’t matter, but it would have been nice to make a few of the putts coming up after this hole ;).

We made the turn to number one and my hybrid off the tee pushed left.  I didn’t have a look at the green so had to punch out, hit the green and two-putted for another bogey.

The second hole is a fun par 5.  I hit a tee shot to the middle but seeing as there was a huge waste bunker before the green I wanted to play it safe and avoid getting in here as Tiffany was:

It’s way deeper than it looks, probably about 20 feet down to the bottom and maybe 50 yards from the green, just a pure tough shot.  I hit a layup but unfortunately went too far even thought I thought I had played it totally safe with an 8-iron.  Ended up blocked by one of the trees and had to punch out and then hit the green and 2-putt bogey.

At this point I was ready to start playing some better golf.  The third hole is one that you can either play it safe and hit a 200 yard shot to the fairway or go over the trees with a driver.  I took the tree route and hit it to about 80 yards.  Finally connected well twice in a row and had a 5 footer for bird.  Miss-read the putt and tapped in a par.  The 4th is an uphill par 4 with bunkers riddled throughout the fairway and ocean on the right side. I hit driver to about 70 yards and then stuck it to roughly 5 or 6 feet and again didn’t read the putt right and had to settle for a tap in par.  The greens were just tricky.  It made me appreciate both the putting and the caddy-knowledge that goes on Tour.  You have to both be 100 percent confident in the putts you are making and also really know where they are going to fall.  Being my first time on this course I had neither of those things.

The 5th was a long par 3 with a postage stamp sized green which I doubled by not wanting to go in the ocean so ended up going OB down the opposite side and had to re-tee for the double.  Then was 6, 7, and 8, which are some incredible holes.

The 6th is a par five where you tee shot is sent about 80 feet downhill and then the approach shot is the same distance above your head and completely blind to where you need to hit it.  The tee shot is easy enough being pretty wide open as most holes are out there, just don’t send it in the ocean and you are gold.  Tim and I both hit down the left side thinking the bunkers were out of play due to hitting into the wind, but mine landed about 3 feet short of the bunkers and his bounced in.  From there I tried to hit a 5-iron up the huge hill not really knowing what to aim for but it didn’t climb enough to get up and ended up in the deep rough 90 percent to the top.  I hit a 9-iron from there, but again didn’t know what my target line was and ended up pulling it into the green side bunkers.  I hit the stick on my bunker shot and it landed just a couple feet from the pin, made the putt and walked off with par.

And then there was 7.  The shortest hole on the PGA Tour playing just 100 yards and very much downhill.  It’s a classic and when the wind is howling I hear it can be brutal.  Today was just a little windy, but there are still bunkers surrounding the green as well as ocean on most sides of it.  I punched a half 50 degree that looked right on the hole but the wind kind of knocked it left and it landed bout 5 feet from the hole.  This was another of those holes that you really want to birdie (not that all golf holes aren’t exciting to birdie, but some are just precious) and I knew it would break “towards the water” but there was water on three sides of my so which water…  I just putted straight for the hole as I didn’t want to over read anything and it ended up breaking left a hair more than the cup had to offer.  Tap in par, which wasn’t too bad all things considered.

I double 8 as I duffed my approach shot, which is a 200 yard shot way downhill over a huge ocean gorge and then had to hit it on the green and two-putt for the double.  The 9th was one where I kind of expected to bogey but was pleasantly surprised to make a par.  It’s was a par 4 playing 481 yards with ocean breeze pushing the ball left.  I didn’t connect well and poorly pushed/sliced the driver left into deep rough.  From there I didn’t have a great lie and was about 230 yards to the hole with a gorge and bunker between me and a pin that was tucked into a 8 square foot section of green.  I decided to lay up with a gripped up half swing cut hybrid and hit a good one down the left side. With 50 yards remaining I hit my 58 degree to about 2 feet and finally made a putt.  That was by far the hardest and longest par 4 that I have played to date and I was ecstatic to have made par.

I three-putted the 446 yard 10th for a bogey after hitting a great approach shot that unfortunately ended up above the hole and I miss-judged the pace.  11 is a shorter par 4 that I hit in two and made par on and then the 12th is a 200 yard par three with a green that must just be no more than 5 yards deep.  When I walked with Jason Day and Charlie Beljan I knew it was a tough hole when both of them missed the green, and kind of by far.  I ended up short sided on the left of the green and made a good flop shot, but it rolled out and it took two putts to make the bogey.

The 13th was the first hole where I felt like I finally “found” my driver and hit a decent driver shot.  It’s always unfortunate to find it late, but great to finally have found it!  I hit it right down the middle on this uphill 403 yard par 4 and had a pretty simple 9-iron to the green.  I pushed it a little and the ball bounced on the green and then hopped off and bounded down the hill to a tricky little pitch shot to the elevated green.  Made a good one as well as sank the putt for a par.

Our final hole was a great one to end on. It’s a 572 yard par five that has such a crazy green I didn’t seen anyone go for it in two all week.  The part of the green that the pin is perched on is about 10 square feet and to the left is a huge hill of rough, in front of it is a crazy bunker and to the right the green slopes down at least 6 straight feet to another tier. The play is to hit a good drive and layup to your gold number.  I hit a decent drive but then sliced my hybrid far somehow.  I had to then hit an 120 yard shot over some trees to the tiny island of a perched green and thought I hit it masterfully, but it turns out the ball clipped a branch coming down and ended up on the hill of rough.  I chipped it on and the ball rolled down the hill to the lower tier.  I had no clue what the putt was going to do, but somehow managed to get it in the hole.  It was truly blind luck, but an fantastic way to end an incredible day.

Here is my scorecard from the event:

I know there is a long way to go from where I am to where I want to be, but after watching these guys and then playing the same course from the same boxes and tees I have a deeper understanding of what I need to do to get to where I need to be.  They definitely do everything better, as they should.  But, if I had the same skill-set test a year or two ago I don’t think that I could have sniffed the 80s. There is a lot of work to be done and that’s the whole point.  I, very hopefully, look forward to having similar opportunities in the future as this was a great way to see exactly where I stand compared to the greats.  In comparison, they are still great and exactly why it is so fun to watch professional golf.

Over and out for now.  I have been back in Portland for a few weeks and the season is about to kick off.  My second “tournament” (it’s a team event so still not exactly tourney) is a two-day event next weekend and I will definitely be posting about how it feels to start a brand new golfing season.  I am very excited the winter is ending and the golf is starting back up.

I always debate the merit of taking such trips, but this time I will be passing through the home town of my brother (Zurich) and will be able to stay with him for the duration of my visit in Switzerland.  I have been wanting to visit him since he moved over there for work a few years back and this is my best chance.  While there I have already arranged for two rounds of golf and am actively looking for more chances to get out and tee it in a new atmosphere.  I have found that when practicing and playing in completely new surroundings breakthroughs tend to happen.

I’m taking my learnings from Vision54 with me on the road and will work on creating a stronger play box when in unfamiliar surroundings.  One of the main things that I learned during the Vision54 course is that I need to work on transitioning from conversation or in-between shot processing to high focus when executing my shots.  I work best when I am truly focussed and it is easy when on the road or playing in front of a camera crew/reporter to not have the right amount of focus when making a swing, it is very similar to playing in a tournament, actually.  Any chance I have to play with new people or in situations where I am unfamiliar are great opportunities to improve this skill.

I leave next Monday and before that I was supposed to play in a 3-day tournament in Tacoma this weekend.  But, there was a catch with the FlightScope and I ended up using the funds that I was going to use for the tournament to buy an iPad to use with the FlightScope. I was under the impression that FlightScope worked with an iPhone, but after it arrived I realized that the iPhone app was just a couple of the games and not all of the data that FlightScope produces.  I also then realized that it only works with a pc laptop, which I didn’t have, so the only realistic option for taking advantage of such a great machine was to invest in an iPad.   The cost of this weekend’s tournament with travel and hotel was going to be almost exactly what an iPad costs, so I appropriated the funds that I was going to use for a 3-day tourney to instead invest in a machine that I can use for the next year to help improve my game.  Personally I think it was the right decision, but I am bummed to not be playing tourney golf this weekend.  A small sacrifice towards the loftier goal.

On a different note, yesterday I decided to play an old game that I hadn’t broken out in a while.  I took two balls and played a one-man scramble for 9 holes, hitting two shots from every location and then playing the better of the two.  Back in my Columbia Edgewater days I used to play the par 3 course both this way and worse ball (same thing, just play the worse of the two shots) quite a bit and always liked best ball for confidence and worse ball for a good challenge.  Yesterday I felt like seeing where I was ball striking wise if I gave myself two swings at every shot.  I hit it well and was on all but one fairway and then all but two greens.  I had to punch out on one hole as both of my drives went left and then I came up a hair short on one of the par 3s playing 190 yards.  I shot 2 under for the best ball 9 holes and could have been lower if I had made more of the birdie putts, which there were plenty of.  Two birdies and seven pars.

An hour later I decided to see if I could beat that mark with just one ball and while playing with some other people so I went back out and played the same 9 holes.  This time around I had 3 birdies, but also had one double bogey so carded 1 under for those holes.  I think playing the best ball gave me more confidence in my swing as I was hitting it better than I have in a while when I went back out.  This is a good way to build up your abilities while also getting a glimpse of your potential, or at least a glimpse of how good you can strike the ball.  It’s a fun little game and tomorrow I plan on going out there and playing the worse ball scenario.  This one is surprisingly harder, especially when it comes down to making birdie putts as you essentially have to make it twice for the worse of the two to count.

To me it was very inspiring to know that whether I am playing best ball or one single ball I can shoot under par for nine holes.  The next test is to see if it is possible to shoot under par for 18 holes of best ball and then let that translate into playing under for 18 with one single ball.  I feel like I am hitting the ball better than I have in a long time and starting to make more putts which puts my potential lower than it has ever been, I just need to allow myself to believe I am capable of shooting such scores and then let it happen.  Sometimes our minds can negatively get in the way and we have to coax them into believing something that might not seem obvious at first.

In the past there have been a couple occasions where I planned out a specific change and then after working at it for a period of time (which I thought was substantial enough) I arrived at a place where I needed to play competitive golf and ended up reverting to older habits or getting stuck in the limbo that is half old half new, which typically results in golfing death, because I had not fully ingrained the new habit/change.

I recently found something in my swing, a new feel, that produces the shots that I have been gunning for.  Nice high slight draws and baby fades that start close in line with and finish at the target.  I’ve played a slinging draw for the past 6 or 7 months without really knowing why, but I finally realized that through a different feel in my wrists during the takeaway I can get the club more on plane.  Long story short, it’s good and I like it.

So now comes the implementation period.  I worked it on the range for about a week while slowly starting to venture out on the course and the results were increasingly encouraging.  Then I began to play 9 and eventually 18 holes with just the new feel in mind and the results kept coming in positively.  I still don’t have a great feel with my tee shot so I am missing a lot of fairways, but with the irons it is pretty comfortable.  A lot of the problem with my tee shot, too, is that I am used to aiming down the left side and slinging it back to the right, but now that I am playing a pretty straight shot I am ending up in a lot of trees out at Riverside.  I just need to learn to aim down the fairway and trust that it will go where it is supposed to.

I stuck with the new feel for a couple of rocky rounds and then progress showed itself in a nice little 73 yesterday that looked like this:

It was a funny round as I missed almost every fairway, but when I had a look at the green I was hitting it really well and close to the pin.  I missed three putts from about 5 feet and had an unplayable shot on the 18th which ended up as a bogey.  outside of that it was a solid round where the new swing was really starting to pay off.  I was pretty excited as it felt like effortless power and the ball flight was sweet.  My playing partner, who I had never played with before, commented about how good a round could have been had I been able to hit some decent tee shots.  It’s always great to have obvious flaws as you know exactly what you need to work on.  I have faith that with the new swing once I get a better understanding of impact positions with the longer clubs things are going to step up to the next level.

The next day, though, I struggled to “find” my new feel and it wasn’t until about the 9th hole where I started to realize exactly what I was wanting and needed to do.  The entire round I could have very easily reverted to my old swing and gotten around the course much better, but you have to give these things time and you have to be able to play through the crappy rounds in order to really find what you are looking for.

Today’s round was a much darker shade of good:

I technically hit more fairways than the day before, but my misses were much farther from the fairway and often in a spot where I could not get a good punch out.  And, the irons were not treating me like they had the day before as I could not quite find the new spots in the swing.  I hit a couple good shots, like the birdie on 17 from a 170 yard 7-iron that landed 2 feet from the hole and a few good saves for bogeys, but all in all the round was about sticking with the new regardless of the outcome as that will come with due diligence and time.

Both bad and good shots are part of learning and in a lot of ways we can improve more from sticking to our guns and working out the kinks during rounds like today’s.  There are a lot of bumps along the way; figuring out what you want to do and then sticking to it regardless of the immediate outcomes is the secret formula for improving.

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The highs!

That photo, courtesy of my golfing companion of the day Blair, was taken right after dunking a gap wedge from 106 yards out for an eagle.  It was a crazy hole of a hooked hybrid off the tee, pushed 3-wood layup that bounced off a tree and then the wedge right into the bottom of the cup.  The hole round was rather elated as well with 3 birds and an eagle on the front alone.  It was one of those rounds where everything seemed to bounce the right way and putts held their lines.  A beautiful day, good company and really fun shots that did as told.

The next day couldn’t have been more different and for the life of me I could not get a tee shot to come close to a fairway nor could I figure out how to hit an iron shot.  I went from shooting in the low 70s one day to feeling like I have no idea what I am doing with my swing.  Those rounds were just one day apart, too.  It was simply crazy.   No photo of that, but if I had taken one it would have looked a bit like this:

But, I’ve been working hard on my Vision54 play boxes and had a few notes to jot down from both what I was doing during the good round as well as what was going on in the bad one and it was those notes, as well as a day off to process and rest, that got me back to playing better golf.  I just have to remember to keep this ball with me, the one that holed out for eagle:

And along with that I am starting a notebook collection of all the positive things this sport has done for me.  It’s having those on hand and being able to reflect upon them that help one get out of a funk on the course when and if that may happen.  We’ve all been there and I, for one, know that there isn’t much worse than letting a bad ball striking day get to you.  It’s just as bad as playing well is good (maybe worse).  I just have to remember that it’s all manifested in our own heads.  If we create it we can either change it or linger on it.

I have a few tournaments coming up and in order to prepare for them I am working on the course more right now.  But, I have also been fine tuning my short game distances.  Especially important is half swing wedge shots, which for one swing I have concreted my distances from 50-100 yards.  I shot a short video about how I practice these.  I didn’t mean for it to come off as an instructional video as there are tons of people out there who can tell you what to and not to do, but I do want to share it as it’s a bit about how I practice:

The next big tourney for me is the Oregon Mid-Am coming up August 23-24.  Lots to prepare and work on before that, but I am excited for another 2-day event coming up so soon.  In the meantime I’ll be collecting my positive swing thought notes and working on that short game as always.

After that tourney I am going to address the dynamic loft and how it has lost distance for me.  I’m already working on it a bit, but want to get in play mode for the next 10 days and then get back into swing adjustment/change mode.

What I am talking about was my second shot on the 13th hole of yesterday’s Oregon Am qualifier, but let’s back it up a bit and start from the beginning.

I had family visit for the five days leading up the tourney and didn’t get out to the course during that stay as we went to the coast and I took some time away from practice.  I wasn’t sure how this would affect my game, but when I went out to warm up yesterday morning I felt fresh and clear headed so I knew it was not going to have any negative affect.  This was a relief as sometimes when I step away from the game for a bit it takes a day to get back into the groove.  Yesterday I felt ready to go and my body was ache free, so all was well.

I was nervous, of course.  This was the biggest tournament I had played in and I knew I could make the cut if I had a decent round.  Also, I have wanted to play in the Am for two years but this year was the first time where my handicap was low enough to get into the qualifier.  To top that, a bunch of friends were following my scores online and I knew plenty of people in the field so there was extra incentive to perform well.  I really wanted this and was excited to get the chance to play.  It felt like a reward, or something that I had earned, to be in the field and my goal was to appreciate that I GOT to play, not to assume anything or take it for granted.

With that mindset I headed out on the first hole of Stone Creek Golf Club in Oregon City.  It was a perfect golfing day: overcast with temperatures hitting 70 and a light wind.  The greens were firm and the course was in pretty good shape all-in-all.  Pins were setup in some interesting and tough locations, but everyone played the same course so fair was fair.  I had played the course once about 3 weeks ago and wasn’t too familiar with the layout, but there were only a couple tee shots that were blind or didn’t seem obvious from the box.  I was a little worried about reading the greens well, but that didn’t turn out to be the breaking point of the round and I only misread one green all day.

The first hole is wide open and I hit a great drive right down the middle to position A.  Then after hitting the green from 150 out I made a downhill putt for birdie.  Perfect way to start: one under through one.  On the second hole, par 3, I missed the green with a little pull and ended up exactly where you don’t want to be on the hole.  The ball bounced down a hill and came to rest 30 yards out to a short-sided pin well above my head.  I pitched on and lipped out the par putt tapping in for bogey.

The third hole has a hazard down the left side and is wide open on the right.  I tried to aim a hair down the right side of the fairway AND hit a draw to go more right, but blocked the shot and it went left hitting a tree, falling on the cart path and then bouncing into a red staked hazard.  This is a crucial moment as I had to make a tough decision whether to punch out or to take a drop.  There was a rules official standing there (he found my ball) and he gave me the ruling as to where I could take relief.  The relief point did not have a clear shot at the green so if I dropped I would then have to punched out and be hitting my fourth shot to get up to the green.  The alternative was to try and punch out from the hazard to the middle of the fairway and then hit on with my third shot.  Seemed like an obvious choice to punch out, but my ball was sitting against a half-inch thick blackberry root jutting out of the ground and over the ball.  My mind thought of a friend, Chan Song, who broke his hand trying to hit off of a root and who told me it was never worth it, even in competition.

I thought about it for a couple of minutes weighing the pros and cons of the situation and for better or worse decided to hit my 50 degree and punch out of the hazard.  I cut through the root and caught the ball clean.  It bounded out over the fairway and ended up propped up in the rough with a clean-ish shot to the green 150 yards away.  It was a gamble that had paid off.  That said, I hit an 8-iron and the next shot hit a branch and fell down 97 yards short of the green.  I managed a good up and down to save bogey, but it had been a tough hole brought on by a big miss with the driver.

The next hole was a par 5 and much cleaner.  I hit a drive and then laid up to 100 yards with a short iron as the green is very protected by bunkers and the one thing I learned from my only other time playing the course this year is that those are not the bunkers you want to mess with.  Unfortunately I thinned a gap wedge and the ball went over the green; chipped back up and two putted for another bogey.  I was 2 over through 4 and my goal had been to be one over, but not too bad all things considered and I was ready to move on to the next group of four holes.

The fifth hole is pretty wide open, but you don’t want to miss right as you get blocked by the trees.  So, I pushed the ball again and ended up hitting a tree down the left side dropping it 225 yards short of the green.  I hit a hybrid that landed a foot off the green and then hit a good putt distance-wise but misread the slope and ended up with a 6 footer for par.  Missed that to bogey the hole.

6  is a par 3 with water then bunkers protecting the green.  It was playing 164 yards and the green visual appears small from the tee box.  My memory was telling me not to miss it long, but short is in the bunkers or water.  I really didn’t know whether I should hit a full 7-iron or try and go with a cut 6-iron.  The wind didn’t seem to be a factor and the guy I was playing with hit first and went long left.  I decided to go with a 6 to not be short, but my last thought before hitting was “don’t be long”.   I hit it fat and sent the ball into the water.  There wasn’t a drop zone so I had to re-tee and hit that one fat too but it just barely made it over the water landing in a hazard with a short sided pin.  I had to hit over a bunker with tall grass in my backswing to a green that slopes away from me and I also couldn’t ground the club as I was in the hazard, but I made a good swing and got it on the green.  I two-putted for a triple.

This was not how I had imagined the first 6 holes of the round going.  I started with a birdie and felt pretty good, but then immediately after hit some off shots and got tight and nervous.  I was now 6 over through 6 holes and knew that I needed to finish around 6 over so had to start playing some good golf.  I loosened up and let go a bit and began to swing more freely.  The next three holes I shot par so turned at 6-over 42.

The back nine is supposed to be the tough nine at Stone Creek and everyone told me that to be safe you need to turn around 38 or 39.  I was a bit behind and needed some catching up.

I hit a good drive on 10 as it was a wide open hole (something after the round I realized: every wide open tee shot I hit really well, whenever there was trouble down a side I barely managed to get out of the box.  This is something I need to address as it killed me yesterday) and hit the middle of the green on my approach.  I had a long putt for birdie with a double break, but dropped it in the middle of the cup.  On the next two holes I hit the green in regulation and almost dropped a bird both times, but at least managed to get it back to just 5 over through 12 holes.  This was very close to what I was shooting for and I was happy to be back in it with a shot to qualify.

13 was where it all changed.

The 13th hole is a blind tee shot over a hill that has OB down the left side and a creek running through the green around 280 yards from the box.  A driver and even 3-wood will get to the creek as once you hit it over the hill the ball runs hard towards the water.  The guy I was playing with (who was a 2 handicap and a member of the men’s club at Stone Creek who says he regularly shoots 74-75 out there) hit his hybrid a little left of center.  I remembered when I last played that the ball can kick towards that left OB and you want to be more towards the center or right side of the fairway so aimed for the middle and tried to hit a little draw with my hybrid.  On a related note, for the past few weeks I have really struggled with hitting tee shots with my hybrid again and my confidence level was very low with that club.  But, driver and 3-wood were too much and I didn’t think 4-iron would get over the hill and the next shot is very long and up a huge hill unless you get down towards the creek.  So, I hit a hybrid and ended up pulling it a little down the right side.

He said I would be fine and maybe just have to punch out at worst and I wasn’t too disappointed with the shot.  I had made good contact, just pulled it some.  When we got to the top of the hill I saw the rules official walking down towards the creek and started to get worried.  Normally there wouldn’t be any way that ball made it through the trees and through all of the rough and all the way to the creek, but it must have hit cart path or hard pan as the official said it just kept going.  We found the ball about a foot into the hazard lying in marsh grass 2 feet tall.  It looked like it would be possible to punch out as it was an easier lie than the one I had on the third hole and I could stand on top of a couple of rocks which gave me decent leverage.  There wasn’t any clean look at the pin and if I had taken a drop I would have had to punch out to the fairway leaving me in the same situation as the 3rd hole where I would have had to hit my fourth shot onto the green.  This approach was up a huge hill and hard enough as it was so I didn’t want to take the extra stroke and decided to punch out the same as I had before.

I should have asked the official what the ruling was and at least thought about what my shot would have been from a drop.  Instead I went for the punch out.  This time, though, there was a hazard across the fairway and my last thought before hitting the ball was to not send it across into the other hazard.  I swung at it and popped the ball up but it somehow managed to go backwards deeper into the thick rough.  I again decided not to take the drop and then hacked at it again with the same result.  At this point I had to take an unplayable and drop four and punch out with my fifth shot.  I hit a 6-iron up the hill just long of the green with my sixth shot then got an up-and-down for a quad bogey 8.

I had just gone from being in the hunt at 5 over to 2-shots off the cut line at 9 over in one hole.  I can’t remember the last time I was 4 over on one hole and was a bit in shock from the entire experience.  I have played it over and over in my head since then and just don’t know what I should have done.  Normally I would have taken the drop and punched out then hit on the green, but I think I was being overly aggressive as I knew I needed to shoot as low as possible to make the cut.  It was an all-or-nothing scenario and I walked away with nothing.

The next hole was a par 3 over a hazard which was playing slow due to the number of balls not hit on the green.  It’s a short hole playing 135 and we had about 15 minutes to sit on the box and wait for our turn.  The entire time I was trying to rationalize my decision on the previous hole while also trying to get back into the game and tell myself that I still had a shot.  When our turn came up my playing partner hit his in the hazard and I hit a 9-iron just over the green to a backstop but the ball din’t roll back to the green how it seems like it should.  I had another 5 minute delay on the green while the rules official decided on where my partner could drop and then I had a chance to chip on.  I hit a good one and the ball looked like it was going to hit the cup the entire way but turned just before it and ended up 5 feet past the hole.  I think my mind had wandered as I missed the 5-footer and came off with a silly bogey to now be 10 over through 14.

I was 4 off of what would make the cut and had 4 holes remaining.  The last shot was to birdie out.  There was a hazard on the left side of the 15th hole and I tried to relax, aim for the center and hit my normal draw, but blocked it left and sent the ball into the hazard.  I had to drop at a point where I didn’t have a clear shot at the green and knew I was out of it for good.  It just wasn’t my day and a few bad shots really added up and I compounded my mistakes on the 13th hole.

There is a ton to learn from the experience and simply by playing in the tournament I learned a lot about the state of my game and what I need to work on.  Two things jump out immediately:  hitting tee shots when there is a hazard in play and knowing when to take medicine and when to be aggressive.  I think the latter comes with experience and I gained some of that yesterday; the former can be worked on with deliberate practice and is exactly where my focus needs to be right now.

Luckily, I was just invited to play the Royal Oaks Invitational Tournament this weekend.  It’s a 3-day event this Friday through Sunday on one of the best tracks in the area.  I’m excited to have three more tournament rounds already on the books and coming so soon and will be thinking about and adjusting my game accordingly after yesterday’s setback.

It was in no means one of my better tournament rounds to date and I know I could have made the cut, but when you hit 4 balls into hazards in 18 holes it’s hard to shoot a good score.

I am very bummed, and even somewhat mad at myself, about yesterday, but am going to take that energy and bring it to practice today.  There is a lot to work on and now I have a better idea of exactly what that is.

I have been under par deep into rounds (3 under for 14 holes, 2 under after 15, etc) but had yet to manage to bring it all the way home; until today, that is.  I felt the wheels come off a bit when I three-putted on the 16th hole for a bogey, but got it back in gear and finished strong shooting a 70 on a par 72 course.

The course was Heron Lakes’ Greenback track which was fitting as it was the first course I stepped a foot on during this journey and Heron is where I began my golfing practice 4 years ago. I also got to play with some of my golf friends who I have known from the beginning and then celebrate afterwords with a bunch of regulars who were sticking around to watch the basketball playoffs.  And, my first swing coach, Christopher, happened to be on the putting green when I finished so I got to share the round with him and catch up on everything he has been doing in the past 1.5 years since we last crossed paths.

Here is what the scorecard looked like:

It was a day where ball striking was pretty good, chipping was on when needed and I was putting well.  All of these aspects added up to the difference between shooting today’s 70 and a much more commonplace (for my current game) 76.  That said, there are always shots that didn’t quite go in and I had a handful of near misses to go with what did go well.

Here is how it breaks down:

1. Driver in the fairway and laid up short of some fairway bunkers with a hybrid.  I had 110 remaining and hit a gripped up 50 degree wedge to about 15 feet.  The putt was tracking the hole the entire way, but veered off an inch before the cup to be tapped in for a par.

2. Pushed the driver but it ended up in the middle of the fairway, albeit it pretty short.  I had 168 to the pin and hit a 6-iron into a slight breeze but caught it fat and the ball came up just short of the green.  Chipped it up with a wedge and made a 4 footer for par.

3. Hit an 8-iron to this par 3 which was playing to a short pin about 155 yards from the tee box.  It landed pin high but about 20 feet to the right of the pin.  Made a good putt that was tracking just like on the first hole and veered off at the end again.  I realized I need to start putting a bit more pace on putts and not rely on them dying in the hole as if the cup isn’t perfect it sometimes loses track at the end.  Tapped in for par.

4. Hit the driver and was trying to draw it from the left back to the fairway over, but the shot went pretty much dead straight and smacked into a tree hard.  It kicked back out to the fairway and was 143 yards to the pin but behind a medium sized tree.  I hit a 9-iron to get it up and over the tree but caught it fat like on the second hole (didn’t warm up on the range so was finding my swing on the course) and it came down 50 yards short.  Pitched up with a 58 degree and it landed but bounced through the green as it was coming in from the rough.  Chipped back on and made an 8 footer to save bogey.

5. Hit a good drive on this 500 yard par 5 then hit my 3-hybrid from 225 yards out and the ball landed pin high.  I had a long eagle putt, perhaps 40 feet, and missed it by a foot then knocked in the birdie putt.

6. Crazy hole.  Tried to hit a high draw drive over the fairway bunkers but closed the face and hooked it hard. The ball hit a tree solidly and shot back almost all the way to the red tees.  I had 230 yards to the middle of the green but it was slightly with the wind so hit the 3 hybrid which came down just short of the green but plugged into the face of a green side bunker.  Got my sand wedge on it well and popped the ball out to about 6 feet from the hole and made the par putt.

7. Hit a 5-iron pin high on this 197 yard par 3.  Two putts for par.

8. Drove it through some trees and back out to the fairway and had 115 yards to the pin.  Hit a 50 degree wedge a bit short and two-putted for par.

9.  A 3-wood down the middle and then stuck my 8-iron to about 3 feet from 151 yards.  Made the birdie putt to turn one under par.

At the turn we switched things up. On the front it was Eric, Brian and I playing in a 3-man skins game and then the assistant pro Nick joined up with us on the 7th hole so at the turn we needed to play a different game.  We decided to play a team game on the back and it took about a full hole to figure out what pops each person got.  We ranged from a plus 1 handicap to a 7.  It didn’t really matter though as we were all trying to just play good golf.

10. Pulled the drive low and down the right side fairly short.  Hit a 7-iron to try and get back out to the fairway and in scoring range and pulled that a bit too.  Had 124 remaining so hit a full 50 degree wedge pin high but a bit left.  Made a 15 footer for birdie.

11. Hit a good drive down the middle.  Had 118 left so hit a 50 degree a bit easy and was hoping it would land and release towards the hole but it checked up short.  Made a great putt that I thought was going to drop but it veered off at the last second again.  Tapped in for par.

12. Pushed the drive slight right into the rough and then had to hit a hard fade 7-iron around some trees to the green.  Got a hold of it well and it went long over the green.  Chipped back on and then made a 7 footer for par.

13. Pulled the drive low and short into the rough.  Laid up before some water with a hybrid as it was 300 to the stick and I didn’t have a club that could carry that far.  Had 100 remaining and  hit a half 50 degree that landed and spun back some.  Another good putt right at the hole turned at the last second and I then tapped in for par.

14. This hole can be a round changer for the worse if you are not too careful.  It was playing about 190 today and the green is protected by bunkers with water down the left side.  I hit a 6-iron as it was down wind and I would rather be a little short than long and the ball landed a few feet to the right of the green in the rough.  Chipped up to about 3 feet and made the par.

15. Shorter par 4 with water down the entire left side.  Hit a hybrid to 110 yards and then hit a 50 degree close to the pin, but it spun back about 10 feet.  Another near miss then tap in par putting scenario.

16. Water carry par 3 that was playing 162 yards today.  The pin was at the very front of the green just 4 yards from the water so you couldn’t be under the hole without serious threats to a water bound ball. I hit a 6-iron into the wind to be safe and landed about 25 feet past the hole.  The green sloped away from me all the way to the hole and then to the water and I let that get into my head leaving the ball about 5 feet short.  I took the next putt a little too lightly and just missed it leading to a 3-putt bogey.

After that putt I had a flashback to past rounds where I was under par so deep just to let it slip through my fingers.  Instead of playing “defensive” golf and trying to par out I decided to keep playing my game, which tends to be more aggressive, and stay focussed on aiming for birdies.

17. Hit a drive that was a nice draw but a bit low and it actually landed in a fairway bunker but then got a lucky hop and bounced through landing in the rough with a wide open shot at the green.  I had a downhill lie about 96 yards to the pin and knew it would come out pretty hot so hit a punch 54 degree. The result was nice with the ball ending up about 6 feet above the hole.  Made a good putt knocking in the birdie.

I was really happy about that and despite how much I had been trying to not focus on score through the round I knew that I was under par going into 18.  The best I had previously been was one over par at that point, but today I knew that I was two under and all I needed to do was double bogey or better to shoot par for the first time.  That didn’t mean it was any easier to hit a relaxed driver or approach shot, though, and even after sticking the green in 2 I was pretty nervous standing over a long putt.

18.  Just wanted to make good contact and finish strong, but got a little quick and pulled the drive some.  I had a clear shot to the pin but it was tucked behind a bunker some 150 yards from where I stood.  I pulled an 8 and was aiming to get close to the stick, but it came out of the rough hot and landed on the back of the green about 40 feet from the hole.  I wanted a birdie for a 69, but also at this point wanted to make sure I at most 2 putted.  Hit it and came up about 4 feet short, then took my time and made a good par putt.

That’s it, shot a 70!  Looking back I made a couple good saves and putted well, but also had plenty of opportunities to go lower.  I could have shot a 65 today and I could have just as easily shot a 75.  That’s the way this sport is and today I landed solidly under par with what did actually happen.  Who knows what the future holds, but just two years ago I barely broke 80 for the first time ever.  Hard to say where this path will be taking me over the next two years or the two that will follow that.  Whatever happens it’s going to be pretty darn exciting.

ps.  Thank you Schuyler and Richard for the donations based on this occasion.  Truly appreciated!