Golf tournament round: finally

It’s been a while since I played in a tournament as I was working on my swing for most of the summer, but I knew it was time to field test the new swing so signed up for the Forest Hills Amateur this past weekend.  Well, actually, it was supposed to be last weekend, but the torrential rains moved it to this week.  I didn’t have any expectations and was really just curious as to how my game would compare to last year.  This event was a low-light of 2012 as I shot 95-84 last year with just one birdie on the 36th hole.  My goal was to try and beat that be at least 15 strokes this time and I did accomplish that goal.

Also, on Saturday I shot my first sub-80 tourney round to date firing a 76 on the day!  It felt great, especially as I had a couple solid chances for birdie on the last 2 holes that just wouldn’t drop.  The course isn’t particularly tough, but it’s still a tournament situation and all the putts had to drop.

Sunday started pretty similarly, but I made one big mistake on the 10th hole for a triple and a tired aggressive approach on 18 that ended up giving me a double.  In total, I shot an 83 this day for a 159 total over the two days, or a scoring average of 79.5, which was another goal of mine.  I wish I could replay Sunday as I just didn’t hit the ball well at all and know that I could string two mid-70s rounds together out there.  It’s an easy course if you keep the ball in play and make your putts.  Next year I want to play in the final tee time there on Sunday and win this thing.

It was a beautiful weekend, very happy that it was postponed as last weekend saw 5 inches of rain and winds up to 50mph.

Here is a breakdown of the 36 holes.

FIRST ROUND:

1. Par 4: bogey.  Decided to hit a hybrid off of the tee and hard pulled it to a net blocking the second tee.  Luckily it got a foot beyond the net and I had a 2-foot gap between the net and a suspension chord and was able to hit a fade with the 9-iron to make it back to the green 130 yards away.  the ball landed on the top right of this crazily sloped back to front green.  I made what I though was a decent chip but the ball broke hard to the bottom of the green (would have helped to have knowledge of the break) and I ended up with a 2-putt from 20 feet.

2. Par 5: par. Pulled the drive down the right side and hit an 8-iron to about 60 feet.  Hit the pitch shot fat in the very moist ground and ended up 10 yards short. Chipped up to 5 feet and made the putt.

3. Par 4: bogey.  Hit a hybrid again to play “safe” and pulled it down the right side.  Had to punch out and then hit a shot from 157 that landed next to the pin but ended up 10 feet long above the hole.  Just missed the putt and tapped in for the bogey.

4. Par 3: par. Solid cut hybrid shot below the hole and two-putted for a par.  This par 3 ended up being a pay ball to the one person who birdied it that day.  The green is so sloped that even a putt up to the hole could stop and roll all the way back down, so you had to make sure and mark your ball the instant it stopped.

5. Par 4: bogey. Pulled the driver and hit a perfect fade down this 420 yard dogleg hole.  I was about 150 yards out and the approach was straight uphill so I hit a 7-iron with a little cut to help it stick the green.  It ended up fading a bit too much and was pin-high a couple of feet off the green.  I made a great chip that hit the hole, rolled all the way around but didn’t quite drop.  I had a bad feeling about the 2-foot putt but didn’t step away and slightly pushed it rimming around the edge. What I thought was going to be a birdie from the chip turned into a silly bogey from my one poorly struck putt of the day.

6. Par 5: par.  Hit another good drive, this time a draw on the long dogleg par 5.  My second shot I overcooked my hybrid into the trees on the right, but it bounced out and ended up 167 yards out.  I had to work the ball around a tree in the middle of the fairway and hit a good shot, but it came up short as I think I underestimated the elevation change.  Punched up from about 5 feet off the green with my hybrid and made the 5 footer for par.

7. Par 3: par. This hole plays up a decently sized hill to a blind green protected by a couple of bunkers.  I pushed a 7-iron a bit left maybe 2 feet off the green and chipped up to an inch, made the putt.

8. Par 4: birdie. Hit the hybrid once again and once again hard pulled it right.  Had to Bubba a 9-iron around some trees to the green and landed it about 50 feet from the hole.  Made a crazy double breaker for birdie.

9. Par 4: par. I thought I was dead when I saw my drive land on the tee box for the second hole way right of the 9th fairway, but hit a 54 degree over the trees back to the fairway about 122 yards out then got on with a little wedge.  I had another 50 footer, this time for par and hit a solid putt that never left the middle of the cup, dropping for par.

At the turn I had shot a 38.  That’s 11 strokes better than my first 9 last year.  Not too shabby.

10. Par 4: par.  OB goes down the left side of 10, 12 and 14, but luckily today my miss was right so I went with a driver and hit a fade towards the right side.  It ended up in the rough but just 135 yards from the green.  Used my 9 and tried to punch it low, but I caught it pretty good and it ended up just past the green.  Chipped on and made a 2 footer for par.

11. Par 3: par. Short downhill par 3 over a bit of water and bunkers.  I hit a 9-iron to make sure I got past the trouble and landed it a hair long.  chipped on and made the short putt for par.

12. Par 5: bogey. Easiest hole on the course if you hit the fairway as it’s a short par 5, playing just about 465 yards.  I hit my driver but it started turning hard left towards the road and white stakes.  After hitting a provisional we walked up and I was lucky to have hit a tree and landed in the dirt just short of the road.  I punched up a low 6 iron that landed 122 yards from the hole.  This is a money number and I just tried to put a smooth wedge on the ball, but managed to pull it right of the green.  Was one of the worst shots of the day as 9 times out of 10 I should hit that green.  I chipped on and then 2-putted from about 10 feet for my bogey.

13. Par 3: bogey.  Another short par 3, this one was playing about 150 yards straight away.  I hit an 8 and again pulled it down the right side of the hole.  I hit what I thought was a good chip, but it rolled out well past the hole and I had to 2 putt from about 15 feet.

14. Par 4: par. Decided to go with the driver as the hybrid hadn’t helped me much at all today and pulled it down the right side onto the 15th fairway.  Hit a high cut shot that got back to the green and two-putted for a par.

15. Par 5: par  Got a good rip with my driver but it bounced a little too far right to where I was a bit blocked by some trees so I layed up to about 60 feet.  I hit another fat chip shot that landed about 10 yards short of the green but then got up and down for the par.

16. Par 4: par.  I’m not sure how to play this hole.  There is water at the bottom of a huge hill and last year I hit my 3-wood into it then the second day I hit a hybrid that was blocked by a tree near the middle of the fairway.  Today I decided to hit a 5-iron layup and stubbed it fat.  The ball went just about 130 yards, but landed on a flat spot with just 195 remaining.  It was downhill so I hit a 5 that ended up long of the green, but made a good chip and one-putted for the par.

17. Par 3: par.  This par 3 was playing silly short, it was 125 yards to the pin whereas during the practice round it was all the way back at 205.  The pin was directly on a fall line to the false front, though and the first 3 guys all landed it about pin high and the ball sucked back down the hill.  I decided to go long so hit a hard wedge that landed about 8 feet past the hole, but unfortunately it stuck the green and didn’t spin back at all.  I had a downhill putt and anything past the hole ran way off so I made a weak putt leaving the ball about 2 inches short, tapped in for par.

18. Par 5: par.  Decant sized left dogleg par 5. I hit a solid drive and had 225 left to the pin.  I remembered from last year that this is the only green that slopes front to back and if you hit it with a long club chances are you fly through the green ending up in OB 10 yards past it.  So I hit a hybrid and it was the first solid one I caught all day, heading directly for the pin. I thought the ball would be on and be extremely close if not in the hole and I had visions of my first double eagle to cap off this fine round.  But, when I got close I saw that my ball had literally plugged in the front fringe.  It was pretty muddy so there was definitely no roll-out happening on that shot.  I was just a couple feet off the green and the pin was about 40 feet towards the back so I hit my little punch (Duffner style) hybrid but underestimated the speed of this green and it ended up 15 feet long.  I missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.

76!  I was pretty stoked about that, especially with that chance to have dropped a birdie chip on 5 and those solid opportunities for bird on 17 and 18.  All in all I played with the same ball throughout the round, didn’t have any penalty strokes, wasn’t in a single bunker and only had a couple little fat short shots that potentially cost me.  I chipped and putted very well and felt good all around about the performance.  This was a great step in the right direction.

The next day wasn’t nearly as good, but it wasn’t that bad either.  I really just had a couple of silly holes that cost me 5 strokes and didn’t hit my irons as well.

I will spare you a long recap of the round, but will sum it up.  I made par on the first 2 holes after missing  both fairways by a mile. On the first my chipped for birdie ended up on the high side of the cup leaning over the edge, was shocked it didn’t fall.  On the second I had to get an up-and-down for par and made the 5 footer.  The third and fourth I bogeyed because of leaving myself in really tough spots that I didn’t manage to get my chips close enough and two-putted both although the second putt on each hole was from within 3 inches.

I made par on the 5th after punching out my drive and parred the 6th even though I had a great drive to the middle of the fairway and was just 80 yards out on my third shot of this par 5.  Didn’t get that pitch close enough.  The par 3 7th was a bogey as well as I miss-clubbed and hit the ball long then was short sided on the chip back.  I hit the approach on 8 long too, but got the up-and-down as I had plenty of green to work with.  The 9th was a bogey from punching out the drive then landing my approach a hair short.

Through 9 holes on Sunday I was sitting at 40, but was determined to shoot well on the back as that, to me, is the easier side and I thought I could go low.

I hit my drive on the 10th pretty short as I had been pushing the ball all day and there is OB on the left, so I hit a hard cut at the trees on the right landing it in the middle of the fairway with 185 yards remaining.  Walking up I thought about how my buddy Tyler had dropped an eagle on this par 4 yesterday and thought that I could do the same or at least knock it close and get a stroke back.  I pulled a 6 as it was a little downhill and it seemed to be the stick for the job and made a good smooth swing on the ball, but as I had been doing all day I left the face a little too open and pushed it straight right.  About 7 yards left of the green is white stake OB and the ball landed in those bushes not to return to the golf course side of things.  I had take a penalty stroke and drop another one from where I stood.  This time I pulled the 5 and instead of trying to hit a draw (which was what I was trying to do with the 6) I hit a cut shot that landed a little short and rolled down the false front.  I chipped up to about 5 feet and missed the putt to tap in for a 7.  It was definitely deflating, but I tried to put it out of my mind and focus on the next hole, which was a relatively easy downhill short par 3.  On that one, I somehow managed to hard pull a 9-iron into the trees on the right and left myself without a good shot at getting onto the green.  I made a good chip, but it was a low runner and took the green’s slope ending up off the green on the other side.  Had to get the up-and-down to save bogey and keep myself at 4 over on the back already.

I did a good job not thinking about score or about misses and hit a solid rip on the next hole.  I had just 205 remaining on the par 5 and hit a hybrid with a bit too much pull that ended up pin high about 10 feet off the green then chipped it to literally an inch and tapped in for birdie.

I bogeyed the next par 3 from a bad iron shot then made a par on 14 and 15.  On 16 I hit the same 5 iron, but this time very solid and had 135 yards remaining.  I pulled a wedge and hit it on a perfect line, I thought for a second that it was going to drop in, but it came up about 10 yards long.  Not sure if it was wind or what, but I had a straight downhill chip remaining and hit it well, but the ball didn’t roll out how I thought so I ended up 2-putting from 15 feet.  I was now 5 over through 16, but remembered how I had birdie shots on 17 and 18 yesterday so was determined to get one back.

17 I hit well again, this time it was from about 155 yards and ended up with 20 feet of putt, but two-putted for a par.  On 18 I hit my best drive of the day, although it went a bit too straight through the fairway hitting a tree which knocked it back into the fairway with 240 yards remaining.  At this point I was pretty tired and knew that I hadn’t put many good swings on the ball all day and should have played it safe laying up to 100 and trying to get a bird or par, but instead I pulled the 3-wood out (it was the first 3-wood I had hit in the entire 36 holes) and tried to go for the green with a draw around some trees.  I overcooked it and the ball ended up about 50 yards right of the green blocked by some trees.  Instead of punching through the trees to get to the front of the green, I decided to try and flop it over the rather large trees.  At this point, in retrospect, I think I had changed from playing golf and making solid decisions to trying to make the miracle shot and get one stroke back.  I hit it well, but it didn’t make it over the trees and dropped down.  I had to punch to the front of the green on my 4th shot then chip on with my 5th and missed a 6 footer to tap in for a double.

I learned a lot from that last hole, primarily that when you try to force things or go out of your comfort zone more bad than good will happen. I could have hit an 9-iron to 100 yards and then an easy 54 to the green.  Instead I hit the 3-wood around some trees to a green with OB long and left.  It was a shot that I could probably make 1 out of 4 times and then gotten birdie or better, but those 3 out of 4 times I end up where I did or worse.  Then, instead of taking my medicine and giving myself a shot for par I tried to be a hero again and it cost me.

Next time I will play an entire 36 holes with better decision making.  The same thing was true on the 10th hole.  I hadn’t hit a nice draw all day and instead of hitting the cut I tried to draw one onto the green where there was OB in my miss-zone.  That decision cost me a couple of strokes.

There was a lot of very positive things happening too.  Chipping and putting was solid and I made a ton of good recovery shots.  My tee game still isn’t anywhere near where it needs to be, but I did manage to control and hit a couple of very good fades and draws off of the tee and didn’t hit a single one of those OB or into a hazard.

Regardless of everything, I beat last year’s two-day score by 20 strokes, and that makes me very happy.