Score, Conditions, and General Observations

Played first tournament since May’s Falconhead AGA Tournament (96) after which I broke my collarbone. After extensive planning and some good rounds recently I expected to meet or beat last year’s 96 on the Star Ranch Golf Course. However, five blow-up triple bogey or worse lead to an unsatisfactory 103 score at Star Ranch – a course I usually play well on. After two weeks straight of clouds and rain, the sun came out Sunday. This combined with mid-to-upper 80’s temps and no breeze lead to a very hot and muggy round that left me drained by the end of the round.

I planned to hit 3-hybrid off the tee on 9 holes but the first one I topped and the second one I pull-hooked into a thick grass hazard. From that point on, I decided to switch to irons-only play. I did revert to a few hybrid shots, of which I hit 2 of 4 acceptable tee shots and 3 of 4 acceptable fairway shots. The three bad hybrid shots were two tops and one pull-hook.

I played my mid-irons, the 6, 7, and 8-iron, on 35 shots of which 23 were with the 7-iron – my go-to club. Of all the mid-irons I hit 25 acceptable to good shots. I hit 21 of 25 acceptable 7-iron shots, but only 3 of 8 acceptable 6-iron shots – looks like I need to retire the 6-iron!

One of the oft-spoken axioms of golf is the quality of misses is what distinguishes scratch golfers from high handicappers – I’m proof of that. I gained way too many strokes where the misses resulted in hazards and penalties. Is it a technique problem or emotional problem as Will Robins says, if I have a clear idea of the target in mind, make a swing, but hit a slightly toed-push OB?

My normally good putting has been steadily heading downhill. I normally only have one or two 3-putts per round but had five this round. I really need to work on 35 foot lag putts!

So, in general, I hit enough good shots to ask myself the same question I ask quite often – why am I not scoring better with shots like that? Played with really nice guys and one fellow probably took the flight’s prize money because he shot 94 – he said his best score in years.

Blow-up hole and memorable shots/hole review

“Start off in first gear.” First hole plan of 7-iron (147 yds), 7-iron (131 yds), gap wedge (57 yds) and 2-putts from 17 ft pulled off to perfection. Was really juiced with that start!

Hole 2 – triple bogey on 374 yd par 4. Topped 3-hybrid 30 yards. Hit 3-hybrid off deck 175 yards which just bounced out of the fairway bunker. Slightly pulled 7-iron 140 yards pin high but into left green side bunker. Hit crisp sand/ball SW that flew the green into right green side bunker. Splashed that onto green, lipped out 11 ft putt, sank 2 ft comeback putt. Other than the topped tee shot, I didn’t feel like I hit any shot bad on this hole but still ended up with a triple bogey.

Hole 3 – snowman on 369 yd par 4. Pull-hooked 3H into deep grass hazard. Re-teed with penalty and switched to 6-iron which I toe-pushed weak but safe 106 yards. Two 7-irons reached green. 3-putted from 35 ft after lag putt left 7-ft from hole (direction, not distance).

Hole 8 – triple bogey on 374 yd par 4. Lovely 166 yard 6-iron off tee to middle fairway. Toe-pushed 7-iron OB for stroke & distance penalty. Rest of hole was SM bogey golf (7-iron, wedge, two putts). Hitting OB really destroys SM strategy!

Hole 10 – triple bogey on 376 yd par 4. Topped 6-iron 48 yds off tee. Clean, but slightly pushed 7-iron hit cart path twice for 192 yards then dribbled into hazard. Could see the ball just fine but a loose stringy weed affected my concentration so next 7-iron shot only ugly 27 yards. Hit 7-iron bump and run 102 yard to green then three putted from 35 ft with 8 ft lag putt missed.

Hole 15. triple bogey 102 yard par 3. Pushed 9-iron into pond. Drop zone wedge to green to 21 ft but downhill putt raced 11 ft by hole and missed comeback for another 3-putt.

Holes 1, 7, 11, and 16 were perfectly executed Scoring Method bogeys. Holes 4, 6, and 17 were hard-earned bogeys. On 17, shown above, I hit a weak 6-iron and 7-iron but then fatted the 8-iron approach shot to put double bogey into play. However, I followed a crisp 77 yard gap wedge with a long one-putt from 18 ft to save the bogey.

Most memorable hole – Birdie on par 3 12th hole. Hit slight pull 7-iron to front left of green. Chipped in from 12 yards for the birdie with my “cheater club” Cleveland Smart Sole 3C. Wish my regular golfing friends could have seen that! Dave, my cart partner in the round hit next and he chipped it in too for back-to-back chip-in birdies! A lot of fist bumps on that hole!

A lot of memorable, well struck 6 and 7-irons. But most memorable shot was on 18. I had lasered 102 yards to pin from fairway. However, the green was uphill. Normally 102 yards is my PW distance but pulled 9-iron. Then I thought, “I’m tired and this IS a good ways uphill.” So I switched to the 8-iron and hit that last approach shot 109 yards to 21 ft from the pin. It felt really nice to make that decision and execute a very nice shot on the last hole. (Then I 3-putted for a double bogey. It was a very downhill putt which I ran 11 ft past the pin.)

Answer the three questions

What was GOOD about this round?

With 21 of 25 good to acceptable 7-iron shots, I feel a lot more comfortable with this as a go-to club, even if it averages a rather short 130 yards. Of 15 short game (pitch/chip) shots, I hit all but four shots inside 21 ft from pin from 80 yards and in. I only lost two strokes on poor pitch/chip shots.

What could be BETTER in this round?

Putting is an obvious answer. Three putts due to 8 to 11 foot lags on 30 to 35 ft putts. (But two putted two 40+ foot putts!) Of those, one short lag and three line read misses. One 3-putt due to inattention over a short putt. As many great 3-hybrids as I hit lately on the driving range in tests, I failed to bring that to the golf course.

What will I do to IMPROVE?

I will work a lot more on slope reading long lag putts with tests and drills in the 30 to 40 ft range. I will continue to develop stringent hybrid go-to club work. One idea is to add practice pressure by hitting 3-hybrid off tee, followed by 7-iron off deck (my desired SM strategy) and not leaving range until I hit at least five acceptable 5H/7I combinations in a row. I need to find ways to improve mental/emotional game aspects as well – due to frustrations with poor results, I lost focus and became lackadaisical on several shots/putts.