Avery Ranch 18 holes - no trips!

Played Avery Ranch golf course from the white tees for first time since collarbone surgery. I scored a nice 95 in very calm, nice conditions. It had rained 5 inches the previous morning in a strong storm with the result that all bunkers were deemed “ground under repair” as they were either mini-lakes or mud pits. It was also a cart path only day which always leads to slow play.

General thoughts about the round – After Wednesday’s disaster I decided to play this round with all the tools I’m comfortable with – that meant 3-hybrid, 4-hybrid and irons. I felt like I played relaxed and maintained good focus on most shots with the result that I met a desired personal milestone – my first 18-hole round without any blow-up (triple bogey or worse) holes. This was mostly set up by one of my best tee shot performances in memory as seen below from my Game Golf insights.

Only one “red dot” and there’s a story behind that I’ll tell later. Otherwise, no problems off the tee. The clubs used were 6-iron (3x) and 3-hybrid (9x). Although I didn’t achieve average distance for approach shots on various irons because my goal was to swing easy all day, I kept the ball in play and in front of me. Two tops, and a few short fats probably contributed to the doubles I carded though I will include analysis for the doubles in the next section.

Again from Game Golf insights, compared to my last three rounds, I improved in all phases of the game. I wasn’t totally pleased in my putting but it was better than the last few rounds.

Finally, on the last three holes, I pushed every iron approach shot. I know I have this problem when I get tired but I don’t know the cause and thus I don’t know what to adjust to fix the problem. I three-putted both 16 & 17 because the pushed iron shots hit GIR but left 55 and 60 ft putts (for birdie!) The first I putted pin-high but 10 ft off-line. The 2nd, I left 10 ft short with a tentative decelerating swing.

Blow-up hole and memorable shot/holes review

Wow! First time ever to not have a triple or worse on 18 holes. (I have accomplished that twice on 9 hole rounds.) So in leu of blow-up hole review, I’ll examine double bogey causes in general here.

I scored four doubles on the front nine and three on the back. Of the total, four were one shot extra X in DSZ, and three were X in ESZ. The DSZ failures were one 3-putt, and two “pitch, chip, two-putts” variety. The ESZ failures were one pulled 3-hybrid that required a well executed 5-iron punch back to fairway and two where I hit short/fattish approach shots.

I got an awesome compliment from one of my playing partners – “I wish I had your short game!” I was hitting my wedges really crisp. From 50 to 100 yards I hit 6 wedges out of 7 inside 20 ft. Inside 50 yards I hit 12 of 16 inside 15 ft of the pin and most inside 10 ft using either a sand wedge or the Cleveland Smartsole 3C chipping wedge (CCW). Sadly, I missed a lot of 6 to 10 ft putts for par or to save bogey.

However, strategically,  the 4th hole sand wedge was one I was really pleased with. As you can see above, I ended up in the bunker where I took my ground under repair drop after raking my ball out of the mud. The far back left pin screamed “red light” as it would have required a perfect 50 yard SW over the entire bunker complex to put the ball close. Instead I decided to pitch to the middle of the green to allow myself more green and less bunker to work with. I pitched safely and stress free to the middle of the green. Lagged the putt 30 ft to 6 ft from the pin but lipped out the next putt for the dreaded 3-putt double. However, the poor putting didn’t take away from the joy of playing a strategic stress free shot.

The seventh hole at Avery Ranch is a perennial stressor for myself and my playing partners. As you can see the landing area from the tee is tiny with impenetrable hazards all around. However, I hit a clean 6-iron, a short, but safe 7-iron, then a rather thin low 8-iron that hit the bunker top and rolled to 9 ft from the pin. My par putt rolled all the way around the cup and popped out an inch away – another missed par opportunity! But, given I typically scores triple or worse, the bogey was joyfully accepted here.

Both of my par holes were nice up & downs, SM style. On both I hit CCW, one 36 yards to 12 ft and the other 38 yards to 4 ft.

The three questions

What was GOOD about this round?

Of the 18 tee shots, only one was in any trouble and I saved that pulled 3-hybrid with a great 5-iron low punch shot out of the trees. I practice that low punch shot nearly every time on the range and it pays off because I’m so relaxed when I have to pull it off. My wedge play and chipping is really coming along with a lot of very easy two-putts inside 20 ft.

What could BE BETTER about this round?

I missed far too many putts in the 6 to 12 ft range. I made 2 out of 11 putts inside 12 ft. I hit several short/slightly fat approach shots. The great thing about Scoring Method is most of those still resulted in SM bogeys because, though short, the ball was in the fairway.

What will I DO TO IMPROVE?

I will focus on putting tests at 10 ft to see if I can get to 8 of 10 with different slopes. I will work on ball-then-ground contact with irons with some drills then test to see if I can hit 10 of 10 crisp irons shots.

Of course, I know there will be blow-up holes in my future because that is the nature of golf. However, I hope this breakthrough round is a stepping-stone and confidence builder to many more “clean” rounds.