Hot day. Played solo. Driver was on and off, but kept it playable all day. Bunch of up and downs for par or bogey on the front. Birdied the fourth after putting drive well right into the 5th hole fairway rough. Had 148 yards to pin from deep rough with trees in front of me. Hit a perfect 7i, over trees to 18 inches! Had to be the shot of the day, though on 18 got into a bit of trouble on drive. Landed left of fairway with trees blocking direct path to the uphill green. I envisioned a punch-draw through the trees, up the hill and curving left onto the green. Pulled out my 6 iron and proceeded to almost pull it off perfectly. Hit the punch draw as planned, it made it through and around the trees headed at the green, but came up a few yards short. Had a 20 yard 'chipitch' with 60 degree wedge, but went 9' by. Missed putt by a couple inches and tapped in for bogey. Even so, it was truly a great shot and nearly just what I planned. Also hit a great drive on 433 yard par 4 15th, but just a little left of fairway in thick rough. Was only 180 out and tried 4H without realizing how thick the rough was. Was really confident I could get on from there, but instead barely got the ball out of the rough it was so thick. Probably should have used an iron to dig it out, but I really wanted to reach in two. Then hit my 117 yard approach shot 140 yards with 9 iron. A flier from the rough with no spin. Landed well over the green in junk. Had to take an unplayable penalty. On 12, drove it through the fairway into the yellow staked hazard, but not wet. Was still on the bank, though sloping down into hazard. Tough lie. Took 60 degree wedge down and through and miraculously made good, solid contact and hit it on, albeit about 40 feet away. Made a tough downhill putt and just missed birdie, then missed the 4 footer coming back for a 3-putt bogey.
Wasn't a bad day, but could have been better. Wow, just looked back at scorecard and realized how many pars I should have, but didn't make. Can't remember the last time I had so few pars and don't think I ever had more birdies than pars.
