Kinda cold. Low 40s. Overcast.
Left shoulder did not feel as bad as I expected, so decided to play another 18 today.
Played well overall. No poor shots. Hit driver well again, though, with the cold, distance wasn't great. However, the tees were moved up on many holes for the new winter set up. No Blacks, blues or reds for the rest of the winter. (It was actually good to see the Asian groups, who always play the blacks, playing from the proper tees today. They still hacked it all over!)
Course probably only measured about 5600 yards today, though with the cold, played about 5800. In any case, I was able to take advantage of the shorter distance on many holes. On the other hand, there were a bunch of holes, even with the short distance, I just plain missed. Both the 1st and 2nd should have been easy GIRs and I missed both. On the 11th I drove it pin high off the tee, but right of green about 40 yards. Should have been an easy pitch onto the green, but I misjudged the amount of speed I needed to get through the rough. Came up 5 yards short of the green, but I made a nice chip to 2' to get up and down. Even so, hate missing the easy GIR.
Had no bad holes on the back nine and only one bogey, on the tough 12th. I had a tough downhill lie from the right rough. Should not have tried to hit a hybrid, but I did. Partially due to the lie, pushed it way right up by the cartpath. To satisfy my curiosity, I dropped another ball in the rough with a similar lie and tried the same shot with a 5 iron. Perfect. Hit the green. Damn, I knew I should have hit 5 iron on my first try.
Anyway, the first one (with the hybrid) ended up on the cartpath, right and short of the green. Took the free drop and hit what felt like the perfect lob wedge. Landed it exactly where I wanted, about 2 yards short of the green, but it got caught up in the rough about a foot short of the fringe. Made a nice chip with 58 to about 1 inch. So close to saving par, but no luck. Would have given me a totally clean back nine, though I didn't know it at the time. Kept trying for a birdie to get even. Though I had a bunch of opportunities and realistic birdie putts, could not get any on the back to drop.
Only birdie, on 7th, was from about 25 feet. Felt good about my read (nearly straight) and it was uphill. Saw the ball going in before I pulled the putter back. Once I stroked it, I was confident it was in right from the start. Plop. Bird. Sure wish I could have sunk some of those more realistic birdie putts later on in the round.
Weather supposed to start getting much colder. Possible, but improbable I will play tomorrow. High 30s forecast. Only 20s on Thursday. After today's good ballstriking round, I want to get out there again while things are working so well. I'll be watching the weather closely.
CeeBee says:No.12 is a lousy hole. Doesn't matter how far up the tees are, you still have to lay up leaving the second shot exactly the same. Long.
12/14/16
bkuehn1952 says:Very solid round, especially from #5 onward.
12/14/16
CeeBee says:
