Got out for a twilight round yesterday afternoon. Wind was howling for the first 9 holes or so. The front nine here on the base is much shorter than the back nine (roughly 3000 to 3500) so the back normally plays around 4-5 strokes harder.
My opening drive clipped a tree limb and left me about 200 yards out to a green with about 180 of that needed to carry a creek in front of the green. I opted to lay up and ended up wedging onto the green with my 3rd. Left it about 30' away and settled for a bogey.
Hole #2 is a short, 138ish yard, par3. I stuck it close to about 9' and then made a putt to bring it back to even. As I walked off the 3rd green with a 2nd bogey sandwiching my birdie, I kinda felt like the day might be alright.
Anyway, 5 straight 6's later, and I felt as though the wheels came off. I finished up the front nine with a 49. Something that I know is above my skill level, but the rust is just starting to come off.
The back nine was a fierce battle the whole way. The wind died down, but I just couldn't find any semblance of a game. I had 3 pars, but the bads were really bad. I lost two balls off the tee on a long 560ish yard par 5. That didn't help much and led to a 10 on that hole. I went into hole 18 knowing that I could double the hole and still walk away with a 99 (I've only broken 100 once this year since picking up the sticks again after several years away from the game). I hit a decent drive on the last par 5, a hard dogleg left that only measures about 460ish yards. From where I sat in the left rough, I just needed to hit a little 7 iron over the dogleg and I'd have had a middle iron into the green. Unfortunately, I struck it a little too well and a little too right and lost it. Dropped and hit a 2nd ball and ended up tripling the hole with that to leave me with an even 100.
The game is coming around. With 4 bogies, 3 pars, and 1 birdie, I can't be too upset. Without my 4 triple or worse holes, I didn't do too horribly and the fact that I only played 2 strokes worse on the back made me feel pretty good.
Would be good to get out with some guys here in Jersey for a round sometime. Who's around close?