Yesterday was good. I went out by myself, as usual, and felt pretty good. I've been tinkering with my bag setup for a while now so I really didn't have too high of expectations. I reshafted my Taylormade Burner TP with an AccuFLEX Evolution R that I've played well in the past, then put a Powerbilt Citation 3wd w/ AccuFLEX VS339 S and an old Dynacraft Hypersteel 19° behind it to round out the woods. I dropped the Dynacraft Genesis 3i hybrid in favor of the Hypersteel and swapped a Genesis 5i hybrid in place of the Wishon 550cb 5i. I've finally settled on a ball, I think. The Nike RZN Black seems to be about what I want and I can get them for a decent price from lostgolfballs.com so I'm happy.
Started off with a solid par (should've been a birdie, but I missed a 4' putt) on the first. Nevertheless, I've learned to not complain about pars so I moved on to the 2nd. A hooked drive left me with a penalty for a lost ball on the 2nd. I went back to the tee and hit a 2nd ball and ended up about 100ish out on this 410ish par 4 (slightly down hill and with the wind at my back). Hit a SW that just rolled onto the back fringe, then got that up and down for a double. After "routine" bogeys at 3 and 4, I moved on to the short, dogleg right 5th hole. I guess it's about low 300's as it's designed... about 297 as the crow flies. I hit the Hypersteel perfectly and left myself right around 100 for my approach from the right side of the fairway. Hit the approach just a little right and a little long and left myself a 30ish foot putt from the upper tier to a pin that was only a couple paces on the front of the green. Hit the hard breaking putt almost perfectly, it rolled past the hole about 2" on the low side, and stopped about 1' away. Easy tap in par. Back to back to back doubles as a result of 1 lost ball (on 6), one fat and one thin (both on 7), and a 3 putt (on 8) led me to the 9th already 10 over. After a lackluster 4i into a 197ish par 4 (little wind at my back, but I probably should have hit the Hypersteel), I pitched to about 15' away, but still on the fringe. Holed that to move to the back with a 46 on the front.
The 10th tee shot always gets me. Not sure if it's just the way the hole sets up, but I always end up on the right side of this hole when my "normal" miss of late is a hook. Left myself in a bad spot and was lucky enough to get up and down for a bogey from about 50 yards out. Hit a decent drive on the 11th, but couldn't manage to get up and down so I settled for a bogey again. The 12th is a short par 4. It's a little dogleg right, but just slightly. It is about 320ish in a straight line, but plays a little longer down the fairway, maybe 340 or so. Hit a perfect 3wd off the tee and ended up just under 100 for my approach. Left the approach about 30' away. Wasn't much break in it so I lined it up and just tried to snuggle it up against the hole. Could tell from the time I hit it that the line was right. About 5-6 feet away, it was obviously nice and it finally died in the hole for a birdie. Bogey, double, bogey on 14-16 led me into the par 3 16th. This one usually plays around 190ish. I hit a Hypersteel and since I'm not 100% confident with the distance just yet, I think I was a little hesitant to go all out and hit it over the green. I left it on the front fringe, about 35' away. Up and down for par and I'm happy. Nice 4i tee shot on 17 on another low 300ish yard par 4. Left myself a little over 100 out, not quite 110. Hit a little PW since I had some wind into me, but came up maybe a yard short at the edge of the 2nd cut. Putted to the front pin which was only about 15 feet away and just missed, but made the tap in putt for another up and down par.
I knew I was playing (fairly) well so I made it a point to NOT look at my score going into the 18th. The 18th is a 420-430ish yard par 4. Not exactly "long", but the longest par 4 on this course and it has a decent size pond guarding the green from about 90 yards out to about 20 yards out or so. That being said, I always feel like I need to hit a good, long drive here since I don't exactly want to have to try to carry that pond from 200ish out and I'd rather not have to try to lay up without going into the pond with my 2nd. With that in mind, I hit a quick hook that left me about 216ish out, I think. I decided to hit a little punch 3wd because the ball was under a tree. I could get under the limbs, but only bent over at the waist (like I can imagine that our spammer guy does when he's in his favorite position from lefty's novels) so I figured a 3wd would run the ball out in the fairway and hopefully into the 150 range anyway. No such luck. The ball caught up in the rough and sat down about 200 out. My next shot ended up about 100 yards out. I chunked that one in the pond, then dropped and put one on the green about 20' away. Just for good measure, I three putted that.
Looked at the scorecard after it was all said and done. Ten over on the front. Ten over on the back. On this par 70 course, that leaves me with a 90. Not my best round by any means, but the best I've done this year. It just sucks knowing I was sitting at 81 back on the 18th tee and I blew it. So, what did I do? I went back to where I was for that 2nd shot to see what might have been. This time, instead of a 3wd, I chose 5i hybrid. The choice was a good one as the shot completely cleared the rough. Even though it ran through the fairway on the other side, I was left with a much better position for my 3rd shot. I still ended up with a "triple" on the do-over, but even that would have left me with an 88.
As I said, I went into the round without many expectations. I came out fairly happy that it's finally coming together. I am liking the driver and 3wd. I think I've played the driver for 3 or 4 rounds and the 3wd was on its 2nd round. The Hypersteel is likely safe in its spot. The 5i hybrid will probably hang until I get the confidence up in my 6i a little more.
Next change is the pair of Dynacraft Dual Milled wedges (SW and LW) that I ordered from ValueGolf with KBS Tour shafts. They should be good to go. I'll probably get them in play this weekend if not sooner.
