First round from the back tees for the year today - a 'best 2 Stableford scores from 4' rather than an individual strokeplay competition, but still a bit of a change to be playing from all the way back (particularly as the course is still playing relatively long - not warm enough yet to get fairways and greens cut down to where they'll be in a few weeks - was down to the mid-30s overnight, although more like 50ish by late morning when I was playing).
The start was a bit scrappy - four bogeys in the first five, although it is a tough start to the round (three tough par 4s and a long par 3) - but I started to hit better shots after that. A misclub on 10 cost me a shot, but I hit a lot of really nice approach shots - had 7 greens in regulation in a row before being a few inches off the edge of the last green in 2, and these were some long approach shots (short hybrid from 180 on 13, 3-wood to 18 feet from 194 on 14, long hybrid out of the rough from 205 to 25 feet on 15, 3-wood from 200ish to 18 feet on 17, long hybrid from 205 to 35 feet on 18). I ended up with a 73 for the round (5 over), with the team having 79 points (equivalent to -7) - respectable, although not competitive with 86 points leading
(For what it's worth, the 3-wood that I'm using at the moment was a bit of a happy accident - saw a Titleist TSI3 15° head on an eBay auction about to end a few weeks back, and managed to get it for £75, then saw a Diamana Blueboard shaft (B-series - not the Plus that's a common stock shaft in Titleist woods) with Titleist adaptor for just over £30. Put the two together, and I have a club that seems to work really well for me...)