I played in a tournament this past weekend. First one in few years. I decided to play to put my game under some pressure to see how it would stand up. For 16 holes I was cruising right along with a 69, even with some poor putting. Not happy with that, as putting is one of my very strong points. On 17, I screwed the pooch on a 3 footer for a bogey 5 by reading a break that was not there. Still Ok, with a dog leg right par 5 waiting for me. With a par, I am looking at a 79. Then the poor decisions took over.
I had been hitting my 3w, and driver really well, keeping the ball in play. I also had a sizable lead over the rest of our foursome. So I figure if I can hit a fade, I can turn the corner, and be looking at a 3w to a reachable green. Two or less putts, and I have had a very good round of golf. Hitting the fade was my first bad decision. At the dogleg there is bunker, and a pond. Poor decision two by not respecting the hazards. I miss flying the bunker by a couple of inches which left me on the beach, with a high lip, and pond of water between me and the geen. The safe play would have been to hit out of the bunker on the low lip side, and get back into the fairway. Poor decisison 3 is when I think I can clear the lip, and the pond with my 5w, while neglecting the safe play. I hit the lip, and ball winds up wet. After dropping 3, and hitting four, and I am still a ways from the green. Poor decision 4 was not reading the pin placement correctly. I am on the green in 5, but have left myself a long 30 footer, from the lower tier. By not reading the pin placement correctly, I under clubbed myself. 3 putts later, I am writing a snowman 8 on my card for an 82.
Best shot of the day was on a 202 yard par 3 where I just missed an ace by a few inches, and settled for a nice tap in birdie.
Overall, the 82 was a good score since it was under tournament conditions, and on a course I had never played before. Problem was I don't get many chances to break 80 that often, and my poor judgement cost me a great chance to do so. Hopefully I will never forget the importance of par again.
Froggy, are you the type of guy who likes to write blogs and then has people like me read them? How can you write a blog and then I ask you a question and then you don't reply? Whats up with that? I asked you a question about a blog you wrote last month and you still haven't replied? Sure, I'll keep reading your blogs as they are interesting, I'll have to remind myself not to ask a question because I know you won't reply. -Will
