A game of inches

Coulda gone low again, but just wasn't my day

Course: Chesapeake Golf Course

Date: November 10, 2021

Time: 7:45 AM

Conditions: 50* & sunny

WITB:

• Ping G425 LST 9* (turned to 8*) with Diamana D+ 60X 

• Ping G400 Stretch 3W 13* (turned to 12.5*) with Diamana D+ 70X 

• Taylormade SIM Max 4W 16.5* with Mitsubishi MMT 70TX

• Srixon ZX5/ZX7 Combo irons HALF SET (5,7,9); +3/4” 2* Up; KBS Ctaper Lite X-Stiff

• Mizuno MP T20 50, 58 Wedges with DG Tour Issue S400 

• Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas H7 36”

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All data and screenshots below are done using the V1 Game app. Grab the app today and start shooting lower scores today!

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Wednesdays I normally play the blitz at Battlefield but with Daylight Savings Time and the time change, they’ve moved the Blitz an hour later to let it warm up a bit. That works great for the older retired guys, but I go work for 5 hours when we’re done, so losing another hour just kills me. I may have to miss the blitz for the next few months until they go early again. Bummer, but playing my home course is always fun and super convenient. Decided to go for another walk today, this time 18 instead of 9, and with a half set, the opposite of last time. So Driver/4w/hybrid then 5i, 7i, 9i, gap wedge, lob wedge, and putter.

Hole #1

I don’t really know what the deal is, but I don’t EVER hit the ball a long way on hole number 1. I know a lot of it is just not being warm or loose, but it’s weird to hit it 40-60 yards shorter here than other places. I don’t hit it particularly long on Chesapeake as a whole, whereas at Battlefield, the ball seems to jump.

Anyway, I hit an ok drive, but it just didn’t go anywhere. I had a 9i to the middle of the green, from almost the same location where I was on #1 during Monday’s round. I wished then I’d had 9i to get it up over the tree, and today I did exactly that. Perfect 9i to the middle of the green, but it spun back a few feet. I had about 50 feet to the back pin and lagged it to a foot. Easy money. Opening par.

Score: E (E)

Hole #2

Smoked 4w right down the middle here again. This hole can give me fits, but being able to hit a nice high tight cut down the middle has been big for me the last few times. A lot less stress standing on the box here. I really needed my 54* here because 50* is too long, and long is dead on this hole, and 58 wasn’t going to quite get there. I hit a great wedge that hit a couple feet onto the green and sucked back off the front, settling a foot or two off the surface on the fringe. I hit a bump and run 9i to 10 feet, but the ball was headed right to the middle of the cup and took a hard right literally 2 inches before going in. Settled on the edge. Unreal. Good putt, poor result.

Score: +1 (+1)

Hole #3

This was a scary tee shot because 9i too deep on the left side of this green means you’re in the round. Luckily today there was some wind across and I hit a choked down 9i right at the left edge of the green that ended up hole high. Another good putt, another miss that curled right around the edge. Thought I had it, but no dice. Tap-in par.

Score: E (+1)

Hole #4

Hit a great 7i here to the big part of the ballpark, leaving myself a good angle into the green from the left edge of the fairway. There was a little wind across so I took 5i and got maybe the worst break I’ve had in a long time. I blocked the shot to the right, and it was headed for the greenside bunker…not a great result, but not awful….well instead of going IN the bunker, it hit the hill on the edge of the bunker and shot HARD right about 15 yards, rolling down and settling a foot and a half outside the OB marker.

I could see the ball was OB, so I reloaded and hit one up the left side, leaving it short left of the green. I hit a pretty good lob wedge to the green, but still had 12 feet for double bogey. Triple sounded like a death sentence, so I was grinding over this putt, looking at it from every angle. Saw the line and rolled it right where I was looking and buried it. Putts for double bogey are not usually highlights of the round, but this was a big one.

Score: +2 (+3)

Hole #5

I hit gap wedge here and it flew perfectly, landing hole high about 30 feet left of the cup on the edge of the green. Fun story…if you look at the breadcrumbs above, you’ll see I took a little detour to the rough behind the green….well a bird flew in while I was hitting my first putt and picked up my club towel and started to fly away with it. I chased him back there, and he finally dropped the towel. SO….after missing my first putt, I had 3 feet coming back and knocked it in. I blame the missed first putt on the bird…but I’ll take the par.

Score: E (+3)

Hole #6

My 4w has been a mystery to me. It’s the newest club in my bag, and I seem to hit it everywhere from 215-250. Hard to love a club like that because it’s not predictable, but it’s fairly straight, so it has kept its place so far. We’ll see what happens….but I hit this one nice right down the middle, but it didn’t go very far, so I had a long way in with a headwind.

As much as it pained my soul to do it, I chose to lay up to the water instead of trying to go for it. I know that will be questioned, but standing on that hill with the wind in my face, staring at the water, with OB right and left, I just wasn’t going for it. I knocked it down near the water and hit 4i that came out off the toe and kind of dead, settling short of the green. I hit lob wedge in left of the cup about 28 feet, but saw the line as soon as I stood behind it. I hit an almost perfect putt, but again, the ball missed right on the edge. Took a peek on the way by, and stopped 3 inches next to the cup. Tap in bogey.

Score: +1 (+4)

Hole #7

The wind was into me here, but I ripped driver up over the trees again right at the green. Almost a carbon copy of Monday, but it ended up just a bit shorter because of the wind. I hit a bump and run 9i to 12 feet, and curled it in the right edge for a birdie to get one back. I hesitate to say this “out loud,” but I think my lifetime score to par on this hole is like -10 or something. If I make a birdie on the front 9, there’s a good chance it happens here. Needed it!

Score: -1 (+3)

Hole #8

Hit a really poor shot here and went into the trees left of the green. The flag was front left so I aimed left of the front edge of the green and just hit it dead straight with no cut at all. I hit it a little thin too. Just a poor wedge that I didn’t stay down on. I had a terrible lie with some poor terrain between me and the hole, so I just popped it on the green as best I could, and took two more putts to get down. Not good. Bogey.

Score: E (+4)

Hole #9

I’d love to see a spray chart on this hole. More than almost any other golf hole I play in my city, my golf ball just seems to be fairway-phobic on #9. I hit a solid 4w off the tee here, but it started leaking right, and landed in the rough, kicking down and into the tree-lined area. Unless you blow it WAY right here, you can usually find the ball, but you don’t always like what you find. I was laying on flat ground but had a low, narrow window to punch out and try to get the ball movin’ toward the green.

Thought I’d bring ya along for the ride here…I ended up taking 6i and punching out, but I only advanced the ball around 100 yards. I still had 112 in and hit a good wedge that settled on the front portion of the green. The only problem was the pin was on the middle, so I still had 25 feet for par. I rolled a good one to a couple inches and knocked it in for another bogey. The 9th hole owns me right now. Gotta change it up somehow.

Score: +1 (+5)

Hole #10

Stop me if you’ve heard this song before: I was waived through at this point by the group in front of me, but they waived me on from about 200 yards down the fairway. So as I was standing over the ball, I had about a billion swing thoughts, including, don’t flare one out right and hit these guys. I didn’t. Instead, I topped one about 100 yards into the rough in front of the tee box.

I seriously considered just picking up and taking the walk of shame past them to the next tee box, but decided no…I can’t do that. I grab 5i, hit a punchy shot down the middle, and left myself 140 to the middle.

This was another one where I felt the trouble of the half set. I needed PW, but only had 9i (too long and long is dead) or GW, and gw wasn’t enough. I hit a mediocre gap wedge that settled just off the front of the green.

Pitched to 10 feet and missed the putt on the left about a foot outside the cup. Bogey

Score: +1 (+6)

Hole #11

Glad to get the par play through behind me, I stepped up here and roped a 7i to a back left pin, that spun back a few feet and left me 20 feet up the hill. Hit a great putt here that hit the pin and kicked out to about a foot for a kick-in par. Good bounce back. Let’s bring the heart rate back down.

Score: E(+6)

Hole #12

Like #9, the 12th hole is a complete ball magnet up the right-hand side. I’ve played in foursomes where all four guys were in the tree line on the right. It’s ridiculous. Anyway, I say that to say that my line on this hole is basically the middle of the 13th fairway. That’s where I aimed here, hoping for a cut, but it didn’t cut, but it’s a great line and still left me a good angle into the green.

I hit a great gap wedge to 8 feet, just pin high left. Hit a great putt, that hit the hole and popped out the back AGAIN. This is getting stupid. At this point I’d missed about 5 putts by a combined total of 4 feet. Knocked in the par, but frustrated I didn’t get the birdie.

Score: E (+6)

Hole #13

I hit hybrid here (the club in the screenshot may not match, bc of the half-set I was carrying) and pulled it left. Thought I might really be in trouble because you can run out of real estate in a hurry over there left of the fairway in the woods. As I walked up, I didn’t initially see the ball and could feel the round slipping through my fingers if I had to take a drop. Finally, as I walked up to the edge of the trees, I saw the ball sitting in the leaves and breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t have a great shot, but punched the ball out and back across the cart path near the green.

I pitched the ball onto the green, but it died on the up slope and I still had about 20 feet for par. I lagged it close, but it wouldn’t go down. Tap-in bogey.

Score: +1 (+7)

Hole #14

Hole 14 is also a ball magnet on the right because everything in the fairway slopes down to the right where cart path and OB stakes await. I am always flirting with danger over there, but today I pumped 4w right up the middle and left myself in a great spot. I really struggle with laying up. I tend to be too conservative and not take aggressive swings, but I just couldn’t get to the green around the corner, so layup was the play. I hit a great little punch 5i and left myself a perfect gap wedge, 120 yards from the middle of the fairway. The gap wedge swing came out good….a little too good..and flew 10 yards past the flag. Not a great result, but a “good” shot in terms of contact. That’s golf. I lagged it from the top level down to the flag and left myself a foot tap in. This was just a day where I hit some great putts, but nothing fell. It’s a game of inches. Birdie would have been huge. Par is definitely ok.

Score: E (+7)

Hole #15

Hole 15 is a bear. There’s water lurking left, but you can’t see it from the back tees. Still, your brain knows its there, and when you combine that with the fact that there is OB right, it’s a challenging tee shot. I ripped 4W up the middle here and left myself center cut, on a flat part of the fairway. It was a great lie, but I was a little further back than normal because there was wind into me. I thought about laying up for a second and then thought, nah, screw it, we didn’t come here to lay up today…..ripped 4w again on a perfect line and it settled just on the fringe behind the bunker.

I hit a bump and run 9i that took the slope and scared the hole but ran by and settled 18 feet away from the hole. Probably shouldn’t have been so aggressive, but if you wanna see the eagle fly, you gotta be aggressive. Lagged the next putt to a couple feet and tapped in for par. Would have loved birdie again, but to come through 14-15 unscathed is big time!

Score: E (+7)

Hole #16

At this point, I knew where I stood and wanted at least 1 birdie coming home to shoot another low number. I flagged one here on 16 last time to about a foot, so I took a confident swing, but overcooked the fade and the wind pushed it down into the front bunker. Again, I was caught in between due to the half set here and wished I’d had the 54* wedge. It was a long bunker shot to the back of the green, so I took my gap wedge and laid it wide open before hitting a perfect slash to the middle of the putting surface.

Then I watched in horror as it not only didn’t release toward the pin, but it spun back and caught the slope in the middle of the green. By the time it was done trickling down the slope, I was 60 feet from the cup, up a huge slope, putting to a pin where the green runs away from the cup after the hole.

I didn’t want to leave it short, and boy, I sure didn’t! I busted it up the slope, and it headed at the hole but veered right, and just kept right on trucking, about 15 feet by. 15 footer up the hill to save bogey….not how I saw it going….I hit an ok putt, but left it outside the cup about a foot or two and tapped in for double. CHOKE JOB!

Score: +2 (+9)

Hole #17

Hit this driver up the right, just out of the heel a bit and it spun into the wind, settling down to the right of the fairway in the rough. I had a good look at the green, but was in a crappy lie, so I hit more of a punchy 9i than a full, flushed iron shot. The ball came out high and soft and landed just off the front edge of the green. I hit another bump and run that checked up more than I hoped it would when it hit the collar. I had 12 feet for par, and I could just sense the score climbing through the roof if I missed it.

I stalked the putt, looking at it from every angle a man could then I picked a line, and rolled it right in the middle. Another HUGE 12 footer to salvage the round.

Score: E (+9)

Hole #18

If ever there was a stinger driver, the ball I hit on 18 was it. The wind was in and across so I teed it a little lower, aimed up the left, and let it rip. It took off like an F-16 low and hot, flying only 25-30 feet high for about 100 yards before climbing and turning over on the wind to the middle of the fairway. I’d love to tell ya how I did it, but I couldn’t even if I wanted to.

So there I was 81 yards from the stick in the middle of the fairway, staring down 80 and needing a birdie for 79. This would have been a perfect 54* sand wedge shot, but that wasn’t an option, so I choked down on the 50* and hit a perfect knockdown wedge that landed hole high, about 15 feet right. It was a flat putt, almost no break. Lined it up, got a sense for the speed, gave it a roll and….

An inch or two short…..story of this round. Coulda been a low one! Tap-in for 80. Frustrating, but happy with how I battled.

Score: E (+9)

Total Score: 80 (+9)

Weird to shoot 39/41 and play much better on the back, but my club is 34/37 for a par 71. Don’t judge us. We’re quirky.

All-in-all, I can’t be too upset. As I’ve mentioned plenty of times now, 80 was the dream a few months ago, and now I’m scaring it or breaking 80 regularly, but I definitely left a few out there. One of those rounds Tiger used to talk about where he ‘shot as high a number as he could have.’ The putter was so good all day, leaving me probably 8 or 9 tap-ins, but I’d trade a couple of those for birds. We’ll get em next time!

THREE KEYS BREAKDOWN:

Penalties: 2.5 today, but the majority were recovery shots and not actual penalty strokes. The penalty on 4 was honestly just a terrible break. That ball had no business kicking that hard and that far to the right. Just brutal.

2-Chips:  No two-chips today, which is big. The whole focus inside of 50 has been to get it on the surface, and so far, knock-on-wood, it’s working!

Three-Putts: Only one lousy 3-putt and that was on 16. I don’t think I could have hit the bunker shot any better, tbh, but that slope was never even in my mind. I think I could hit that shot 50 times, and it might suck back down that hill once or twice. Putter was strong most of the day. That one stung!

Current Handicap: 7.7

As I write this I am an 8.0 cap. Feels good to say that. I wanna play a few places outside my regular courses right now and test that handicap when I travel. That to me is the measure of a solid golfer….how well can you score walking into an unfamiliar course? I’m definitely growing in confidence, but if you think I’d like to go back and play 12 Oaks right now, you haven’t been paying attention. No thank you! Maybe that makes my 8 a vanity cap, but I’ve been grinding my tail off for it, so I’ll take what I can get.

Scorecard:

Not my best, not my worst. A little too much red for my liking on this one. But I like the par run on the back nine. I told myself I needed to keep it at 80 or below and I fought like heck to make it happen. That felt good. 79 would have felt a whole lot better!

Til next time!