A brief backstory…
I took another trip to Holly Springs, NC over the weekend to participate in the 2022 Jim Harvey Cup at 12 Oaks, and promptly got my annual thrashing from that course. It’s a great tourney that honors my uncle’s love for the game, and also raises money for the Charity I help run, Orphan’s Promise. This year, we had a full field with some great golfers, and we raised just under $5,000 to help kids in need worldwide! Pretty awesome!
Anyway, I shot a 93, but I walked away feeling like my game is improving. That may sound weird to you, but this 93 at 12 Oaks was different than in years gone by. Last year, I shot 99 and 98 on back-to-back days and I considered finding a nice pawn shop on my way back to Virginia to free myself from my clubs. 12 Oaks is, without question, the hardest course I’ve ever played. It has it all…some narrow landing areas, some positional golf, lots of elevation changes both up and down as well as side to side, and some of the fastest, most elevated greens I play during the year. I’m certain there are harder courses that exist, but for my game and my talent level, 12 Oaks is a test I’m yet to pass.
Normally I have tried to overpower the course, and it has never worked or even come close to working. This year, I took a smarter approach, opting for my new Taylormade Stealth DHY 2i off the tee for most of the day and only hitting driver when I had room to send it without any fear of a big miss. I hit 11 fairways, more than double any year prior, and I landed my approach shots on the putting surface about 8 times…unfortunately ONLY TWO of those shots stayed on the surface, and I was left with treacherous chips uphill to greens running around 13 on the stimp. I made a couple bad swings all day, hit some really poor chips, babied a few too many putts, and I turned an 83 or 85 into 93, just wasting shots around the greens. Still…my actual ball striking was very clearly improved, and anybody who’d seen me play previously said as much. I wasn’t happy with 93, but I left encouraged about where my game was trending.
Back on schedule
Fast forward to this morning, and I headed to the course for a quick 9 after dropping my son off for his first day of 3rd grade. They grow up so fast! Even though I had no real reason to feel optimistic after posting my worst round in months, I headed to the course this morning with a different sense of expectation. I knew I wasn’t going to be facing Really tight/penal fairways, super long or thick rough, or lightning fast greens. I was back home, I was comfortable and as I stepped on the first tee I felt confident!
Let’s see if I remember how to do this…
Course: Chesapeake Golf Club
Date: August 24, 2022
Time: 7:45 AM
Conditions: 70*; humid & overcast
WITB:
Ping G425 LST 9* (turned to 7.5*) with Aldila Rogue White 130 70TX
Taylormade 300 Mini 13.5* (turned to 11.5*) with Ventus Black 7X
Callaway Apex UW 19* with HZRDUS Smoke RDX Black 80 6.5
Taylormade Stealth DHy 2i 17* with Recoil 110 F5
Callaway XForged Utility 21* with Recoil 110 F5
Srixon ZX5/ZX7 Combo irons 5-PW; +3/4” 2* Up; KBS Ctaper Lite X-Stiff
Cleveland CBX2 50*/56* wedges with DG 115 Wedge Flex Shafts
Cleveland Frontline Elevado Putter 37”
You may notice I’m using a different app right now….Arccos has won me back for a trial period, and tbh, I’m kinda loving it. Jury is still out, but their data visualizations are 2nd to none as I think you’ll see. More on apps and stat tracking tools in a later post…
Hole 1:
I didn’t have much time to get loose, so I didn’t want to pull the driver outta the bag right away and try to send it. Even though it may not look it, everything seems to angle toward the street on this hole, which is obviously OB, so I took an aggressive swing with a conservative target and club, and it worked out perfectly. Center cut, 250 yd mini driver left me in a perfect spot. I was hoping to get a bit more distance out of it, but it was still wet from some rain we got, so there was almost no roll once the ball landed today.
Wind was a touch in and I had a back pin, so I thought a smooth PW was the answer, and I was right. I tugged it a hair, but usually, that’s ok on this hole because the left side of the green runs down toward the stick. Again, though, wet ground and the ball didn’t move. I had 38 feet for birdie from the left edge of the green. I saw the line, hit it well and it ran past the edge about 2 feet. Knocked it in the middle for a nice, easy opening par.
Hole Score: E
Round Score: E
Hole 2:
The 2nd hole is a weird one for me and I’m always deciding between clubs as I walk to the tee box. This is another one where the GPS map doesn’t really reflect some of the challenges of the hole. For one thing, the shrubs and tall grass around the edge of the pond in front of the tee box are really tall. 6 feet tall or more, so you can’t even see much of the fairway when standing on the tee box. Additionally, mini driver and driver are obviously plenty long for the hole, but it’s pretty narrow in the fairway where they would land, and when I try to just aim right and send it with driver or mini, I often clip the tops of the trees on the right, which are also very tall. That leads to punchouts and bogeys. I knew from my round at 12 Oaks that 2i was a weapon I needed to use, and before I even got to the course today, I’d made my mind up that 2i was the play here.
I ripped it right down the middle with a baby cut. Again, a tad short bc I got no roll, but 230 is plenty on this shorter, tighter par 4. I felt like with the morning dew the ball might jump a bit and long is DEAD on this hole, so I grabbed my 56* wedge and threw it up in the air, landing it like a bag of flour 15 ft or so from the stick. I think I was having flashbacks from 12 Oaks, because I babied this putt and left it about 1 foot short dead in the heart. Ho hum, tap in par. Again.
Hole Score: E
Round Score: E
Hole 3:
Short Par 3 here and a smooth PW to the front proved to be perfect. One of the things that has really improved over the last 3-4 months has been my iron play. It’s not that I never miss a shot, it’s more that I’m almost always hitting it straight, or just a VERY slight baby fade. The big misses with irons are gone, and it’s really driving my GIR up significantly.
I hit a good putt here, but it was a bit of a bumpy road (semi-private course in Hampton Roads in August means its gotten tons of play over the last several months) and it settled about 1 foot away for a 3rd straight tap in par.
Hole Score: E
Round Score: E
Hole 4:
Hole 4 is the Aeon Risk-Reward hole of the round. I usually lay up with 7 or 8i and then have 190-205 in. It’s the “safe” play, but it puts a lot of pressure on the 2nd shot. Today I decided to send it. I think this is a direct result of playing 12 Oaks over the weekend. I’m normally scared to death of this hole, and when I stepped up, I was confident it was go-time today. I sent the driver on a string right up the middle about 290 yards, leaving myself a short little 3/4 wedge into this elevated/sloped green.
I landed it about 12 feet behind the pin, hoping again to suck it back just a bit, but it wouldn’t cooperate. Still, I saw the line, gave it good pace and it fell right in the heart. Birdie! Let’s go. 1-under through 4!
Hole Score: -1
Round Score: -1
Hole 5:
As stupid as it may sound, I got ahead of myself here and started thinking about the tweet I was gonna send when I went low today.
I still put an ok swing on this, but as soon as I hit it, I knew I was a bit short. That’s ok though, I’m confident in my bunker game and long is dead, as you can see. I splashed this out right at the hole and it just slid by, leaving me about 5 feet downhill. I was feelin it at this point, and knew exactly where to hit it and how hard to hit it. Drained it for a nice par saver. Let’s go!
Hole Score: E
Round Score: -1
Hole 6
This was my one bad hole of the day. I hit a decent 2i, but I started it a little more right than I wanted to, and it just ran through the fairway, and anything long of the fairway runs down a steep slope. I wasn’t getting there in 2 from where I was, so I hit a perfect little punch shot to the peninsula and left myself 240, which is a perfect number for the Apex UW 19.
My third shot was my worst shot of the day. I tried to guide it instead of just sending it, and I blocked it off the toe a bit. It flew just over the right edge of the greenside bunker, hit the hill, and kicked OB into a neighbor’s yard. BRUTAL. This is where the wheels might usually fall off for me, but I decided I was going to fight to stay in it and shoot the best possible number, even with the stroke and distance penalty. I dropped another, went through my routine again, and smoked a perfect laser with the UW right at the green.
The ball carried to the back half of the green and settled on the fringe just off the back. I popped a little bump and run 9i to 12 feet, which was downhill and curving significantly. This is the toughest green on the whole course, so I gave it some attention, studied it, and hit it on a perfect line. Even though the putt was for double, when it fell in the center of the cup, I gave it a mini fist pump. I hated the OB shot, but the fact I stuck with it, hit a great shot next and then got up and down was big for me, even if I didn’t love the scorecard geometry.
Hole Score: +2
Round Score: +1
Hole 7:
The tees were way left today, so I couldn’t see even an inch of the green, but had a great view of the bunker, which is lovely since that’s exactly where this drive ended up. I’ve been in that bunker a bunch lately, but it really isn’t a terrible place to be. On the green is Position A, but the bunker is probably Position B. I did have a longer bunker shot today though, bc the ball rolled a bit right in the bunker, and the pin was back left. I still felt pretty confident in my ability outta the bunker. I just took a bigger swing, hit a little further behind it, and the ball popped out, carried longer, and rolled out a couple of feet.
Still, I had 26 feet up the hill with a tough of right to left. I hit it on a good line, but overcooked it a touch. I had 4 feet coming back, but stepped right up and drained it. The putter was pretty strong today. Never got me in trouble and rescued me a time or two.
Onward and upward.
Hole Score: E
Round Score: +1
Hole 8:
Hole 8 is a nemesis hole for me, as EVERY FREAKING ROUND RECAP here will show. It’s ALWAYS been a gap wedge, but I’ve never felt comfortable with my wedges until I put these Cleveland CBX in the bag, so I’ve tried to baby a PW into this hole too many times. Today I decided to graduate and just sack up and hit the GW, and I flushed it right where I was looking. I honestly thought this was gonna get REALLY tight. I hit it into the slope right behind the green, but again it was so soft that it left a big pitch mark and the ball grabbed a clump of mud and just sat still on the hill.
I was about 18 feet away downhill, but I felt good about it…until I hit the putt. Because it was so wet, I thought it would be slow, but the ball took off, and I ran it by on the edge about 5 feet. I was determined to save the par. I would normally be defeated with a bad first putt, but not today. NOT TODAY! Eyed it, picked a line, and buried it. Another mini fist pump. Feelin it!
Hole Score: E
Round Score: +1
Hole 9:
I don’t want to make too much of this, because I’m not sure you’ll fully grasp this, but for me this is one of the coolest golf holes I’ve played in a while. Not the hole as in the architecture, but the hole as in my mindset and approach just felt so different than usual.
As I mentioned, I’ve bogeyed 8 a lot, well I’ve bogeyed 9 even more. Many a round have been derailed by the last two holes, where I’ve often finished bogey-double.
Today, however, I was havin NONE of that crap. I decided driver wasn’t the play because where I land driver here, everything slopes hard right, so I grabbed the mini driver, I saw the shot in my mind, picked a target, and hit a frozen rope up right right side of the fairway. I was hoping for a *little* more distance, but again, no roll. Still, It was a perfect shot, and the fact I hit it when I really needed it was BIG for me.
The 2nd shot was a tough decision because the flag was 184, which is a perfect 8 iron for me, but it was on the upper tier, and long on this hole is dead. It runs down hard into pine straw and trees. Short can also be dead because there’s a really big slope between the front lower tier and the top back tier. The ball was in the fairway, but it was still wet from dew, and I decided an 8 might jump and I didn’t want to fly the green, so if a 9 jumped it would be perfect. I settled on 9, picked a spot, and hit a great 9i that did jump a touch and ended up hole high but about 18 feet right.
Again, that may seem pretty minor and insignificant, but it’s just different than how I normally attack a golf course. In fact, I don’t normally attack the golf course at all. I play timid and scared, and today I was the aggressor, even if that meant taking a conservative approach. It felt like real golf. So 18ish feet across the green with a bit of a slope along the way. Picked another good line, hit another good putt, and just missed it about 6 inches left of the cup. It settled a foot away and I reached across and tapped it in.
I would have loved to have made a bird there and shot an even-par 9 for the first time ever, but I was thrilled with +1 and know I was really 1 bad swing away from E or even -1.
Hole Score: E
Round Score: +1
Breakdown/Analysis
Again, you see I’m using Arccos for the time being, and one of the reasons I was persuaded to try Arccos again was because they hired Lou Stagner and I just feel like their data and visualizations are better than everyone else and improving regularly. I am loving the post-round info they spit out, and I think you’ll enjoy seeing some of it too.,
The Strokes Gained data is great to see where things were working and where they weren’t. This is actually a touch misleading because it shows my Approach SG as -.8, but that’s mostly because my third shot on the par 5 went OB, so I had to take stoke and distance. I lost 1.9 strokes w that penalty, so you do the math. Beyond that shot I gained over a stroke the rest of the way. This was a true 3/3 (or 4/4 depending how you break it down) based on Jon Sherman’s keys to success. Everything was working.
Fairway % was strong, GIR was very strong, Short game strong, Putter was steady. All great things.
DRIVING
This data is great because it compares your good to your bad to see where you’re gaining or losing ground off the tee. I typically lose about 1 stroke per round from penalty shots, where today I didn’t lose any, and gained .5 from distance and accuracy. I’ll never see BIG SG numbers off the tee at my course because there are too many holes where driver is not the play, but still, it’s good to see all positives here.
I’ve had a left miss creeping in a touch off the tee lately, so I was glad to see more accuracy and the left-to-right shot rule the day today!
I hit it great today off the tee. The only real mistake was the 2i off the tee on the Par 5 that bounced down the hill. But I can assure you it’s a better play than in the water left or driver through the fairway long and OB.
APPROACH
Again, I hit it really well from pretty much everywhere today, but that shot into the par 5 that went OB killed my numbers from distance. Overall, still very strong.
Since I’ve improved my iron play, I’ve seen my GIR numbers soar, as I mentioned. Hitting 7/9 was a pipe dream 6 months ago. I’m not sure how much different my swing would look on video or on a trackman, I just know the results speak for themselves. This is the main difference in my scores dropping from low-mid 80s to mid-high 70s consistently. Approach play is a BIG key.
PUTTING
Always helps when ya hit a couple in that mid-range! Big key though is not throwing any strokes away on the shorties. Those can ruin a round or keep the momentum goin, and today it was all momentum!
FINAL INSIGHTS
I enjoy these little 3-key takeaways that show me what helped me and what hurt me. Putter and wedges carried me home today, while I’ve got some work to do to minimize trouble on those long approaches. But that feels like an anomaly, tbh.
All-in-all, this was my current game at its peak for 33 shots. Two swings on that par 5 hurt me, but that’s golf. It’ll happen. As I’ve learned from Jon Sherman and Lou Stagner, I’ve got to manage my expectations and when I think about it from that perspective, this was a REALLY great round of golf.
I turn 39 tomorrow, August 25th, and I am really excited to see what kind of golf lies ahead this year!
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of the Arccos data. I’m kind of obsessed w it right now!