Saturday was the first day of the Mill Creek Championship. I was in the second flight which is 15+ HCP. I played a record round (for me) of 82. This was enough to put me in the lead of our flight by one stroke. Then I cracked...
I got to the course today for the second round and was shaking like a dog shitting glass. I couldn't put two shots back to back and I shot a wondrous 97. This included a, get this, FIVE PUTT on a par 3. A freaking 5-putt. That kind of set the tone for the rest of the day.
On the bright side, in my first tournament during my first year of golf, I tied for 7th in my flight which consisted of 11-15 players. That is good enough to get me into the match play event next month.
Needless to say I was extremely disappointed and by the time I teed off on 13, my spirit was broken. I just did the best I could do to hit the ball and realize that the damage was already done. All I could do was try to stop the hemorrhage.
I went out last Saturday with my cousin and uncle. It was definitely a rough looking course (tree roots exposed on one green for example), but it's golf. Things went really well all day. My short game was on, my approach shots were good, but what really stuck out was my driving.
I had been hitting well all day, but the real bomb came on one of the late holes. It was marked as a 304 yard par 4 and the tees were all the way back. I turned one loose and over the hill it went (blind, slightly uphill tee shot). We went up looking for it and it was laying on the back fringe of the green at an estimated 308 yards. I ended up finishing the day with an 85.
My next foray into the exclusive 300 Club came at Mill Creek just this past weekend. We were on 15 which is a 310 yard par 4. There was a guy and his son on the green that were just putting out. I figured I had some room to spare and I went ahead a let it go. I saw it hit the ground and bounce a couple of times. I figured I was near the front edge of the green. Carl and I went on up and Carl hit his approach. As we walked up the guy on the green (still there putting and chipping around) said, "Nice drive, Tiger." It was laying about 15 yards left of the green and even with the back edge. Then I hit I nice one about 290-300 on 16 just down the right side.
Now let's see if I can put it all together for this weekend at the Mill Creek Championship tournament.
All the stars were aligned and all was right with the world Saturday. I've been putting in many hours at the driving range the last couple of weeks or so and it finally paid off.
I went to Mill Creek early Saturday morning. We started on the back 9 and things started awful. I shot an 8 on the very first hole. Fortunately, I recovered pretty well and started shooting pars and bogeys. I wrapped up the back 9 with an average 45. We moved on to the front 9 and I started out by shooting par on the first hole. I have only parred that hole one time ever. It pretty much set the tone for the rest of the round. I bagged 1 birdie and 9 pars during the round and shot 3 over on the front 9 to end the round with an 84. That breaks the elusive 90 barrier and beats my previous personal best by 7 strokes.
I had a couple of bad rounds a couple of weeks ago. My first one was just raw. I couldn't hit anything well and it just really got to me. The people in my foursome were not helping me watch my ball as I hit into the rising sun. I started with some swearing and I threw a club. Not good. I was not proud of myself, but anger and frustration rarely lend themselves to rational thought and clear vision.
So, the following day, Paul (the guy whose tee time we ride on) pulled me aside at work and talked to me about it. OK, no big deal. I knew I was wrong and I took my medicine. Fast forward 6 days.
The anniversary of my dad's death (Father's Day weekend, no less...as it will be every year. Fucking hooray). So, naturally, I'm not in the best of moods. Oh, I also ran late on the tee time and had to catch up one hole later. I'm just not in a good frame of mind. I played OK, but I had my dad on my mind and I was kind of walking on egg shells because I got dressed down the week prior. So, I was QUIET. I really didn't say boo to anyone the whole round.
Next day...another dress down in Paul's "office". I'm not fitting in apparently. They have a little clique that seems to work well without me. I was not told I couldn't play with them, but who the hell would feel comfortable playing with the guy that just read you the riot act two weeks straight? Fuck you. I quit. How's that?
So, I haven't shown up to another tee time since and I don't have intentions on ever going again. I just drop in on Sunday around 8:30 or 9:00 and the starter works me in without a problem. Touche, asswipe. I still get to play.
I've been hard at work the last couple of weeks trying to get my swing together and I have finally made some huge progress. I'm working really hard on keeping my head still which keeps me from swaying off the ball. This has had a huge effect on my ball striking. I'm now hitting much crisper irons. I even take a divot now and then but, even when I don't, I skim the ground ahead of the ball where I should be.
My driver has been the club that kills me lately. However, today was a different story. I went to Mill Creek after work and put in a half-round on the back 9. I hit every drive, with the exception of one, arrow straight and the one that went to the right on 18 ended up even with the front edge of the green in the right rough. I had a couple of drives that were around 280 or so.
I had my driver re-shafted Sunday with a Grafalloy Pro Launch Red. It's a much stiffer-tipped shaft with a higher torque rating (to reduce twist) and a higher kickpoint (to bring my ball flight down). Then I started working on my swing. I've started trying to swing slower with more shoulder and a bit of a push toward 1:00. It's really helped to straighten things out. My one drive tonight that went right went there because I set the ball too far back in my stance. I thought something looked odd at address, but I swung anyway. I need to learn to step back and re-address once in a while.
I had a couple of great shots with my long irons. They usually give me some trouble by blading or slicing, but today they were awesome.
So, all this together netted me a 41 tonight. I have an outing Saturday at Phoenix Links (new course for me) and my regular Sunday round at Mill Creek. Let's see if I can keep it up.
