Format: Stableford
Venue: [Home course]
Score: 33pts (joint 2nd)
Handicap mark: 3.4
Themes in reply: The round description says it all.
Hi Colin,
Thanks for the email. You don’t have to reply to each one especially if you are busy.
Anyway, I played this morning before reading it and I am please to say that I hit the ball much better and hit some really good drives. But I didn’t putt as well and ended up with 33 points to come joint 2nd and also my handicap came down .1 from 3.5 to 3.4 so I am off 3 again.
I’ll go through each shot as normal but if its boring for you let me know!
As usual there was a pretty stiff SW wind into and from the left on the first. It wasn’t as strong as last week.
1st – Ok drive a bit right and good 6 iron to front of green. The ball rolled back off the green, putted up to about 4’ but missed so a 5 and 1 point. I would have preferred to hit a 5 iron but the lie wasn’t quite good enough.
2nd – Not a good drive, short and right, knocked a 3 wood down and a wedge just over the green. 2 putted for a 5 nett 4 and 2 points.
3rd – Good drive over the hill and on the fairway. Hit a lovely 9 iron right at the pin but pitched just short and rolled back off the green However putted up to 3’ and holed for a 4 and 2 points.
4th – Starting to time the ball better now, hit a lovely 5 iron all over the flag. I don’t know if you remember the 4th but the green has a severe slope at the front of it. Today the flag was just over the top of that slope. Because the ball was right at the flag it pitched into the slope and rolled back. If it had been maybe 3 yards left where it is flatter, it would have rolled on and been very close. Putted up a bit short and missed the 3’ putt for par. It was coming in from the right and I allowed too much borrow so 1 point.
5th – Really good long straight drive followed by 4 iron to the side of the green, a good chip and a putt for a birdie and 3 points.
6th – Not so good 3 wood into the LH rough. Really good 9 iron recovery to about 15’. Missed the birdie putt and also the 3’ one coming back so a 5 nett 4 and 2 points.
Dear John,
It is extremely pleasing that you are holding your “form”.
5th – how frustrating that you should play this so perfectly after last week’s debacle.
6th – I think this is the hole that you need to start parring off your new handicap mark. I’m not quite sure why the drive is troublesome. I think it is worth you having a think about this hole to check that your strategy on it is sound.
7th – “9-iron to 2ft” – I love the sound that makes when I read it!
Excellent stuff the rest of the round, in your writing it really comes across that you are hitting some lovely shots and that it occurs to you that it is not that difficult to do so. Shame the putts weren’t dropping. But, looking on the bright side, there were four 3-putts in the front nine and none coming back. This reflects exactly your driving performance last week where you improved markedly on the back nine. This indicates to me that your search for “timing” during the round is bearing fruit and that you are not getting distracted by searching for spurious solutions to bad shots.
Two putts per green is normal, one putt is this side of flukey if it’s over 3ft, and 3-putts is abhorrent. You had 11 two-putts, 3 single putts and 4 three-putts: that’s 37 putts (not 35!). Interestingly, you didn’t hole anything of any length; therefore, I think it is fair to say that the six four-footers you missed represent the missed opportunity of the round. If you had holed them you would have had 31putts and scored 39pts.
This is quite a revealing analysis because 31 putts is good but not exceptional and four-footers should be holed; therefore, you can reasonably count this round as a 39-point round: that is, if you had holed the four-footers you would have played off scratch. In those conditions that is good golf in anybody’s book.
Regards,
Colin
7th – 9-iron to 2’ and rolled in the birdie – easy this golf – 3 points.
8th – Cut the drive a little so it lost some length. Wasn’t sure if a 3 wood would get me over the fairway bunkers so laid up. Hit my 52 degree wedge right over the flag to about 12’. Hit the birdie putt a little hard so it went 4’ passed and missed coming back – very annoying and 1 point.
9th – Really good drive to centre of the fairway and a really good 9 iron to 4’. This green had been hollow tined and was pretty ropey so the bouncing putt missed but 2 points for 17 points going out.
10th – Excellent drive and 52° wedge to about 8’ – 2 putts and 2 points.
11th – Good 7 iron to about 12’ – 2 putts and 2 points.
12th – Good drive and good 3 wood, hit my 56° wedge just over the back of the green but got up and down for a 5 nett 4 and 3 points.
13th – Really good long drive into the wind and 3 iron to the back of the green – a good 2 putt for 2 points.
14th – Hit 7 iron just left and it kicked further left off the bank. Chipped a 7 iron into the bank but it came up a bit short – 2 putts for 1 point.
15th – Drive into the LH semi, not a great lie but got it out to a position short and right of the green. Not the best of chips, a bit short and 2 putts for a 5 nett 4 for 2 points.
16th – Really good drive down the LHS, poor 5 iron short and right of the green. Shortsided myself with a bunker between the ball and the flag. Managed a good chip to about 8’ but missed the putt so a 5 and 1 point.
17th – Good drive followed by not quite so good 3 wood. Good 56° wedge to 8’ but 2 putts for 2 points.
18th – Just started to piss down! Really good 3 wood to the middle of the fairway (the tee was forward for some reason). Just pulled my 8 iron and chipped up to 4’. The putt was in but somehow it stayed out – 1 point.
Total points 17 + 16 = 33. It could have been a lot better (as always)
Pleasingly I hit the ball much better – the timing was there. The greens were good so no excuse for missing all those putts. Some days they go in some days they don’t! However, 35 putts is too many. I missed maybe six 4’ putts. Worse that that, I didn’t get up and down on any of the last 5 greens.
I have now read your e-mail and it makes sense. Today, after getting the first few holes out of the way my timing was very good. I did make a change to my swing which helped no end. I won’t get too technical as I know you won’t want to know but in my efforts to hit a draw (especially with the driver) I was getting all closed making a long Fred Couples swing virtually impossible. So I took the club back and up rather than back and around giving a wider arc and enabling me to generate more power and hit the ball straighter. I think this also made the timing easier. With my mind freed of trying to hit a draw I just hit it where I wanted it to go!
So I was pleased how I hit the ball today and how much more easy the game is hitting from the fairway. I am not worried about the putting, the next time they will all go in!
Thanks for your continued interest and I hope this give you more ammo.
How is that website coming on?
Regards,
John
