Course: Prairie Trails
Date: 3/25/12
Nice weather for this round, though the wind did start blowing 15-20 after the first few holes. The course was packed and play was very slow – 2:45 for the front 9. The nines had been flipped from the last time I played and it really works better with this routing, even though it emphasizes the blind tee shots.
#1 – Blind driver to a downhill Par 4. Hit my worst shot of the day off this tee, weak and right. Hit perfect 8-iron to green but it was long. Good flop shot to 8 feet. Made the putt for par. E
#2 – Blind tee shot for this dog leg left Par 5. Hit a perfect draw into middle of fairway. After 10+ minute wait, hit a cut 6 iron that didnt cut and ended up just left of the green. Hit decent flop shot (most greens are elevated here) to 8 feet. Misread break, made par. E
#3 – Over hooked a hard 6 to this uphill par 3. Poor chip left me 12 foot downhill slider. 2 putt bogey. +1
#4 – OK 3-wood just off edge of right fairway into a horrible lie. Tried to flight an 8-iron down but pulled it into a very awkward spot on short side. Chip to 20 feet that was about as close as I could have gotten it. Made the putt for par. +1
#5 – Uphill par 5 with water guarding left and right of drive landing zone. I hit hybrid off the tee to stay short of the water. Drew a terrible lie in the middle of the fairway and hit a squirrelly 4-iron into left rough. Had 90 yards, uphill and into the wind remaining and hit a terrible SW short and right of green. Hit chip to 6 feet, but misread the putt. Bogey. +2
#6 – Par 3 over water. Had a 10+ minute wait on the tee as we watch the 2 groups in front of us both fishing balls out of the same pond that fronts this green and the tee box on the next hole. 190 straight down wind, hit 8 iron to about 10 feet. Misread the putt, tap in par. +2
#7 – Dogleg left par 4 with an uphill 2nd shot. Straight into the wind, I hit 3 wood at the corner but cut it a bit and ended up just in the right rough with a fluffy lie. With 170 left, uphill and cross breeze, I hit 8 iron that flew the green by 40 yards. Not sure if it was just that big of a flier, or if the yardage was wrong (the course is not well marked). Ball ended up on a big patch of mud to a green sloping away from me and I couldn’t hold the green. Hit a terrible chip coming back and missed the resulting 8 footer. Double bogey. +4
#8 – Another blind tee shot. Hit 4 iron to lay up short of the water but pulled it into the left rough. Sand Wedge came out hot and went to back of the green about 50 feet away. Good lag putt and a tap-in par. +4.
#9 – Semi-blind tee shot on this uphill par 4 with OB tight to the right. Hit 3-wood to try to find the fairway but pulled it again into left rough. Had to go over a pine tree and came up short of the green with 2nd shot. Poor chip that hit the top of the face and barely got onto the green about 20 feet away. 2 putt bogey. +5
#10 – Par 5 with OB tight to the right and trees left. Hit a perfect 3-wood to middle of the fairway. Cut a 6-iron from 220 downwind onto the green about 20 feet for eagle. Good putt just missed low. Tap in birdie. +4
#11 – Slight dogleg right par 4 uphill. Hit a solid drive into the wind in the middle of the fairway. Good wedge to about 15 feet and burned the edge on the high side. Par. +4
#12 – Par 4 into the wind. Hit pretty good drive that missed the fairway to the right by one step. Ball was sitting in mud with no grass underneath. Tried to punch an 8-iron and yanked it badly to short side of green. Hit what I thought was a perfect flop shot, but it died as soon as it landed 10 feet away. Played putt just outside right and it didn’t break. Bogey. +5
#13 – 210 yard par 3 into the wind. Shots like this are why I dumped my 5-wood and put the 4-iron back in the bag. Hit is left of where I wanted but only missed the green by 4 feet. Unfortunately, green is bean shaped and I couldn’t chip or putt it at the hole because some rough stuck out in my way. Hit terrible flop shot to about 15 feet and had a seizure on the first putt – knocking it 6 feet past. Missed the comebacker. Double. +7
#14 – Downwind par 5. Hit a poor drive that found some long grass in the right rough. Hit hybrid trying to get close to green but still in right rough. Punch SW from about 45 yards to 6 feet. Left the birdie putt short. Par. +7
#15 – Par 3 over water. Another 8 iron, but a little off the toe caused it to hook. Still caught the green and 2 putted from about 30 feet. Par. +7
#16 – Short par 4 with water to the right. Yanked a 4-iron into the left rough and had some tree trouble on 2nd shot. Punched a 6 iron to about 10 yards short left of the green. Hit a poor chip to 10 feet and missed the par save. Bogey. +8
#17 – 205 yard par 3 with a right to left wind a bit into me and water short. Hit 5 iron and over hooked and hopped off of back edge of the green. Good chip and kick in for par. +8
#18 – Pushed a drive into right rough. 2nd shot was from bad angle and significantly uphill – hit 9 iron and missed green on top of large mound at back right edge. Another poor chip left a crazy 6 footer with 12 inches of break that I lipped out. Bogey. +9
How the hell did I shoot 80? As it was happening, it felt like a 90, but still should have been 76 or so if I don’t hit some awful chips or get some awful lies. Didn’t hit alot of fairways, but several misses were very close so I’m not concerned about that. 7 greens isn’t nearly enough for such a short course, though the greens are on the small side. 34 putts is way too much and I had several misreads or makeable putts left short.
Still alot of work to get where I want to be in the next month.
41-39=80 (+9)
5/13 fwy
7/18 GIR
34 putts