Course: MacDonald Golf Course
Date: 4/15/12
This is the first of eight weeks of the Wichita Adult Golf League. Each week, teams of two play 9 holes of four ball. My teammate this year is my daughter again. We finished in 2nd place overall in the 2011 league. For 2012, there are 32 teams signed up.
Weather was bad for this round. We had tornado’s the day before and the wind was 30-40mph all day. Our opponents didn’t show up on time, so we went off on our own. I assumed their either would not show up at all or would be DQ’d for the day for missing their tee time so decided to play more aggressively than I normally would.
#1 – Par 5 straight down wind with trees left and right. Felt very uncomfortable (normally I hit 3w off this tee), but made a good swing with a driver and hit the fairway. Had 190 to the hole and hit an 8 iron to 15 feet. Putt was straight up the hill, and I made it for eagle. -2
#2 – Longish par 3 straight back into the wind – I hit 5 iron, which wasn’t enough club and ended up in the front right bunker. Because of the rains, the bunkers all had water in the bottom, and the remaining sand was very compacted. My SW bounced into the ball and it went long of the green. A decent flop shot to 10 feet, and missed the putt. E
#3 – Down wind par 4 with trees right and OB left. I normally hit hybrid off this tee as the hole is pretty short, but decided to hit driver and try to get it near the green. Made a horrendous swing and hit a low pull hook that went OB. 2nd drive was good in right side of fairway 20 yards from green. Made a good pitch but left it 10 feet above the hole, missed the putt. Back to back doubles. +2
#4 – Dogleg left par 4 playing down wind with bunkers at the corner. I hit 4-iron and pushed it a bit into the right rough. Had gap wedge remaining and hit it OK, about 25 feet right of the pin. Birdie putt was never close, but made the par come-backer. +2
#5 – Tight par 4 with trees to left and right. Hit hybrid to be safe but made 2nd horrible swing of the day and ended up in trees to the right. Had to punch a 6-iron back into the fairway, and then misjudged the wind with my SW and ended up short of the green. Hit the chip too hard and missed the resulting downhill 8 footer. Third double in 4 holes. +4
#6 – Par 5 back into the wind. Tough driving hole with water right and OB very close on the left. Usually, I lay up off the tee and make it a 3 shot hole, but hit driver since we didnt have an opponent. Hit driver perfect about 305 to right side of the fairway, leaving me 205 to the green. Made another good swing with a 4-iron to 20 feet. Misread the break on my eagle putt and had to settle for birdie. +3
#7 – Dogleg right par 4 that requires a layup off the tee, or a crazy agressive blind driver over the corner. I hit another good 4-iron to a perfect spot in the fairway. 2nd shot was only 135, but into the wind with a bunker short of the flag. I aimed away from the bunker and hit a low 9-iron that missed the green by about 10 feet. Hit a good pitch to 2 feet and made the lutt. +3
#8 – Another forced layup on this shortish par four with water short of the green. Tried to hit another 4-iron, but caught it a bit heavy and it finished well back in the right rough. My view of the green was obstructed by trees, and I hit a knock-down 7-iron that missed the green ay 10 yards to the right. Hit a great flop shot that spun nicely from the rough and had a kick-in for par. +3
#9 – Downhill par 3 over water and directly into the wind. I was very concerned about balooning an iron shot into this green, so took an extra club – 6-iron from 160 – and knocked it down. Hit it well, but came up about 10 feet short of the green on the fringe. Bump and run chip wih an 8-iron to about a foot for another par. +3
What a weird round of golf. 3 doubles and only shot 3 over par. The big takeaway for me
From this round was (1) when I trust my swing, it generally produces. The two terrible drives I hit were both scared swings where I was reacting to a bad feeling half way thru my swing. I need to be fully committed and trust myself on every shot. (2) My normal conservative play off the tee is costing me strokes. If we had an opponent today, I would not have hit driver off #1 or #6. The likely result of that is not making the eagle or the birdie. That turns a 39 into a 42 real quick.
My length gives me an advantage only when I use it, and I need to use it more often.
Our opponents did show up about 30 minutes after we teed off and they were allowed to post a score (41). On a very windy day, Team Schlyer finished with the 2nd best score of all the teams.
39 (+3)
3/7 fwy
3/9 GIR
14 putts
Leage Record: 1-0