Golf 7-14

Score: 100
Location: Fox Valley Golf Club

Hole 1: A 5-wood off the tee was pushed right. I had no real hope of reaching the green for all the trees in my path, so I punched out low back into the fairway. A decent chip and two putts later, a bogey was carded and the day began. The tee shot started a recurring theme.

Hole 2: 6 iron off the tee that lacked in the power department left me down in a little depression a little short and to the right of the green. Another chip and two putt gives another bogey.

Hole 3: Driver, crappily struck. Hybrid 3-wood hit decently, but left, in the rough. A 6-iron pitch to an unobstructed view of the green ended in the rough the right. Then there was waiting. And waiting. The foursome ahead of us was slow. I've seen women walk after me faster than these guys were playing. I pulled the 8 iron and left it short, leaving me about 20 yards from the green. A crappy chip, a better chip and two putts gives an 8. Not good.

Hole 4: After some more waiting, a really nice 5-wood off the tee. 150 yards, downhill and I pull a pitching wedge, land about 6 feet from the green, hit a chip less than 5 feet from the cup, one put. Par!

Hole 5: I hate this hole. There's a most annoying tree on the right in the perfect line for someone to hit a draw. The hole's a dogleg right, so I can understand trying to force a fade. The green's also guarded by a hulking brute of a tree on the front right. And the green has three tiers. Anyway, I hit a great drive, leaving myself 110 away. The pin's on the middle tier and I figure another PW will get me there. Except that I hit it thin and send the ball 20 yards past the green. Faced with a 10-ish foot hill and a green that's running away from me, I'm in pretty deep waters. The flop runs of the green, another chip and 2 putts and I walk away with a double bogey, after being 110 yards away and in great position. This hole's in my head.

Hole 6: Driver off the tee to right before the Valley of Sin. Pulled hybrid 3-wood leaves me in the rough, about 100 away. I'm currently happy with this situation. It's too bad I have to wait about 5 minutes for the group to clear off the green so that I can hit on. Or, instead, hit the ball to the right and short. Flubbed chip + okay chip + putt + putt = double bogey 7.

Hole 7: The Molasses Group lets us play through and I promptly smack a drive off to the right, in the middle of a copse of thin, young trees that are all hearing stories from Grandpappy Tree. I try to play a 5 iron runner shot, and end up in the bunker. A far from ordinary shot leaves me less than a foot, tap in for par.

Hole 8: Driver goes, wait for it, off to the right. I again have no shot at the green, and punch out, rather too strongly, across the fairway into the first cut of rough. Luckily I have the whole green to work with. Unluckily, there's a rather massive downhill component at the beginning of the green. A good chip, two mediocre, putts and a bogey is had.

Hole 9: A six-iron off the tee is pull left, a very handy bounce (almost straight up) off the cart path gets me back in the rough of the correct hole, about hole high. I flub the chip, hit the next one short, but on the green, and make two putts for a double bogey. Score going out: 48

Hole 10: I've now been watching my dad top a goodly percentage of his shots and top my 5 wood. I take an easy swing 50 yards from the tee and end up in really good position, about 60 yards from the hole and with plenty of room on either side to avoid the creek bed. I hit a lob wedge right into the creek bed. Then I skull my chip over the green. A chip and two putts gives me 2par. Not good.

Hole 11: I pull out the 5 wood, choke down on it and try to give it less than a 3/4 swing. This all works too well, as my hips and hands are faster than my arms and I hit a short draw that's left of the green. A chip and two puts nets bogey.

Hole 12: A pull hook off the drive and I'm all wet. A hook with the hybrid 3 wood gets me around the tee box of hole 13. A short pitch, unremarkable chip and 2 putts and I have another double bogey.

Hole 13: Topped driver. Hybrid 3 wood across the fairway into the right rough. Then three shots that I can't remember at all and one put. Double bogey.

Hole 14: Driver off right, which results in a lost ball. Curse you weeds. I won't hit the drive in another direction for the rest of the day, and will play three of the next four holes out of the wrong fairway. There's another three shots that I can't remember, and the scorecard says that I hit only one putt, so the last chip must've been good. I know that I was starting to get more than a bit peeved at this point, too. Double bogey.

Hole 15: 8-iron that is somehow hit to the right side of the fairway to my right. I have no idea how this happens. Seriously, I'm 144 yards from the front of the green and I manage to be about 50 yards off line to the right. Anway, I hit a good looking lob shot directly into the branches of the tree that I thought I'd be able to clear. The chip I hit a little bit thin and it runs 10 feet by the hole. Not good when I was less than 20 feet from the hole to start with. My dad had just putt from where I ended up, so I had a line on the putt, which I sank in one of those "I have to send this 4 feet above the hole and let gravity take it straight down the hill" type of 45 degree angle putts. An interesting bogey.

Hole 16: Driver pushed right, to the right edge of the 5th fairway. Side note, I haven't had to yell "Fore!" all day. There's be no-one in any of the fairways I've hit to. My 8-iron comes up just short and makes a couple inch deep ball mark in the rough just before the green. This is overall rather neat. Chip and two putts makes double bogey.

Hole 17: Drive is, again, pushed right, but this time there's oodles of rough between fairways and I'm in an area populated by trees. I try a fading, low 6-iron, scrape by a few branches and end up in the fairway about 75 yards from where I was. Sigh. There's a seven on the scorecard, and I have two putts recorded so I must have lost the three shots in between. Probably not a pity.

Hole 18: Another drive, another wrong fairway. Another 8-iron short of the green, this time in the bunker. A good bunker shot and 2 putts gives me 5 and mercifully ends the round. Score in: 52