First eagle, lowest round, lowest 9; playing out of my mind

Kinda upset the season is winding down (live in Wa.) because I have been playing my best golf of the season the last couple of months with the hdcp dropping like a rock. All three things in the title happen today.

Run of the mill front nine with 5 pars and three bogies. Hit 6 fairways and 5 GIR's with 16 putts. Just missed two birdie putts, but took my 39 and was happy. The back started with an eagle chip attempt on 10 that I left 5' short. Since the greens were aerated 10 days ago the putt bounced all over the place and slid out to the right. A tap in par and bogey on 11 leave me at a hole I often have trouble with.

Par 4 360 yd #12 has lots of trees on the right and I think I have hit most of them at one time or another. Hitting the driver great the last 10+ rds and hit it about 240 down the left side. 123 to a back pin placement which is a nice PW for me. Great contact, pin high and the ball disappears. I walk side to side, thinking it must of went past the hole, before I tell the guys that I am playing with that I think it went in. Walking towards the green I could see it was nowhere to be seen and no way it flew the green; walk to the hole and sure enough there it is.

Now comes the fun part as it is after 6 and will be dark in less than an hour. Try to move fast in between shots, but try not to rush the actual shot. Next three holes go par, bogey, par. Come to 16, get behind slow foursome so the twosome I am with calls it a night and heads in. It's a 160 yd par 3 and the light is diminishing. Grab a Wilson Smart Core in bright orange that I found and kept just for such an occasion and hit it five feet past the hole and make the birdie.

17 even more interesting as I wait a couple of minutes for the slow group, but see the driver and then PW come off straight and two putt for the par. Get to 18 and there are 7 other guys all hitting in together. Watch two guys hit and no one sees anything. Hit my drive and all I know is it felt like the one on 17 and sure enough it's on the right side just short of the 150. Grab a 7 iron and again the shot felt good but pretty much blind. On the green, short left two putt par.

Back 9 ends up being in -1 (lowest 9) and final 18 score of 74 (lowest round). As I have been typing this, I also realized I had 28 putts which equals my lowest of the season. Wishing it was spring and not fall. Sorry so long, but can't believe all this happened in one round.

GREAT round. I had a week of out-of-my-mind golf once last season.

Tomorrow you'll shoot 85.

Sorry, not to be an ass. But that's golf.

Great job! I'm in SW WA / OR and wish the season wasn't over, too. I had my lowest round ever with a 73 last week. Shot an 81 today, blew the finish but played strong overall again.

NICE round!!! Even though the season is ending you're ending it on a good note, you'll have this round to reflect on all winter.

What course were you playing?

Capital City in Lacey. Work down that way even though I live in Tacoma. Really like the course and it stays pretty dry. Also, $14 for a round can't be beat.

sick round! unreal man, your gona shatter that 10 hdcp!

Congrates !

Yup that's why I haven't played a round since my 4 birdie back 9. I'm definitely DUE for a blow up.

To the OP, 3 over on the front 9 is run of the mill? Wouldn't that make your handicap a lot lower if you normally average 3 over on a 9? Anyways congrats to your eagle and 74.

Congrats on your first eagle. I just made my first one last week too.
Feels great.

Contests! Lots of milestones there.

What's the course rating?

Haven't updated my hdcp here but it's now in the low 8's. By run of the mill I meant as of late with almost all of my low rounds this year having occurred in the last couple of months. My driving has been crazy good and also a switch in putting has helped significantly. Course is not an extremely difficult one with a rating of 69.4. Course is in housing development so if you are not hitting the driver well, it is either into what tree there are or worse OB in someones yard. I like it because it is close to work, stays dry and is between $15-20 at twilight. Greens are usually nice, but they were aerated 10 days earlier.