Never did my anylasis of our last match, so I guess I’ll do it now. 😃

The first 18-hole match was Thursday, and I’ll just say this: it wasn’t near the level of success we had on Tuesday. Not terrible by any means, but definitely not great. The course we played, Kerr Lake Country Club, wasn’t in fantastic shape, but it was a fun layout that kinda made up for the condition. We played the white tees (just under 6200 yards), so all yardages I note are from there. I’ll do another hole by hole anylasis, and because the second hole was my starting hole, I’ll start there!

No. 2; Par 4, 291 yds. A solid 5H to the center of the fairway, slightly heavy pitch shot short, barely missed my par putt. +1

No. 3; Par 3, 157 yds. A par 3 over water. Not ideal. I hit a slightly thin 7I that came up about ten feet short, then hit a solid chip and again, barely missed the par putt. +2

No. 4; Par 4, 392 yds. Solid drive to about 170 out, misclubbed and came up short again, but I hit a nice pitch shot and made the five-footer for par. +2

No. 5; Par 4, 380 yds. My first shot was a well-struck driver, but I pulled it a bit and hit it OB. My next shot was another solid driver that this time found the center of the fairway. I chunked a 6I then chunked a wedge, so I had to chip in to avoid maxing out at triple bogey. A good chip to four feet, but not good enough. +5

No. 6; Par 5, 442 yds. I popped up a 3W slightly but still down the middle. Two solid 7I shots later I was just short of the green. Another solid chip shot, but missed the par putt. +6

No. 7; Par 4, 376 yds. I missed my 3W tee shot right, but I had a shot if I could fade an 8I around the tree in front of me. I pulled the shot off and found myself on the front of the green, but 40 feet out. Still a pretty darn good shot from where I was. I hit a good lag putt to about three feet, but my par putt did almost a full 360 round the lip and popped out. +7

No. 8; Par 3, 149 yds. It didn’t play this long because of a slight downhill slope and a front pin. I thinned a 9I, took two to get out and two putted. +9

No. 9; Par 4, 368 yds. I hit a solid drive but a bit left, and again I had a tree in my way. Couldn’t get it over, but it still finished just short, in good position. I took a while to determine what I was gonna hit for my pitch shot but decided on my 54 degree. I had the right club, hitting it to three feet. A good stroke, but it slid past the right edge. +10

No. 10; Par 5, 493 yds. Ugh. A messy hole. I lost my ball in the water off the tee, then dropped and hit my third to within 100 yards. I chunked another wedge and hit another chip within ten feet. Knowing it was almost a must-make, I missed the putt and settled for double. +12

No. 11; Par 3, 189 yds. This is where my round got interesting. Playing over water, into the wind, I hit a solid 4H just short of the green and managed a solid up-and-down, sinking about a four-footer. +12

No. 12; Par 4, 325 yds. A short hole and a good opportunity to get another par. I put myself in position A by hitting it down the left side, but chunked another 8I short. My bump-and-run chip came up short as well, and I needed to make a five-footer to save bogey. Barely missed it on the low side. +14

No. 13; Par 4, 383 yds. A fairly straightforward but narrow hole. I decided on the 3W and hit a bit of push-fade, nearly into the trees. I did have a shot, and I hit it just short, in good position. I hit another good chip (chipping was pretty on-point today), but missed another makeable putt. +15

No. 14; Par 4, 367 yds. Given that there was water pinching the fairway about 220 from the tee, I chose the driver. Bombed it and only had about 120 in. Tried to take a little off a PW because it was downwind, but I somehow airmailed it over the green. Yet another solid chip to about three feet, and I made the putt. +15

No. 15; Par 3, 167 yds. Normally a 6I for me, but it was again downwind, so I felt confidently pulled 7I. I pured it, and it finished just on the back fringe, about fifteen feet out. Not wanting to do anything crazy with the downhill putt, I lagged it within two feet and happily took par. +15

No. 16; Par 5, 501 yds. A weird hole, so I was just playing for position here. Pushed my tee ball slightly and had to punch out. Still, I was able to get within 130 laying two. Then the most disappointing shot of the round came. I flubbed it into the creek, not ten yards in front of me. I had to drop, and I was honestly lucky to save double bogey, having to make a ten-footer to save it. +17

No. 17; Par 4, 364 yds. Another pushed drive that also faded, and I had to punch out again. My pitch shot caught a horrendous bounce, and I was still short of the green laying three. I failed at this up and down, again grazing the edge. Back to back doubles. +19

No. 18; Par 4, 334 yds. Two holes to play, both reasonable scoring opportunities (finished on the par-5 first hole). I regrouped after the last two holes and nailed my tee shot, barely trickling into the rough. On the approach, I fixed my gaze on the flagstick and nothing else, and my shot was all over it, finishing just six feet out. I hit another solid putt, but it didn’t drop. Tapped in for par on probably my best hole of the day. +19

No. 1; Par 5, 507 yards. My goal at the start of the day was to shoot 90 or better. That was by no means out of reach, needing birdie here for 90. My 5W tee shot finished just in the left rough, so I decided to lay up with a 7I. Middle of the fairway, 110 out, only grass between my ball and the pin. I hit a smooth PW slightly left, but I got a good kick off a mound and rolled onto the green, about 20 feet out. Wanting birdie now, I rolled my putt about four feet past, and then I missed that one and tapped in for bogey. +20

So, the final score is a 92. Definitely could’ve been better, because I lost some strokes off the tee, but because my short game was solid, it could’ve also been worse. I parred a few tough holes (holes 4, 11 and 15 in particular) where I could’ve easily made a bogey or worse, so overall I wasn’t too disappointed. 

My short game was solid in this match, with several chips within ten feet and a handful within five. As far as putting goes, I feel that it was just one of those days where my stroke felt good and I hit a lot of good putts, but nothing was dropping. A lot of them touched the lip of the cup too.

My brother and one other teammate split this round in two, and my brother played the back nine. My first teammate was off the first tee, and she posted 58, which is a pretty solid number by her standards. Then my brother took over, and he shot 53 on the tougher back nine, making their total 111.

As a team, we did okay, but nobody broke 80. We had an 80, an 83, a 92 (me) and a 93. But what’s weird is that it’s going to count as two separate nine-hole scores. This match will be scored one of two ways: either our eight nine-hole scores will be added together, or the four from the front and the four from the back will be added. Regardless, our four 18-hole totals make 348, equivalent to a 174 for nine holes. For us, that’s borderline. Definitely not good, but not exactly horrible.

One team we were playing against on Thursday is in our conference, and to be honest, they shouldn’t have showed up to play. One of their four players had to drop out, meaning they came to the match with only three players. You need four to post a score. What that means for them is that for two of their eight nine hole scores, they need to take the maximum of triple bogey on every hole. Twenty-seven over par. They need to take two 63s as nine hole scores, meaning they are now 30 strokes behind us after coming into the match ten strokes up. Because we only have 18 holes to play before regionals, their chances of catching up to us are slim and none.

As of right now, I believe we are still in second place, but the team ahead of us (not the same team that we played against last Thursday) won’t play their third match until tomorrow, so that could change. We only have 18 holes to play before regionals, and the good news is that we’re going back to our home course, and we’re playing the easier front nine twice. But there’s a kicker.

If five or less teams show up to play next Tuesday, only one team will advance to regionals. If six teams or more play, two will advance. There is one team that is unsure of whether or not they will play in the last match. If they show up, six teams will play and two will advance. If they don’t, five will play and only one will advance. We are pretty much assured of second place now, but we need to play well if we’re going to finish first.

Because it’s our home course, we will take this week in practice to figure out exactly how we want the course to be playing, setting it up to our advantage. I will report back here at the end of this week (not near as long a post as this one was!) and give some more details!