I Love a Short Wait... Week 4 Preview

[Fairway_CY]

So, here we are ALREADY at Week 4 in our club season. Through the first few weeks... it's been pretty smooth sailing. No bumps in the road except for a casual round 56 on the back, and even THAT had some positive results. In terms of club play... it's been nice and I haven't had anybody who's REALLY challenged me yet in the match play portions.

This week, we play a course I'm not really familiar with. I've been able to go on their website and view the course layout, but that's not real helpful to me. It's a Par 72 course and we'll be playing tees that bring us to a yardage of 6240. A LOT of short holes on the front side (only ONE Par 4 over 365 yards) and then some really tight holes on the back including what's been tabbed as the highest scoring hole the club visits every year, the Par 5 13th hole.

I haven't had much in the way of practice this week. I DID visit the range on Thursday morning and hit about 200 balls. Mostly worked on 85 yards and in because the wind was REALLY howling and I felt like EVERY shot I hit that went beyond 100 yards just got knocked down by the wind. I managed to hit a few drives and that helped me to maintain the confidence I've had with my driver, but otherwise... it really wasn't MUCH of a practice session. I also, later in the day, hit another 40 balls with my newly regripped 3 wood. It felt a little off, and I'm not sure if it's because of the grip or if it was mental, but towards the end... I really slowed my swing down and the ball was going where I wanted it to. My HOPE is that I'll get to the course about an hour before my 8:18 tee time tomorrow morning and that will provide me ample time to hit 30-40 balls and then get some putting work done.

I've kind of lucked out in terms of match play this week as the guy I'm playing is 0-3 and has a handicap MUCH lower than his playing ability because he hasn't reached the 20 rounds in the GHIN system yet, so... it's only using the best 2 or 3 of his posted scores right now... and they were from casual rounds he played LAST season and I'm not 100% sure what course he played or what rules he played BY... but his club scores have been a good 20+ above his course handicaps in each of the first few rounds. In our match... I'll be GIVING him 10 strokes (my 21 to his 31). Both of our partners are going to be absent from the match this week... so our singles result will ALSO stand for our doubles result. This gives me a GREAT opportunity to push both myself AND our team to 4-0 on the year. (I'm the only undefeated rookie AND the only member to be undefeated in singles and doubles).

In terms of low net prizes... it's the FIRST week I'm eligible to win a low net title, and I HOPE to take advantage of my strong play recently. I posted the low net last week, but due to the club mandated 3 week handicap verification period... my low net was void. I've tried to gather some information from guys in the club about what it will take this week... and the concensus is because they play this course twice a year... it will LIKELY be a mid 60's net score that will win. With that in mind, I'm figuring on a net 65.

Only about 13 hours 'til tee time... so, for now... here are my Week 4 predictions:

Gross Score = 95
Net Score = 74
Final Position (Net) = Outside Top 10
Match Result (Singles - Match Play) = Win 6 & 4
Match Result (Doubles - Team Net Stroke Total Match Play) = Win 6 & 4

I'd LIKE to believe I'll be able to stay under 90 again... but I'm afraid of what the back nine will do to me if my driver and 3 wood slip even a LITTLE. I'm going in with the belief that I've GOT to play conservative because I don't want to find trouble... especially all the sand that's guarding the greens. I'll know tomorrow morning on the practice range whether or not I'll be able to control my mid irons. If I CAN... look for my score to drop by about 7 strokes and have me place a net 66 on the board again, which should easily put me in the Top 5.

'Til tomorrow evening...

CY

[sean_miller]

Don't give that par 5 a second thought - it's one hole - end it before you get there. Go low on the front 9 - close that mutha out 9 and 8.