I've Passed the PAT

***iacas*** · May 7, 2010

According to Chuck Evans, only 2% of people pass the PAT (Playing Ability Test) the first time they attempt it. Only 50% who ever attempt it eventually pass... ever.

I can now count myself among the 50% who pass. And, I'm pleased to say, among the 2% who pass the first time.

I took my PAT today at Tan Tara Golf Club . We played tees that rated out to 69.7, so the target score was 154 - a pair of 77s. You know how golfers tend to shoot the same score regardless of the tees they play? Yeah, so the course rating being lower doesn't really help.

Also things that didn't help - the weather was up and down all day. We were constantly taking off jackets or putting on jackets. Or sunglasses. Or putting the cart cover down over our golf clubs or lifting it back up. The rough was wet, we had some casual water, etc. Also, there was a Friday Skins game going out. My threesome finished our first round in three hours, but the back nine of our second round took over two hours on its own as we ran up on some slow groups.

I didn't have anything good today. For some reason the swing change (a freer hip turn) that I'd been working on didn't really lock itself in. I hit most of my decent shots a tad thin all day and my aim - which I just discovered Tuesday was WAY off - wasn't great most of the day, and when it was I still wasn't sure if I could trust it.

In the end, I came to the 35th and 36th hole right on the number. On the 35th, I badly heeled a 3W (the tees are domed, and that one's really narrow, so you can't get a flat lie and I was thinking about that instead of my one swing thought for the day - lovely) that landed in the rough and left me 232 to the hole. Gut check time. I hit the best shot of the day to about 25 feet, then nearly holed the putt for birdie.

On the 36th hole, 133 yards to a back left pin you did NOT want to mess with, but a teeny tiny green, I flared one well right... just like I'd done to make bogey two holes before. Crap. It was a safe miss and I knew I might have some adrenaline, but still... that was pretty pathetic. I had a reasonable pitch/chip that didn't release quite as much as I wanted, and it left me ten feet for par and to make the number - 154.

I got the read - it was uphill and straight (could you ask for a better putt you have to make?) - and went through my normal routine. I'd not made much outside of ten feet all day but I hadn't missed anything inside of five and hadn't three putted once. The ball split the cup and I gave a fist pump. I deserved it. I really gutted it out the last two holes.

#1 - Par 3 - 4 Tugged opening tee shot into a greenside bunker. Unraked mud. Happy to get it to about 12 feet on the green.

#2 - Par 5 - 5 Heeled driver. Cut a 4I around a tree. Pitched onto green and two putted.

#3 - Par 5 - 5 Yes, not only does this course have four par threes as #1, 9, 10, and 18, but it has back-to-back par fives. I played this one well - driver up the gut, 6I, 9I safely onto the green.

#4 - Par 4 - 5 Good drive. This hole has a narrow chute off the tee. Kinda dumb. Alignment had me push the next one well right. Not a great lie - chipped a bit heavy.

#5 - Par 4 - 6 Gee I was feeling real good after this. Decent drive up the left. Horrible lie but I thought I could get a 7I on it. Nope. Water. Drop, pitch on from 85 yards or so, two putt. +4 through 6... real great.

#6 - Par 4 - 4 Standard par.

#7 - Par 4 - 4 Ditto.

#8 - Par 4 - 3 Flared my approach shot well right to the fringe about 50 feet from the cup. Rolled in a putt from the fringe.

#9 - Par 3 - 3 Green and two putts.
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#10 - Par 3 - 2 Front left fringe (balls were sucking back all day, even 1/2 9-irons like the one I hit here from 122). Left to right putt was never offline.

#11 - Par 5 - 5 A stupid hole. A 90° dogleg left. 3W to the left, faded a 7I into the fairway, nearly holed the 3/4 wedge but it pulled back 15 feet. Putt stayed high.

#12 - Par 4 - 5 Popped up a 3W 200 yards left. Straight-drew a 6I into a tree. Left an awkward chip which I hit to 15 feet. Putt nearly fell.

#13 - Par 5 - 4 Good drive, slightly fat layup (the only non-chip I caught much turf on all day), and half 9I to about twelve feet. Felt I needed the left-to-right putt, and it dropped right in.

#14 - Par 4 - 4 Good 3W to the center. Pulled the half wedge. Chip ran five feet by. Canned it.

#15 - Par 4 - 5 Blocked drive a bit right. Ball sat on top of a mound with grass clippings all around. Had to go over trees. Came up short, and my chip spun to a stop prematurely.

#16 - Par 4 - 4 Good drive. Flared short approach right. Nearly made long birdie putt.

#17 - Par 4 - 5 Drive caught the very back edge of a fairway bunker. Did well to get it near the green from there. Didn't do great on the resulting chip.

#18 - Par 3 - 4 Long right. Chip ran by twelve feet. Bah. Bogey the last two holes? A 75 would have given me a LOT more breathing room.
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So we sat around for an hour, mostly waiting for two things:
a) the food to be cooked for us (apparently we played too quickly)
b) the skins game to stop sending people off.

Eventually we decided to ask if we could go off the tenth tee as it was clear. So we did.

#10 - Par 3 - 3 Hit the green this time from the right side. Birdie putt just short. Most every two-putt today was just short... the greens weren't fast.

#11 - Par 5 - 6 Hit a great 3W that needed to turn over another two yards. Instead, I take an unplayable and drop out of a pine tree. I play a dangerous shot that works out to get back into play. Hit a long, long pitch shot heavy. Chip it to four feet. Knock it home for a par + the stroke penalty for my unplayable.

#12 - Par 4 - 5 Good tee shot. Rushed second shot after looking - for about the 50th time that day - for the golf ball of both playing partners. Chip shot was right and left a tricky 20 footer that I two putted.

#13 - Par 5 - 4 Good 3W, good layup, and a decent (pulled, but still decent distance) flip wedge. Putt again dead in the heart - I made them when I needed to bounce back today, I can say that much. Nobody is reading this, but it'll help me remember.

#14 - Par 4 - 6 Oy. I barely want to talk about it. After being buried under the fairway bunker lip, blasting out, and then essentially putting a ball with my wedge from 65 yards well over the back of the green, suffice to say my bogey putt having a chance was the highlight. Oh, and the tee shot was a foot from being awesome.

#15 - Par 4 - 4 Decent drive. Decent approach.

#16 - Par 4 - 5 Lousy drive. Pulled approach from a long ways away left. Pitch took a HORRIBLE bounce and the par putt from 15 feet went three feet by. Gutted it in - putt broke a cup and a half right.

#17 - Par 4 - 3 3W tugged ever so slightly left, but DEAD behind a tree two feet wide. A foot left or right and I'd have a low running shot. Instead I had to hood and hook an 8I to about 30 yards shy of the green. Pitched it well and the ball never left the flag stick - hop, hop, hop, disappear. Hey, looked like a birdie all the way, right?

#18 - Par 3 - 3 Front right of the green. Long two putt. Once again I use up 60% of my allotted strokes over par on the first nine holes.
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It's raining and groups are still going off #1, so we wait 15 minutes, then head out.

#1 - Par 3 - 3 Just short and left. Good chip.

#2 - Par 5 - 5 3W, layup, green, two putts.

#3 - Par 5 - 5 Driver, layup, green, two putts.

#4 - Par 4 - 4 Good drive. Great drive. Lousy approach. Tap in par.

#5 - Par 4 - 5 Bah. Tugged 3W ever so slightly left. Had a tree in the backswing a little, and short-sided myself. Pitch ran seven feet by. Putt missed. At this point I was +9 and +10 was the number.

#6 - Par 4 - 4 Fairway. Green (good approach to 15 feet). Putt jumped in the air halfway to the hole or it may have gone in. Tap in par.

#7 - Par 4 - 5 GREAT 3W. 133 yards, decided to chip an 8I. Way right. Chip from just off the fringe never came down the hill, leaving eight feet downhill. Putt wandered left and slid by over two feet. Made it for par to be AT the number - +10. Two holes to go...

#8 - Par 4 - 4 Thought about the domed tee instead of my swing thought. Oof. Ball went into left rough and came to a halt FAST. Uh huh... left me 232 yards to a green. Hadn't hit the hybrid well yet, but needed a good one here. Breeze in and off the right a little. Nice... GREAT push-draw that bounded onto the green. Birdie putt was a roll or two short of going in, too. One hole to go, still on the number exactly.

#9 - Par 3 - 3 Same shot I had on #7. You know, the one that resulted in bogey. Same result off the tee - short of the back-left pin (which you didn't want to mess with) and in the rough just off the fringe. Didn't want to goose the chip because that'd leave me in a bad spot to putt (downhill, with break), so it came up ten feet short. My playing partners putted out. One made a good par to shoot 73-81 and make it right on the number. It was just me and my ten footer. Worst case, I miss and accomplish the "temporary" PAT status that simply asks you to shoot 82 (the PAT qualifying score divided by two + 5). But obviously a great upside if I make - I pass.

Putt never had a chance to do anything but to fall in the middle of the cup.
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77
77

Are a pair of 77s great? Hell no. But since I'm in the middle of a big change in the way I take the club back, and with whatever pressure they say exists (I felt fine all day but who knows?), and with the aggravations and the new golf course and all that, I'll take it. After all, there's a reason 50% EVER pass and 2% pass their first try. It's not because a bunch of sucky golfers attempt the PAT for fun.

**enis750** · May 7, 2010

Great day Erik, congrats on passing the PAT dude

**Dad-2-3** · May 7, 2010

Congrats man, that is awesome!

**jamo** · May 8, 2010

Congrats man.

**sean_miller** · May 8, 2010

The 8th hole on both your front 9s sure made up some strokes - stellar finish on 36!

**Fairway_CY** · May 8, 2010

Way to go! Nice recap... love reading recaps like that... puts me IN the round.

Solid way to finish up the last two holes, KNOWING what you need and gutting it out with the hybrid from 232.

Congrats!

CY

**uttexas** · May 8, 2010

Well done. I like how you bounced back after the fifth hole (first 18).

**Hollister** · May 8, 2010

My congrats! Now you just have to fork out more cash :D

RC · May 9, 2010

Don't disparage a great achievement -- don't worry, be happy. People underestimate the pressure of meaningful tests. That is why 98 percent don't pass the first time. It is not the ball striking, it is the true grit and you had it. Way to go.