Week 5 Recap - Not TOO Much Better Than Week 4

[Fairway_CY]

Why does this game tease me? A little under a month ago... I posted the best round of my life, including hitting 10 of 13 fairways and 7 of 18 greens in regulation (bests for me). Since then... I've played 3 rounds and I haven't been able to put it all together for the life of me. Today was the 3rd of those rounds and I'm still baffled as to how things can change so quickly.

This week was a BIG week for me as an individual as well as my partner and I as a team. I'd been looking forward to this match for quite some time and was excited that the round finally arrived after a 14 day layoff since my last club round. As a team... we were 3-1-0 and facing another team sitting at 3-1-0. As an individual, I was ALSO sitting at 3-1-0 and my opponent was 3-1-0. Early in the season... it could determine a lot, so I took the round VERY seriously and prepared for it by hitting the range 3 times in the last week and ATTEMPTING to work out the kinks in my game off the tee. That didn't go exactly as planned, however. Details follow:

Being a shotgun start, we teed off on the 15th hole... so, I'll post the round in order from there.

15th - To start, a VERY easy, very short par 4 of 255 yards. 5 Iron off the tee hung up and didn't go very far... but found the fairway. 100 yards from there to the back of the green. Pitched to within a foot and tapped in for an opening par. (1 Up)

16th - Easy par 5 that I completely bombed. My drive hooked OB left. Hit another that went into a hazard right. Dropped, hit my 21 degree hybrid into a trap. 9 iron from there flew the green. Chipped to 17 feet and needed 2 putts from there. (All Square)

17th - Straightforward par 4. My 3 wood was pulled a little and came up shorter than I'd have liked. 21 degree hybrid was pulled into a greenside trap. Blasted out to 15 feet but missed the putt. Tapped in for bogey. (All Square)

18th - Another simple par 4. Driver again hooked, but stayed in play. I hit a 9 iron from the left rough to about 6 feet but missed the putt pretty badly. Settled for par. (1 Up)

1st - Little bit more difficult hole. 369 yard par 4 with trouble left. Tried to keep my driver out right, but again hooked it... this time into a fairway bunker. 6 iron from about 155 out of the bunker to 30 feet. 3 putts from there. (1 Up)

2nd - Real short par 5 with water fronting the green. 3 wood to the center of the fairway. Pulled a 5 iron a little left of where I was aiming my layup. Sand wedge from a grass bunker to 20 feet. 2 putts for par. Opponent made birdie. (All Square)

3rd - Number 1 handicap hole... 422 yard par 4. Driver hung out right OB. Another driver but this one caught the left side of the fairway. 5 iron fat and short. Duffed my chip. Putted on to 9 feet and needed 2 putts from there. (1 Down)

4th - Another driver lost right trying to compensate for the hook. Then hit the right side of the fairway. 8 iron to the front of the green from there. 4 putts from 36 feet (missed a 2 footer for a 7). Quadruple bogey. Awesome. (2 Down)

5th - 185 yard par 3 playing shorter and severely downhill. My 6 iron started out on target then drifted left and came up short. Chipped on to 15 feet and continued to struggle with my putter as I needed 3 putts from there for a double bogey. Opponent choked. (1 Down)

6th - Longish par 5. Hit my 3 wood to the center of the fairway. 21 degree hybrid pulled left. Wedge pushed right. Drop from cart path. Wedge over the green. Putt from off the green lipped out to 4 feet. Missed the comebacker. Double bogey. (2 Down)

7th - Tough par 3 over water... 193 yards. 21 degree hybrid to the safe (right) side of the green. 2 putts from 30 feet for par. With the stroke, I gained another hole on my opponent. (1 Down)

8th - 311 yard par 4 all downhill. 3 wood was killed but hung out a bit to the right. Fat wedge from the rough. Next wedge over the green. Putted from there to 2 feet and tapped in for a bogey. (1 Down)

9th - 420 yard par 4 with no real trouble. Driver hooked again, but stayed in play. Left me about 150 to the hole but behind a tree. Played 7 iron to the right of the tree and just short of the green. Chipped to 18 feet and 2 putted for bogey. (All Square)

10th - Dogleg left... 360 yards. Killed driver in the middle of the fairway. 8 iron from 135ish was WAY strong and flew the green. Chip caught too much fringe and settled there. Putted from off the green to 9 feet and 2 putted for a double. Opponent choked again. (1 Up)

11th - Another downhill par 3. This one 143 yards. 8 iron pin high but 9 feet right. Missed the closest-to-pin by just over a foot. 2 putts from there for par. (2 Up)

12th - 370 yard par 4. 3 wood to the center of the fairway. Pitching wedge from there found the green. 17 feet away. 2 putts from there for another par. Opponent ran out of holes and I closed out the singles match. (3 & 2)

NOTE - The doubles match was All Square with 2 to play.

13th - I can't even recap this hole because there isn't enough server space to hole my rant. Worst hole in a LONG time. Driver OB. Later a 5 iron OB from the fairway. I ended up with an 11 on a par 5. Needless to say... we lost that hole and were 1 down with 1 to go.

14th - 154 yard par 3... again downhill. My 8 iron hit a wall of wind and died about 25 yards short. My wedge was played perfectly to about 3 feet and I made my par. My partner also made par and our opponents both made doubles. We ended up pushing the doubles match.

So... after 5 weeks... my parter sits at 2-3-0 in singles while I'm right up towards the top with a 4-1-0 singles record. As a team, we're right in the hunt with a 3-1-1 record... only 1 'game' behind the leaders who sit at 4-0-1. Unfortunately, my gross score wasn't what I was looking for. I was REALLY hoping to shoot a great score... but with all the driver trouble, I shot an even 100 for a net score of 78. I don't have a long wait for our next club round as I'll be playing next Sunday in Week 6. My goal there is to either have my driver figured out... or keep it in the bag and just play the 3 wood. If I'd have used that strategy today... my score would have been 7 - 10 strokes better. Possibly more.

Either way... it's nice to get the wins. I've got quite a bit to work on this week in preparation for Week 6. I'll preview that this coming Friday.

'Til then...

CY