Freakin' Blow-up Holes!!!

[Fairway_CY]

Last week, I played in our county Men's Amateur tournament... a two-day tournament held at two different courses.  The format is net stroke play using 80% of our course handicap.  Heading into the tournament, I had not been playing well at all.  In fact, I had struggled pretty mightily so far this season.  My net scoring average is north of 80 for the season after being around 71 last season.

Anyway... the first round of the tournament was at a course that, over the years, I've never really played well on.  It's not an overly tough layout... I just seem to struggle there for whatever reason.  Well, this day was a bit different.  I started out par - par - par with two greens in regulation and a really nice up and down.  Then, I had my first blowup hole of the day.  A short dogleg right that I popped up my drive, leaving about 210 to the hole with the corner in my way.  I needed to hit a fade, but... I don't have that shot in my bag.  Stupidly, I tried to advance the ball as far as possible up the left side, and I pulled my shot a little bit, resulting in my ball resting against the trunk of a tree.  From there, it was a mess as I hacked the ball over the green into a trap, barely popped it out of the trap, chipped on and took two putts for a triple bogey.  Just three holes later, I played the hole so horribly, it hurts to recap.  Basically... I would have made par on the hole if I had played it smart... instead, I put two balls out of bounds off the tee before finally hacking one way right, punching into the fairway, hitting the green and then taking two putts for a quadruple bogey that took my net score from -2 to +1 in a single hole.  I finished the front side with the same score... and even though I struggled on a few holes, I was still very much in the tournament.

I drew myself back to even par by the 12th hole and stayed there until the 15th hole where I had yet another brain fart.  This hole is the toughest on the course, and instead of just playing for bogey (which would have been net par), I tried to flex my muscles.  Didn't work.  I poked two more balls into the woods before finally putting one in play.  The end result was ANOTHER quadruple bogey that brought my net score to +3 for the day.  I finished the round with bogey (net par) - double bogey (net bogey) - bogey (net bogey) to complete my day with a net score of 77 (+5) which left me seven behind the leader heading into the second round.

The second day is a course that I really love to play.  You'd never know it was a county course with how well it's maintained.  There are some portions of the course that were a little chewed up due to the weather recently, but... otherwise, the course is immaculate.  The first five holes play in a straight line away from the clubhouse with out of bounds to the left and a ravine to the right that eats a lot of balls.  If you can get through that portion of the course, a REALLY good score is a very real possibility.

Unfortunately, my struggles started early that day.  I made a bogey (net par) on the first hole, but then hacked up the second hole pretty badly.  My tee shot found a greenside trap, and I basically built a sand castle in there before I got out (downhill lie next to the back lip on my first shot that I drove into the lip... duplicated that on my second shot... completely flubbed my third shot and FINALLY got out on the fourth shot).  End result was a quadruple bogey.  My third of the tournament.  Blah.

I went bogey (net par) - par (net birdie) over the next two holes and then on the easiest hole on the course, I made a quituple bogey that included a tee shot pulled out of bounds, two more shots out of a greenside trap and a three-putt from long range.  My net score was sitting at +7 after just five holes, and I was +14 for the tournament at that point.  I went +3 net over the next few holes and ended the front side with a net score of 46 (+10).

The back side was better.  I started par (net birdie) - par (net par) - par (net birdie)... then I hacked a tee shot into the water in front of me and had ANOTHER three-putt that resulted in my fourth quadruple bogey of the tournament.  I followed that up, to end the tournament with eagle (net eagle) - double bogey (net bogey) - bogey (net par) - bogey (net par) - bogey (net par) for a total net score of 81 (+10) and a two-day total of 158 (+17).

I didn't stick around to see what the winning score was... but my best guess, based on what I saw, is that the winning score was around -3 net.  I netted +19 over the course of six blowup holes and my total was +17 for the tournament.  If I had just played those at level par, I would have been right in the tournament all the way to the end.  Instead, I all but eliminated myself after the second hole of the second round.

I've GOT to learn to control myself on the course and NOT make unnecessary decisions.  On several of those holes, I could have simply played it smart (less than driver off the tee, a layup from the fairway instead of trying a shot I don't have, etc.) and I could have scored a LOT better than I ended up.

Anyway... sorry for the rant.  Just needed to get that off my chest.  Thanks for reading, if you made it this far.

CY