A very frustrating slump that began with the shanks nearly 3 weeks ago may have finally ended. Although I've had a few rounds now where I've avoided hitting the ball with the hosel, my scoring has continued to suffer. After 6 straight rounds over 80, with more double and triple bogies than I care to remember, I finally made a breakthrough yesterday.


Sun setting on my slump, by Claudio Marcon at flickr

But my poor play continued as the windy round began.

After an excellent drive and approach, I 3-putted the 1st for bogie. I came up short on the 2nd and 3rd with wedges and failed to get up and down, adding 2 more bogies, then 3-putted again on the 4th to go 4-over.

My gap wedge from 125 yards on the short par 3 5th drifted left with the strong cross wind and my subsequent chip ran past the hole by 10 feet. I settled down and carefully read the putt, slightly downhill with a small right to left break. I relaxed and made a confident stroke, holing the putt for my first par.

Then I managed another bogie on the following par 5 6th. I pushed my 2nd shot a little right, into a fairway bunker, leaving me with a difficult uphill shot from 110 yards. A poor shot from there was at least followed up by a good lob shot from the rough, ending 15 feet from the pin, barely staying on the top tier of the green. A nice putt nearly saved par, but I tapped for bogie to go 5-over after 6.

An impressive birdie on the difficult par 4 7th followed by a par on the 177 yard par 3 8th got me back to a respectable 4-over.

After playing through a threesome on the 3rd hole (which contributed to that bogie), my friend and I caught up to a twosome waiting for the fairway to clear on the 9th tee. We joined them and played as a foursome for the remainder of the round. Apparently, some friendly chatting with our new playing partners helped me get my mind off my scoring and the success on the past 2 holes continued. I shot a ho-hum par on the par 4 9th, hitting the fairway, landing the green, and making the expected 2 putts. I managed to finish the par 35 front nine with a 4-over 39.

An impressive drive down the left side of the split fairway on the dogleg left par 4 10th left me with 160 yards uphill to this well guarded green. I hit such a good 7-iron into the wind that I landed past the pin and rolled over the green. A very poor chip preceded a 2-putt bogie. Still, as anyone who has played this 2-handicap hole will tell you, walking away with a bogie is nothing to complain about.

I pulled out my 7-iron again for my tee shot into the strong headwind on the 180 yard downhill par 3 11th, overlooking the Guadalupe Dunes and Pacific Ocean. Again, I hit my 7-iron so well, it landed the front of the green and rolled all the way off the back. My return chip to the upper tier of the green ran 10 feet past the pin and I missed the comeback putt for another bogie, putting me 2-over on the back and 6-over for the round.

But a rare birdie on the par 5 12th got me back to 5-over. Then after making a nice par on 13, another 3-putt on 14 put me back to 6-over. I walked up to 18 still 6-over after hitting each fairway and green and 2-putting for pars on 15, 16, and 17.

With a 240 yard carry or so, you can get some impressive distance off the tee on the 387 yard 18th. I ended up about 30-40 yards out. I used a big backstop behind the hole to funnel my chip back to the pin, leaving me with a 4-foot putt for birdie. Staying relaxed, I made another confident stroke, sinking the putt to finish the par 36 back nine just 1-over.

This 76 was my first sub-80 round since shooting a 76 in my first pro-am nearly 3 weeks ago. It was pretty rewarding to finish the last 12 holes in even par, especially in such windy conditions. Getting my attention away from scoring and simply enjoying the company of my friend and the twosome we joined seemed to be the key to rediscovering some artful golf.

This round marked my 40th round of the year, the most golf I've ever played in a 3-month period (averaging 3 rounds/week). I finished with 28 rounds under 80 and 12 at or above 80, with half of those high rounds coming in the past 3 weeks.

Labels: Rounds