Today I played my best round ever, scoring 5 birdies to shoot my first-ever even-par round from the tips at Monarch Dunes (73.0/137). I've scored 1-under and even-par rounds before, but never from the back tees. In fact, my best prior score at this course from the challenging back tees was a 6-over 77! And today's 71 could so easily have been my first sub-70 round.


Monarch Dunes 1st

After playing my last few rounds in unusually cold and blustery winds, today I joined two of my favorite golfers for a round that turned out to be sunny, warm, and breezy. The pace of play was perfect too. We never waited once for players in front of us to clear a fairway or green. Golf on the California Central Coast was at its best today! And so was my game.

My biggest struggle lately has been getting off to a good start. I recently played a round with a triple bogie on the 1st hole, followed soon after by 2 bogies. Instead of giving up though, I fought back from 5-over and finished the round just 3-over par after scoring 3 birdies! Today, things changed. I started right off with a birdie on the 3-handicap par 4 1st from 200 yards out!

This dogleg left tempts you to hit your drive towards the 150 marker, but a slight mishit left or short finds the lake. Instead, I played well right today, leaving a 3-hybrid approach into this well-guarded green. I put my hybrid right on line, landed just short of the green and ran up 8-10 feet past the hole. Using my new Odyssey Black Series i#9 putter, I drained the putt!

I just bought this putter a couple weeks ago at a 70% discount from my x-brother-in-law, who works in the IT department at Callaway. I absolutely love it! I can assure you, that's the first time I've ever said that about a putter! It's made me a good putter.

I gave myself another good birdie attempt on 2, but barely missed and happily tapped in for par. I then got up and down on 3 from just off the green, but missed an easy 2-foot putt on 4 to 3-putt, producing my first bogie. Even with this new putter, those short putts can get me.


Monarch Dunes 6th

I got that stroke right back on the 140 yard par 3 5th, sinking a 20-footer for my 2nd birdie! I parred 6, then made an impressive up and down again on 7 to stay 1-under par. On the 200 yard par 3 8th, I landed the difficult upper-left tier of this green, rolling to about 12 feet from the pin. I made a good putt, but had to settle for par.

I then hit a perfect 6-iron into the 9th green from 190 yards out, landing short of the green as expected, and running onto the green to leave me with another makable 10-12 footer. I took my time reading the putt and decided to aim a ball outside to the left. The downhill putt tracked perfectly and went right in. I was now 2-under on the front nine, hitting every fairway and 7 of 9 greens in regulation while recording only 14 putts!

I was relaxed and enjoying the round. My playing partners, who knew I'd been struggling with my game over the past month, were certainly giving me a hard time for saving my best golf for beating them. I was just grateful for the good company, perfect weather, and speedy pace of play. They figured I'd come back to earth on the back nine. I decided to just keep playing one shot at a time and enjoy myself, detached about whether I could keep it up or not.

The back nine starts off even harder than the front with a 2-handicap par 4 dogleg with a split fairway. I hit a monster drive, but caught a bad lie in the mounds between the two fairways. I had to punch out with a wedge. This shot caught another fescue-covered mound beyond where the fairways meet. I managed to get my 3rd shot up close to the green. I then got up and down from there for a respectable bogie.

The downhill 200 yard par 3 11th is a real test. Others in my group decided to hit 3-irons, but I tried to smash a 5-iron into a mild headwind. Unfortunately, I pushed the shot way right into a ditch that borders the green. I was left with a testy downhill lob shot over a large mound. My lob landed just short of the green as planned and barely rolled off the upper tier to continue down to the lower tier just 8 feet right of the pin. The putt was exactly like the one I had on 9, a downhill putt, breaking right about a cup out. I drained another one for an impressive par.


Monarch Dunes 11th

Three great shots on the par 5 12th led to another par, but my 8-iron approach on 13 drifted left, leaving a difficult pitch to a tight left pin. My shot was near perfect, but I barely missed the return putt, resulting in my 3rd bogie, letting my round get back to even par.

But another huge drive left me just 130 yards out on the par 4 14th. I put my pitching wedge just 6 feet above the hole and made another breaking downhill putt for birdie, getting me back to 1-under!

At this point in the round, I knew I was playing well and was probably under par, but I really had no idea of my exact score. I did know that this was only the second time I had ever scored 4 birdies in a round at this course. I only average about 1.5 birdies per round and depend on pars to keep my scores under control.

I followed my birdie with a poor 5-iron into the 200 yard par 3 15th. The shot was so bad that it didn't even make it to the bunker on the right-front corner of the green. But from the rough, I made another excellent pitch shot to a tight front pin and made the easy 2-footer for another par. Still 1-under.

Another good drive on the par 4 16th left me just over 100 yards out. A strong lob wedge left me with a 12 footer that I misread but left me with an easy tap-in in for par.

Over the past month, in addition to shanking short lobs and chips, it's been these long wedge shots that have given me the most trouble. Just last week on the range, a local pro saw me shanking some shots with my wedge and came over of offer some help. He noticed I was not only swaying too much, but was rerouting my downswing too far inside, bringing that hosel into play. He had me practice hitting balls right up against the 2x4 board separating each practice tee. I tried to keep the club in line with the board on my backswing and downswing. It felt weird at first, but I'm now using this new swing with all my irons. I'm just letting my hands and the clubface fall naturally from the top of my backswing. It's almost effortless.

But as solid as my wedge play was today, this was proving to be one of my best driving rounds ever. Up to this point in the round, every drive had been long and straight. I'd only missed 1 fairway so far, the one that barely missed on 10. I kept my drives going on the 490 yard par 5 17th, leaving me with a 6-iron in from 190 yards! I had to hit my 6-iron uphill and well right of the green to avoid a big eucalyptus tree in the middle of the fairway. The shot ran up the fairway and hooked nicely left as it rolled up onto the green, past the hole. This left me a steep 30 foot downhill putt breaking a few feet to the left. I ran my eagle putt just past the hole, but made the 3 foot comeback putt for my 5th birdie, getting me back to 2-under par!

This was the first round I'd ever scored 5 birdies at Monarch Dunes. I'd shot 5 birdies 3 other times on easier courses, but doing so here was quite an accomplishment for me.


Monarch Dunes 13th

So, I approached 18 knowing I was under par, and had a sense I was on track for my first-ever sub-70 round. I knew I had 5 birdies, but couldn't remember whether I'd bogied 2 or 3 holes. I knew a par on 18 would probably get me under 70. I think it was here that I left the present moment and let myself drift into the future. I knew better, but it had been quite some time since I'd had such an opportunity to make such a breakthough.

I stayed calm and hit a strong drive. But tension must have crept in because I pulled my drive a little left. A subsequent bad bounce to the left then threatened to even put me out-of-bounds. Fortunately, I found the ball near the cart path, just 5-6 feet in bounds. I was about 105 yards out, downhill to the green. My lob wedge came up a little short out of the rough, leaving me with 10 feet of fairway to putt or chip across to reach the green. I decided to putt. I underestimated how hard I needed to stroke the ball to get through the longer grass. I did get on the green, but came up at least 15 feet short, leaving another testy downhill putt with a few feet of break. I was feeling my nerves at this point and could tell I'd lost the relaxed and confident putting stroke I'd enjoyed all day. I putted 3 feet past the hole. 3-footers always give me fits, but other than the single miss on the 4th, I'd avoided any other 3-putts. But frustrated that I'd already let par get away, I lost my relaxed focus and missed the comeback putt. I'd actually 4-putted from just off the green, giving me a disappointing double bogie from only 100 yards out!

But I was quickly lifted from the despair I felt when these good friends reminded me what a great round I'd just played! They didn't let me dwell for a second on how it ended, but helped me celebrate a great accomplishment! After all, I beat my best-ever score from the back tees by 6 entire strokes. I finished the round hitting 11 greens, 11 fairways, and with only 29 putts. With the difficulty of the course, my even-par round added a score of -1.6 to my handicap, which for the first time has now broken through 3, to 2.7!

Although, like every round, there were plenty of opportunities to score even better, I played my best-ever round, stayed present for practically every shot, and was able to share it with good friends on an extraordinary day. For that I am grateful. It was a lot more fun getting 5 birdies than it was hitting 5 shanks a few weeks ago!

So, after 3 years of play, I finally got down to a sub-3 index and shot my first par round from the back tees on a championship-level course, and even flirted with my first 69. Before I turn 50, I'll probably break 70 and may even get down to a 2-index. But I'm letting go of all that now and want to focus entirely on just being present and enjoying the game. It's been an extraordinary journey of growth and learning, a journey that certainly doesn't stop here. For any of you that have stumbled across this journal, I hope you've found some helpful resources that inspire and transform your game as well.

Artfully, Richard

Labels: Monarch Dunes, Rounds