My Scorecard (Saturday, March 13th)
Today’s round was a real mixed bag. I played some pretty good golf for the first half of the round, getting through 11 holes in 5 over. Standing on the 12th tee, I felt my game was in good shape and was confident of finishing out the round well and shooting in the high 70s.
Then ‘wham’…..out of nowhere I took a 9 on the 12th (Par 4), and all of a sudden I was trying to rescue my round. I managed to settle down and finish with an 82, but it could have been so much better.
So what happened on the 12th? Simple – I didn’t take my medicine. After hitting my drive behind a small tree on the right I should have just played out sideways and hit a long third shot at the green. Instead, I played out down the parallel 17th fairway which would give me a slightly shorter shot into the green. The trouble was, I’d left myself with a tricky shot over trees and a green-side bunker to a tight flag. I consequently pushed my 7 iron to the right of the bunker, then chipped into the bunker, then hit my bunker shot over the green, then hit a poor chip, then 3 putted!
What did I learn? I learnt that there are times on the course where you just have to suck it up and take your medicine, rather than trying to push your luck. One poor decision cost me 3 or 4 shots!
I need to work on my putting. I three-putted 3 times, which is just throwing shots away. Probably need to get to the practice green and hit some more long putts to try to get a better feel for distance.
Till next week………
