I broke 100!!
Damn, I suck.
I've been golfing for about 1.5 years. And, yeah, for the first time, I broke 100.
I played at Primm Valley Desert Course on Friday. It was their first day open after overseeding. This meant that it was cartpath only, all day. And it was 105 degrees. Yikes. Lots of walking.
We tee off at 12:20. And, if it's over 70 degrees, I'm uncomfortable with the heat. So, I'm REALLY uncomfortable.
My last dozen-or-so-rounds, I would have shot in the low-to-mid-90s if it weren't for penalty shots off of the tee. Seriously...far and away the biggest weakness in my game is teeshots (note, this is different than "driver"). If I hit my driver, I put a killer slice on it. If I use my 3w or 5w or 4i, I chunk it, block it, come over the top, slice, etc. If I find the fairway (regardless of club), it goes maybe 120. My golf buddies always ask why I can only hit my 3w off the tee about 150 yards, but hit it 250 yards off the deck. It's cuz I'm a total headcase on the teebox.
So, I took a couple lessons dedicated entirely to driver.
We hit the first tee box, I use a 3w since I was more confident with it, find the middle of the fairway. Then, I put a 6 iron OB. Great. So much for troubles only on the tee box.
I end up making a 1-putt double bogey.
And that quickly became the theme. I putted WAY better than I ever have before. After the round, I calculated my total putts (from memory) as 26 or 27. I had never had fewer than 30 before. I made 6 pars (no birdies), 3 of them involving an up-and-down from a sand trap. I putted in from the fringe twice, once from 50 feet, once from 25 feet. I rolled in half-a-dozen 15-or-so footers. Seriously, I'm not a good putter, but friday was silly. (after watching Tiger on Saturday, one buddy said he (Tiger) almost putted as good as me!).
I still struggled through the round off the tee. I think I hit 4 or 5 tee shots OB (for 8 or 10 penalty shots).
So, we get to 18, and I was at 89 strokes. I needed a 10 or better on this par 5 to break 100.
As I grab my driver (with OB on the right...) I tell my buddy "I should go 5-iron 5-iron here".
I come over the top, OB. Okay, fine. I basically just need to make a triple bogey now, get that shot out of my head.
I go back to the cart, and grab my 5wood. I hit it fairly well, but a tiny bit of a draw (whereas I usually hit a tiny fade), so I end up in a pot-bunker on the left side of the fairway. Great. I don't have a lot of experience with pot bunkers, but this one scared me. It wasn't uberdeep, but it was small. I normally like to hit about an 8i out of fairway bunkers (almost always laying up, to be conservative), I fear not getting the ball out. So I play it safe, and grab my lob wedge. I'm gonna get out of this bunker. I make good contact, and move the ball 70ish yards down the fairway, leaving me about 210, I think (not being able to drive to the ball, it makes the cart's GPS somewhat useless).
I grab my 5w. I'm laying 4 at this point. Just need to get it in the hole in the next 6 shots. There's water on the left, and kinda in front of the green (the green is sorta tucked off to the side of the fairway). The pin is in the back-left.
So, I decide to aim for the right side of the green. If I draw it or come up short, I want to take the water out of play. I fade it a touch (where was that off the tee???), and end up at the end of the fairway, 20 yards from the green, 40 yards from the pin. Laying 5.
The green is very undulating. There is rough between me and the green, so I can't just roll it on. I'm on a hard-pan lie, so I'm scared of skulling the ball if I try a flop shot. I really don't think I have the ability to get it close to the pin. The pin is on a plateau on the back of the green, with a valley in the green in front of the plateau. But I have 5 shots to play with.
So, I chip it waaaay short (not allowing any possibility of going over the green and OB or into the water...even if I skull it). From there, I three putt (first putt broke in the valley, and was left 25 feet away!!! Then, I rolled it to within 6 inches, and tapped in) My only 3-putt of the day.
98.
Phew. Phew. Yay.
I really think that the cartpath only rule (combined with the heat) cost me a couple strokes. I used the wrong club a few times. Once or twice, I had the distance wrong because of no GPS. And, more than once, I made a mis-hit with club X such that I was closer to my ball than the cart. So, I'd walk up to my ball and hit it again with X instead of changing clubs. The heat made me very lazy. And that, coupled with my inexperience and inabilities, cost me a tiny bit.
But...I broke 100. Even while trying to choke on #18!