I did this over 9 holes the other night, but somehow forgot to TR it. This is the best of my memory, but if anything is written that doesn't seem to add up, meh. the end score is correct, no matter how I say that I got there.
I haven't golfed any more than 5 rounds a year for the last 4 years, but used to play ~every day in the summer for the 7 years before that, got down to a 9hdcp iirc, and I still swing a club every day-ish, whacking pine cones or whatever, and going to the driving range or putting on the practice green. I still know the course like the back of my hand, despite not having played it in 3 years. I worked there for 2 years during highschool, and have played the first four holes in the dark probably 50 times, but this was many years ago when I was just starting to play. Haven't played in the dark in probably 8 years. I had played 18 earlier in the day, shooting a 90 after doubling 18th. This was my second round of the year, with the first being May 11th-ish. I don't remember the slope (I wanna say 124), 69.4 rating. Pretty clear night, moon wasn't too bright, but there were lights in certain spots on the course-- around the cart paths, by the canteen, maintenance sheds, etc. I also hit two shag balls in to the woods before teeing off, just to see if/how far I could see the ball off the club, but it wasn't completely dark yet. I was in the "You can feel where the ball goes" camp anyway, and could tell where both balls went despite losing sight ~100 yds out. par 35 front- Pars of 445 443 434-- plays in the range of 2900 from the men's tees (back has 3 par 5's and two long par 3's, plays ~3500 yds fwiw).
The first hole is next to the parking lot and clubhouse, so I could see the entire way down pretty much. 3 iron FW, 7 iron short right, 1 chip 1 putt, made par.
The tee shot on the 2nd is parallel to the first fairway, so the lights from the parking lot were helping a bit, but I pured the drive and would have found it regardless. This was the only Driver I hit, but I kind of wish I hit more. Truth be told, I hit the ball far and straight enough off the tee with a 3-iron to have a short iron in to each par 4 on the front side. By the time I got to the 2nd green it was plenty dark, and I couldn't see the flag from 120 yds out. I just assumed it was a blue flag, and thus at the back of the green(which it was not). Put a wedge to the very back edge and had a ******ed downhill 50 footer for birdie, which I putted off the green. Bogey.
3rd hole- Couldn't see the shot off the club. This one was by far the toughest ball to find. I knew it was a touch right off the tee, which would put it in to rough and very thin treeage. I searched for about 4 minutes before finding it in the rough ~10 yards short and right of where I thought it would be, so I'm pretty sure it hit a tree, but maybe I just suck. (It was at this point that I realized that I forgot to turn on the stopwatch on my Ipod to time the round.) The 4th fairway is adjacent to the 3rd, so I played a wedge up that fairway to get away from trees. The moon was right at my back, and I had a perfect lane to the green for my 3rd shot, so I hit 3 iron to 20 yards short. I skulled the wedge and put the ball on the back of the green, 2 putted for a 6, +2 thru 3.
4 is a shortish par 4. 3 iron off the tee. Hooked in to a fairway bunker. I actually said out loud for some reason to nobody in particular "that's in the trap if it gets that far" almost immediately off the club. The shot in to the green is hitting straight in to the lights around the parking lot, so I could see it the whole way until it came down. Ended up a bit short, chipped on, 2 putts.
5 was tough. Dogleg Par 4, and you have to cross a bridge right after teeing off, so visually lining up a target is a challenge, and then marking it from the tee is even tougher (as in "it was headed right at that spruce tree" doesn't really apply because standing on the tee= North, standing on the fairway= facing WNW. IDK if I can explain any better than that lol). This also happened to be the shot that I was the least comfortable with by feel off the club, so I hit a provisional right down the center. Didn't find the first one-- it felt left, which could mean all sorts of things; water, fescue, rough, tree trouble. I just kind of gave up on it after about 45 seconds and hit my provisional from the fairway lying 4. 4th shot was at the center of a 2-tiered green with the pin on the back tier, and thus, short. I found what I assume was my pitchmark about 6 inches short of the crest of the hill (sigh), ball was all the way down the slope at the front. Putted up to ~10 feet, made it coming back for a 6. +5 thru 5.
6 is a 118 yd par 3 (brag- I've aced this hole). Sand wedge to 7 ft, 3 putt like a stud. +6 thru 6.
7 is a par 4, slight dogleg left with an elevated green. 3 iron to the right rough (this one took a minute to find), pitch to the vicinity of the 100 yd stake, SW over the green. Chunked the par chip, chipped again to 5ft, tapped in for 6. +8 thru 7. Probably could have hit like a 4-iron on to the green for my 2nd shot, but it's an elevated green, protected by a bunker short and woods left, so I meh'ed.
8 is a 144 yd par 3 (probably played a little shorter than that tonight, so I almost certainly had the wrong club), woods on both sides, lake short of the green. Mosquitoes omg. I couldn't stand still. Tried to hit a soft 8 iron but rushed the swing due to bugs, and ended up taking pretty much a full swing, going well over the green. I then remember that it's a front pin with a severe slope back to front, and that I'm never keeping this ball on the green/getting this close. Chip all the way back to the front of the green, chip back up towards the pin, cough up a couple mosquitoes and miss the putt coming back, for double. +10 thru 8.
9 is a downhill Par 4, slight dogleg right- For some reason I pull out my fairway wood and hit a high hook way left and not far ("some reason" is the fact that I can't fade my 3 iron for some reason, just low stingy draws. There's trees down the right side and the fairway cuts in on the left side, so I could either hit 6 iron off the tee, or hit something to fade, since a 3 goes in the left rough like 85%). the 18th fairway runs parallel with 9, and the ball was right in the middle of that fairway. 8 iron back in to the right fairway short of the water, leaving 40 yards downhill. Pitch to 12 feet and miss the putt, tap in for 5. +11 46.
Thoughts-
The front is way easier than the back, and there are a few more treelined holes there, as well as two long par 5's that would probably be the toughest holes. I struck the ball just as well as I typically would for the most part, but couldn't really get a solid idea of yardages and pins. All things considered, I likely wouldn't have broken 100 on the outing, but I'm also far from a 6 hdcp. I feel like I could have been a few shots better had I played more than 2 rounds to this point in the summer. Ballstriking was good, short game was real rusty. I was also a lot more aggressive than I would have been had this been a round for a real bet, but again, the front 9 of this course is pretty easy, and losing balls would be a challenge. I don't remember how long the 9 was exactly, but it was around 1:25-1:30. I've played the front alone in light in 1hr trying to go fast, and I don't think anything more than 1:10 would be reasonable for solo ready golf.
I'm pretty amazed that I only lost 1 ball, but like I said, the back is way tougher, and I'd prob lose a couple more there.
I shot 41 on the front the first time around (555 453 635), but during my play a lot days I'd typically be anywhere from 37-41. I figure I would have been in the 105 range had I played 18.
Toughest part was the mental aspect of not being able to see the ball obv, but I quickly got over it and just completely stopped looking up. I've always trained myself to feel where the ball goes since my eyes aren't even that great and I used to just lose the ball in midair at least once a round.
During my early round, I hardly hit any drivers because I knew I wouldn't hit any in my dark round, and I also counted off steps for my average 3-iron and used that as a guideline for later.
I remembered a lot of the breaks, both from playing beforehand, as well as simply knowing the course.
I had a few beers during the first round, as well as one with my sandwich between rounds, plus it was hot out, so I was getting tired. So despite having just played the course, simple stuff like remembering pin spots were hazy during my approach shots.
all things considered, I thought OP was going to get hosed by a solid 6-8 strokes before having played. Now I think it's a lot closer, but this dude probably knows what he's doing and you're still probably going to get grifted, but he'll shoot a 96 and not a 90. I'm also quite drunk atm.
I don't think I have internet access from Tomorrow at 2-4PM until like Sunday afternoon, but if you guys wanna ask stuff about anything I didn't mention then go ahead and I'll try to answer them eventually.
Last edited by thebigeasy59; 07-08-2010 at 03:58 AM.
Reason: lol, the post above mine is pretty funny, and wasn't there when I started writing.
