Decided to push the shoulders and play 18 for the first time since the surgery.
Continue to protect the left shoulder, consequently pulling the ball off the tee and many other full swing shots. Pulled 6 or 7 drives today. On the other hand, when I did get full follow through on some others, was able to crank off some decent length drives, dead straight. So strength is coming back--it seems.
The rough here was incredibly long and thick. Everyone has been complaining about it. Augusta-like, according to some. I got caught in it a few times. One so bad, I tried to get out with a 3H, had a nice swing, what seemed like decent contact, and the ball moved about 15 yards forward! Yikes. That was embarrassing....until I saw others do the same from that thick stuff. It had to be near 5 inches long and incredibly thick. That led to an unfortunate double on 8. Thankfully, pulled out a bounce-back birdie on 9 which helped me decide to keep going and play the back. Shoulders weren't too bad yet. Birdied 13 with a 24 foot putt. Saved par on 18 with a near perfect 60* chip from side ridge 8 feet above the green. Then made the 12 foot putt. Couple of poorly played holes too. Skulled a 60* over the green from 65 yards out on 14, into non-playable area. Had to take a stroke and drop. Then on the par 5 16th, after a good (but rather short) drive and a great 3H layup just short of the hazard, was 120 out. Pulled out my trusty 9 iron, but hit it fat and barely made it over the hazard. Luckily it did. Then hit a 60* long and right. Where did my short iron game go? Took me freakin' 5 to get on, with NO penalties! Had to try a flop to the far back pin from the thick rough behind the green, and though it wasn't bad, it hit the downslope and rolled out to 35'. Almost dropped the putt to save bogey. Instead a 6 inch putt for another dreaded double.
All in all, it could have been much worse. We'll see how shoulders feel in the morning. Maybe try again over the long weekend.
