Beautiful day. Played with Ben and Mike & Linda Riso. Actually played pretty well, though score does not show it. Drove the ball good. Only one or two bad drives. Though I missed the fairway more than normal, most misses were really good drives.
After good GIR par on first, missed green on par 3 2nd, but hit 24* really well. Started at pin, but kept drawing. Hit side hill bank of green and bounced into water. Good flop after penalty drop, but missed putt for bogey. 1st of 4 doubles on the day, only one of which (15) was a poorly played hole.
Tees were back on 8th. Hit really good drive, but caught back bank of left bunker and rolled back in. With tees in normal position, that ball lands well over. Was a nice boring trajectory with draw spin. Probably would have gotten 40 extra yards if it cleared the bunker. Happy with the drive, but not happy with the result. Same thing on 10th. Tees back, flew ball to back bank of left bunker and it hit and rolled back in. Tough out. Then hit pretty 19* from fairway as well as I could. Perfect flight, but again, just caught the back bank of the last bunker before green on right. Another foot higher/longer and it is probably on green. Hit sand wedge out, but got more distance than expected and flew the green.
Used 4W a bunch today. First time all season using 4W. Hit it fairly well, mostly from rough.
On the back, I hit some really nice shots. Just found a lot of bad luck. Definitely did not play the back as well as the front, but played it much better than score indicates. Worst drive of day on 15. Push sliced it well into woods. Way in. First time this year. Then hit 4W to just short of green after penalty drop from 40 yards behind right bunker, about where the drive first crossed the hazard stakes. Way back. It was a terrible drive.
On 16, hit a really nice 6 iron to back pin. Ball mark was 2 ft before pin. Ball released to back of green and off, into thick rough. Another shot I was happy with, but not the result. Chip from deep rough was okay, but 8 feet short. Putt was on line all the way. Stopped 1/4" short. Should have saved par.
Should have been putting for birdie on 17. Was expecting to put 52* approach very close from 90 yards. Instead, screwed up by pulling it left up on hill alongside green. Chipping down and getting it close off that hill was tough. Par putt was again, about a 1/4 inch short. 2 in a row. Bogey. This was typical of the whole back nine. Some nice shots with not great results.
Overall, it was a good day. Just didn't score on the back.
