Ben, Richie, Mike. Started out in the 60s and mostly cloudy. Ended up pouring during a portion of the round.
Great start. Approach on first came up two feet short and fell back into pot bunker, but put 60 wedge to 2 feet to save par. Everyone hit hybrids on 2nd. I hit 5 iron. Made the right choice. Par. 5 iron approach on 3rd came up right of green. Chipped it near perfectly. Lipped cup. Settled for par.
A little right off tee on 4 put me in rough and resulted in bogey. Came right back on 5 and 6 with two more GIR pars. Slightly right again on 7. Bogey again. GIR par on 8th from fairway bunker.
Then everything changed.
We had been moving along nicely. No waiting. I was in a great rhythm. Felt good. Was enjoying my play. We turned the corner and there were 4 carts waiting on 9th. WTF! No one behind us on 8th yet so in an effort to keep our rhythm, we went back and hit into 8th from about 200 yards out. But the damage was already done. I was pissed off when I heard there was a scramble going on in front of us which was backing ip the whole course. I started to lose my focus. When we finally got to 9th tee, I yanked a hybrid into woods on left. Played a provisional to par, but took double to end an otherwise very good front.
Then the rain started and the waiting continued on 10. Screwed that up with a slight shank on my approach. Then skulled a flop. Chipped it close to save bogey. On 11, just as we finished teeing off in the rain, it began to come down in buckets. All our tee shots were sitting in the middle of the fairway. We pulled under the trees and were waiting it out. Eventually, the guys behind us, who I hadn't seen all day, were now on the tee. So we quickly rushed out to our balls and slapped them in. Somehow, in the pouring rain, I made a perfect strike and put it 10 feet from the blind pin. WHen we got up the hill and over to the green, there was the group in front of us still hiding under trees from the rain. So now, we have to wait for them to tee off.
As we wait for them to play their approach shots, the guys behind us drive up. We are still waiting to tee off on 12. All of a sudden, one of the group in front drive back to the tee. We thought he forgot a club or something. Nooo. He can't find his tee shot and wants to re-hit from the tee. Are you serious? There are two groups waiting on the tee and he wants to slow things down even worse. It wasn't a tournament. Its just casual Saturday afternoon play. C'mon.
In any case, my mind was blown by then. Did everything I could to hold it together and finish with a 45 on the back. Used up all my good play when I was nice and calm on the front. What a mental game this is.
