Wasn't planning to play. Took a ride up to the course and found there were some crazies out there, so decided to be a little crazy myself. Temps in the mid-30s with wind chill in the 20s, but the sun was shining so I figured what the hell.
Course was totally saturated from all the rain yesterday. So much so that it was nearly unplayable. Obviously, it was cart path only. I never found anywhere in the fairway that you could walk without squishing water out from under your feet. There was no relief from casual water except in the rough. So, since the round was out of season, I kicked the ball over to the rough on many shots to avoid the mud bath on every swing. I realized after my first approach shot hitting off the fairway was going to be no fun.
Greens are very difficult now that they have not been mown for awhile. They are still quite fast, but I could not get a handle on the speed. Nothing like the greens at Grassy Hill yesterday. Lots of 3 putts today. Missed a 6-footer for bird on 9th after great 5 iron off the tee.
Again, with the cold and wetness, distance was tough today. Had at least 5 or 6 balls plug, 3 of which were drives. On 3rd hole drive was in the center of the fairway, yet completely invisible. It was totally plugged below the surface. On many other drives, the ball stopped within a foot or two of the pitchmark it left in the fairway. 5 yards of roll-out was a lot and happened on only a few drives today. This game is really tough when you can't reach most greens in regulation without a hybrid or fairway wood in your hands. Somehow, I reached a lot today. All the par 3s and hit my hybrids pretty well on a bunch of approach shots.
15th hole got in my head again. Only slice of the day. Penalty. Resulted in a triple. Wouldn't be so bad but had penalty on the 14th as well after hitting a really good drive...with really bad aim. Drew it into the water hazard on left. I tried to draw it, but didn't give it enough room because, frankly, I have been having difficulty of late making the draw work. This one worked perfectly. It just ran out of ground underneath it. Splash!
Tried playing my old Titleist 909 3W for kicks today. Hit it quite well on a couple of occasions, but never from the wet fairway.
Played solo and finished the round in 2 hours 15 minutes...and it was cart path only. Not bad, but the round was not very satisfying playing in the mud.
My Footjoy Dryjoy Tour shoes, which probably have 200-300 rounds on them never let in a drop of water, yet I was sloshing about in 1/2"-1" deep water virtually all day on every fairway. Footjoy rocks!
