Played with Richie. Cold and drizzly with lots of wind. Very unfriendly conditions. Uncomfortable. Drove the ball straight most of the day. The few misses off the tee were mostly into fairway bunkers....on 10, 12, 15. Double on 12th a result of a bladed pitch after coming up short of green with 4W into the wind.
On 15, hit the only fade of the day (as per usual on that hole) into fairway bunker. Wasn't a bad drive, but the wind kept pushing it...into the bunker. No chance to get to green. Too close to the high lip. Decided to layup from hazard with about an 80-85 yard sand wedge. Picked it clean. Got about 90 yards, and rolled into hazard. So much for laying up. Though inside the yellow stakes, still had a chance to get a club on it. Weighed the options. Try to hit from inside the hazard with a downhill lie and very thick wetland grass, or take the penalty and drop back a few yards for an easy 95 yard gap wedge to the pin. Made the dumb decision...of course. I actually got a good part of the club on the ball, but the heavy grass kept the clubface way open and the ball went right of the green. Now I needed a perfect flop, over the bunker, from rough to have a chance to save bogey. Made a good flop, but couldn't hold the green due to the rough the contact was made from. Ball rolled 15 feet past. Missed the putt and took double. Should have taken the penalty and dropped to the perfect yardage. At least I feel like I could get it close enough to one-putt. But no, I had to try the hero shot. Oh well. Bounced back with a par-shoulda-been-a-birdie on 16th with a 7 iron off the tee to 5 feet. Played about an inch of break in the putt and the damn thing didn't even break a half inch. Rolled around the lip, but stayed out. Dry greens and that putt falls. Wet green kept it on line more than expected.
Though Worthington Manor has a slope rating from the whites of 132, while Oxford Greens comes in at 131, I feel OG plays 2-3 strokes harder. And I have played it over 600 times. Looking forward to getting back to WM next week. Still have two more rounds scheduled at OG first. On even colder forecasted days.
CeeBee says:You are playing some steady golf my friend.
As for me, it is way off. As bad as my tee shots are I still am in play. Today my irons were abysmal. Missed from everywhere. Been a long time since I've put together so many bad swings. True hack. But still managed a couple birdies.
11/11/15
CeeBee says: