81 from the blue tees. 137 slope. Happy with that. Wasn't even going to play. Went to range to practice. Spoke with club pro about my progress since the lesson with him, and he gave me more encouragement. He told me he liked what he was seeing with my swing and that it looked really good.
After hitting about 60 balls or so on the range, I decided to play nine. It was already 4:30pm. Since it was only nine I thought I'd challenge myself and play from the blues, since I have been doing so well from the whites lately. Once I played the front in 40, I had to continue. I finished at just about sunset.
Was really striking the ball well. Unfortunately the longer distance approach shots as a result of playing from the blues put a lot more pressure on me. Didn't really hit any bad shots at all today, but just didn't find the green as easily, having to hit a lot more 5 and 6 irons in, instead of wedges and shorter irons which is more common when playing the white tees. Had lots of minor misses as a result of the extra distance. On 11th, I had 8 iron approach (where I usually have a wedge when playing the whites) which landed 1 foot from pin. It bounced about 8 feet past.
On 12th, drive ended up right behind tree on right side of fairway. Had no clear shot at the green. Was still 195 out, but totally blocked by tree. So, I picked a spot that I thought would give me a great lie on the backside of a mogul, about 35-40 yards away and punched out under the tree limb to EXACTLY where I wanted to land it. That left me about 165 yards to the pin from the rough on an uphill lie. Seemed like a perfect 6 iron flyer. It was. Hit it high off the backside of the mogul. Hoping for a soft landing from so high up, as there was certainly no backspin to stop it. Landed it on the green not far from the pin, but it still trickled off the back. Thought I still had a chance to chip it in from about 18 feet. Near perfect chip and speed. Tracked right to the hole, but at the last foot it went slightly left and rolled to about a foot past. Bogey, but a good one.
On 14th hit an awesome drive from the blues leaving me only a SW in. Put it to 4 feet and made the birdie putt. I'm very happy with the way I am hitting the ball right now. Not just my irons, but everything is feeling good. Even driver is acceptable, though I'm still hoping to dial that in a little more.
Felt I could have gone a stroke or two lower. Missed a couple of putts I really should have made.
