Played with Bernie, Mike R. and a guy we didn't know, Pat. We all played the blues, but Mike has the firepower to play the blacks. He out-drove us by 50-60 yards. Thankfully, my short game and putting was good enough to stay with him. With the exception of a few drives, I was not very good off the tee otherwise. Hit my irons good.
Made a statement on the first hole (the 10th---they started us on the back today). I had the shortest drive. I hit 6 iron approach to 10 feet. The others made bogey and doubles.
Played the 12th okay, but doubled anyway. Came back though and went par, par, par, par on 13, 14, 15 and 16. And on 14, my drive was probably my longest of the day. Went into the high cabbage left. Penalty drop, then hit a 50* wedge to 3 1/2 feet and made the putt to save par. On 15th, par three, hit a 7 iron to 4'. Somehow, I missed the putt. Should have been an easy birdie.
On 18, hit a 6i approach uphill, 20 yards long and into the back bunker. Estimated the pin was playing about 160 yards with the uphill variable. Hit it 175,flush, into the back bunker. Nice bunker shot to about 5 feet, but missed the par saver.
Played the front okay, but had way too many bogies and some bad luck. Finished with a very nice GIR par on 9th.
Tees were set up quite long on most holes, often back on the black tee box. Put a lot of pressure on my long game, which ultimately held up okay. Bernie and I were jealous of watching Mike hit wedges in on 430 yard par 4s. Overall, the course continues to play very difficult right now. 137 stated slope from the blues. Feels low. It's playing more like 147.
