49 at Sycamore Creek
Another bad round. Very frustrating, but not cause I played bad the whole day. I actually played pretty average and just had some excruciatingly terrible holes.
Let’s break it down.
Hole by hole numbers
Remember the quote that I shared in my last post:
If you have no penalty strokes, no three putts, and no two chips, your score is going to drop dramatically.
Joel Dahmen
This was the focus for today’s round, limiting those three faults:
1) No penalty strokes 2) No three putts 3) No two chips
My totals in each fault (strokes cost, not number accrued) for the day were:
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Penalties | 3 |
| Three putts | 3 |
| Two chips | 1 |
Let’s dive in hole by hole to see what happened.
#10
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Par | 4 |
| Handicap | 4 |
| Score | 6 |
| GIR | N |
| Chips | 1 |
| Putts | 2 |
| Penalties | 0 |
Long par four to start, I got under my drive and also had it lofted too high so it only went ~200 yards. Laid up nicely but missed my approach short of the green. Chipped on and two putted.
Lost strokes (1)
- Bad drive (0.5)
- Bad approach (0.5)
#11
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Par | 3 |
| Handicap | 6 |
| Score | 4 |
| GIR | Y |
| Chips | 0 |
| Putts | 3 |
| Penalties | 0 |
Very long par 3, we agreed to play this hole from the whites due to the length. Hit a great shot off the green to land on the front middle. Bad lag putt left me 10+ feet for par, which I gave a good run at but missed right.
Lost strokes (1)
- Three putt (1)
#12
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Par | 4 |
| Handicap | 12 |
| Score | 5 |
| GIR | N |
| Chips | 1 |
| Putts | 2 |
| Penalties | 0 |
Very tight par 4, dogleg left. I chunked my tee shot left of the fairway with my hybrid which left me 200 yards to the green between two trees. I opted for the layup and got myself in the middle of the green with about 65 yards to the pin. Ended up aiming for the front of the green (pin) and came up short but it was puttable. Had a nice layup which I picked up for a gimmee (generous COVID gimmees).
Lost strokes (0)
- Possibly could have had a chance at par with a better tee-shot, but I’ll take the bogey on that hole.
#13
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Par | 4 |
| Handicap | 14 |
| Score | 5 |
| GIR | Y |
| Chips | 0 |
| Putts | 3 |
| Penalties | 0 |
Short par 4 with a creek in front of the green that kept me from hitting driver. Had a solid tee shot which left me 85 yards to the middle of the green. Took a 52 degree wedge to the back of the green on the same level as the pin (two tiered green). The top tin was criminally sloped and all four members of our party had a hard time getting off the green. I left my lag putt too far out and had no chance at saving par.
Lost strokes (1)
- Three putt (1)
#14
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Par | 5 |
| Handicap | 8 |
| Score | 7 |
| GIR | N |
| Chips | 0 |
| Putts | 3 |
| Penalties | 0 |
Best drive of the day (likely 270+, forgot to measure but can guess via GPS) was ruined by chunking two straight 7 iron layups. I finally got on the green and was laying 4, putting 5. I pushed my lag past the hole (only time I did that all day, greens were so slow), pulled the comeback and carded a double bogey.
Lost strokes (2)
- Two fat 7-irons (1)
- Three putt (1)
#15
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Par | 3 |
| Handicap | 18 |
| Score | 4 |
| GIR | X |
| Chips | 1 |
| Putts | 2 |
| Penalties | 0 |
Great contact with an 8 iron, okay ball flight (faded a bit more than I would like) and I ended up just off the green on the right side. I had a decent chip - could have been a little shorter on my landing zone but the lie was pretty bad - and I two putted for bogey.
Lost strokes (0)
- Bogey golf is good golf! It was an easy hole but missing the green I’m happy to come away with a bogey.
#16
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Par | 4 |
| Handicap | 2 |
| Score | 5 |
| GIR | N |
| Chips | 2 |
| Putts | 1 |
| Penalties | 0 |
Really long and tough dogleg left par 4. Once again I popped up my drive (just got under it, I adjusted the loft back down) so was left with 220+ to the green, bending to the left and over a creek. I opted to layup and hit a perfect 8 iron to give me a solid approach. I chunked the approach shot and hit it about 15 yards. Got the second one well and had my best putt of the day to sneak away with a bogey on the hardest hole on the back 9.
Lost strokes (0)
- 2 chip was bad, but the second chip and my putt saved me on this hole. It is very unlikely that if I hit the green on that first chip that I would have knocked down the putt.
#17
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Par | 3 |
| Handicap | 16 |
| Score | 4 |
| GIR | N |
| Chips | 1 |
| Putts | 2 |
| Penalties | 0 |
Great contact with a 6 iron on a longer par 3, ball started center and faded right (was aiming a little farther left, and it felt like I did block it a little), landing just off the green in some rough. I treated the lie like a bunker shot, opening up the face and taking a sweeping shot behind the ball and flopped it up well about 8 feet from the pin. This green was very bumpy which took my slight pull on my putt to the left of the cup leaving me with a bogey.
Lost strokes (0)
- Nice up and two-putt-down. I’ll take the bogey! That lie off the green could have ended up as a triple bogey with how inconsistent my wedge play has been recently.
#18
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Par | 5 |
| Handicap | 9 |
| Score | 9 |
| GIR | N |
| Chips | 1 |
| Putts | 2 |
| Penalties | 2 |
Everything fell apart on this hole.
Off the tee I felt confident but came way over the top, pulling the ball and then watching it draw off OB (I was trying to play more of a draw off the tee today). I decided not to hit another ball off the tee and take the “hitting 4 in the fairway” rule.
I attempted to layup from the front fairway with my hybrid but ended up pulling this shot way left and OB once again. I took a drop just off where it entered for another 1 stroke penalty.
I had about 115 yards left to the pin, took a pitching wedge which should be good for 125 but hit it fat and ended up 35 yards short of the pin. At this point I really just wanted to get on the green so I could putt so I took a 58 degree wedge to the dead center of the green. This left me a 25 footer, which I lagged beautifully for a COVID gimmee to end the round with a quadruple bogey.
Lost strokes (3)
- Penalties (3)
- Drive OB (2)
- Ended up hitting 4 out of the front of the fairway instead of 2.
- Layup OB (1)
- Drive OB (2)
Analysis
We had 8 lost strokes today. That would have taken us from 49 down to 41, which is +6 to par (par 35). It is unfortunate to see us being so far off our goal (breaking 90, or breaking +18 to par, by August) but to be fair I have not put in the effort. I have logged every significant golf effort I’ve had since I made that goal in mid-April, and so far I have one range session and 27 holes of play. I need to get back to the range, and likely start doing some drills at home.
Instead of focusing on everything (cause there is a lot) let’s focus on our core fault goals.
Penalties
3 strokes added from penalties (effectively two stroke penalty off the tee on 18, plus the third for going OB on the layup).
I did perfect in avoiding penalties if I stopped after 17. I think physical and mental fatigue both set in which led to some poor swing mechanics and poor head-space. My driver was extremely inconsistent today and could use a lot more practice at a range.
Putting
3 three putts.
The greens were really rough. We just had 6 straight days of rain and it was obvious that these greens had not been mowed down recently enough. They were spongy and extremely slow. Since the green wasn’t cleanly cut it caused for inconsistencies in how the ball rolled which made getting a good line almost impossible.
That being said, my lag putting could have been better. My speeds were off just enough to keep me out of gimmee range. I didn’t need to go after every hole, I just needed to get off in two-putts. Definitely should be spending some time on a putting green to get that feel down.
Chipping
1 two chip.
If you remember from my last round, short game needed to be one of my big focus areas. I took that to heart and spent a good portion of my next practice session focusing on my wedges. That paid off considerably today as I found ways to get the ball on the green. My accuracies could still be dialed in at key distances (35 yards through 105 yards) but I saw great improvements.
Excluding 18, I thought this was a pretty average day of golf for me! If I don’t go OB and can take off those 3 strokes I would have been at +11 to par on the day which isn’t horrible. That isn’t where I want to be (+9 +/- 1) but it is close, and at least it would be showing improvement.
But the reality is that my game is too inconsistent. This log shows that I don’t have enough practice to trust in my shots when I need to hit them. I needed a 250 yard drive on 18 and I sent it OB. I needed a 160 yard layup with a 7 iron on 14 and it went 20 feet. Those inconsistencies are happening too often. If I’m going to break 90 in the next two months I need to start removing those from my game.
Time to get back to the range!