87! 18 at Mill Quarter Plantation Golf Course
We did it! We broke 90! And more importantly, I broke +18 to par, shooting +15 to par.
My original goal of breaking 80 had me shooting 89 by August 2020 and 87 by January 2021. I missed my August deadline, in large part due to my shift in focus towards my archery hunt. On the other hand, I beat the January deadline by a few months!
It was an incredible round. Let’s break it down.
Back Pain
When I went to bed last night, my lower left back was killing me. I got adjusted by the chiropractor on Thursday, felt fine yesterday, but after sitting on the couch for a few hours I got up and my lower back was hurting badly. I iced, took some ibuprofen, and drank some ginger tea with tumeric (which is supposed to help inflamation - it tasted horrible).
I woke up this morning and my back was still really stiff, and I felt some actual pain. When I tried to stretch I felt pinched nerves or something when doing downward dog. I was not feeling optimistic about being able to play. I hopped in the car with Chris & Zach (who I was playing with) with the expectation that if I didn’t feel well while I hit balls that I would be along for the ride.
While hitting balls I didn’t feel the pain, but I did feel unbelievable stiffness. It was apparent that if I was going to play I’d have to take it really easy. I could make a full swing, but it would have to be slow and easy.
I wanted to play, so I consigned myself to playing a club shorter on every shot and got excited for a relaxed round of golf.
Overview of the round
That relaxed approach to the round ended up helping me score my lowest round in years.
I have been trying to improve my tempo, and being forced to swing easy made it much easier to keep a good tempo.
Swinging easy also made me take an extra club on almost every shot. Usually I would hit a pitching wedge up to 115 yards, but I would play a 9 iron down to 110 today. I can stretch an 8 iron up to 155 pretty well, but today I was hitting a 7. If I had a shot which would require a full swing, I took an extra club, choked down, and swung 3/4s.
What did I notice? I was rarely short. My ball striking was tremendously improved. My target was much more narrow (if I pulled or pushed, it was slight, and not a hook/slice).
On top of all that, I had a lot more fun! The increased consistency gave me more confidence which made the game more exciting.
Shot anomalies
Overall, I played a solid round. I did have some shots, tremendous and horrible, that illustrate a few patterns of flaws in my game. Let’s dig into those.
Today’s tremendous shots
1. 3 wood off the tee
3. 30 foot 1-putt
7. 20 foot 1-putt
8. 20 foot 1-putt
10. Bump-and-run from off the green with 8 iron to 3 feet
12. Drive (slight fade)
17. 40 foot 1-putt
Of these tremendous shots, four of them (the four putts) were highly unlikely shots, or shots I couldn’t count on round-to-round. The other three (3 wood on 1, 8 iron bump-and-run, driver on 12) were wonderful and have a much better chance of happening again.
Today’s horrible shots
3. 8 iron for 130 yard layup (ball lost, took penalty stroke)
8. 3 shots to get out of bunker
10. Duffed 8 iron, followed by fat 52 degree
17. Duffed sand shot (hit to edge of bunker, slap shot from rough onto green from there with low accuracy probability)
Notice how I had a lot of issues getting out of sand (four strokes out of sand over two holes (although my slap shot could have almost counted as a sand shot, which would make it 5). Then I also had issues with my 8 iron, on a layup and an approach.
Assessment
Putting
I’m pretty sure I made close to 150 feet of putts today (definitely over 100 feet), for an average of 1.8 putts per hole. Compared to my last few rounds and how poorly my putting has been, this was insane.
This was in large part due to the condition of the greens. The greens were in pretty good shape, although the grass was long. This meant that the greens were rolling slow, and the break wasn’t bad, which both helped my putts run true.
To have five 1-putts on the day, and four of them come from over 20 feet out, is absurd. That is definitely not something I can count on for my next round.
Sand
I couldn’t get out of the sand. The sand wasn’t great, but my play was poor. It would be very beneficial to get some practice in a bunker.
8 iron
I don’t know what is up with this club? Usually it is one of my favorite irons, but today it always felt a little shaky. I hit some good shots with it, but some of my worst came from it as well.
Blow-up holes
If we take out the miraculous 1-putts, we had three blow-up holes:
8. Triple bogey; I had 3 shots in a bunker, and then had a 1-putt from 20 feet (should have been quadruple bogey)
11. Double bogey; should have hit a longer club off the tee, left a chip short, which left a pitch and two-putt
17. Bogey; duffed a sand shot, slapped another shot out of the sand, then had a 30 footer for a 1-putt (should have been a double bogey)
So those three holes make up six strokes above par, and +3 strokes against bogey golf that I should have had back.
What’s next?
It’s getting colder, which means my rounds are numbered. I’m guessing I’ll get 1-2 full rounds in and possible 1-2 9 hole rounds before 2021.
Practice wise, it’ll be the same: tempo, coming over the top, and putting (also ought to find a sand trap to work out of for an evening practice).
I’m so glad to have locked up this 87! I was really stressing about my progress to this point, but I learned a ton today and hope to build on that heading into 2021.