This was such a fun round. The weather was perfect, but super super windy. We definitely all struggled playing the front nine because a lot of the holes were into the wind. My 4 iron barely reached 170 yards on one hole.
I actually played driver this time and it went really well! I tried a new swing thought I came up with on the range: "Wide-Wide" meaning stay wide on the takeaway and stay wide on the follow through when I release after the ball. I noticed during warmups that my bad shots with driver happened because I was trying too hard to control the club after impact. My hands were wrapped around me and the finish just felt ugly. So I tried thinking "wide-wide" and the results were pretty much instant. I was worried it wouldn't translate onto the course because these kinds of things never do. Everyone knows that their driving range game is much better because there isn't any pressure to perform since you always have another chance.
I took driver out on hole 2, a big dogleg left that turned at almost 90 degrees around a tall hill with lots of bushes. I knew that if I carry my ball about 240 I'd have a pretty good chance at reaching the green in two. I aimed left at a giant tree behind the hill and thought to myself that the line I was choosing gave me enough room to hit a draw or a cut. I always set up for a draw since that's become my natural shot shape. The only thing to consider was hitting it flush and making sure it wasn't a gigantic slice out left. I needed to carry and that's all. "Wide-wide." Pure. Dead straight with a slight cut only because the wind pushed it slightly off line to the left. One of those shots where I could pick up my tee while the ball was still in the air because I knew it was good. Salman couldn't believe the line I took, but using the Hole19 app I was pretty confident in my strategy. Relatively high risk but huge reward. My ball ended up perfect on the short grass to the left of the big tree in the middle of the fairway. I had 180 yards to the green and I hit a 5 iron flush but missed it just left. Nice and easy chip onto the green, simple two putt for a par. I had a ten footer for birdie but I'm okay with missing it.
What I wasn't okay with, was the next par 5 that I almost reached in two. My ball was just short of the green so I had a simple chip towards a flag that was maybe 20 feet away from me. My chip for eagle LIPPED OUT! I had a six footer for birdie that I missed. Tap in par. Happy but wish I could've carded my first hole under par for the year. So close!
Overall it was a really great round. Hit some awesome shots. Duffed a few chips. But my driving was consistent the entire round. My best drive of the day was on the back nine where I needed to carry 250 to clear a cluster of small fairway bunkers. I hit it dead straight on my line and hit a downslope that left my ball nicely on the shortgrass. Another easy 5 iron to get onto the green in two. Missed it slightly right, but what matters is that I hit an awesome drive again.
Best shot of the round for me was the 4 iron off the tee on hole 15. I hit that club pretty well most of the time, but I hit one of the most perfect baby draws of my life off the tee box. Excited to play again. Happy with where my game is going. My short game wasn't as sharp as it was at Watters Creek, but I'm happy I was able to get off the tee consistently the entire round.
