As you can see from the lack of updates to this site, I haven't had a chance to go golfing in a while. Hey, it happens. Plans to go play 9 and then have some beers turn into only having the beers. Also, it's been raining a lot in Massachusetts this spring. Great for my lawn, not for my golf game. Now, in the interest of full disclosure I did play 18 at Willowdale at the end of April with Josh and his friend Adam. But, how many times do you want to read about me hacking away around the same 9 holes? Plus, to be honest, nothing exciting happened. I played ok, not great - not worth writing about. Still, I hadn't been golfing in almost 3 weeks before I had a chance to get out there again.
Lost Brook golf course is extremely close to my house. It's about 2.5 miles door to door, so it's a little surprising to me how long I have managed to avoid playing there. It was the last place that I played before my self-imposed hiatus from golf, so I hadn't played the course in almost 9 years. However, I was greeted with a gorgeous day so I felt the need to get out there and swing again. The course itself is short, nothing but par 3's, but it makes up for not having much length by having narrow fairways and extremely deep rough. It's not an easy place to play by any stretch of the imagination.
Again, to keep this shorter, you're only getting the highlight of the round.
#10 As a player who prides himself on being able to make it through a round without losing a lot of golf balls or tees, I was dismayed when my first swing snapped the tee and caught the ball at a weird angle, causing it to shoot into a bog just off the tee. One swing, one snapped tee, one lost ball. Not the start I was hoping for. After re-teeing the ball I reverted back to my old problems and topped my next couple of shots. It took me several attempts more than it should have to make it down the fairway. Eventually I got on the green, where the previous days worth of rain slowed me down and required a 3-putt for a very annoying 7.
#14 Despite my time away from this course, I remembered this hole. There is no place to come up short with a large pond guarding the front. There is some green to work with if you miss to the left, but short or right and you'll be into the water. Also, once you're on the green it slopes back down towards the water, so you need to miss high. With no one else on the back 9 I had decided that if I hit it into the water I would take a couple of swings at the green before taking my drop. Turns out that wouldn't be necessary because, like most inexperience golfers facing a large hazard, I went way over with my club. My ball lazered over the pond, caught the back of the green and bounced into the woods. I don't mess with poison ivy, so I only gave a cursory search for my ball before taking a drop and chipping up over a mound onto the green. I thought I was going to get a lot of roll, but it wasn't nearly as fast as I was afraid of, so it took me two putts to get to hole level, where I tapped in for a 5.
#15 Again, I made solid contact off the tee, but watched my ball fade at the end and come off the green to the right. Had it been straight I would have been thrilled with the distance. Instead I had to chip up and on the green. I pulled a Josh and could only watch helplessly as my ball went up and rolled straight off the green to the other side. Another chip stuck on the green, but still left me with 24 feet to the hole. I thought I had nailed the putt, only to watch it catch the cup and spin out, seemingly picking up momentum to leave me with a 4 footer. Which, of course, I missed for a 6.
At least when I came down #16 I was reunited with my ball from #14. Turns out the reason I couldn't find it before was that it had gone through the woods and landed by the #16 green. Told you I had way too much club.
#18 With a green guarded by 3 large bunkers and my sand play being what it is, I was determined to avoid them. My first shot was short and too the right. I was 20 yards from the green, but it very deep rough. I decided to just get out of the jungle and back onto the fairway. I managed to land directly into the center and chip onto the green, avoiding all the sand (I was as stunned as you are). I came up just short on my 18 foot putt, but tapped in for a 5. That was about as well as I could have played that hole. Where was that the first 8 holes of the day?
Final Score: 55
Self-Analysis: I can blame my slow start on the fact that I hadn't played in three weeks, but that doesn't excuse my really bad putting. I thinking too much about shooting past the cup and instead I'm continually coming up short. I think I would be better off being long versus short every time.
