The previous 1,051 columns since 2014 were almost invariably for the reader to enjoy, or to contemplate, or just laugh, not infrequently at me. Certainly I intended that they often be a departure point for some reasoning and thought on an issue of the day.
This one? Not so much. This one is really for me to preserve a memory before it goes away, a memory of something I did that I couldn't believe I could do, still can't, and I want to remember it while it is fresh and still being enjoyed. So bear with me.
I took up golf as a freshman in high school in 1965. Since I have played the game since, that means I have been playing for 55 years. Of course, in high school and college I played pretty often, not so much in med school and thereafter (singing and then raising kids), but after my 40s I tried to play a couple times a month, and usually failed to do so.
There have been some highlights, of course. I have had two eagles in my life, bizarrely within a week of each other in 1987, and both at the Fauquier Springs Country Club in Virginia, where I played for a few years. The first was a hole in one, so that milestone is at least checked off the list.
I'm a very distinctly mid-80s golfer. If I were to have to bet an over/under on my score, no matter the course, before playing, I would say "84." There are four courses in the plantation where we live, and though I have broken 80 on three of them, I'm still a reliable 84, if you're betting.
My best lifetime rounds were a 76 (four over par) in Concord, Massachusetts in a college competition, and then a couple years later a 75 (also four over par) in Chapel Hill, NC on the last day of first-year med school finals in 1974. But those were very much the exceptions. I'm not that good a player.
In that 75 in Chapel Hill, I played the back nine in 36 strokes, the lowest nine holes I'd ever had, and the only time I've played nine holes in even par. That's plot material.
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So last week, I went out for a practice round with three other guys I had not met before; I just plugged myself into a threesome with a missing fourth. And here is what happened. Remember, this is for me to keep a memory alive that I hope I'll read years from now.
The first hole is a fairly straight par-4 with large bunkerage in front of the green to the left. I drove up the right side into light, very playable rough, and had a pretty open 9-iron shot left to a two-level green, elevated in the back where the pin was. I got the shot about 15 feet short of the pin for a pretty simple two-putt par. I could also feel the greens were a bit slow and breaking less than you would read them.
Number Two is a fairly long par-3 with lots of water on the right all the way up. It's usually a 4-hybrid for me, into a green that slopes downhill left to right and toward the front. With little wind all day, and with the pin center right, I took the usual clubbing and got it just on the front of the green for another two-putt par. How about that, even par after two and, better yet, I hit both greens in regulation, something I try hard to do.
The third hole is a relatively long par-5 that I've never reached in two and probably can't, even with a good supporting breeze, which there wasn't anyway. But I did get a drive up the left center, comfortably left of a pair of traps in the right center of the fairway in driving distance. I took time over the 3-wood second shot and got it up left center about 40 yards short of the green. I remembered to commit to the gap wedge shot and got it within ten feet of the pin, which was right center of the green. The birdie dropped, and son of a gun, I was actually one under par after three holes.
Number Four is a short par-4, but a hard hole. There is a swamp about 200 yards out, so I can't hit driver off the tee. Moreover, the green is a wide but shallow one, elevated on the right side. So you have to get your drive up close to the swamp area, so you can hit a shorter (higher-loft) iron into the green to get it to hold. This time the pin was on the much-easier left side. I drove a 3-wood up the left center, but my full pitching wedge in was pulled a bit left and just off the putting surface. I could still putt, though, and approached within a foot for a tap-in par. Still minus-one.
The fifth hole is also a par-4 with a swamp in front of the green, but longer and you can hit driver off the tee. There is a trap up the left center of the fairway to avoid, but if you fade your drive a bit, and it reaches the peak about where the trap is, you'll get a nice roll down the other side of the hill, which I did. My drive rolled through the fairway and was in light rough with a side-hill lie down to the right. The pin was on the left side of the green on a sharp slope forward.
Being in some rough, I added one club and hit 8-iron into the green to be sure to clear the swamp. I thought I didn't swing hard enough, but having added a club, it was enough to clear the swamp and a trap just in front of the green, ending up a dozen feet uphill of the hold and past it. I tapped the fairly straight downhill putt lightly and it went right up to the center of the hole and dropped in. Two under par after five, and four greens hit out of five. Yesss!
This is where I started telling the guys in the foursome that I do not play like this; I'm not the player they were watching. We have a custom here like a lot of places, the "birdie flask." Make a birdie, you take out a flask and share a wee nip o' whiskey. I forgot it on #3, but this time took out the flask, and sure enough, it was empty! The other players were already good-naturedly teasing me, and one said that he would take care of the booze -- whereupon he took out his flask only to discover it was also empty.
We headed to #6, a mid-range par-3 with the pin on the center right. I hit a 7-iron but poorly, and ended up short right of the green with a 50-foot pitch-and-run. The 7-iron was bad, but the pitch was really bad, and ran another 25 feet past the pin and just past the putting surface. I was resigned to trying to lag a putt close enough to save bogey, but the putt was pretty straight, and dropped in the hole for a very lucky par -- two bad shots and a fortunate putt. Still two under after six, territory I had never, ever been.
Number 7 is hard to describe. It's a par-5, a dogleg left with a stand of trees 250 yards out up the center. Your "normal" approach is to keep your drive to the right (but not too far, because of course there is water there), and then hit a second shot up the right side (but not too far, because of course there are traps there). Then you turn left for a third shot into a very narrow (and not all that deep) green.
Alternatively, you can hit a drive up the left side, where there is a secondary fairway to the left of the trees. That route cuts the dogleg and is shorter -- except you can't hit driver, because there is a waste area 190 yards out. So you either hit a 5-wood and go that way, or take the normal approach up the right. I'd rather not go left, because your third shot is to the shallowest angle and likely runs over the green.
My drive tends to fade, so I took driver and faded it up the right side. I decided on a 4-hybrid second shot to favor accuracy over distance, and left a full gap wedge third. But I pulled the wedge a bit and went left of the green, between two traps but safe. That left a short pitch; I left that one ten feet short but again, it was a straight putt and dropped for a fortunate par. Seven holes, two under. Who knew?
Number Eight is a mess waiting to happen. It is a longish par-4 with the fairway narrowed by trees that poke into the right half of the fairway at 180 yards out. I've found it best to stay short of those trees and hit a 5-wood or the 4-hybrid up the center so the trees don't block the approach. I never hit driver there unless I have already messed up the round. This time I hit the hybrid but pulled it a bit; nothing special and still in the fairway a long 7-iron out. I didn't hit the 7 perfectly but not terribly; it came up a few feet off the green for an easy two-putt par. I'd survived both #7 and #8 and was still minus-two.
The ninth hole is a short and easy par-4, and I was pretty sure I was going to have my first-ever under par nine holes. I have never driven it, but I've come within 25 yards a few times. This time I hit the drive left-center and on a small hill, not in the fairway but a good lie. I just wanted to hit the gap wedge somewhere on the front of the green -- the pin was in the center toward the front and not the hardest placement.
I took a deep breath, really concentrated and hit the wedge to eight feet past the pin. At that point, I figured every putt was going to drop, since they pretty much all had. This one was a bit downhill, fairly straight, and the thirty-third stroke of the day rolled in for the third birdie of the round.
Like I said, I'd never had nine holes better than 36 before; only once been as good as even par for nine, and never played nine holes without a bogey. I have no idea what came over me, and I know I played over my head, but at least there is a round to remember, a 33. And now that I've recorded it for my own future enjoyment, I will indeed remember it.
You're probably wondering about the back nine. Unfortunately, as we got to the back nine a different group was in front of us, and they were playing incredibly slowly. I have back issues normally, and when you don't swing a club for ten minutes, repeatedly, your back can stiffen up and mine did, reverting me to my normal game. I didn't have any expectations of "shooting my age" (I'd have needed a 36 on the back), and was lucky even to get through 18 holes with the very slow pace and the hopes for a hot shower.
But I have a neat afternoon to remember otherwise. If you're reading this, cool, but the article is really for me.
Copyright 2020 by Robert Sutton
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Boy, Life is full of surprises. Congratulations. This is the year to get unexpected good news. Many of us sure need it.
ReplyDeleteAmen, amigo!
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