Today, we had a 7:30am tee time at Tahquitz Creek (for course info click here). They have two courses there and we played the Resort Course. We were all looking forward to a morning round in an effort to beat the desert heat. Even at that time, it was still in the low 90’s prior to teeing off. However, with the temp in the low 90’s it was considerably cooler than the previous day – it even felt pretty comfortable.
The starter was incredibly rude and super argumentative for 7am in the morning, but perhaps 50 years of desert sun and heat makes you that way. After we got past that, we were off.
For the second straight day in the desert, I hit the fairway, was on in regulation and 2-putted for par. I equate that to starting off a bowling match and getting a spare. You threw your first ball, left some pins up, but cleaned it up with your second ball. If I had made birdie on the first hole, it would have been like rolling a strike with some good pin action.
I answered that with a triple on the Hole 2 by yanking my drive left and taking a drop (penalty stroke) and hitting 3. I hit my 3rd to the right side of the green, then fluffed an uphill chip short, followed by a nice second chip that rolled past the cup about 10 feet. I rifled my first putt up the hill and over the right side of the cup. Thankfully, it stopped somewhat quickly after going past the cup, so I was able to make a 2-footer for a 7. Ouch.
I came back to earth on Hole 3 after making par on the par 3, 160-yard hole – I missed a fairly long birdie putt, but was able tap in for par. I will save you the details of what went in to shooting a 43 on the front other than to mention my birdie on Hole 7. Birdies are still a rare occurrence in my game, so by carding one was nice. I will need to get much more familiar with birdies on my quest to breaking 80. I think I will need to have at least one if not two birdies per 9 holes. It seems like a tall order from where I stand now, but it's gotta happen more often. I look forward to making more birdies.
It was a rough and tumble 43 – I had 1 birdie, 4 pars, a bogey, 2 double bogeys and a triple bogey. I was all over the joint. I only hit 3 of 7 fairways, however only on Hole 2 did I find myself in big trouble off the tee. I was only on in regulation on 2 holes. I scrambled and made par on holes 5 and 9 – taking 2 skins for carding the beloved ‘Arnie’ – short for the ‘Arnold Palmer’ skin – which is never being in the fairway, not on in regulation, but still making Par – a great skin.
A big reason for my 43 was because I was making putts. I only had 14 of them on the front 9 – which included four 1-putts and no 3-putts.
Could I put something together today and shoot an 85 or 86? Nope.
I fell apart on the back 9. I only hit 1 out of 7 fairways. I took 3 shots from the bunker on hole 13 – a Par 3. And to destroy me mentally, play came to a stop at the tee box on Hole 14. Earlier, we had 2 singles play through and now it was clogged up. Great work, starter. We waited at the tee box on 14 for about 7 to 10 minutes. That’s when you could stick a fork in me. I duffed my first shot after the long wait. My drive traveled a whopping 70 yards and had a trajectory of about 1 inch before tumbling and stopping just past the women’s tees. Not to worry, I took my second shot from only about 490 yards out – I tripled that hole.
So things were not exactly awesome on the back 9. I shot a 52 on the back – a full 9 shots worse than the front. I was on in regulation only once – Hole 17 – an awesome little Par 3. It was a 91-yard downhill shot with water surrounding the entire right side. There was a fairly nice wind blowing right at us. It was an intimidating little hole to look down at and with the wind blowing at us made for a pretty crazy shot.
I decided to hit a solid SW and just crank it up into the wind – hard and high – and watch it free fall from eternity and plug itself a half a foot into the earth in the middle of the green. As could be expected, I swung harder than normal and pulled it left a mile in the air. It crashed down on the left side of a greenside mound. The ground was so dry and hard that the ball was able to hit the mound and roll onto the green and funnel towards the hole. I still was left with about a 20 to 25 foot putt standing well above the hole. I ended up making Par – my only green in regulation on the back 9. Great hole. Fun tee shot.
The back 9 was ugly. My final score was 95 (43-52) – ouch. If there is a sliver of a silver lining in that dark, dark cloud, it was that I did not 3-putt all day. Amen.
One thing I learned and this might have been a very valuable lesson to have learned. I need to have great patience and even greater mental stamina to overcome obstacles such as heat, or a bad hole, slow play, etc. I need to bounce back, refocus and get back to what needs to be done. I need to stay loose and get into the routine as soon as possible - trying to maintain that smooth rhythm that each shot calls for. This might very well be the most important thing I learned during my 2 rounds in the desert. So instead of harping on you, Mr. Desert, for your fatiguing and oppressive heat, perhaps I should thank you for teaching me a good lesson and showing me something I need to work on.
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