Day 37: Round at Balboa

Today I played Balboa. The last time I played Balboa, I shot a 93. My goal going into the round was 84. I ended up shooting an 87. I also had a pal with me who was shooting video on the round, so that was fun. I look forward to seeing how his camera work turned out. Once he sends it to me, I will put it up on the blog.

I had a front 9 score of 47. It was actually not as ugly as it sounds. It was a Par 37 (1 par-3 and 2 par-5's). It will sound uglier on paper than it actually was or felt. I only hit 3 of 8 fairways, but those fairways I missed were only a yard or two off the fairway - nonetheless, it was off the fairway. I was not on in regulation once - that hurt me a lot. I had 1 par, 6 bogeys and 2 double bogeys. I was hitting my drives well, hitting my irons fat (and 10 yards short), chipping well and putting okay. The scoring was not there, but it was not that ugly.

I shot a 40 on the back (Par 35) - sweet ginger. I still did not hit my irons that accurately (on in regulation 3 of 9 holes). I was striking the ball better on the back, just left or right of the green. I was chipping well! I will write that again because it feels so good to write those words - I was chipping well! I had three holes where I was not on in regulation, chipped it on and 1-putted for Par - amazing! The old golfer never chipped like that in the past. The new golfer is a good chipper. I need to continue to practice my chipping and work on getting it closer to always 1-putt, however, this was the first round in my life where I did not have a duffed chip - I love it.

I missed the green on both Par 3's, but managed to chip it on and 1-putt both times. I also birdied the 18th hole (Par 4) which was such a nice way to finish (always finish on a high note!). I only hit 3 of 7 fairways, but those I missed never got me into much trouble being only a couple yards off the fairway. I drove the ball very well averaging about 260~270 off the tee.

Round Stats:
Front: 47 Back: 40 - Total: 87
Fairways Hit: 6 of 15 (40%)
GIR: 3 of 18 (16.7%) - terrible
Total Putts: 29 (7 1-putts, 11 2-putts, 0 3-putts)

I was 6 shots better this time on Balboa (87) than I was that last time I played there (93). I felt really good after today's round due to my driving and chipping. Even though I did not shoot an 84, I finished strong with a 40 on the back 9. I have no doubt in my mind that if I would have hit my irons better today it would have been a much lower score. Nonetheless, I have something to look forward to for the next time I play.