Joey's Golf Bag

I played 18 with the Shriners at Grapevine Golf Course on a cool, cloudy day with a little rain on the first 3 holes. We went off about 9:30AM on Mockingbird and finished on Bluebonnet. We were cart-path only, but the course was still pretty firm and fast. We finished about 4-1/2 hours later, not bad for cart-path only, which greatly slows down play.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Off the tee. I hit 7 of 14 fairways, and two of the four par-3 holes in regulation. However, I had three penalties off the tee, a hook into the woods on #2, a pull into the trees on #9 on Bluebonnet, and a push into the woods on #3 on Mockingbird. On all but the hook, had I played a 4-wood (the proper club) instead of a driver, I wouldn’t have had two of those penalties.
• Approach shots. I hit four greens-in-regulation, in addition to two of the par-3 holes in regulation. I had one penalty, a sliced 4-wood that trickled into the water on #1 on Bluebonnet. Otherwise, a pretty good improvement over my last round.
• Wedges. Pretty good on the front, pretty bad on the back. Because of my complete inability to make a putt, I didn’t get up-and-down a single time, despite pitches as close as 4 ft to the pin.
• Chips. I only chipped once, and it was a stinker.
• Sand shots. I didn’t hit into any bunkers today. Hooray!
• Putting. Simply awful. I thought my putting was bad on Sunday, this was worse. I had no one-putt greens, and had four 3-putts. Pathetic.

Well, my game (except putting) is showing some signs of improvement. 6 GIR is the best I’ve done since last year at Cowboys Golf Club. My wedges were good on the front, though lacking on the back. My course management was bad; two of the penalties would have been avoided if I’d used a 4-wood off the tee instead of the driver. My increased distance with the driver brought trouble that I’d not been able to reach before. I turned a potential 80’s score into a 96 today with poor course management and even worse putting.