2 & 1
This morning, Jarvis and I practiced and played nine at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The day was cloudy and cool, with the breeze from the west.
I had a very poor practice today, seemingly unable to hit any good shots at all until the end of practice, where I smoked a 5-iron right at the pin to the left side target green. Other than that, probably my worst practice since I started playing golf.
Jarvis and I decided to match play today. My first shot, a pitching wedge, was shanked into the water on the first hole. Jarvis put his tee shot in the left bunker, got the ball out and nailed a 25 ft putt to go 1 up. On the second, we both played poorly, but Jarvis pulled out the hole to go 2 up. On the third, Jarvis was on the green, but I hit a sand wedge fat and then chipped to about 8 ft. Jarvis left his putt short, I missed my putt for par and he missed his putt, so we halved the hole.
On the fourth, I hit a 5-iron into the center of the fairway; Jarvis chunked his tee shot and then hit the next shot into the hazard. My next shot, a high 7-iron trying to fly over the trees, just struck a branch and left me just in front of the hole. Jarvis conceded the hole and that left him 1 up.
On the fifth, I pulled a sand wedge and hit the tree on the left. Jarvis put his ball on the green, but then proceeded to three putt and allow me to halve the hole. On the sixth, I hit a 5-iron off the tee into the center of the fairway, then a nice pitching wedge layup, followed by a x-wedge shot pushed into the bunker. I won the hole after Jarvis pushed one right into the harzard, to even the match.
On the seventh, I hit a 6-iron thin short of the hole, chipped short and two putt to win the hole after Jarvis hit his second over the green. On the eighth, hit another 5-iron into the center of the fairway, then hit a 9-iron a little fat just short of the green, chipped to 4 ft and hit the par putt, to win, after Jarvis’ par putt missed. At that point, I’d won the match 2 & 1, but we finished out the ninth hole anyway, which I won with a two putt bogey after hitting a 9-iron fat short of the hole.
After the terrible practice, I got my swing back on the fourth hole, and played pretty well after that. That redeemed my day of golf.