Today, I golfed my ball
I played nine at North Texas Golf in Dallas on a very hot morning. There was a variable breeze from the west. The golf course was in typical summer condition, very firm, with bumpy, slow greens.
My score:
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total |
| Par | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 27 |
| Score | 4 | 3* | 4 | 4 | 4* | 3 | 3* | 3 | 3 | 31 |
* Hit green in regulation.
My round:
- First hole. Hit a 9-iron fat, leaving me 40 feet short of the pin. Chipped long with the AW, lipped out the 15 foot putt and tapped in for bogey.
- Second hole. Pured a 7-iron 35 feet over the pin (should have hit an 8-iron). Left my first putt six feet short but popped in the next for par.
- Third hole. Hit an AW so fat, the ball went maybe 30 feet. Hit a sand wedge pin-high but just off the green. Chipped within 2 feet and tapped in for bogey.
- Fourth hole. Hit an AW fat and right into a puddle. Took relief from the puddle, chipped from a downhill lie with the lob wedge to about 6 feet and hit the putt for bogey.
- Fifth hole. Hit an AW 40 feet pin-high right of the hole. Struck a very poor putt 15 feet short. Pured the putt, but it hit a bump and bounced over the hole. Tapped in for bogey.
- Sixth hole. Hit another fat AW short of the green. Chipped with the AW to 2 feet and tapped in for par.
- Seventh hole. Hit another fat AW perfectly in line with my target, but just on the green 30 feet short of the hole, leaving me with a difficult putt up to the hole on a ridge that goes across the green. Hit a putt perfectly on line but 2 feet short. Tapped that in for par.
- Eighth hole. Hit a 9-iron pin-high but left of the green in a grass bunker. Chipped about 7 feet short of the hole, but pured the breaking putt into the hole.
- Ninth hole. Hit an 8-iron left of the greenside bunker, chipped with the sand wedge 6 feet past the hole, and hit the breaking putt for par.
Today, I had no golf swing at all (one really fine tee shot, even that one with the wrong club), yet I tied my best score on this course with a combination of good chipping and good putting (14 putts including one unlucky 3-putt). In short, I put the ball in the hole even though my golf swing abandoned me. I was really proud of how I played today.
Update: Forgot to mention that I played three balls today (a Bridgestone e6+ on the first three holes, a Titleist ProV1 on the second three, and last year’s Nike One Platinum on the last three holes). There was no discernible difference in the three balls, which were chosen because they were listed as soft, high spin balls in Golf Digest’s last ball test.