This was the first time I've played since I got back from Sarasota. A couple of weeks of skiing at Whistler and hanging out with Kate and Zach have been higher priorities but I got out this weekend twice with Rick and Paul. The first round was at the Plateau Club where I am now a former member. The course was in pretty good shape, though very wet. It was a pretty standard slog through the Plateau Club with not a lot of very memorable shots but perhaps that is because my mind is now filled with the second round -- today's round at Trilogy.
We had an 8:10 tee time and after warming up, we decided to play from the blues, which are the backmost tees at Trilogy. While my tee shot was well right, I hit the green on the second shot and two putted for par. Rick even birdied the first hole. I like starting out with a par. And I like following it up with three more pars even more. The most interesting one was the 615 yard par 5 that I had no chance of hitting the green in regulation, but a well drained putt saved par.
I doubled number 5, breaking my par streak but then parred number 6. Wow, +2 after 6 holes, pretty cool. I finished out the front 9 with bogies and was +5 after nine. Then things started to get better (!) On the tenth hole, I hit a great drive to the middle of the fairway, but my second shot went left across the cart path and was on some leaves just outside of the hazard. I tried to bump it up to the green but the wet grass caught it and it stopped just off the green. Fortunately, my putt from off the green found the hole and I escaped with another par. On 11, my drive went waaaayyyy right into the trees for my only lost ball of the day. I took the penalty and hit my third shot onto the green and sank that putt for a par even with the stoke.
I started thinking that I really had something going around this point and tried to just play smart to not blow a low score. 14 was nasty with a tee shot that again went right and hit a tree, but found its way back into play. I hit the second shot fat, the third one short into a bunker. Ugh. The bunker shot was great though, making it up to the green and I two putted for a double bogey. Not pretty, but it was my second long sand shot that went exactly as I had hoped, so I was happy with that part.
As I came up to 16, I was +8, thinking I just need some pars to stay under 80 (a bit easier than usual since Trilogy is a par 70 course). Of course asking for 3 pars in a row is a pretty tall ask for me. I hit another great drive leaving me about 98 yards to the green and then hit my approach to about 8 feet. Fortunately, Paul ended up just behind my shot so he gave Rick and me a great read to the hole and we both holed out our birdie putts. Birdie! Now I'm only +7 with two to go.
17 is a long dogleg right par 4. I hit a great drive to fairway at the corner, then my 4 iron rescue club 180 yards to the green. I didn't really think I would hit the green with it, I figured I would get close and at least not hit it into the water but the shot was right on. Two putts and I have another par. Golf is really a great game when things work the way you want them to :)
So I walked up to 18 at +7. Tied with Paul. We all hit our drives well to the right into the 10th fairway. My second shot stays right and is getting close to some trees. Rather than go at the hole, I figure I should just protect the score and hit it to a safe place back in the fairway. Lying 3, I am 78 yards from the pin. I hit a wedge to about 5 feet and realize that I am just a 5 foot putt from a closing par. I..uh...missed the putt. But I made the next one, giving me a grand total of 78 -- an all time low score. I had a 79 at Bellevue last year around this time but since we were playing from the blues at Trilogy, this gives me a round rating of 7.533 - a new low. Very cool.
I'm going to call this a soft 78 since we were being a bit generous with conceding putts and Trilogy is only par 70 but I was really happy with the round. In general, my drives were long and straight and my wedges were really on. I even had a few putts drop which hasn't been the case for a long time.
Fun :)
Duffergeek Stat Zone:
Plateau:
Score: 90 (15.580 round rating)
Putts: 33 (ick)
GIRs: 4
Fairways: 7/14 - terrible
Interesting stat: I parred 3 of the 4 par 3 holes.
Trilogy:
Score: 78 (7.533 round rating)
Putts: 26
GIRs: 5
Fairways: 8/13 - the ones that stayed in the fairway were generally very long as well
Interesting stat: Record low score. Oh and I didn't fall down at all this time - just like skiing!
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