Golf Tour 2007
Saturday, Dec. 8 -- This was another day that I had been looking forward to ever since we played this course last year. Many times it makes little difference who has designed a course, but in some cases it does. And when the architect is the late Mike Strantz, it really does. We played three of his courses last year (TR, True Blue in Myrtle Beach, and Royal New Kent just east of Richmond), and added a fourth a few days ago (Tot Hill Farm). Fabulous courses, really make you think. Usually the shots are not as hard as they look, but it sure helps if you are hitting the ball well. And it sure is fun.
Executive summary -- all's well that ends well.
It was a beautiful day, so the course was fully booked and we got paired up with two guys from the Chapel Hill area, George, a radiologist, and Ron, a financial planner specializing in working with doctors. Obviously, George was one of Ron's clients. They looked to be in their 50s, tall, thin, and as they demonstrated off the first tee, hit the ball a long ways. Though we weren't playing any sort of match, I still felt intimidated immediately. Not good, not smart, but it just seems to happen.
At the start there is always the question of which tees to play. Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes the choice is between tees that make the course a little too long and ones that make it a little too short. Last year I opted for the shorter ones, here called the Plow tees (tees were named after implements used in tobacco farming -- Ripper, Disc, Plow, and Cultivator), 5,886, par 71. I had been thinking of trying the next longer, the Disc, 6,297, not sure, but then George and Ron stepped up to the Disc tees and it seemed I had to join them. I believe that's a male thing. The rating and slope for the Disc tees are 70.8/141. Last year I shot 86 from the Plow (68.6/131). I said to Gail I could always move forward after a few holes. Unlikely.
So we were off.
1. Par 5, 547. Decent tee shot over the dunes. Perfect 6 iron lay-up before the second set of dunes, but I hit it too far, up in a sloping bunker, about 130 from the hole. 8 iron, thought I hit it solid, but what I really hit solid was the lip of the bunker, ball ended up a couple of feet from where it had started. 8 iron again, solid, no lip this time, to the front fringe. Tough sloping chip, played it way out to the right and it trickled down to 3', made the putt for a bogey.
2. Par 4, 357. Perfect drive, but it didn't seem to go very far, 7 iron from 145, hit pretty well, landed on a downslope and kicked over the green, down a slope and into some longish grass. Great pitch, 2 putts from 10', bogey.
3. Par 3, 118 to middle of green, pin was way back. 9 iron fat, on green but big roll and slope between me and the pin. 3 putts from 60'.
4. Par 5, 507, big loop around to the left around a big waste area. The plan was to hit a drive, then on the second shot hit right across the waste area, not expecting to reach the green, but because of the slopes around the green, hoping to have a better approach then playing around to the right. Drive hung out to the right, in another waste area, sand wedge was fat, played my 5 wood across the waste area but I hit it thin and low and it disappeared in the scrub instead of reaching the open sand. Never found it. My provisional was good, 30 yards short of the green, good sand shot to 30', 2 putts, but it was an 8. I'm struggling, and muttering, and wondering why I'm playing from the longer tees, not that that was the problem. The problem was, I just wasn't hitting good shots. Onward.
5. Par 4, 322, way uphill. 5 wood drive was feeble, solid 5 iron but hit halfway up the steep bank before the green and rolled back. Good pitch to 12', two putts, bogey. Still struggling. And after 5 holes I'm 7 over par, and nothing better than a bogey so far. Onward.
6. Par 3, 120, very shallow green, bunkers front and back. Nice 9 iron, pushed a little but hole high, 30'. Bad first putt, misread green, but made second from 5'. Very good for morale.
7. Par 4, 390, downhill. Perfect drive. Wedge from 110 to 4', made putt, birdie! Very, very good for morale.
8. Par 3, 173, downhill, but tough pin. Solid 5 iron, caught slope just before pin and rolled way back. First putt way up the slope was excellent, but missed second one from 3'. Muttering something about missed opportunities. And also thinking this game is so full of psychological ups and downs, part of its appeal, also a never-ending source of frustration, if you let it get to you, which sometimes I do. But not as much as I used to.
9. Par 4, 406, second shot uphill. Good drive, hooked a little but got away with it. 5 iron from 155, hung it a little right, in big bunker maybe 15-20' below green. Real nice sand shot to 10', 2 putts. So 43 for the front side (par 35), not quite what I'd hoped for, but maybe getting better.
10. Par 4, 400. Perfect drive. Excellent 7 iron from 145, a little afraid of hanging this one to the right too, so it was a touch left, landed on the green but kicked up into the fringe. Downhill putt from 25', ran it 5' by, but made the one coming back. Par, on a hard hole.
11. Par 5, 511, uphill, mirror image of #4, but the waste area before the green ends with a bank maybe 30' high, so the direct route is not advised unless you can airmail it all the way. Drive to the right, in the waste area, shortest route to the green (maybe 400 yards) but not good. 7 iron a little thin, caught a slope wrong and kicked back in.
So now I'm looking at 80 yards and a 30' bank to clear, and then to stop the ball. Sand wedge, and I catch it pretty good off the sand, clears the bank (thank you!), right at the pin. I get up there and the ball mark is a foot from the pin, but the ball is on the back fringe. Don't read the slope right and run this sidehill/downhill putt 5' by, and miss the one coming back. Bogey, but averted disaster.
12. Par 4, 390. Perfect drive, right up the slot. 7 iron from 145 to back pin, wondered if it was enough club but remembered that the green sloped away and the ball would run, hit it well and it ran to 4', made it, birdie #2!
13. Par 5, 520, double dogleg. Perfect drive, perfect 7 iron lay-up. Nice soft wedge from 95, just a touch right of a very right pin, so on right fringe. Tough slope. First putt from 25' ran 4' by, but made comeback. Par.
14. Par 3, 139 but front pin. Very solid 9 iron, a bit too solid, into the back left fringe, but fortunately just stopped short of the bunker -- I wasn't looking forward to a short downhill bunker shot with water right behind the pin. Chip was strong, but rolled in putt from 15' coming back uphill. Another par, and still even for the back side!
15. Par 4, 358. Very interesting/tough hole, split fairway, both sides narrow, shallow green sloping away, bunkers all over the place. Perfect drive. Perfect sand wedge from 95, landed on down slope and rolled to back fringe. But then 3 putted from 25'. Damn, after 2 perfect shots....
16. Par 4, 305, uphill, dogleg left, very tight. Drive had to carry 170 uphill to clear dune, but no more than 210 or it would reach next dune, unless you hit a little draw (but not too much of a draw or you would be in another dune). Perfect drive, slight draw, right up the slot. Sand wedge from 70, purposely playing a little past the pin, big slope in the middle of the green brought the ball back, 2 putts from 8'. George and Ron were both on the top level, and putted right off the green and 50 yards down the hill. Par.
17. Par 3, 126. Solid 9 iron, right where I aimed a little left of the pin. 2 putts from 20'. Par, and still just one over for the back side. One more hole to hang in there.
18. Par 4, 392. Tee shot was over a waste area and uphill a little to a fairway you couldn't see. Just crushed it. Better than perfect. But then 8 iron from 130 was thin and a little right and short. Ball hung up in the rough instead of rolling into a deep bunker. Excellent pitch to far back pin over a couple of rolls, and finished it off by making the uphill putt from 8'. One more par, 37 for the back side (par 36) and 80 for the round. Just delighted. No thoughts of what could have been, just delighted.
Sat on the porch and shared a sandwich with Gail (who had 95, hit some great shots, and missed her birdie putt on 18 by a whisker), temperature about 70, not a cloud in the sky. So fine.
Note: I think the terminology for drives as they get better is -- very good (hit pretty well), then excellent (hit real well but maybe a little off the preferred line), then perfect (hit as well as I can hit it and in the right direction too), and then crushed (hit as well as I can hit it and in the right direction too, and then it goes an extra 10 or 20 yards). Better that I don't think about the terminology in the other direction!
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Tobacco Road, Sanford, NC
