Golf Tour 2007
 
 
Monday, Dec. 10 -- UNC Finley is the course at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a very fine course redesigned in the last few years by Tom Fazio, and about a mile from where Gail's aunt and uncle live. So while Gail took a day off to do multiple sessions of power walking, I headed over to the course to see if I could play. It took a while to get out, but eventually I got hooked up with three guys and we were off.
 
Executive summary -- Good company, mostly good golf, very nice.
 
First there was Riddell, a big black guy, very friendly, religious, also hit the crap out the ball and had a wonderful touch around the greens. I'd guess he was a scratch golfer or better. Then Hap, a professor at UNC in Communications Studies. On first appearances he was also very good and very strong, though it became clear after a while that there were some flaws in his game, like a lack of accuracy. But a nice fellow, particularly after he warmed up as the round went on. And then Curt, a lawyer in the Army, shipping out for Bagdad in 6 weeks. A very fine soul, living proof that you shouldn't take the measure of a person by the quality of his golf game. He too could hit it a long ways, unfortunately in all directions.
 
Another beautiful day, sunny, got up to about 80, don't know why I hadn't worn shorts as I was carrying the bag today. So a good bit of sweating was done.
 
I played this last year, my best round of the trip (79), played from the same tees this time, blue tees, 6,231, par 72, 69.9/125.
 
View of the first green for my third shot....
 
1. Par 4, 366. After watch Riddell, Hap, and Curt all hit bombs, I hit one dead straight and about 100 yards, just barely catching the top of the ball. Oops. Lousy 5 iron, but then a very nice wedge over the bunkers to 12', missed the putt. At least I had hit one good shot.
2. Par 4, 318. Perfect drive, but then hit lob wedge thin from 60 yards to far back of green, 3 putts from 60'.
3. Par 5, 493. Perfect drive, lousy 5 iron, so-so wedge, 3 more putts from 60'. So 3 bogies to start. And this is the easy nine.
4. Par 4, 370. Hung drive out to right, thin 8 iron about 10 yards short, good chip to 8' and made putt. Good for morale!
5. Par 3, 145. Ok 8 iron just a little short left, but the safe place to miss. Good chip stiff.
 
Tee shot on 6.
 
6. Par 5, 460. Perfect drive, good 7 iron, good sand wedge, 2 putts from 30'.
 
Second shot on 7, played a little bit right, just right!
 
7. Par 4, 330. Perfect drive, perfect 9 iron, 2 putts from 25'.
8. Par 3, 133. Perfect 8 iron, 2 putts from 12'.
9. Par 4, 402. Real tough hole, into the wind, water all along right side of green. Perfect drive, perfect 5 wood to front part of green but pin was way back, 2 putts from 70'. So 6 straight pars and a 39. Excellent.
 
10. Par 4, 369. Tough par, need to hit a fade off the tee. Over-sliced it into trees, never found it. Second drive was real good, but 7 iron was weak, chip a little strong, 2 putts from 12', triple. That put a quick damper on hopes of breaking 80.
11. Par 4, 388. Perfect drive, lousy 7 iron short and left, chip too strong, 2 putts from 20'.
 
View from 12 tee.
 
12. Par 3, 164. Had tailwind, so-so 7 iron, pulled, just cleared bunker and ended up not so bad. Chip to 3', made putt.
13. Par 5, 481. Good drive, just little right, perfect 7 iron, so-so wedge right and long, but 2 putts from 60'.
14. Par 3, 142. Perfect 8 iron, 2 putts from 20'.
 
#15, pretty hole.
 
And a closer look at the green.
 
15. Par 4, 415. Tough hole, water all down the left. Crushed drive, good 5 iron from 165, just a hair too far right and kicked down slope. Real nice chip to 4' but missed putt.
16. Par 4, 361 uphill. Good drive, real good 7 iron from 140, 2 putts from 18'.
 
Tee shot on 17, hole bends around to the right.
 
17. Par 5, 518. Real good drive, good 5 wood, good lob wedge, 2 putts from 18', just missed.
18. Par 4, 376. Hooked drive, hooked 7 iron, chunked pitch into bunker, but played a nice smooth sand shot to 6' and sank the putt for a bogey. So 42 on the back side and 81 for the round. Hit 8 fairways, 10 greens, had 11 pars.
 
A couple more strokes this time compared to last year, but one more lost ball and 5 more putts. So the rest of my game was better. One big difference is the extra 20 yards I'm getting with the D1. I'm hitting a lot shorter irons into the greens. And that's been true all trip.
 
A very pleasant day. Only improvement would have been to wear shorts!
 
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UNC Finley, Chapel Hill, NC