Up, Down, and Up again

Couldn't think of a better title to the post to describe my golf game this weekend.

It started off on Friday when I took off a little early from work to play with my buddy Preston out at Heron Point. We used to play all the time on fridays but now that we've both become a little more busy at work this has become a rare day for us. Luckly the weather was great for the first time this year and we got off around 3:00. I started off bogey, par, bogey and then caught fire. I made a birdie on the first 650 yard par 5. After a crappy rescue on the short par 4 5th, I hit a great 4 iron 210 up hill to the right side of the green and made the up and down for par. Followed up with a great 3rd shot PW into the par 5 6th to about 1 foot for a tap in birdie to get back to even. Bogey on the 7th, but followed with a birdie on the 170 yard downhill par 3 8th after hitting a 3/4 6 iron to about 5 feet. Unfortunatly I pushed my driver on 9 (first bad drive of the day) and had to try and fade a ball around a big tree on the right side of the fairway. Only problem was it didn't fade and I ended up losing a ball and making a double, ala Matt, but shooting a very good 38. I kept it going for a bit on the back untill the 14th hole. I mis clubed on my approach cause I let bd thoughts get in my head. I was worried about flying the green and losing my ball in the woods so i hit it short instead into this awful bunker. Didn't get out on the first try, over hit the green on the second, duffed the chip onto the green, missed the putt, and made a triple. parred the next hole, but doubled the easy 140 yard par 3 16th when i found the bunker again. Made a good par on the long par 5 17th, and a good par on 18 barely missing my 20 footer for birdie to shoot 79. The way I've been playing till now made this a great score from the tips out there. Solid day.

Saturday was a downer day. Maybe due to being tired or something I played horribly. Couldn't hit the ball. Driver was awful, irons were awful, short game was bad, and my putting was o.k. Only problem was even though my putting was on, i was constantly taking +10 footers for par instead of birdie so couldn't score. Shot an 86 that should of been worse. Left the course on saturday very unhappy with my game.

Sunday was the second event of the Niagara Mens tour at Grand Niagara. As previously posted I made a bold prediction of shooting under 80 for my first time on the tour. Thanks to a great tip from Cal and Bernie on saturday I was feeling great coming off the range. Both suggested I narrow my stance, perticularly on my drive. Basically as soon as I did this my swing was amazing. Such a simple change and I was hitting everything dead straight with ease. There was a 1.5 hour delay due to booking issues with the course so I had plenty of time to prepare. Not going to go into huge details cause it was kind of boring round, but i played great. Started off well going par, par on the first 2 holes. Missed a 4 footer for birdie on the first hole. made 3 bogeys in a row next after missing short par putts on each. Got back on track untill the 8th where i made a double after chipping out of trouble, and a bogey on 9 after missing another short par putt. The putter really failed me yesterday. Irons and driver were maybe the best i've been all year, but putter was awful. Made the turn at 6 over but feeling good enough to go 36 on the back. Had a tough chip from behind the green on 10 after shortsiding myself. Duffed my first attempt but then chipped in for bogey. 11th which is the number 1 stroke hole, I hit a great drive to 150 out, 8 iron to the hole which landed 2 inches from the cup and checked hard stopping about 1.5 feet from the cup. Of course, i missed the putt and then proceeded to get verbally abused by my group, but all in good fun. Made a great par on the tough par 3 12th, bogey on 13. Made another good par on 14. After a huge drive on 15 I had 230 left to the green. I hit a very nice 4 iron pin high just off the green, chipped to about 4 feet, and missed the birdie putt again. Just couldn't putt today. made par on 16 and I'm standing on the 17th 1 shot away from my goal. This is where I screwed up. I let some stupid blog post dictate my game when i was putting together one of my best round on tour ever. I hit a perfect drive to 270 yards out. Fully knowing I can't reach the green even with my 2 iron rescue I hit it anyways thinking I'll get it close and chip and putt for a birdie. So instead of hitting a safe 4 iron to 70 yards I go for the other club that will putt me 29 yards away and push it into trouble. I had to chip out again, got it to about 15 feet for a par putt and missed by 2 inches. Stupid. On 18 I hit a great drive to 140 yards. The pin was tucked in the bottom right hand corner of the green with a huge bunker covering the whole right side, and wide open green to the left. I bet you can guess what I did next. Of course, I went right at the pin and got punished for being greedy. Went in the bunker short side, impossible to leave it close cause I'm coming out of the trap with about 8 feet of green going away from me. I left it about 25 feet for par and missed the putt to finish bogey, bogey and shot 82. It's a shame this score could have easily been 80, and even worse that it totally could have been 77 had I made 3 of the 6 putts I had from inside 5 feet. But I still finished with my best score on a tour event, finished 20th (out of 60 i think), and most importantly beat Matt for the first time on tour. So needless to say I was extremely happy with my performance. I was actually very nervous for the whole round cause I was playing well but stayed commited on every shot, didn't let it bother me. Well, i guess it bothered me a little with my putting, especially from 1.5 feet for birdie, lol.

My game is improving. With the stance change I think it's going to get even better. My tournament play is getting better as seen with my improvement from one tourny to the next this year. Now if I could just put it all together this weekend I can get into the Langly Cup and start getting my handicapp down. I'm running out of time to be a 2.