Today’s round at Riverbend Golf Course in Kent was due to be a hot mess. Seattle has been in the midst of 90+ degree heatwave, but today was different. The weather at 8:30 in the morning was cooler and there was a decent breeze blowing throughout the course. What could have been a round featuring hard greens and intense heat ended up being quite pleasant with very soft, almost wet, greens. Conditions aside, what started with that 8L30 AM drive on the first tee, ended up being one of the most fantastic rounds of my season thus far. Here’s the breakdown.
The first hole started out with a beautiful 266 yard drive down the left hand side of the fairway. The 78 yard 60 degree wedge landed pin high for an easy 2 putt par. We were under way. The par 4 second yielded similar results with a 278 yard drive down the right side of the fairway. My 123 yard pitching wedge faded beautifully into the green for another 2 putt par. Moving to the par 5 fifth, a perfectly placed 278 yard drive landed on the right center of the fairway once again. I struck my three iron a bit thin, but it was one of those “good misses” as it travelled 169 yards up the fairway, leaving me a pitch of 33 yards. I left the putt just short of the hole, but tapped in for a 5. That left me even after three holes.
The par 4 fourth was playing tougher than usual, but a 273 yard drive found the right side of the of the fairway. I chose an 8 iron to try and keep the ball out of the wind that had picked up, but it ended up being about a 1/4 club short of what I needed. My approach shot fell just short of the green. My 15 yard chip shot came up short of the hole, leaving me a very challenging putt. Again, I missed my first putt by inches, but managed to tap in for a bogey 5. The par 3 fifth was next. It was playing dead on to the 124 yardage that it reports on the card, so I tried a fading pitching wedge to reach it. The 126 yard fade almost dropped into the hole and left me just about 5 feet for birdie. After draining the putt, I was back to even par. On the par 5 sixth, my driver finally failed me and went right onto the adjacent 2nd fairway. Fortunately, the 259 yard shot left me a decent angle to advance the ball and I rocketed a 212 yard 5 iron to 95 yards out. My 56 degree wedge found the mark and settled in about 20 feet from the hole. My first putt decided not to break until right after the hole, which left me another tap in for par. Still even after 6.
The par 4 seventh went from a dram hole to a nightmare in seconds. I striped a 266 yard drive into the wind which landed perfectly in the fairway, about 30 yards from the pin. From there, things went sideways quickly. My pitch checked up short of the green and bounced straight left into the greenside bunker. With limited sand in these, this hole was about to get really interesting. Strangely enough, my 60 degree wedge hit one of the best bunker shots I’ve hit in some time, which gave me a chance to save par, but my putt just missed again. A tap in left me with a bogey 5. Moving back o the par 3 eighth, a solid fading 6 iron found the front edge of the green and left me a very short putt for birdie again. I rolled the 12 footer at the hole and watched it drop for my second of the front nine. The par 4 ninth started off with another bang as I struck a nearly perfect drive down the right/middle of the fairway. After a 284 yard drive, I hit a 74 yard lob wedge to the green and two putted for my par and an even par 36 on the front side.
As we moved to the back side, the streak continued. On the 10th hole, my 255 yard drive drifted just right of the fairway leaving me a 95 yard shot into the wind. I took a bit off my pitching wedge and landed safely on the green for another 2 putt par. The 11th hole, Well, let me just say that’s a tale of two shots. My drive went right and clipped a tree falling short at just 170 yards. I planned on punching a 3 iron out, but I had just enough room for an almost full shot with it, so I tried to go for the green that was almost 230 yards away. I struck the ball perfectly and watched it fade back to the green, rolling just to the back edge. Another 2 putt par was the result. The par 4 12th played straight up for me as well today. A 261 yard drive into the wind followed by a 77 yard lob wedge left me with an easy 2 putt par. After 12 holes, I was even and shooting a very strong round.
The par 3 13th is usually one of those holes that causes some sort of lapse for me, and with a 142 yard 9 iron finding the left side bunker off the tee, I didn’t think today would be much different. Again, a beautiful 60 degree wedge out of the trap turned out great, but this time I was able to make the putt for a par. That brought our group to the par 5 14th. I once again sailed a gorgeous drive down the right side of the fairway, but this time, the ball stopped abruptly at 248 yards as it caught the forward edge of the fairway bunker. Another foot higher, it would have cleared and I would have been 20 yards further up the fairway and going for the green in two, but not this time. I pulled the 4 wood from my bag, hoping that I could get it close, but as per my usual fairway wood results, the topper rolled about 140 yards down the fairway. I was out and moving forward and only had 130 yards left to the green. I pulled a pitching wedge from my bag thinking that it would be the right club for the short, little did I know that my wedge would travel 30 yards further than usual and come to rest about 10 yards from the out of bounds fence behind the green. My pitch back checked up just short of the green but rolled on and two putts left me sitting at a bogey 6. The drive on 15 was another one that gave me some issues. Again, it went right, clean into the 11th fairway. My 131 yard pitching wedge into the green came up just short of the front edge, but was puttable. 2 putts from there landed me another par, keeping me at 1 over for the round.
Moving to the 16th, I was hoping to snag one more birdie on the par threes, but 16 always plays tough for me. I chose a 6 iron to attack the 180 yard hole, and the 181 yard shot that I hit found the back center of the green like I planned. The two putt that followed left me 2 under on the par threes today, which was amazing since they are usually the weakest point of my game. I really tried to challenge myself on the par 4 17th. Instead of pulling my safe, drawing 1 iron like usual, I pulled driver hoping to get close enough to score a birdie and get back to even. What happened instead was my drive clipped a tree on the left and fell into the fairway about 184 yards from the tee. A 167 yard 7 iron found the right fringe of the green for a “putter chip” but I burned my first real putt past the hole and had to make the comebacker for bogey. The par 5 finishing hole played out much better for me than usual today. My ‘perfect’ drive was a bit too perfect as it carried into the fairway bunker 281 yards away. A clean 7 iron out of the bunker travelled 122 yards down the fairway leaving me a perfect pitching wedge into the green. That wedge landed 12 feet past the hole and left me an easy two putt par for a beautiful 74.
It was about all I could ask for in my round on Sunday. It wasn’t perfect, but it was solid and there were no major mistakes. A few chips closer and a few more putts made and I would have been staring at a very special round. Instead, I had a great ball striking round, drove the ball well and hit 15 of 18 greens. All in all, except for the amount of putts I had, the day was a pretty huge success. Let’s see if I can keep the driving under control on the back side for the next round as that seemed to be the weaker link going around the inward nine. If that comes around, I’m pretty sure that 70 will be mine in no time.
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