As I try and take my own game to the next level, I have been creating goals prior to each round of golf that I play that are tailored to the courses that I am playing them on. Back on the 14th of September, I set some lofty goals for my September 25th round at Snohomish Golf Course and this past weekend, I played there. So, the bad was my 81 that I posted from the 72.5 rated back tees. More bad news was also just about every trackable stat that I had from the round. In fact, it’s almost embarrassing how bad the stats looked. From there we get to the completely ridiculous fact that I didn’t even fulfill one of my three goals for the round. Very quickly, here’s what the goals were for the round and how I faired at accomplishing them.
GOALS FOR THE SEPTEMBER 25TH ROUND
Hit 70% of the fairways – 7/14 – 50%
Hit 10 shots inside 25 feet – 4/10 – 40%
Dial in club distances – did not happen…
To make a very long round short, I wasn’t completely disgruntled with my round, but it was no where near where I thought it should be. In the 7 fairways that I was able to hit, my average distance from the tee was only 248.15 yards. This left me with only 2 wedges into greens where I hit the fairway. This is a far cry from the 280 yard drives that I was experiencing at Riverbend with 10-14 wedges into holes there. Even the par 3’s at Snohomish out played me severely. To the 4 par 3 holes, I had a 3 iron, 6 iron, 7 iron and one pitching wedge. The wedge hole was the only birdie on my card and one of the 4 shots I hit inside 25 feet.
One of the two decisions that haunt me from this round was playing the black tees on a course that I wasn’t familiar with at all. The second was following the advice of another player – a local that knew the course – about how to play the course. By following his ‘play it safe’ advice instead of going with power and aggressive lines, I may have lost a few strokes in there. The par 4 second hole was the perfect example of that. I had planned on cutting the corner and drawing a driver – which may or may not have worked out for me – but instead, given his advising, I pulled a 3 iron from the bag and still hit it through the fairway into the trees at the dogleg. I was no better off, in fact, I was probably worse off, than if I had hit the trees on the left trying to cut it tighter. That is a learning experience though, and I will learn from it. Make your plan and stick to it.
I haven’t had a chance to being planning my next outing yet, but I think I’d like to play a bit flatter course for my next round. Perhaps a trip back to Riverbend or maybe somewhere else with fairways that don’t swing 75 feet in elevation. Snohomish is a great course with some fantastically fast, sloping greens, but it’s just not the sort of course that you need to attempt with brand new sticks in the bag. I’m sure I’ll be back there soon enough to take my revenge on the course, but not this week.
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