It’s usually starts with a whim. It’s that non-planned trip to the course because the weather wasn’t supposed to be bad. It’s that day where you think you need to rush through your round to get home to the family, even though they are at the mall having a great time. Yes, today was that day. It started off with an excuse making marathon in my head of with so many other things to be doing, but ended up finishing so differently. It was the perfect day.
The round started off poorly enough with the 330 yard par 4 first. A simple 17° hybrid off the tee found the center of the fairway about 215 yards out. It left a solid 105 to the flag, which should have been a full 56° wedge in. Instead, I hit a 70 yard chunk wedge that landed about 40 yards shot of the green. A 60° wedge got me on and a two putt gave me my opening bogey. Again, a poor start to that whim of a round. The second hold was also far from perfect as I managed to jack that 17° hybrid up the hill about 200 yards. Again, my 56° wedge betrayed me as I chunked it again and left the same 40 yard shot into the green again. This time my 60° wedge landed about 5 feet from the hole and a one putt par. My drive drew a bit too much on the third hole, but was easily playable to the green. A slight over club to the narrow green with a 60° wedge left me a fun little 51° wedge back onto the green. A lucky one putt saved my par and let me move on to the fourth at just one over.
The par 5 fourth plays much longer than the 429 yard distance on the score card, but with the mud and muck, it gets even longer. Still, I managed to power a driver off the tee about 300 yards down the fairway. It was just in the light cut of the rough, but that grass was about the same as the fairway due to the mowers not being able to trim the area. After that, a solid pitching wedge found the green and left me about 12 feet for eagle. I ran the eagle putt up to about 10” from the hole and tapped in for the first birdie of the day. The par 3 fifth was up next. It was playing its full 171 yards today, but I felt the urge to hit a solid 8 iron into the green and thought that a full 7 iron would be too much. Unfortunately, I should have gone with the 7, as the 8 came up about 5 yards short of my target and left me a 50+ foot put for birdie. I’ll consider it a lucky two putt from there as my first putt stopped about 3-4 feet from the hole and left me a pretty easy finish. This brought me straight up to the second par 5 on the front of the course. A 277 yard drive left me about 235 yards down the steep hill to the green. I rifled a 6 iron down the hill, which managed to find the back edge of the green. I had about 60 feet for eagle, but had to settle for the birdie as my first putt was a good 5 feet short.
Moving on to the par 3 seventh, I hit an atrocious 7 iron that flared to the right of the hole and well short of the target. I’m pretty sure I caught it thick, but either way, a 30 yard 60° wedge got me on the green, but a two putt finish left me walking off the green with a bogey and put me back at even par for the round. Then, the eighth hole happened. I played through a group and felt the usual rush off the tee box, even though they were messing around on the 7th green instead of following me up. I managed to hit about 30 feet behind my ball (this may be a slight exaggeration) and the sand from the tee box managed to push the ball out about 130 yards. I had a good line to the green, but was just a mile from home, so I took the 23° hybrid and hoped. My prayers were answered as the ball sailed through the air and found the middle of the green for an easy two putt par. That brought me to the closing hole on the front side, the 361 yard par 4, ninth. I hit driver off this hole for once hoping to get past my usual hangout behind the tree on the left hand side of the hole. Fortunately, I made it past the tree, but my drive was still a bit left. The additional distance that my driver gave me allowed me to hit a 56° wedge into the green. The wedge found the right side of the green about 10 feet from the flag. The left to right breaking putt seemed to be on track the entire way and fell into the hole for another birdie. That’s three birdies and 2 bogeys on the front side for a one under par 35.
I debated going home after nine, but figured it would be a great time, and hopefully faster playing back side, so I continued on to the tenth. This hole sets up extremely well for me at about 105 yards. It’s a solid 56° wedge for me to the center, so a touch more or less gets me to the front or the back. The pin was up today, so a slightly softer shot landed about 6 feet from the flag. A quick putt to the hole netted me another birdie on the round and moved me to two under par. I moved to the 11th, where once again, I was stuck waiting for a group in front of me. I took a chance to do a live twitter update (follow me at http://www.twitter.com/waazzupppp or at www.pscp.tv/waazzupppp) and then hit my tee shot. I hit the best tee shot I’ve ever had on 11, flying down the fairway and landing softly in the center. A 125 yard 56° wedge found the back left portion of the green for an easy two putt par. The long 489 yard par 5 twelfth was up next. A 270 yard drive left me 180 on a direct line over the trees from the center of the fairway. I hit a solid shot that landed just on the left edge of the green leaving me about 60 feet to the hole. Another 2 putt birdie left me sitting pretty at 3 under par after 12 holes.
It was time to keep the round going on to the par 3 thirteenth hole. Playing nearly 180 yards today, I trusted my somewhat extended yardages today and played a solid 7 iron off towards the green. The ball once again found the center of the green, leaving me an easy putt for another birdie on the day. This was turning into a pretty amazing round, but I hadn’t been looking at my card the whole day, so I wasn’t sure exactly where I was at since the ninth, but I knew it was getting good. The fourteenth yielded another great tee shot with its sights dead on the flag stick. It came up just short of the hole and should have been another birdie, but I left the putt just short. The terrible dog-leg fifteenth was up next. A stellar drive with my 17° hybrid let me about 190 yards into the green. A solid 6 iron made the front edge of the green, but the nearly 60 foot putt didn’t find the hole for eagle. Instead a tap in 3 footer for birdie had me moving on to the finishing trio of touch holes at 5 under par.
The finishing holes at Echo Falls are the toughest three holes on the course, back to back to back. Playing nearly 360 yards, the 16th needs a good drive, but not necessarily a long one. I hit driver off the tee hoping to get a bit of the right hand fade to it and my driver didn’t fail me. The ball landed about 250 yards down the fairway, right in the middle. A 85 yard 60° wedge came up well short of its intended target when I caught it very heavy. Fortunately, it was just enough to make the front of the green and leave me a two putt par. Seventeen played very similar for me with a solid drive just to the left of the fairway. A good 7 iron from 165 yards found the green for another two putt par. I was still clinging to my 5 under score entering the final hole of the day. Almost all of the mystery is out of the 18th for me. The 142 yard hole plays a pitching wedge to the front or a 9 iron to the back. The pin was slightly up today, so I went with the wedge. The shot was dead on off the club face, but didn’t look like it was going to have quite enough on it. As the shot came down, it hit about 15 feet from the hole and spun back to about 25 feet. A quick putt towards the hole came up just inches away and let me tap in for one last par. My round was done.
This was definitely a round for the memory banks. My swing was solid, the bad shots didn’t kill me and my putter was red hot. It’s not that my putting stats were amazing, but I finished the day with 31 putts, whish is about 5 better than I usually do, and my score was about 5 shots under what I’ve been getting at Echo. I only hit 5 fairways, but 5 of the 7 that I missed were by such a small margin that it really wasn’t a miss. The poor tee shots were made up for by great second shots. Poor approach shots were made up for by great putts. It was about as good as a round can get and I’m really ready to go hit a follow up as soon as the weather permits.
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