Having worked my way through this course (on the Yellow layout) at the “Red Dead” tournament only two weeks ago, I really felt like I was ready to come to the “Battle At The Hills’ and score well. I have the ability, proven in casual and practice rounds, to play both layouts under par. The addition of three extra holes shouldn’t be a barrier to repeating those scores. I had done my normal preparation. I was confident. I was ready.

The player’s meeting was mostly discussions and questions about one of the added holes (Temp #2 — double-mando to an island green) , as well as a few changes to the normal layouts. I moved to my starting hole (#5), checked that my camera and microphones were functioning, and prepped the scoring app. My card consisted of one other MP60 contestant, and three players in the MP40 division. As usual, I was going to be the weakest arm on the card — and I was ok with that. I was determined to stay within my own game, and not try to “keep up with the youngsters.”

The first round was the shorter, “Yellow” layout. I started out strong, scoring pars on the first three holes —none of which I normally have the ability to birdie. (I did have a long look at birdie on hole 5, but circle 2 putting isn’t something that I’m focused on at the moment, so missing that putt wasn’t a problem.) Hole #8 is a soft par 4 which let me grab my first birdie of the day. Holes #9, #10, and #10 were also pars, with #9 being the only reachable pin. (My drive on #9 landed in the left rough and the obstructions were more than my putting stance could handle.) Hole #12 was my first real mistake, where I hit an early tree, left my approach short, then two-putted for a bogey. Hole #13 didn’t go much better, with a VERY short drive, a decent second drive, then another short approach and a 2-putt for bogey number 2.

It was at this point when my putting seemed to go away. I missed a ~30’ birdie putt on #15 and a ~40’ birdie putt on #16, giving me a par on both.

Holes #17 and #18 (Temp Hole #1) and too long for me to have a birdie look, to my pars on each were expected. I over-played hole #19, which was the “Double-Mando to the Island” hole, by trying to split the mando and reach an in-bounds grassy area to the left of the island. I ended up on an OB walking path, missed my putt from the ~50’ drop zone, then dropped in a bogey. I managed a birdie on the soft par-4 hole #20 (Temp Hole #3), then got the expected pars on Holes #21 (Normal Hole #18), #1, #2, and #3. The final “insult to my ego” came on my last hole (#4), where I missed the island added for the tournament, then missed the 25’ par putt from the drop zone.

The result was a disappointing score of +3 (70). The bogies on holes #12, #13, and #4, combined with missed birdie putts on holes #15 and #16, pushed my score rating away from my target and back to my current number.

Frustrating, but there was another round to play, so after a quick lunch and a few throws to work through the stiff lunchtime muscles, it was time to try again.

My card for round #2 was my MP60 friend and 3 players from the MA1 division. Again, I started on Hole #5 and, again, I was going to be the shortest driver on the card. We were attacking the longer “Red” course this round. I started out with a bogey, again shorting my approach and leaving myself an obstructed par putt — which I missed. Holes #6 and #7 were both successfully played for par, then Holes #8 and #9 (the first a soft par 5 and the other a soft par 4) were both attack holes for me, and I was rewarded with a birdie on each. Another shorted approach to an obstructed lie on Hole #10 left me with another bogey — but I was still at even par, and my confidence was still pretty high. The “Red” version of Holes #11 and #12 are too long for me to score, so I got the expected par on each. Hole #13 in the long position is a legitimate par 5, but I was throwing well and came away with another par. Hole #14 is possible for me to birdie with a precise drive, but I wasn’t as precise as I needed to be, and scored a par here as well. Another soft par 4 waited on Hole #15, but after a good drive, my second shot had too much hyzer, and I landed well outside of putting range, so I got an “up-and-down” par here as well.

Ten holes to play, and I was sitting at Even for the round. Little did I know that the wheels were about to come all the way off!

• #16: Misplayed the wind and over-turned the drive, shorted the approach, then missed the long par putt. Bogey.

• #17: Drive landed behind the only tree in the fairway; over-turned the upshot, then two-putt. Bogey.

• Temp Hole #1: Good drive, then shorted the second drive, the approach, and the first putt. Made the second putt. Bogey.

• Temp Hole #2: Missed the mando, then up-and-down from the drop zone. Bogey.

• Temp Hole #3: Played this soft par 4 hole correctly. Birdie.

• #18: Shorted drive, then shorted approach and two-putt. Bogey.

• #1: Good drive, the hit branch on approach, then up-and-down. Bogey

• #2: Good drive, then up-and-down. Par

• #3: Shorted drive, threw approach into rough and took two throws to get out, then two-putt. Bogey

• #4: Missed island, then two-putt from 40’ drop zone. Bogey.

I just went +7 over the last 10 holes.

And it wasn’t just one thing that I was doing wrong — on one hole it would be mis-playing the wind, on the next it would be a bad putt, and on the next it would be a bad disc selection.

The final total was +10 (149), with the rounds being rated at 903 (round 1) and 888 (round 2). Neither round would be considered a “good” round under any normal circumstance. The first round was hampered mostly by missing the few scoring opportunities that I have on the course, and the second was killed by what is best described as a “loss of focus.” And there is no excuse for either.

I will be taking the next two weeks away from tournament play to see if I can get my “mojo” back.