Red Rose Roundup — Herr Park Edition

The first round began on hole 3, a tight, straight tunnel. The drive was pure, but drifted left at the end and left me with an obstructed 20' putt, which I missed. Holes 4 was played for par (due to distance), and hole 5's birdie chances faded when the upshot was much shorter than intended, leaving me with a circle-2 putt (which I also missed.) My drive on hole 6 hit the only tree in the fairway, leaving me with yet another circle-2 putt (which I... you guessed it ... missed.) I absolutely laced the tee shot of hole 7 and left myself a 10' birdie. Hole 8's uphill tunnel is always one of the holes that I am concerned with, but this time it yielded a fairly easy par. My drive on hole 9 "mowed the lawn", but managed to get me close enough for an easy up-and-down for another par.

1-under-par through 7 holes?? I'm feeling pretty good.

Cue the "Horror Movie Monster" music...

An ill-advised forehand drive on hole 10 put me OB about 80 feet from the tee pad. Throwing 3 from an awkward stance, I managed to get into circle 2, but on the wrong side on the pine tree bunker with no sight line to the basket. I was forced to pitch out to 15 feet, then sink a putt from there for a double-bogie 5.

Cue the "Evil Villain" music...

A weak drive on Hole 11 leaves me 50 feet short of the next shortest drive on the card. Trying to "ramp up" the power on the second shot causes the disc (a Westside sparkle King) to turn over hard to the right and dump -- and the fairway bends to the left, so now, I've made the longest hole on the course even longer. My approach catches the corner of the entrance to the green and drops into the rough, leaving an obstructed putt, which I miss. I make the drop in and take a bogie.

Cue the 'Dun-dun" sound from the original "Law and Order" show...

A "frustration drive" on hole 12 gets me within 100 feet, but the "frustration upshot" flies the green and buries itself in the pines behind the basket. From that lie I can barely even SEE the basket, let alone get a line to putt, so a pitch-out and putt brings me another bogie.

Finally, cue the "Peace and Tranquility" music (if there is such a thing)...

I finally remember that I am supposed to be focused on playing for par on all of the holes except for the predetermined four (1, 6, 14, and 15), I snap back into my "control mode" and play 13 correctly (drive, drive, short upshot, and putt) for par. I shorted my drive on 14 by less than a foot, but it was enough to catch the corner of the rough and leave me with a step-out circle 2 look, which I miss and take a par.

I short the drive again on 15, hit the corner of the rough again, and again take a par on a hole that I normally birdie. I play the conservative line on 16 and grab the expected par, but TOTALLY shank my attempt at a big anhyzer drive on 17 and hit the mouth of the tunnel, wasting the drive and leading to another bogie. I corrected the anhyzer drive from the tee of 18, and approach/putt for an easy par. My drive on one was just a tad short, but that caused it to hang up in one of the trees before the basket, and left me with a long birdie putt, which I missed. I finish up on hole 2 with an easy par, and settle for a first round 4-over-par 61, rated at 869.

This is the place where the music swells and the hero figures out that he needs to "suck it up" and turn the plot around.

I didn't feel like I played poorly. My choices were all sound, and most of my shots were correct and accurate. It was one of those rounds where things were just a little off -- but just enough to lead to obstructed shots and difficult recoveries.

But shooting for a -4, and ending up with a +4, just wasn't the way that I wanted this movie to end, so it was time to fight back!

And quick "phone-home", an even quicker lunch, and some in-between-round throws to keep the joints from reminding me of my age, and I was ready for round 2.

Again, I started off on hole 3 with an easy par, followed by the same on hole 4. Both of these holes were almost exact copies of the throws from round 1, so I was feeling a little "deja-vu-ish." My drive on hole 5 was quite a bit shorter than my drive from round 1, but I was able to get myself in position for a long birdie look with my second shot, I missed the 45' putt short, and the disc scooted into some branches, leaving me with little chance of making the comeback putt.

Bogie. +1 for the round

I hit the SAME tree on hole 6 that I hit in the first round, and ended up with the same result of a par, then drifted by drive a bit too far to the left on hole 7, leading to another up and down par. Hole 8 was boring as well -- drive, approach, putt. Just like the first round, I throw an extremly low drive on hole 9, but I get even better results and make the 25' putt for the birdie.

Seven holes in. Even par for the round.

I throw a backhand drive for hole 10 -- making sure that I wasn't going to go OB this time, and improve my score on the hole by 2 strokes over the first round. I feel like I'm back in my game plan and grab pars on holes 11, 12, and 13. I make sure that my drive is long enough on hole 14 to miss the corner of the rough, and drop in my 5' birdie putt.

Twelve holes in. -1 for the round. That's a bit better!

I overcook my drive on hole 15, and go slightly past the green into the deep rough, so I was held to a par. My drive on 16 was just a bit too straight (par), and my forehand drive on 17 was just a bit too short (another par). So now there's 3 holes to go, and I'm still at -1. My focus slipped a bit on 18 and I missed an easy circle-1 putt to take a bogie, but I made up for it with a 40' putt on hole 1 to get the stroke back. I finish up on hole 2 with the expected par, and I have completed the round at -1 (rated at a 922).

All in all, it was a pretty good day. My mistakes were kept to a minimum, although they hurt my score quite a bit in the first round. There weren't any glaring errors or big problems, just some minor mistakes and some lapses in concentration; and while the first round was 20 points below my rating, the second round was 30 points above it -- and right where I want it to be.

Positives:

1) Had my head on straight I never got frustrated (ok, maybe a little frustrated on hole 12 in round 1), so I didn’t make the emotional mistakes that cause bad holes to follow bad holes.

2) Hit my lines. Herr Park has quite a few tunnel shots, which used to challenge my ability to progress down the fairway because I wasn’t accurate enough to hit a target line. This time, my accuracy paid off.

3) Kept my focus while being social. In the past, I have had problems keeping my head in the game if I were enjoying social banter with my cardmates. Today, I was able to do both at the same time. (Next, I’ll start working on walking AND chewing gum!)

Negatives:

1) Circle 2 putting. I only hit one long putt all day. If I want to progress in my game, I need to get this percentage up.

2) Disc angle consistency. Some of my anhyzer shots had good angles while others were released with WAY too much pitch. This is just a practice issue which I can correct the next time I am doing field work.

Next weekend is the Disc Golf Open on Pennsylvania presented by Home Again Disc Golf — played at both Muddy Run DGC and Kline’s Run DGC. It’s a 4-round, 2-day even that will challenge my endurance. If you’re not playing either of those days, come on out and spectate.

See you on the course!