I Played 9 on Sunday

My neighbor and I played 9 holes Sunday morning at his country club. The club only has 9 holes with 2 sets of tee boxes for playing 18. The greens are in great shape most of the time, even with the drought we've had this Summer. I don't have my score card handy so I don't have the distances but here's how it went.

First Hole - Par 5: Decent tee shot with a slight fade, middle of the fairway. Second shot was a little weak with my 3 wood but left only about 50 yards. Pitching wedge on the green and made a silly 3 putt for bogey.

Second Hole - Par 4: Topped my tee shot trying to kill it and only went about 100 yards. I hate when I do that. Hit a pretty good 3 wood to put it within 10 or 15 yards of the green. Chipped onto the green and 2 putted for bogey.

Third Hole - Par 3: I like this hole. Mainly because I usually hit it close. Not this time. Shanked a 6 iron to the right into a fat part of the "fairway" leaving about 50 yards to the green. Pitched it to 20 feet and made a nice downhill putt to save par.

Fourth Hole - Par 4: Tee shot was a bit low and the fairway is uphill...but it landed at the top of the hill to an almost ideal spot leaving about 180 to the green. Pulled my fairway wood a little leaving 40 yards to the green. Pitching wedge came up short, so I tried a little chip hoping to run it up close and save bogey. It checked up and I 2 putted for a double bogey.

Fifth Hole - Par 4: Good tee shot to about 120 yards. Water guards the front of the green, so I clubbed up to a 9 iron and put it on the left fringe leaving about a 40 foot putt for birdie. Got my first putt close and tapped in for par number 2.

Sixth Hole - Par 4: This is an uphill dogleg left where I always try and cut the corner. Pretty good tee shot that faded a bit but landed on the top of the hill in a good spot. Came up slightly short with my 9 iron. Putted it from the fringe but it was a lot faster than the other greens...and downhill, so it rolled of into the fringe. I did manage to 2 putt from there to save bogey.

Seventh Hole - Par 5: Tee shot faded off to what looked like it would be O.B. but it stayed in. 3 wood to 100 yards. Came up short with my wedge but putted off the fringe. Missed my second short putt for par by an inch. Tapped in for bogey.

Eighth Hole - Par 3: Smoked a 7 iron but the wind caught it and it just died. Landed just off the fringe. Chipped it really close leaving a tap in for par number 3.

Ninth Hole - Par 3: Nice 6 iron off the tee landed on the green leaving my best shot at birdie all day...12 feet or so uphill with little break. Thinking to myself.."don't leave it short". I left it short. Tapped in for par number 4.

Par was 35, I shot a 41. My neighbor shot a 40, so it was fun. My biggest problem on this round was coming up short with my approach. It was a bit more windy that it has been in quite sometime due to the recent oppressive heat, maybe that had something to do with it. Overall I was pleased. If I could string together 2 of those for an 82 I'd be pretty happy.

Dale