For most Canadians, May 24th long weekend marks the beginning of summer. My long awaited second round of the season was on a sunny, summer-like day at the beautiful Batteaux Creek Golf & Country Club in Nottawa, ON. I’ve played the course several times in the past, its fairly forgiving off the tee with large fairways, but there is water present on most holes and the rough is anything but forgiving if you find yourself missing one of the wide open fairways. While I haven’t kept scores by course, I can confidently say that I’ve never broken 100 at Batteaux, often being eaten up by penalty strokes, and today was no different.
With it being my first round in three weeks, I arrived an hour early so I could hit a small bucket of balls and practice my putting and chipping around the green. With softened ground the previous two days, I was finding myself chunking the ball a bit more than I would have liked (sign of things to come), but overall I was happy with how I was hitting the ball, and my putting and chipping seemed dialed.
Despite the warm-up, I had a disastrous start to the round, going double, double, then a five-over 10 on the par 5 third hole after pulling three five irons into the woods. I had 5 penalty strokes over the first three goals, which is my usual total for an entire round. From there I continued to struggle with the highlight being a stretch of holes from the 8th through the 12th where I was 5 over through 5 holes. Outside of that, my game was abysmal and quite frustrating. Fortunately, I was golfing with three buddies on a beautiful sunny day, so we still made the most of it. Below is a summary by area of my game:
Putting: my putting, despite a complete lack of practice, was again one of the strengths in my game. I only three putted 3 holes on the day, and each of them started 20+ feet out, and only one was badly mishit (smoked a 30-foot downhill putt 10 feet past the hole). With my ongoing struggles in other areas of my game, putting seems to be the one constant.
Chipping: similar to above, I was quite happy with how I was chipping, specifically on flop shots with my SW. I had three noteworthy up and downs on the day, all of which included a flop shot within 10 feet and a made putt. My bump and runs were decent, only one time blading past the hole, for the most part being cautious and leaving the ball 10 to 15 feet short. I will continue to focus on chipping in future practice rounds, but will look for an even balance between flop and bump and run shots moving forward.
Short irons (8 to SW): while they didn’t shave many strokes off my game, my short irons were passable today. I had several great approach shots with my SW and GW, getting the ball within 10 feet from 60+ yards out, and for the most part made decent shots with my 8, 9, and PW, missing left or right rather than blading or toeing the ball. I will attribute this to my practice over the past week, and though I have an opportunity to be much more consistent, will opt to focus on my long irons over the next week.
Long irons (5 to 7): once again the major flaw in my game was my long irons, specifically my 5 & 6. I chunked or toed these clubs 10+ times on the day, many of them off the tee, which added substantial penalty strokes to my score, and also caused some major blow-up holes. While I need to focus on maintaining mentally strong through difficulties on the course, its hard to be optimistic when you’re hitting shot 5 off the tee. Despite the week of practice, my long irons were the biggest flaw in my game, and will once again become the target of focus for the upcoming week.
While the focus is currently on making good shots as opposed to scoring well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with the results from todays round. I came in hoping that if what I had been practicing on the range could translate, I would have a shot to break 100. That idea evaporated after a +10 start through three holes when I was battling just to finish holes. The takeaway is twofold; more focus on my long irons, and more practice hitting the ball off a tee. Having a short memory can be a great asset for a golfer, and I will look to employ that as I’ll be back on the course in less than 24 hours, trying to avenge my first round 108 at Marlwood tomorrow afternoon at 2:07PM.
Breaking Ninety 