9 Holes with a Golf Expert -- Part 5: Last Three Holes
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Holes 7 and 8
We left off with me being one over par after 6 holes and feeling in control of my game even though I didn't have my A ball striking game. Before we continue with the sixth hole, I remember learning how to play as a kid. I used to keep track of my score in my head by relating it to double-bogies. If I made a bogie, that was one under; if I made a triple, that was one over. At the end of the round I just added or substracted from EVEN Double Bogie (instead of EVEN PAR), which for a Par 72, is a score of 108. Once I was consistently shooting about 6 or 7 under bogie, I changed my reference to EVEN Bogie. By the time I was 16, (I started playing when I was 14), I was using EVEN par as my measure. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to go beyond that level !!!!
Hole #7 is a 180 yard PAR 3 from the regular men's tees. The tee is elevated about 13 yards above the green. How do I know this? I measured the angle of declination with my digital inclinometer and the distance with my Bushnell Rangefinder. This will make the hole play about 165 yards, due to the elevation change .
The wind has come up and is blowing across the hole from right to left. The tee is in a chute of trees so it's difficult to measure accurately the speed of the wind by throwing up grass clippings. Thus, it's more of a guessing game trying to judge the wind's effect. The pin is on the right hand side and back. The green is guarded front left by a bunker. Trying to get the ball close is quite risky. To do so, I'd have to aim right of the green. If I misjudge the wind, it might not steer my ball far enough left, and I might miss the green to the right. Plus, the wind might take a little distance off my shot and I might land in the bunker. So, I aim right at the bunker.
I make pretty good contact and pull the shot a little, The wind carries it further left but I catch the left hand portion of the green. Unfortuately, I'm left with a 60 foot uphill putt. But, that's better than being in the bunker or right of the green with a difficult downhill flop shot. The green slopes right to left. On a long putt, my main focus is on trying to get the ball within a 6 foot radius circle about the hole. Because it's an uphill putt, I'll probably leave it short, which is fine as I'll be left with an uphill putt. The putt is relatively straight except that there is a little ridge half way to the hole that will deflect the ball right. Because the ball will be moving quite fast at the ridge, the deflection will be small.
I aim about a foot left of the hole and knock the ball just 2 feet shot leaving a simple uphill putt. I make my par and fee quite relieved.
Hole #8 is a 485 yard PAR 5 that doglegs sharply left. Today, it's dead into the wind. I drop a few grass clippings and measure the wind speed to be about 4.5 mph. The speed of the wind is higher up above the ground where the ball will fly so it'll play more like a 7 mph wind. A head wind will cause the ball to balloon higher into the air. It's best to hit a lower shot. If there were no wind, I'd hit my trusty 2-wood and draw the ball around the dogleg. My 2-wood hits the ball too high to play into the wind. So, I'm not going to be hitting the green in two today. I choke down on my Driver for more control and hit a soft fade to the right side of the fairway.
I'm left wth 240 yards to the green, which is elevated above the fairway by about 15 yards. I'd like to leave myself about 80 yards as this will result in a flat lie (anything shorter will be an uphill lie). So, I need to hit my second 160 yards, but uphill. The shot will play more like about 170 yards due to the uphill but there's also the wind, which I figure will add another 8 yards to the shot, so 178 yard total. For me, a good 5-iron. I choose to choke down a little on a 4-iron to ensure I get up on to the plateau.
I hit the 4-iron a little thin. I'm left wtih 90 yards and a little bit of an uphill lie. The pin is in the middle of the green, wind still blowing. On a flat lie shot, I'd hit a choke down (1 inch) wedge. Since there's an uphill lie, I take the 9-iron and choke down by 1.5 inches (the 9-iron is a half inch longer than the wedge). So, I'm playing the same length club with less loft. The uphill lie will increase the trajectory of the shot.Choking down also gives me more control. I hit a solid shot and am left with a 10 footer that is slightly downhill and breaks right to left.
I use my plumb bob technique and determine that the putt will break about 5 inches. In surveying around the hole, it doesn't look to break that much (from my experience). I plumb again and get the same result. Doubt is the worst thing to have in your mind when playing a shot, especially a putt. I need to make a final decision, believe it is the best guess, and go with it. Even when I stand over the ball, the break seems very slight. I must just focus on aiming 5 inches to the right, trusting my read and my stroke. If I doubt, 9 times out of 10, I'll execute a poor stroke.
I put a good stroke on the ball, but give it a little too much speed. The putt rolls over the right lip. But, again, I feel confident and in control because a believed in my read and executed well.
Well, one over par with one hole left on the front side. I hope you're gaining some helpful hits while I play this round. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
In my next newsletter, we'll finish the nine holes.
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