So I was on vacation, and my family decided to hit the links. On our way back from Myrtle Beach, we decided to take the I-20 route through Augusta, Georgia to Atlanta. We stopped in Augusta to play at a course on the Fort Gordon Army Base. If we could we would have played at Augusta National, but that wasn't meant to be. We had already played one round in Myrtle Beach where I shot an 83, and as a +.8 handicap that wasn't what I was hoping for. I hadn't really played much since the end of high school season, so my goal was to beat 80.
The start was not ideal for me. I made a poor bogey on the first leaving it just short on my approach into the green, and then missing about a five footer for par. On the second I stumbled and pushed my drive into the trees, then hit a punch fade about 60 yards out on the long par four. I hit my approach just over the pin, but with little play I wasn't sure on the distance and hit it about 30 feet past, then the inevitable, a three putt. Number three is a par five, that dog legs to the left, with bunkers on both sides. I hit a poor second shot, then a bad approach, and then a three putt bogey.
I was able to turn this bad start around though. I missed a short par putt on the fourth, but made a par on the fifth and sixth. I hit a ball in the water on the seventh, then stuck my approach to about 10 feet, but missed the par putt which led to a bogey. But finished par-par to shoot a 42 on the front.
The back started with a bogey on the tenth due to leaving myself in a tough spot just off the green. But the eleventh was good for me. I stuck a 130 yard shot about four feet passed the hole to make a birdie. Then on the next I stuck a four iron to about four feet, but missed it. Then I made another bogey due to bad positioning into the green. Then another poor chip to make it back to back bogies. After these two bogies I realized I needed to play the last four one-under to break 80.
The fifteenth is an island green, that is designed like the seventeenth at TPC Sawgrass. I stuck one to about eight feet and made a clutch birdie to give me some life. I had never really found my game during our vacation, but I could definitely tell it was back when I made a birdie there. But I lost a little of it on the sixteenth.
I hit two good shots on the long par five, but then hit a heavy six-iron and put it in the pond. I settled for a double bogey, and now had to birdie out to break 80.
The seventeenth is a long par three, where I hit a five iron just right of the pin, knowing I had to birdie. I got up to the green and found my ball about fifteen feet right of the pin. All I was thinking was make this and go to the eighteenth looking for a birdie. Even though this wasn't a tournament, I felt the pressure, and rose to the occasion and drained it. Now all I needed was birdie on the par five eighteenth.
I had been having issues with blocking my drives to the right, and that crept in on the last when I put it deep into the trees. When I got to my ball, I found a similar situation as Phil in the Masters on the thirteenth. I had a clear shot through the trees. I couldn't go for it, but I could get out. I hit a poor second shot off the heal and it faded a little too much, but I got up to my ball with a shot. As I got to my ball in a pile of leaves, I knew I had to stick this close and just give myself a putt at it. I did exactly that, and stuck it to about eight feet. I knew the break, just slight to the left and I couldn't leave it short. I rolled it well, and when I looked up I thought it was in. But you can't wish putts in, and this one just wasn't perfect and grazed the right edge, just rolling past.
The 80 I shot, wasn't what I was hoping for, but it made me stronger, and showed me that I can really go low if I put all my effort into it.
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