South Riding - "We In Here Talkin' Bout Practice"

In the immortal words of Allen Iverson, "We're sitting here..., and we're talking about practice. I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we're talking about practice."

You guessed it, this was a practice round for the GolfWeek AM tour event to take place on 4/19/2014.

Date: Saturday 4/12/2014
Location: South Riding Golfers Club, Chantilly, VA
Score: 89
Excuses: "Practice!  Practice!"
Course Conditions: Very good.  Greens rolled well and were not aerated, course was a beautiful shade of green, and fairways were well kept.
        The Good:  Good strategy building
        The Bad: 4 over on Par 5's
        The Ugly: Four very ugly doubles

With every hole, if I played it well, I would write down the good and the bad of how I played it and to see if the strategy was sound.  If I didn't play the hole well, what could I have done differently.  For example:  

Good: The only par 5 I parred was #3.  I hit an excellent driver down the left side of the fairway, layed up with an 8 iron to 80 yards, and hit a knockdown wedge just above the hole, two putts.  Now, was there value to hitting a driver on this hole if I wasn't going for it in two?  Not really, I could have hit a three wood and not have to worry about hitting the fairway, then layed up with a 7 iron, then wedged it in.  Just a thought if my driver decided not to cooperate with me next Saturday.  

Bad:  #12, relatively short par 4 (370 yards) with a water hazard that cuts the fairway off at around 140 yards.  So a 230+ yard drive could debate-ably put you in the water.   My average drive is around 240 yards and there was a headwind, so I decided to be aggressive and put myself in a good spot.  Unfortunately, I push my drive right and land in the rough and am blocked by a tree.  Instead of punching it out over the water, I decide to go for the hero shot and try to work a 5 hybrid left to right to try to make the green.  Sadly, the shot doesn't go far enough right and ends up in the trees.  I magically find my ball but it is unplayable.  After the drop I chip it on the green but don't sink the put and earn a 6.  My new strategy, playing from the middle of the fairway is a lot easier, even if I have to put a 7-iron, 6-iron, or 5-hybrid on it.  

Suffice to say there were a lot more opportunities for improvement than holes I played well.  Only time will tell (one week) whether the practice and strategy session helped.

BACK TO THE RANGE (and the Putting Green)!

Next Stop:  Virginia Oaks

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

God Forbid You Get Splashed at a Splash Park

New Restaurant and a New Goal

Took a Soundbath Today, Not Bad but still needed a Shower