I had a repeat performance from my last round played at The Arizona Blitmore Golf Club. On that day I shot a 37 on the front and a 44 on the back nine to finish with a ten over 81. Today, at The Phoenician Golf Club And Resort, I scored exactly the same. 37 on the front. 44 on the back. This time I was 11 over as the course played to a par of 70.
The Phoenician is comprised of three nine hole courses. The Desert, The Canyon, and The Oasis. Today Patrick Gibbons and I played the combination of The Desert and Canyon courses. With my new Srixon Z-Star golf balls in tote, I was anxious to play one of my favorite tracks in the Scottsdale area.
The beginning of the round started out pretty uneventful. I began with a double bogey and followed it up with a bogey. Things began to heat up after that as I went birdie, bogey, birdie, then finished out the front nine with four straight pars.
The first birdie came as a result of a missed fairway, with a second shot that past the pin but spun back about six feet to leave me with a six foot birdie putt. The second birdie happened on the par four 5th which plays severely uphill. I hit a nice drive up the right side of the fairway which left me with about 120 yards to the pin.
The green was about 20 feet above my ball and I couldn't see the bottom of the flag. I hit my sandwedge to make sure I had enough club to get it there. My swing sent the ball sailing over the flag. I thought I was going to be left with a long putt or maybe even worse. To my amazement, when I got to the green, I was five feet away from the hole. It must have checked up and again spun back to the hole.
Needless to say, I'm pleased with the performance of the Srixon golf balls. There is a new confidence to my game because I can now go after a shot with my wedges knowing that it will possibly check up.
With approach shots spinning back towards the hole, I am also more confident with the short stick because I'm putting from shorter distances. When you land your approach shot to within ten to fifteen feet, their is less pressure on birdie putts. At the very least I should be walking away with par so I might as well make a confident first stroke.
I putted well throughout the round. In my last round, poor putting contributed to my 44 on the back nine. Today, it was poor club selection. The wind picked up during the second nine and we were often hitting into the wind. On several occasions, I came up short of the green because I didn't take enough club and had to scramble to have a chance at par.
As we arrived at the par five 18th, I just needed to par out to finish with a 79. Unfortunately, I hit my worst tee shot of the day, sending the ball dead left into a creek that lines that side of the fairway. I dropped and hit a nice hybrid shot, leaving me with 9-iron to the green. I then pushed my approach shot and the ball ended up in a bunker that is right of the green. Unbelievable!
Disaster reared its ugly head again as I left my next shot in the bunker. I managed to get the ball out and onto the green and made the putt. A double bogey seven to finish the round. BOOOOOOOO!!!
All in all, it was a good round. Even though it should have been better, I shot in the low 80's which brings me closer to my 2011 goal of having a single digit handicap. After this effort, I'm a 10.1. One more score in this range should get me to what I have been after all year, and then, maybe it will be time to rethink my goals...again. Have a great round and always hit your target.
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| Posted: Friday, September 09, 2011 | |||
| The Phoenician (DESERT/CANYON COURSE) | Tees: Championship 18, Slope: 129, Rating: 68.3 | ||
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