This was a bit of an unexpected round for me. My wife suggested we spend some additional time with the kids on an individual basis and said that I should take my son, Tyler, with me to play some golf. Seeing as how it had been almost a year and a half since he had played... I figured I'd take him to a fairly short course, and one that I could get some decent practice in. With that in mind... I headed to Tega Cay to play the 9 hole Cove Course.
As usual... I played the black tees while I had my son play up a little further from the red tees. It ended up being a pretty nice day, despite some sprinkles, and we had a good time. The details of my round are below.
As usual... I played the black tees while I had my son play up a little further from the red tees. It ended up being a pretty nice day, despite some sprinkles, and we had a good time. The details of my round are below.
Hole #1 - Par 3 - 186 Yards
The tee had been moved up some, and the pin was closer to the front of the green, so this hole was playing much shorter than the listed distance on the card. I had been working on trying to change my swing over the previous few weeks and was anxious to try it out on the course. I had varying results... but this was one of the 'not so good' swings. My 7 iron was topped and pretty much ran 140 yards up just shy of the greenside bunker. From there, I pitched on to about 19 feet and then had some troubles, needing 3 putts to finish up the hole. The greens were much slower than I was anticipating based on how fast they were last year at the same time. I opened up with a double bogey.
Hole #2 - Par 5 - 448 Yards
If you've read any of my reviews from the past at this course, you'll know that this is a huge dogleg and anything more than an iron off the tee will end up in somebody's back yard. Unfortunately for me, I topped another iron off this tee, this time a 4 iron, and it ran into the fairway, leaving me a long way back. I wanted to just lay up towards the bottom of the hill, but I wiped across my 6 iron and it disappeared out of bounds on me. I dropped and tried again, this time sending it into the right rough. I was left with about 150 yards to the pin and hit a solidly struck 7 iron that found the right side of the green. Another three-putt from about 27 feet and I was writing down a triple bogey.
Hole #3 - Par 4 - 428 Yards
I had not practiced with my driver since my last round, so I really had no idea what to expect. I caught it well, but watched as it faded towards the hill up on the right side. At that point, I knew it was safe, but I didn't know where it ended up. When we got up to that area, I found the ball had rolled down the hill into the fairway. I was left with about 195 to the hole. I decided that a 4 iron wasn't going to get there, but it also wasn't going to go over the green. I managed to get the ball just shy of the green and left myself what should have been a simple little chip. I bladed it. Badly. I watched the ball go out of bounds... walked to the ball... picked it up... and dropped it back where I had started. This time, I got it on the green, but I left it well short of the pin. 2 putts from 16 feet and I had started double - triple - triple.
Hole #4 - Par 4 - 376 Yards
No surprises here. I blew the tee shot. I cold topped a 3 wood that dribbled about 40 yards into the left rough. I had no real shot at anything, so I smacked a 5 iron through the fairway into the right rough, leaving about 170 yards up the hill to the hole. From there, I hit what I thought was a perfect 5 iron that worked around the trees, but my son said it had found the bunker. He was right. I blasted out to about 25 feet, left the bogey attempt woefully short and then made the 9 footer for another double bogey.
Hole #5 - Par 4 - 310 Yards
This hole is always a confidence booster for me. It's a straight forward par 4. The only trouble is if you really mishit your tee shot or if you find the fairway bunker. I hit a screaming 4 iron that finished just off the fairway on the left side, but it was wide open to the green. A wedge from there finished pin high but in the rough left of the green. My chip from there got to about 6 feet and I was able to finally make a par.
Hole #6 - Par 4 - 312 Yards
This is another hole that can make you feel good about yourself if you play it right. Unfortunately, I didn't. My tee shot ended up in the woods up the left side. We found my ball, and when I tried to punch it out... it caught a tree trunk and kicked backwards a bit. My only play from there was to punch out again, this time into the fairway. My sand wedge from 82 yards was a little deep onto the green, leaving me about 24 feet... from where I three-putted again. Another triple bogey, which has become the theme of my game early on this season.
Hole #7 - Par 3 - 195 Yards
My rangefinder told me 185 to the flag, with a downhill drop. I hit a 5 iron bullet that found the green, pin high, about 21 feet from the hole. I proceeded to, of course, three-putt for a bogey. Even after a good tee shot, I couldn't find a way to make par.
Hole #8 - Par 3 - 149 Yards
This one was playing about 130 yards with a bit of a breeze into our faces. My 8 iron was long and left, but it should have been a simple chip from there. I did what I had been doing all day, and I bladed another one. It ran off the front of the green into the deep bunker. It took me 2 shots to get out of there, and then another 2 putts from 16 feet to finally get the ball in the hole. Simple hole... triple bogey.
Hole #9 - Par 5 - 488 Yards
As we got to this tee, the breeze started to pick up and it started to rain a bit. My tee shot was slightly left, hit the cart path and kicked it further left. I had no play but to try and punch the ball into the fairway. I advanced it a bit, but not much, and it stuck in the rough. A dead pull from there hit the trees again and kicked into the fairway. I had about 160 to go, and my 6 iron was struck well... but pulled again. A sand wedge from the rough found the green, but left me 81 feet from the hole. At least I didn't three-putt... instead, I needed 4 putts to finish out my day with a quadruple bogey!
Recap
Things could have definitely been worse. I was pleased with how I had hit some of my shots, but for the most part, I was still struggling. My son, for his part, posted a 73. This was actually a pretty good score for him considering he hadn't touched his clubs in forever. I look forward to getting back out there with him sometime soon!
Recap
Things could have definitely been worse. I was pleased with how I had hit some of my shots, but for the most part, I was still struggling. My son, for his part, posted a 73. This was actually a pretty good score for him considering he hadn't touched his clubs in forever. I look forward to getting back out there with him sometime soon!
Round Stats
- Score - 56
- Penalty Strokes - 2
- Putts - 23
- Fairways - 2 of 6
- Greens in Regulation - 1 of 9
- Up and Downs - 1 of 2
- Sand Saves - 0 of 2
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