Be the Ball!

After last week's back-to-back 86s, I was excited to play this weekend. It is monsoon season so we are getting some rain and overcast skies. I set up a game with the Gardener for Sunday morning at the Gold Course at the Wigwam Golf Resort and Spa. On Saturday, I worked on a memorandum with Chad Feldheimer to present to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. It drizzled off and on and was overcast most of the day. Late in the afternoon it cleared up and was beautiful. I went to the driving range and hit balls to get ready for my round on Sunday.

Sunday morning was overcast and drizzling as I drove west to Litchfield Park. The Gold Course is a Robert Trent Jones, Sr.-designed course with a Midwestern feel and a lot of left-to-right doglegs. It is one of the grad dames of Arizona golf. From the monster tees, the Gold Course measures 7,430 yards with a course rating of 74.5 and a slope rating of 135. That is more golf course than the Gardener and I were prepared to chew off. We played from the par-72 championship tees, which are 6,830 yards with a course rating of 72.3 and a slope rating of 130. The course was in wonderful condition. The fairways were very green and the rough was lush. The greens were smooth and rolling true, although they were a little slow due to the rain. The ball was not rolling much in the fairway so 6,800 yards was plenty of golf for us. If you miss the fairway, you are oftentimes in "jail" in the trees or in some pretty heavy rough so it is hard to reach the green in regulation.

It rained on and off, but never hard enough for us to stop playing and there was no lightning. The temperature (not my score) was in the 7os. The Gardener and I both played terribly on the front 9. I shot a 48 and he shot a 50. The only positive was that we played good "cart golf". If I hit my tee shot left, the Gardner followed suit. If he hit his tee shot right, I hit mine further right. My only par was on the 219 yard par-3 3rd hole. I hit my 1-hybrid pin-high on the right edge of the green and two-putted for my par. I had four double-bogeys on the front 9. Surprisingly, I putted the ball pretty well; otherwise it would have been even uglier.

The Gardener and I both decided that we would play better on the back 9 and we did. I started off on the par-5, 590 yard 10th hole with a reasonably good drive (compared to the front 9) and a good 1-hybrid that found the fairway bunker. The fairway bunker has two palm trees in the middle and I was right behind them (that does not seem fair!). I made a bogey and thought, "not again!". However, on the back 9, I had 6 bogeys and 3 pars and no double bogeys for a 42. The Gardener started driving the ball long and straight down the middle and, even with a few terrible shots, carded a 41 on the back 9 for a 91. On the back 9 instead of fiddling with my ball position, hands and clubhead alignment, I just focused on my body alignment, swinging easy and seeing the club hit the back of the ball.

I played the par-3 and par-4 holes at one under bogey, which is pretty normal for me, but I usually make one or two pars on the par-5 holes and nothing worse than bogey. Today, I played the four par-5 holes at one over bogey, instead of two under bogey, which is the difference between a 90 and an 87. I had 35 putts (including putts from the fringe) with no 3-putts. I also hit some good shots out of the sand and had one up-and-down from the greenside bunker.