Arrived in plenty time to pay but not enough for a practice and the tees in front were taken. We waited our turn. The guys in-front were a bit erratic but I understand that! After a few holes they pulled away and we only ended up waiting at a couple of holes where they lost balls. We were followed by a good pair who almost never had to wait. The fairways were great and so were the greens I avoided the bunkers so they were fine for me. I lost no balls or tees.
On the first I went just short and managed a par, M went in the bunker and then over and had a bit of a nightmare. So I went 1 up. Then after a nice approach to the 2nd I went over the back and M got a par. On the 3rd I again went over the back and M got a birdie. The wind was the significant factor and it was pretty constant either behind or ahead and made a big difference to distance. M was playing well from the tee and putting me under pressure on each hole. After 7, M was 4 up. I pulled one back on the 8th when M went behind a tree so after 9 he was 3 up. On the back 9 I was really concentrating and M made a couple of mistakes in the trees meaning I won 5 holes to M's 1, leaving me 1 up with 2 to play. On the 17th I played a nice tee shot and was safe on the 2nd. M's long tee shot was ok but was followed by a dip in the pond. Ms next shot was into the greenside bunker so I thought right thats it... Not so! He got out in one and down in the next where I took an odd extra shot to get to the green, forcing a draw. So still 1 up with 1 to play. No problem I just had to draw. I had a nice tee shot within reach of the green. Ms long tee shot was just short of the green. Our second shots both landed short so it was now a putting competition and all I had to do was draw. Ms putt was worse than mine so his 4th shot was a good 20 ft and .. guess what .. it went in! I took 2 putts and M had levelled the score with the last shot.
Could not have been closer! My score is click here.
As is fairly typical my putting owed me 1 but there were 2*3 putts. I had 8 proper golf scores with only 1 par at hole #1. I only messed up 2 holes The 2nd by going over the back with the wind and the difficult 5th where I had to take a penalty due to an unplayable ball (in the ditch). Definitely playing better than the last time mainly due to lack of 4r and 5w.
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| We had time for putting practice |
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| M in a bunker |
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| The last tee - all I had to do was draw... |
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| Nice day for it! |
