The year just took on a whole new dynamic... for one I think I just found a hidden ______. No, not a gem but a hidden value. Sunday I decided to find close cheap golf course to play. Just so happend that there is a new road near my house that opened up. Not sure how they named it "Contee Road" because it is NO WHERE close to the current Contee Road BUT it connects you to Gunpowder road near the entrance of Gunpowder Golf Course.
So, at 5pm the greens fee was $15. At 6pm the greens fee is ... wait for it... $5! Yes, $5 Not sure if that's an early spring price or will it be there all year or moved back some but... for less than half the cost of a bucket of balls at the OVERPRICED Laurel Driving Range you can get 90 minutes of golf in on the course.
I started at 5pm and at 6:30pm I had putted out on the 9th hole WALKING. I decided to head home but I bet I could have finished at least 6 more holes. To me that means I could get in 9 holes for $5 most days of the week and some weekends.
ANYWAY! Why am I more excited about the year? Ball striking and putting. I walked out of the car onto the course. I gave myself a few practice balls down the fairway to get the feel and headed into the round. Fairways and greens (not quite). The course has some odd angles on the first 4 holes but I managed to get up and down for par on each. A nice block into the trees on the right on hole 5 earned me a double.
My excitement started building on hole six where I laid up on the construction shortened hole to 97 yards and hit a 58 degree wedge to 3 feet and drained the putt. On seven I drove it down the right side and from an awkward downhill lie got it on the front of the green for a solid par. More fireworks on hole eight where my 6 iron into the wind from 167 never left the flag leaving me 9 feet downhill right to left. Great read and perfect roll for second birdie and back to even par. Ninth hole is SUPER wide open and I still managed to hit it down the right side. Still had a good angle to the pin from 105 up hill into the wind. A well struck 52 degree wedge finished 4 feet from the hole. A chance to get to -1 ... right read but poor speed. I didn't hit it firmly enough and it broke below the hole...
Basically the grip change I've been practicing daily combined with a consistent setup from last years drills are starting to firm up. If I can continue to improve my tee shots to combine with the solid wedge game I'm really excited about shooting some sub par rounds early this year (not later in the season as the pessimistic side of my brain is suggesting)
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