2-March-2014 - First round of the year at Pendleton

2-March-2014

1^st round of the year... Pendleton Golf Course in Virginia off of 95 south at the Ladysmith. The temperature in Laurel, MD was a high of 51 degrees but Richmond would be 62. After covering someone's midnight shift and getting off at 6am I turned south on 395. The plan was to play either The Federal Club or Pendleton... Whichever would take me as both of will host a www.tgaatour.com tournament in March. The Federal Club is private and was booked solid through 4:30pm so Pendleton was meant to be. I considered hitting some balls first but I was dying to play and even considered getting in 36 holes before the rain came... The gentleman at the counter had 2 guys going out as I got there and he said I could join or play behind them.

As fate would have it the twosome went out ahead of me and I didn't see them the rest of the day – they were fast! The round was a great start to a season. I've been putting in my basement for 3 months so I was excited to see how it worked on the course. I had worked on my visual acuity, my stroke and making enough five to ten foot putts until they felt like kick-in's.

The first hole is a par 5. After a tee shot in the fairway I had less than 225 yards but poor contact with my 2-hybrid left me 60 yards short right of the green. A good swing with my 58 degree wedge put me at 12 feet from the hole and feeling good about birdie. I took a couple practice rolls to get the green speed and then lined up my 12 footer and sank it. Rolled it in center cut! As I'd hoped, even with poor contact with my irons I could save myself with a money putting stroke. On the first three holes I would roll the ball on the line I read and go birdie bogey birdie with that one bogey being a good stroke none the less. The rest of the day went that way... solid drives, inconsistent irons and great putts... I shot a 79.

I decided to forgo another 18 holes in favor of range time considering I won't get out much after the big rain and snow storm hits. Turns out I had about three hours before the rain started. In that time I didn't figure out anything on the range. I think coming off a midnight shift and little sleep was playing a big part in the poor range session.

The best part of the day came on the practice green. The green sloped four feet from top to bottom, lots of undulation and maybe 24 feet wide. I simulated long putts from end to end to put myself in five footer situations and was impressed that I was consistently inside that. The few times I had a five to ten footer I made almost all of the putts. Speed and feel were excellent. On one tough read from six feet I missed it a couple times but once I had the line I was able to drain five in a row. Really showing me I had a accurate stroke and green reading is going to be the key to my success. With my final five putts of the day as rain was really starting to come down I knocked it to under a yard from 74 feet away with three of the five.

Great way to end a practice session on a high!