I played at Oak Quarry, again, last Saturday morning going into it with new found courage since I broke 90 at Rio Hondo last week. I really came with the mindset to play well and break 90. I played well and and hit the majority of the fairways. My putting wasn't that bad either with only one 3-putt, one 1-putt and the rest being 2-putts.
The kicker, as before, were the greens. This place has no mercy if you do not hit the green or near by it. The majoriy of the green seem to be perched up and guarded by hazards on all sides. It also doesn't help that they're all muti-tiered which adds to the overall difficulty. The greens are extremely tricky too. The holes break ALOT less then what appears which I noticed throughout the day. I'd say the greenskeeper knows what he's doing..very sneaky.
I did manage to only lose 2 balls this time, both on forced carry par-3's over a ravine, fun huh.. One thing I wished they did replace is the sand in all the bunkers. It is so coarse and granular. Very similar to playground sand..maybe I should take my sand wedge out the next time I take my kids to the playground. You really have to commit on your bunker shots here or you're going no where, fast, since a majority of them are pot bunkers.
The rough here is also very thick. I hit a great drive on the 17th and our group couldn't find it..it was straight as an arrow but just rolled into the rough..I ended up finding it but it took some time. Hitting out of the rough here always always incurred an additional stroke.
Either way I ended up shooting the same exact as I did last time, 95, which I wasn't too happy about. My goal this year is to break 90 on this course.
4 comments:
I can't stand it when courses don't keep their roughs trimmed down. It's happened to me more than once where I hit far drives that go straight but bouce off the fairway and into the rough which take FOREVER to find. It's almost sickening. You know exactly where the ball landed, but unless you're standing on top of it, you can't see it.
I feel ya..I'm sure it's done on purpose than unintentionally. I played at Torrey Pines in San Diego growing up and even if you hit a great drive if it rolled into the rough it was a miserable time trying to find it.
Hmmm... Not sure where I stand on thick rough. I guess I like thick rough but I don't like losing balls from what seems to be a good hit.
I used to prefer hitting out of the short-cut rough over the tight fairways. Now that I'm hitting the ball better, I prefer the consistency of the tight lie.
Rough sand... I often take my SW to the park when I take the kids. I practice hitting out of the sand, rough(ish), uneven lies... I just try to get creative with the club to hit a target with all sorts of shots.
-Greg
the sand in the playground is th exact consistency of the sand at the course I played at..sounds like a good idea Greg. :)
Post a Comment