First round of the year…
Chun and I get down to Half Moon Bay Old Course. I had actually never played there, and reviews I had heard over the years were a bit mixed. Actually I was pleasantly surprised by the golf course. It’s a resort course, so it had a few elements I don’t care for like paved cart paths from tee to green, and many holes had houses down both sides of the fairways. I don’t like the feeling that the golf course was just a reason to sell home lots etc. That being said, the setbacks were adequate and not too much of a distraction.
The course was pretty narrow by modern standards and it required the tee shots to be hit accurately. Every tee shot asked me to do something with the golf ball. The greens were on the small side, which requires more accurate approach shots. Nothing crazy, no elephant humps or other annoying features that make my eyes roll. It’s a good test of ballstriking and shot shaping.
As usual, I hadn’t played in a while, but this time the gap in playing was not a year or 8 months.. just a couple months. I’m not an active player anymore for various reasons, but it’s always nice to get out on a decent track hit some real golf shots with purpose.
A two and a half hour drive… I did about a 1/3 Hogan Module workout prior to leaving the house.. maybe 10 minutes of drills. I don’t like hitting balls before a round anymore, for good reasons… and this course didn’t have a driving range anyway. Fair enough.
The first hole is a nice opener, par 5, and a gentle dogleg to the left. Pulled the 2 wood off the tee and hit a beautiful drive with a slight draw right down the middle, just perfect. Another two wood to about 60 yards short of the green, then a wedge up to about 10 feet.
Second hole hit a driver down the left side, ball stayed straight, and left me a 5 iron into the green from about 170 yards. Dead flushed it right at the pin, landed 3 feet from the pin.. leaving an 8 foot birdie putt from just past the hole.
Third hole, par 3, hit a gorgeous 5 iron to 12 feet just right of the hole.
Fourth hole hit 2 wood off the tee, drawing around the fairway bunker into perfect position, then a short 9 iron to 15 feet just right of the pin.
Fifth Hole another par 5. Perfect drive with the Spalding Model 28, nailed this right dead solid on the Gamma Fire Insert right down the pipe. Hit a 2 wood right at the pin and it must have rolled by just inches from the flag onto the back fringe about 20 past the hole.
Sixth hole hit driver 9 iron to about 15 feet just right of the hole perfect distance.
Seventh hole a long par 3 about 200 yards, hit a 3 iron onto the front edge of the green about 50 feet… sank the putt! WOW!
Coming to the 8th hole, have hit all 7 greens, and this was the second best drive of the day, best on the front nine… and a good time to hit a good one. Hole is about 450 yards, and left me 180 after a drive of about 270. The second shot was significantly downhill.. at least club. Figured it would play 170ish to a center pin. Pulled 5 iron and flushed it solid just left of the pin with a slight fade. Oddly, the ball came up short into the bunker. I don’t know what happened. There wasn’t any significant wind or anything, ball was struck well. Who knows, it’s golf.
The 9th comes back to the clubhouse. Pretty hole. Drove the ball down the right side and had a 9 iron in. Slight downhill lie off a bit of mudpan. Not much grass, just that light grass mudpan lie. It’s January near the coast, so not surprising. I went at it a little hard in case I didn’t catch it just perfect, but I did and sent the ball 25 feet past the hole right over the pin.
Front nine, hit every fairway and 8 greens… had the ball inside 15 feet 6 times.
Backnine
10th hole, par 5. Driver, two wood, wedge to 12 feet
11th, slight dogleg right, hit a fade down the right side but clipped a tree branch leaving a shot about 30 yards longer than what would typically be a 7 iron approach. Hit a 4 iron to the front left part of the green about 40 feet.
12th was the best played hole. Long par 4 uphill, but a more generous driving fairway, so I took a rip at it and we clocked this one at 270 yards. Left me a 6 iron from about 165. Absolutely flushed this iron with a baby draw, landed 2 feet from the pin before settling 5 feet left of the hole. Loved this shot because my divot was left the target and the ball started right of the target. This is the kind of thing the trackman machines don’t tell you. Face is slightly open right of target, but hands are low coming into impact.. the heel heavy divot with the clubhead tracking left.. ball starts slightly right. These are the days I’m going to hit the ball best.
The 13th, another long par 3, hit a 4 iron to about 25 feet.
14th, hit a 2 wood off the tee to lay back center fairway on this dogleg right. Nice wedge to about 15 feet.
15th, another long par 5. Driver, 1 iron as the fairway pinched in a bit down near the green. Good strike and good position. Wedge to 13 feet short right of the pin.
16th, Very narrow driving hole 2 wood, 8 iron to 20 feet… hit it a bit thin
17th mid length par 3. Hit 6 iron just right of center cut pin, ball hit on fringe and took a nasty hop into the bunker. Second green missed.
18th. Nicely played hole, with a good drive down the right side, hit an 8 iron right over the top of the pin to about 12 feet against the beautiful backdrop of the hotel sitting up above the green.
Back nine, 8 greens, inside 15 feet 5 times.
Total, 16 greens, inside 15 feet 11 times. Really struck the ball unusually well. Just had it online all day and a good feel for distance control.
Takeaway is that the Hogan Module work is really the real deal. Felt like George Knudson out there today, just flag hunting all day. Fun stuff from tee to green.
The greens were cut way too fast considering they had been recently punched and verti-cut. Reads were tough and I never had a good feel for pace at that speed. A good putter on a good day would have turned this round into a 64 easily. For me it was a George Knudson style 72.
I do think my relationship with playing is complicated… mainly because 70% of the game is inside 100 yards, and I spend 100% of my time on technique for the other 30% (ballstriking). Because I am not an active player anymore… playing just a handful at most rounds per year, it’s not realistic to go out with great scoring expectations. The short game stuff does need a fair amount of practice. I don’t see a way around it.. particularly putting. While I’m really happy with the chip roller, in that I can on occasion putt pretty respectably without any practice, putting does require good reads, and excellent pace, feel for speed. If that is not happening, no amount of “technique” is going get the ball into the hole. I’m not playing enough golf to putt consistently well on super fast greens. I find it annoying actually. To have greens running that fast for pedestrian play confounds me … it really does. I still prefer to play where I can feel like I am actually hitting the ball when on the greens. So while it is true 70% of the game is inside 100 yards as far as strokes taken.. I would counter that 5000 yards of a 6800 yard course are geographic… so the vast majority of the golf course is driving and approach shots. 74% of a golf course is about ballstriking outside of 100 yards. That’s the part I enjoy the most.. the geographic majority of the golf course.
This is Advanced Ball Striking…
. Sounds like a wonderful day flushing it! Big time plus handicap there Tex. Tell them you are scratch like Trevino used to do. You should be on the gambling tour. Show up and say I’ll play you with these old clubs as my handicap and I’m a scratch….. Easy money to be made with the right people.