Chenowith

Was asked to be a replacement in a charity golf tournament. Have only gone once this year and that was with a foursome where we had 2 teams each playing best ball. Fair enough, just don't expect much from me.

First hole we play has a sign, "217 yards to end of fairway". No problem, I rip out my beloved 7 Wood and promptly overdrive the end of it, which I could not see at the time because it was a drop away area. Anyhow, we played that one and my second shot as well, which I put a ways out there. In fact, on that hole we played 3 of my shots so I was feeling good.

We played par golf for the first 3 holes, then a bogey when none of us could hit the green on a par 5. That would prove to be a trend.

It was on our 8th hole it all went wrong. By then I was already starting to feel fatigue. We put together 4 pathetic drives. The BEST of the 4 was maybe a 150 yard "blast" that landed in a fairway bunker. Out of the bunker, 3 of us hit about 30 yards each and one guy somehow cranked it up to about pin high...but on a downhill lie looking over a sand trap to a green that fell away from us. We just shook our heads...this was a shot none of us was capable.

I laughed. "Don't worry, I got this. I am going to hit a sand wedge flop shot that will bring rain, land about 3 feet the other side of the cup and back up to it." We all laughed because....well...I can't do any of that.

First off, I can't hit the sand wedge at all. Horrible club for me. I have no clue what yardage I hit, when I do pull it out I typically skull shots, and I can't hit a flop or put back spin on it.

So I promptly hit a shot that went about 100 yards straight up in the air, floated over, landed a little beyond the stick and backed up to about 4 feet from the cup to give us an easy par save. It was AWESOME. And unbelievable. That is NOT a shot I have in my bag.

Well, Dave was collecting the other balls and rolled one towards Jason...and it dropped. But we putted from mine. Easy put. Straight line, no break, make able distance. Oh, not make able for us...we all 4 yipped and bogeyed the hole.

It was a melt-down after that. My 7 Wood, which I NEVER struggle with suddenly I could not swing. I hit 40 yard drives with it where the divot out-flew the ball, sliced my driver like nobodies business...and everyone else was struggling too. We mixed pars and bogeys about equally.

On one hole I again over drove the fairway because I did not realize there was a chasm beyond the fairway. Jim was at the end of the fairway. Jim, Jason and Dave promptly all hit into that chasm which meant my chip into the sand trap short of the green was the best shot. "No problem," I said, "I have a sand wedge." We all laughed because we had seen my sand shot earlier. Except this time I hit it perfect, had the flying sand like you are supposed to and rolled it about 3 feet from the cup.

The next hole we took our one mulligan. It was a 136 yard par 3 that my beloved 8 iron...far and away my 2nd best club and one that I used to hit about 165 yards...was a good 20 yards short. Jim re-hit his drive and it ended up on the fringe about pin high. I rolled a bump and run to about 6" from the cup, Jim was about 10", Jason missed by a couple feet...and Dave holed out for a (cheap) birdie.

Next hole I broke out my driver for no apparent reason and crushed it (for me these days) about 260 yards. Unfortunately, that put us about 135 yards from the hole on an uphill side hill lie to a blind green with a tree overhanging it.

"No problem," I said, "I am going to blast my pitching wedge over the tree about 8" from the cup." We all laughed since I had hit my 9 iron short on a 120 yard shot a few holes previously. Clearly a Pitching Wedge was not going to carry 135 yards uphill. So I blasted the pitching wedge, it flew over the tree, we all lost sight of it. After everyone else hit, we rolled up the hill, my ball was pin high about a foot off the green in the fringe. Great shot.

That was about it for the great shots for me for the day.

We ended with a 7 over 79 for the day, not bad for 3 duffers and a guy who had not played in 6 years. We hit 2 illegitimate shots all day: we brought my first drive somewhat back from the OB per the "official" rules which was kind of cheesy and we took the mulligan. Otherwise it was totally legit.

I played surprisingly well even without having good control over my 7 wood or 8 iron...which are typically the 2 clubs I hit 80% of my shots with. I definitely felt like I held up my end. We used at least a half dozen of my drives, 8 or 10 chips, 5 or 6 puts...so I would say overall about 20 - 25 of my shots were used so I was right there with Dave and Jim. Jason had not played in about 6 years and we ended up using maybe 5 of his shots.

And we had fun so that was good. Good experience, glad I went.