King City 3/19/15

John and I are coming off a win against Dave and Jim which is nice. For a 2 or 3 year period we only won once or twice, including I am pretty sure we were shut out 2 years ago and only one once last year in about 5 or 6 attempts. Dave and Jim mesh really well...if Dave hits a good shot, Jim hits a bad one or if Jim hits a good shot, Dave hits a bad one...they never seem to both hit a poor shot at the same time.

Or, if they do...how many times have John and I been laying 2, 20 yards off the green, while they are laying 2 160 yards off...only to land 6' from the cup and 1-putt. They are just really solid in the 2-man best ball format whereas John and I...well, we either both hit decent shots or both hit bad ones. There is no "pick up the partner".

We did, however, win at Skamania. Time to see if we can keep it rolling.

Jim leads off with a drive out of bounds. John follows his example. Dave then uncorks a nice drive down the right, no surprise there, it was inevitable. I put a 7 wood 190 yards left-center of fairway. Okay, little surprise...Dave actually shaded more right than we thought and they are under a tree. Jim hits said tree, landing about 8 feet in front of them. Dave goes wide left. With the door wide open, I land my gap wedge on the short side of the green. Naturally Dave then hits a nice chip and they 1-putt while I 2-putt...Dave and I end up with natural pars as our partners struggle on the hole. Dave did a great job of scrambling.

The 178 yard par 3 is not good for my psyche as I cannot hit the 3-iron and my 4 is too short. What to do? How about watching Jim land pin high left of the green, John and Dave both fail to get to the ladies tees. I then blast the 4 iron, landing on the back fringe of the green.

Yes, after never getting closer than 10 yards to the FRONT of the green, it is behind the green...wow! Go me!


Of course they chip on and close and 1-putt as we 2-putt. Both pars. This time I yip my putt and John saves the hole by rolling his in. I missed back to back natural pars by 1 rotation of the ball.

The 249 yard hole has been a cupcake for me most rounds. Jim goes OB. John hits short left under a tree. Dave blasts it long and straight, inside 150 center of fairway. I pull out my trusty 7 wood...and proceed to yank it left over the houses. Do we play Johns? I suggest we play a provisional mulligan...if John's is playable, we play his. If not, we will play mine. He HATES using mulligans this early but because it is provisional he concurs. I land about 200 yards down, off fairway right...bad hop takes it across cart path but playable.

His ball is in bad shape...we would have to go under one tree and over the next, impossible, or around it. We would have to punch into the fairway and would be laying 2 190 yards from the green. We take my mulligan. I then land on the green about 6' from the cup, very makeable putt. Meanwhile, Dave and Jim are struggling. They are on in 3, but very makeable for the par, maybe a 4' putt which they never miss.

I do miss my birdie putt by a couple inches but again John saves the day with a clutch putt for the birdie. Then both Jim and Dave miss, taking a 5. We picked up 2 shots. Great use of mulligan, as we would have lost the hole by 1-2 shots, instead we win the hole by 2.But will I regret going through holes 4-6 without my mulligan?

Now for demon hole 1 of 3, these next 3 holes being the part of the course I struggle with.

Jim is OB right. John chunks his shot horribly. Dave is short and right. The door is open. Being a 196 yard hole and knowing my 7 wood earlier was 190ish, I pull it out...and promptly hit a tree on the left. A short tree. A tree that should have no bearing on the hole. I will not have a full swing but John will so we play mine.

He puts it on the fringe, and it is a good thing, as I hit mine about 5 yards in a brutal display of incompetence. We 2-putt for a bogey...but Jim and Dave fly the green, Jim struggles with his chip...and Dave picks him up with a fantastic uphill over a mound chip that rolls to a stop in makeable distance. OUr wide open door to pick up a stroke just closed. Though they are laying 3 and we are 2. From there is took us 3 more to get in while they had a 1-putt lip out and 2 putted to match our 5.

The next hole is another tough one for me. It is short but the right side is guarded. It is pretty much only psychological as those trees should never come into play. John had stopped off in the convenient facilities so I went first. Playing at 143, I hit a towering 8-iron. Short and left. John stepped up and landed fringe right. Dave and Jim were both short.

Jim found my ball, unlike the other day when I never did. It had plugged top deep. Thanks Jim! We hit a nice lag and tapped in for par. They chipped on but also 2-putted.  We were now up 3.

The next hole has tall trees on the left to protect my left-to-right flight pattern and no room on the right. John topped his ball, going nowhere. I seriously, seriously considered putting my 8 iron 150 yards out to put us at the 150 mark, believing it would be my most accurate club. However, I had just yanked it left and if you are going to hit a bad shot, what advantage is there to a short bad shot over a long bad shot? 277 yard hole...might as well try for some distance. Out came the 7 wood.

Well, I did hit it with my standard left to right pattern. And I did start it towards those pesky trees. However, I  went over them. Over the tallest tree. It was maybe a 180 yard drive...but we had a clear shot at the green from the left side of the fairway. About as good a "drive" as I have had on this hole.

Meanwhile Jim went OB with his first drive and Dave went into that bunch of trees I went over. Jim hit another for his mulligan and it was wide right but playable.

They then both hit about 20 yards. Their next shot flew the green. John chunked his shot into the tree in the fairway. I hit my gap wedge and it was beautiful, landing on the green, albeit on the far left. They finally got on with their 4th shot, we were laying 2. We can really slam the door here.

OR we can brutally 3-putt while they 2 putt. We still picked up a shot but we kind of should have had a par. Still, we are 6 holes in and have 3 pars, a birdie, a bogey and a double. We are a comfortable 4 shots up with 3 to play and John still has his Mulligan.

Ah, the par 5. What to do? My decision gets easier when John uncorks his best drive of the day, laying about 200 yards from green in center of the fairway. I decide to aggressively pull out my driver.

Lately I have been hitting it straight but playing for the slice. I decide to play for it being straight.

I slice. We hear it hit the house. Jim also goes O.B. but Dave crushes his drive to the 150 marker, center of the fairway. We debate John using his mulligan but I am against it. He is in good shape. And I turn out to have bounced back inbounds 260 yards down the right side. We are kind of under one tree with another in front of us and water between but John prefers the distance to using his clean center of fairway shot.

This is one area I struggle with best ball. Yes, I am 90 to 100 yards further forward...but there is lots of potential trouble with my shot. Even should we go under the first, over the second tree and over the water, there is a sand trap guarding our side of the green. However, my teammate STRONGLY prefers the distance. Quality of shot is less important to him. So we take mine.

And Dave then crushes his second shot, hopping into the greenside bunker. John gets over the water but wide right, barely over the pond. We are maybe 145 yards out, perfect for my pitching wedge, which conveniently also means I should clear the tree in front of me. I hammer it, it feels good, it soars high...almost too high...the line is right...I am excited...and it crashes to earth 10 yards short of the green. I am stunned.

Still, we are laying two in the short rough, they are laying 2 in the sand. Advantage us. Until John and I both fail to reach the green with our chips and Dave puts his bunker shot within about a foot of the cup. We manage to 1-putt for the par, but Dave had a natural birdie and the get a shot back with a really nice sequence. Well played.

Ah, the 284 wide open fairway no danger hole. Love this one. Jim continues to struggle, but Dave continues to hammer his drives. He is well inside the 150 yard marker. John hits to the 150 marker in the rough well right of the fairway. Confidently I blast my driver, playing for the slice, believing I am going to be center of fairway somewhere between 250 and 280 yards down. It felt so good I thought for a second I had driven the green. In fact I overdrove it, hitting it about 350 yards.

Oh, not where it should have been...straight as an arrow, bouncing down the road. Well left and out of bounds. Horrid shot. But it WAS 350 yards of concrete added beauty...ah, who am I kidding, without the concrete it was a 200 yard drive maybe.

Anyway, John hits it pin high but off to the left. I have my 8 iron and tell him with his shot I can be a bit more aggressive. I ramp up my swing and go straight at the flag. I achieve a dead stop and 6' from the pin, pin high and slightly right. They all agree it is the best mid-iron or chip they have ever seen me hit.

Naturally, Jim and Dave both land on the green, we all 2-putt (which is sad in the case of John and I...we should have birdied the hole) and head to the 9th with a 3 shot lead.

Jim finally gets a hold of one but Dave has by far the lengthiest drive I have ever seen him hit. John shanks his drive but it is playable, probably, on the right side of the rough with potential tree issues and still 160ish yards out. I decide to hit my driver and this time it is true, about 230 yards and right center of fairway.

They land on the green. We do not. In fact, we do not get onto the green until our 4th shot. Yes, from 65 yards out it took us 3 shots to get on the green. This, in case you are wondering, is NOT good.

Jim and Dave 2 putt to finish with a par while John and I appear to be melting down. But we 1-putt for the bogey and have our second consecutive win. Red marks are made.

For the day, Jim and Dave had 4 pars and a birdie. John and I had 5 pars and a birdie, shooting a 37 to their 39.

We won by precisely 2 shots. Remember that mulligan I took way back on hole 3 where we ended up with a birdie while they took bogey? There was your match.

Lot of fun, good time.