Sub 15

Due to an unexpected visit from some out-of-town family, I wasn’t able to play this past weekend. I was chomping at the bit to finally get out on the course after the storm, especially since I felt like I had made some sort of breakthrough with my left-handed setup. I knew that I just needed a solid round to drop my handicap under 15. I finally got the chance after work last evening.

I managed to make it out to the course at around 5:40. I was hoping to be able to get in 18, but I was prepared to not make it all the way around since I was starting so late. I teed off lefty on the first hole, and sliced it quite a bit left. Fortunately that area is pretty open, and I hit a good righty punch shot to about 90 yards. Unfortunately, left my lefty wedge short. A decent chip and two putts later I had to settle for a double bogey. It was a little disappointing to not hit the two full lefty shots as well as I was hoping. However, I figured that this was the first time I had taken the new setup out onto the course and it would take some reps to get comfortable. Plus, I’m usually happy to make a bogey on the first hole, so I didn’t feel like I was too far behind the eight ball.

The second hole is a pretty short par 3 over water, and I hit a poorly struck, 3/4 swing with my 8 iron just short of the green. It was the correct shot – a solid 8 iron could have flown the green, which is pretty much dead. I just didn’t make very good contact. I just missed getting up and down and settled for what felt like an easy bogey.

I then went on a run of six straight pars. On #3 I pushed my lefty drive just a little bit, but I wasn’t too upset with the result. There are trees near the tee on the right side that I didn’t want to flirt with, and trying to hit a lefty draw with the driver just isn’t a good idea. I had an awkward stance for my approach – ball below my feet with an uphill lie. Still, I managed to put my approach on the collar of the green, and got up and down from about 15 feet for par.

On #4 I absolutely crushed a righty driver. I don’t think I’ve written anything up about this, but several weeks ago I had what seems like a mini breakthrough with my righty driver. In a nutshell, I’ve always struggled when trying to tee it high. For whatever reason, this would make me try to swing up too much and I would frequently top the ball. When I would tee it lower, I would make a more level swing and make much more solid contact. I had my driver fully lofted up (12.5 degrees) to compensate. This also helped me make a better swing since I didn’t feel like I needed to help the ball up in the air.

However, I felt like I was giving up distance due to how much spin I was putting on the ball, which resulted in too high of a ball flight. Through some experimentation, I figured out that I was also standing too close the ball with my righty driver. While playing around with tee height on my mat at home, I realized that when I thought the clubhead was centered behind the ball it was actually much closer to the heel. When I got comfortable with the clubhead actually centered behind the ball, I also discovered that I seemed to be able to keep making a more level swing with the ball teed up higher. This resulted in more distance, but I was hitting it even higher because I was finally hitting the upper part of the clubface, which had more loft. This finally allowed me to lower the loft on the driver, knowing that I can more reliably access the upper part of the clubface to give me the height I need, even with a more level swing. I’m now getting much more distance.

Back to #4. I crushed the righty driver, and had what I’m sure is the shortest approach I’ve ever had on this hole. I hit a lefty 6H pin high, just off the green about 12 feet from the hole. I made a simple chip to within a couple of feet and made the par. On #5, a short par 3, short is better than long, and I came up short. I had a longer pitch shot than I would have liked, but the new / old Ping Eye 2 sand wedge that I just reshafted and put in the bag checked up nicely, leaving me with another tap in for par.

I crushed another righty drive on #6, but I pushed it a bit. It hit the cart path and bounced up partially under a tree. I was lucky that I was able to make a clean punch to get the ball just on the fringe, and hit a simple chip to tap in range. At this point I’m fully aware that I have a very solid round going. I really wanted to try and finish the round before dark.

However, I was just starting to catch up to the group in front of me, and it looked like there were more people in front of them. I wasn’t sure how amenable the assorted groups would be to letting me play through. I decided to cut straight over to #13, as there didn’t appear to be anyone coming up #12, and I didn’t see anyone up ahead on #14. I figured that I would be able to come back over to #7 after finishing #18. It would mean some extra walking, but I decided that playing as quickly as possible was the way to go.

Hole 13 is a short par 4 that’s probably reachable for me now right-handed. I used to just aim directly at this green from both sides, but eventually realized that there’s a lot of trouble if you miss right, and things are much more open to the left. I aimed my lefty driver well left of the green and hit a big pull. However, because I was aimed so far left, the drive landed safely on the right side of the fairway. Score one for strokes gained! I wedged it on, just missed my birdie putt and settled for another par.

I made a routine par on #14. On # 15, which is a decently lengthy par five, I hit a solid lefty drive, but I was still blocked out a bit for my second shot. I managed to hit a good hook with my hybrid to the middle of the fairway. However for my third I had a very downhill lie to an uphill green. I tried to hit a smooth lefty 6H, but pushed it hard left, hitting a tree about 50 yards away. I got a good bounce though, leaving me with a full righty wedge to the green. Two putts later and I had another bogey, which is just fine on that hole.

On #16 I crushed a righty driver, leaving a partial lefty wedge to the green for another routine par. Hole 17 is another short par four that turns to the right at the end. The entire right side is guarded by trees, so I aimed my lefty driver well left. I sliced it a bit, but still only had about 110 yards left to the green. I hit my righty wedge just over the green, hit a decent chip to 10 feet or so, and two putted for a slightly disappointing bogey.

#18, which is a solid par five, was pretty typical for this latter part of the round. A good righty drive, followed by a solid lefty layup with my 6H. I was proud of myself for not going for too much on the layup. I knew that even the 6H was enough to get me into a full PW range, so there was no point in taking what’s for me a lot of extra risk with the 4H. As it turns out I was in SW range, and pulled it just left of the green. I hit a solid lefty chip with my 8 iron from 35 feet or so to about 8 feet, and just missed the putt for another bogey.

I was slightly disappointed again, as I felt like I should have been able to hit the green with a solid SW, but I still knew that I had a good round going. I was making a lot of pars and had made several easy bogeys. With the exception of the first hole, I hadn’t even really been in any danger of making a double. I decided that I still had just enough light to book it over to #7 to try and finish the round. I didn’t know exactly where I stood, and didn’t allow myself to replay the round to try and figure it out. I was determined to try and just play one smart shot at a time.

Hole 7 is a short par five that doglegs to the right. I hit a decent lefty drive that was headed left of the fairway but kicked back in. I needed to layup for my second shot, but had a decision to make about how far to lay back. If I hit anything longer than a righty six iron, I would need to cut the ball a bit. Also, the longer the shot, the worse the consequences would be if it didn’t cut. I was very tempted to his my longer hybrid (4H), but decided to hit the 5H with a little cut. I hit it perfectly, leaving me just a partial lefty SW to the green. I hit it well, leaving myself a pretty straightforward, uphill 20 footer. I made an easy two putt for par.

On hole 8, a short par 3 that’s very uphill, I tried to make a 3/4 swing with my righty pitching wedge. I ended up making more of a full swing, but I didn’t make great contact. These seemed to offset each other and I was left with about a four footer for birdie, which I drained. This really got me pumped up.

On hole 9, a mid-length par 4, I hit a solid lefty drive, and had about 140 left to an uphill green, that was playing more like 150. It was blind because of the hill, so I walked up far enough to see the green, and picked a part of a large tree as my target line. I didn’t bother looking at where the flag was. I was focused purely on trying to get it to the center of the green. I hit a really good righty 6 iron pin high, about 30 feet left of the hole. It was a pretty uphill putt, and I didn’t hit it hard enough. I missed the 6 footer, and settled for a three putt bogey. I pouted for just a few seconds, then reminded myself that I’ve made worse than bogey on this hole plenty of times. I reminded myself that I had hit two extremely good shots to get on the green, which in the grand scheme of things, is worth more strokes than the occasional three putt.

I pushed my righty drive on #10 a bit, and took a free drop from some tree limbs from the recent storms. I came up short with my lefty wedge. I hit a good chip with my righty 8 iron that climbed two swales to get to the same level as the back pin. Still, I had about 10 feet left and just missed the putt. This didn’t really bother me as it was a very difficult chip to get close.

The lefty tee shot on #11 is about my last favorite shot on the course. The hole is a 90 degree dogleg to the right, and you can’t afford to go more than 210 yards if you go straight. I don’t trust my lefty 4H to reliably get me to the turn yet, even though it gets me to just the right distance if I hit it well. The odds just aren’t great yet. What seems to be the most reliable lefty tee shot on this hole is to choke up all the way the end of the grip with the driver, and make a 3/4 swing. I did this perfectly, leaving me about 180 into the green. Unfortunately it’s always with a downhill lie, and there’s not much room to either side of the green. I made a pretty poor decision and decided to hit my 5H and get it on the green. I pushed it right of the green, but was extremely lucky to have a clear pitch to the green. If the ball had rolled another five feet, I would have been blocked out. I hit an excellent chip with my lefty SW to about eight feet, and drained the putt for par.

At this point I just had one hole to go. I still didn’t know exactly where I stood, but I felt pretty confident that so long as I made a bogey, I would pretty much be guaranteed to post a good enough score to drop my handicap under 15. Number 12 is the longest par 3 on our course, playing about 185 yards yesterday. There’s trees trouble to the left, which has often acted like a ball magnet for me. I finally started playing toward the right side of this green, since it’s pretty open to the right. I hit a decently solid 5H about 15 feet right of the green. The flag was in the back right of the green, so I aimed left of the hole and hit a solid, fully committed pitch with my lefty SW to about 10 feet. Two putts later I was in with a bogey.

I entered the score for the hole in my GPS app, then had to arrow over through hole 18 to see the final number. I shot a 79, for a differential of 12.5. I’m pretty sure this is my second best differential on this course, with my best being a 78 that I shot back in mid-May. I entered the score into the GHIN app, which shoed that my pending handicap was a 14.6.

When I wrote up my goals at the beginning of the year, I specifically didn’t identify a handicap goal for the year. I really wanted to try and do everything in my power to try and focus on the process – making good decisions, practicing efficiently when I can, working on my fitness. However, I couldn’t stop myself from still having a goal in mind to get my handicap down, and fifteen was where I wanted to get it.

It remains to be seen just how impactful the “breakthrough” in my lefty technique change truly is. I know by now not to get too excited about any particular change – I’ve “figured it out” more often than I can remember. It certainly does seem that my directional control from the left side seemed much better overall. Out of the seven lefty drivers I hit, I was only truly disappointed with the direction of two of them – the slice on #1 and the pull on #13. The first hole was the very first swing on the course with this technique change though. Also, because I selected a safe target on #13, I still hit the fairway and made par.

Overall though, I suppose that this is a testament that working on the right things really does make a difference. There were several instances where I potentially saved strokes by picking smart targets. I’ve put in the most “real” practice on my chipping, and that helped me get up and down several times. I’ll try my best to not get too fixated on the next handicap goal, but I know myself well enough to know that I won’t be able to help it. So long as I can keep it fun I should be okay.