Today I shot 79 at Coal Creek – my first round in the 70’s in several years (I haven’t been there consistently since 2006). The lessons I took this year have definitely helped.

I wasn’t expecting much today. I’d taken my daughter to the driving range yesterday and really hacked it up. I was late to the course and teed off without any warm-up. But it all worked out.

• Hole 1 – Driver up the right side of the fairway. Ball was above my feet a bit and I hit an 8 iron a little heavy, leaving it short and right. I pitched to about 8 feet and missed the putt. +1
• Hole 2 – 3 hybrid in the fairway, 8 iron on the green. Pretty simple two putt from 25 feet. +1
• Hole 3 – 1 hybrid to the right side of the fairway. The pin was right and a tree was blocking me out. I ended up pushing an 8 iron right and it went through the tree and fell on the collar just short of the green. I hit putter from the fringe to a few inches. +1
• Hole 4 – Driver with a little cut, center of the fairway. I considered going for it in two, but laid up with a 7 iron instead. I hit it a little funny and left myself ~130 for my third shot. I didn’t hit that one great (9 iron), but got it on the green and two-putted. +1
• Hole 5 – 7 iron, hit poorly. I was short and right between bunkers. I pitched to about 8 feet with my lob wedge and made the putt. +1
• Hole 6 – 1 hybrid off the tee, pushed right into the woods. Bad drive. Somehow it bounced back out of the woods, but way backward. I had about 230 yards to the green. I hit 1 hybrid again (well, this time) and put it on the left side of the green, then two-putted. +1
• Hole 7 – 5 iron off the tee – hit it way off the toe, but it managed to make the green. Not a great approach putt, but holed a 6-7 footer for par. +1
• Hole 8 – 1 hybrid off the tee, was about 1 inch into the rough on the left side. I hit a 7 iron down the fairway leaving me about 80 yards in. I de-lofted a lob wedge and flew the green – putting myself behind a tree. I pitched around the tree onto the green about 25 feet from the hole, then two-putted. +2
• Hole 9 – Driver of the tee, just in the left rough. I hit a good 9 iron pin high, but it bounced right off the edge of the green about 10 inches into the rough. I putted out of the rough and didn’t hit it hard enough, leaving myself about 10 feet for par. I just missed the putt. +3 (39 for the front 9)
• Hole 10 – 1 hybrid off the tee to the left side of the fairway. Decided to lay up with a 5 iron, but hit it thin and left myself about 150 yards in (from the fairway). Hit a poor iron shot – just short of the green. The pin was back right. Bump and run with an 8 iron to about 8 feet, made a curling putt for par. +3
• Hole 11 – Into a pretty good breeze, with the pin middle-right. I hit a good 7 iron to the back-left part of the green and two-putted from ~25 feet. +3
• Hole 12 – Worst drive of the day. Pulled the driver left, hit a tree and had it kick further left. I had about 190 yards out from the rough. Hit my 5 hybrid with the ball below my feet. It faded from the left side of the green to end up about 10 feet short of the right side of the green (in the fairway). With the pin up, I hit a bump and run with a PW to about a foot. +3
• Hole 13 – The wind that had been into us on 11 was at our back on 13. I hit a great drive in the fairway leaving myself about 110 yards in. I hit a gap wedge just over the bunker. It released to the middle of the green and I two-putted from there. +3
• Hole 14 – I didn’t want to be too aggressive here so I hit 3 hybrid off the tee to the middle of the fairway. With about 280 in, I hit my 1 hybrid in the fairway, leaving myself about 60 yards. I hit a decent half lob wedge just over the flag and just missed the birdie putt. +3
• Hole 15 – I hit a good drive up the hill, cutting the corner with a little fade and leaving myself in the middle of the fairway about 100 yards out. I drove a gap wedge in low to about 6 feet, but lipped out the putt (good putt, just a misread). +3
• Hole 16 – The wind was blowing pretty hard right to left and I wanted to make sure I didn’t hook one and let the wind take it onto the freeway. I hit a little fade to the right side of the fairway. The wind straightened it out and it ran through on the right side into the rough, leaving me about 50 yards out. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much grass over there and the ball was sitting down between tufts. I punched it onto the right side of the green, about 35 feet from the pin (back-left). My first putt came up just about 3 feet short and I made that for par. +3
• Hole 17 – That wind was dead into us again, so I tried to drive my 7 iron in there. It cut right through the wind, flew the green and landed in the back bunker. Definitely my best swing of the day with an iron – very frustrating. The pin was in front so I had to run it all the way across the green towards the downslope. To make matters worse, the ball was in a big footprint because the bunkers hadn’t been raked. I tried to kind of punch it out (wanting a chunk and run result), but got a little ball and it flew over the green and down into a ditch. I didn’t have a shot so I took a penalty for an unplayable lie, chipped onto the green, and just missed the putt for double-bogey. Definitely feel like I had some bad luck on this one, but I should have played a more conservative shot considering my lie in the bunker. +6
• Hole 18 – Traditionally this hole has killed me. I didn’t want to go too far left so I hit my 3 hybrid. It took off straight then took a hard right as the wind hit it. I ended up in the right rough, with a tree on the right blocking the green. I tried to fade a 6 iron around the tree, but just hit it straight to the very left edge of the green. I was about 3 inches on the green on the left side with the pin on the right, up a curling hill with a left-to-right ridge. I didn’t hit my first putt hard enough and left myself an 8-10 foot slicing putt. My par putt just slid by the edge on the low side, giving me a closing bogey and 79 for the round. +7

That 17th hole was painful, but a round in the 70s with no birdies and a triple bogey? I’ll take it.