How did you make a 12? I’ve been asked that question a few times over the past few days due to my recent brain freeze in the Gulf States Section Professional Championship at the University Club in Baton Rouge, La. The 36-hole event also serves as a qualifier for the national Professional Championship which will be played at The Black Horse Golf Course on the Monterey Peninsula in northern California. It’s always been a dream of mine to visit one of the most beautiful spots on earth and to have been able realize that dream while playing in such a great event would have been icing on the cake. However, things didn’t go my way in the qualifier.
After a first round 73 that left me in sixth place, I was feeling pretty good as I didn’t play my best and was still in great shape to finish inside the top four spots which would earn the berth in the national PNC. My driving is normally the strength of my game but for some strange reason it was the weak part of my game during that first round. I only hit two fairways on the front nine but good scrambling allowed my to make the turn in even par 36. Despite finding a few more fairways on the second nine, I could only manage one-over par 37 that totaled 73 and three shots behind the leader. As an eternal optimist, I was happy that I didn’t play my best and was in a great position to earn one of the four qualifying spots and a trip to California. I was looking forward to round two.
The warm up on the driving range was going great on the hot Tuesday morning before my 9:10 tee time in the second-to-last group of the day. I felt as if I couldn’t hit a bad shot even if I tried. My putting stroke on the practice green was in good order as well. I was firming in the short and had good touch on the long ones.
Time to get it on. As I stood over my opening tee shot on the 400-yard par four, negative thoughts began to enter my mind. Should I be hitting a 3-wood? Am I properly aligned? My grip doesn’t feel good. These extra thoughts helped me produce a low duck hook left of the fairway but luckily with a shot to the green. Long and right went the approach and after a chip and two putts a first hole bogey was posted on my card. OK. No problem, it’s only one hole. The par four second has numerous fairway bunkers for not only poor tee shots but good ones as well. I managed to find the fairway and a crisp 8-iron to eight feet behind the hole was just what the doctor, or psychiatrist, ordered. It didn’t matter that I missed the birdie attempt as I felt I had found that driving range swing which was producing solid, straight golf shots.
Then the third hole catastrophe. The third hole at the UClub is a 590-yard par five with water up the left side from the tee box until the 300-yard area. Any shot left of center will find the water and the drop is on the tee box as knee high grass prevents one from dropping where the ball may have crossed the margin of the hazard. The fact is if you hit it left off the tee is just like hitting it out of bounds as the only option is to hit again from the tee. As I mentioned before I was feeling good as the two swings I made on #2 came off really well, just like I envisioned. I felt like I was aiming up the right side to hit a slight draw to get as much roll out of the shot as possible as I wanted to challenge the green in two. Maybe this was poor strategy, but I wanted to be aggressive as I felt during round one, I was playing defensively.
As soon as I made contact with the ball I knew it was bad, and when I looked up to follow the flight of the ball, it confirmed my feelings. Due to the shape of the hole as I previously mentioned, the best option I had was to hit again from the tee box. I dug another ball out of my bag and went through my routine once more. Splash! Another hook in the water. The emotion I’m fighting now is anger so without thinking of much other than swinging harder I teed another brand new Titleist Pro-Vx and let it rip. Splash!! For the third time in the water! Shell-shocked and in a state of disbelief, I found another ball in my bag and without trying, I laced a beautiful drive right down the middle of the fairway just three swings too late. From there, I proceeded to continue make a mess, and after a flubbed chip shot and missed three-footer, the nightmare was finally over. My third hole of the day had taken 12 strokes and with it, any chance of qualifying for the national event.
Many thoughts ran through my mind as I drove from the third green to the fourth tee, but luckily, I settled on being a good playing partner as to not bring my playing competitors down. I accomplished this by acting as if things were going my way and wouldn’t you know it this approach lead to spectacular golf over the last 15 holes. Four birdies and no bogies for the rest of the day gave me a final score of 4-over par 76 which isn’t all bad considering I was 8-over after the first three holes. On top of that, both of my playing competitors, Anthony Price and Reed Hughes, had great days and qualified for the national PNC, and Anthony won the event.
Despite wanting to store my clubs in a closest for the next few years, I was out on the driving range two days later working on my old nemesis — the hook. One of these days, I’ll get that shot under control and who knows what dream I’ll realize then?
