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The best shot of the round

Par-3 17th at Apple Mountain, stuck this one to about 5' with a 9-iron (and made the birdie putt).

AM_17th_9-13-23.jpg.
 
Chipped in on hole 6 this morning for par........60 degree from thick wet rough 20' off the green after my initial approach went long on me.
 
I got to play The Bridges Golf Club in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania today. Fabulous course. Challenging and varied course design and impeccably maintained. With the exception of tee shots on the par 3s, everything was clicking: driving, approach shots, chips, pitches, and putting. I was only in the sand once and had a 90 foot pitch from the sand to 2 feet, which was pretty cool. But I also had several chips checkup by the pin and made over 100 feet of putts--all on a course I'd never seen, so I feel like I should pick from one of those two types of shots. I'm going with the longer of two putts I holed from the collar (I know, technically they weren't putts). The second one was a 30-footer, a little uphill, that turned to the left, dropping center cut.
 
Yesterday, 62 yard 3rd shot approach into our #4 par-5. Hit it to 18" for bird. Shorties and tap-ins are fun.
 
Drive on our 8th. 270 yards, downhill 68 feet, into a 5-10mph breeze. Wound up on the back collar. Missed the eagle but a tap-in birdie. Pretty good for this 65yo out of shape old fart.
 
Another one into our #4 par-5 hole. Wednesday's was to a front pin, yesterday's to the back pin. Hole played into a gusting wind.

42-yard pitch approach over the corner of a bunker. Played it a little lower, anticipating run-out as I had plenty of green to work with. Plopped and rolled to about 6".

I LOVE those!!!
 
98yd pin... 60 degree LW to less than 2ft.
 
The BSOTR yesterday was my tee shot on the 16th hole at Rich Valley. A par 4 of 432 yards. It is an 80-degree dogleg left with a bunch of tall trees down the left side and along the inside of the knee. If you hit your drive to the knee, you've got 200 yards or more to the green. Oh, and did I mention that 80 yards out to the front of the green is a big huge ravine? You can play it as 3 shots to get on and one to get down. But the green is cone-shaped and the flag is almost always on the far side, so good luck with that. So yeah, unless you hit your shots a country mile (I don't) you have to cut the corner. The question is: how?

I play left-handed and realized that if I hit a high fade off the tee I could probably avoid the trees down the left side and between the first two tall trees just beyond the inside of the knee. That's what I did. It left me in the middle of the fairway, 150 yards from the green, and 50 yards beyond the knee. Set up an easy par after lipping out the birdie putt after the approach shot.
 
105 yds to the pin on a par 4. Elevated green and pin tucked in the right corner. Pitching wedge to 4 ft. Sunk the putt for birdie.
 
Wet course after lots of rain. Hit a draw on my 3rd hole tee shot and get a ton of roll. It rolls through a wet bunker and lands on the dry land just above the bunker!
Best spot on the hole to make a 2nd shot!
 
BSOTR today was on the same hole as the last BSOTR--the 16th hole at Rich Valley. This time I got a little too far under the ball and while it launched over the tall trees on the corner of the knee the ball landed short of the fairway as I tried to cut the corner. I should have realized with 3-inches of rain over the last couple of days, you aren't going to get any roll.

Anyway, this is a par 4 dogleg left about 80 degrees with a deep ravine from about 80 yards out to the front edge of the green. I had no angle to the green, so I pitched out of the thick rough to 100 yards out. Hit my approach to 30 feet from the pin, which is better than it sounds as this is a cone-shaped green with the pin almost always along the high point of the green. Drained the 30-foot uphill, somewhat sidehill putt for a par save. BSOTR and an overall nice recovery.

As they say on Galaxy Quest:
someone quest GIF
 
Last Sunday, par 5 #4 at Windmill Lakes. Smoked a 5 UW 243 yards to leave me 41 yards.

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Last week, this 265 yard 3 wood to the back fringe left me an easy chip for a gimme birdie 🔥IMG_1117.jpeg
 
Played in a 2-man scramble today. Shotgun start. Had the worst drive I've had in years on our first hole, and my partner did only slightly better leaving a long approach to a green that sloped away from us. My approach shot ended up just behind the green on a hill, leaving a tricky downhill, sidehill chip from the rough. Put it 18 inches from the pin for a kick in par. Kinda made up for the lousy tee shot and got us rolling with several birdies starting on the next hole.
 
There’s a shorter par 3 that kills me every time I play this course. The pin was at 109 today with a slight hurting wind. I usually full swing a PW or AW but the tees were up a good bit today leaving me in between a 53 and an AW. So I called an audible and hit a low 3/4 9i. I landed it at about 100 and it took a big bounce before hitting the brakes and stopping 13 ft. away for my lone birdie on the day. That shot and swing got props from both my playing partners too.
 
On my eagle, it coulda been the approach to 10+ft after a terrific drive... But probably the 1 putt on a recently punched green to get the 🦅
 
Ok, this is going to sound lame but it's always cool when I make a decision after a little thought, and it all goes according to plan.

Shortish par 3 with an elevated tee box. Pond tight in front of the green and not a lot or room behind. At 135 yards, it would be an 8i all day long with that elevation, if not for the pond. A well-struck 7i puts me at the fence and trees behind the green so I'm usually hemming and hawing between a full 8i and an easy 7i. Only today there's a fairly strong head wind so I pull the 7i hoping the wind knocks it down. I hit a full swing with what feels like pure contact, get that nice high draw flight and just watch so see where it drops. Sure enough, it carries the pond, the wind knocks it down short of the flag for a 12' uphill putt, and I 2-putt for par.
 
Had a downhill, buried in the rough lie 18’ past the hole. Opened my 58deg all the way and chipped it 18” into the fringe. Watched it stop, then crawl down the hill to the hole for a 9” tap in for par.
 
First ever birdie putt! Have had a couple chances this year and last but today was the first one that dropped!
10 ft on the 7th hole.

Honorable mention is the lob shot out of the rough to get it there. I've been experimenting for the past few weeks and determined that my Callaway MD5 52/10S allows me to hit a lob shot that will stop on a small green with the most consistency.

There were spectators enjoying the gorgeous weather on the 8th hole, sitting up high overlooking the 8th and 1st holes.
One of them applauded my ball first shot out of the thick wet grass between the two holes. I'm getting good at making difficult shots.
 
Last round it was a long putt that dropped to save par
 
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