SLO County Golf, Wine & Real EstateGolf, Wine & Real Estate News and Events Blog
Argh at Blacklake Golf CourseWednesday, August 31, 2005After barely playing for the past 2 months, my return to playing golf last week at Cypress Ridge Golf Course went well. However, today my lack of play and practice caught up to me. I played Blacklake's Canyon and Oaks courses today - shooting poorly on both nines, especially on the Oaks where I shot a 12-over 47. I shot a 21-over 92 overall!Somehow, I managed 7 pars, but only 5 greens and 4 fairways in regulation. I'm not sure I've ever shot more double and triple bogies in one round, even a quadruple bogie - thanks to a few lost balls and out of bounds! Argh!!  I got off to a decent start with a long putt on Canyon's first hole to save bogie, a great drive on two, a perfect fairway iron on three, and good fairway wood and wedge on four. But on five, a short par 3, I played through a threesome by placing my 6-iron out of bounds. I continued on six with an errant tee shot that went out of bounds into the eucs on the right. I recovered my composure on the last 3 holes on Canyon with 2 pars and a bogie. I enjoyed a nice fairway iron shot into six with 2 putts for par, and a strong 8-iron off the tee on seven to setup another par. I got off to a bad start on Canyon's 9th, a par 4 dogleg right, where I left my tee shot short of the dogleg on the right, leaving the ball behind a very tall pine tree. I tried to clear the tree with an 8-iron, but managed to hit the top of the tree. Luckily, the ball bounced left into the fairway, 110-yards out. I had the satisfaction of ending Canyon by placing that 110-yard shot just 1 foot from the pin to save par!  Oaks can be a bit challenging for such a short course. It has many narrow fairways, and as its name implies, it presents many troublesome oaks. Again, playing through a threesome, my drive on Oaks first hole leaked right and went into the oaks. I never found that ball. I recovered on two with a par, but "barely" put another ball out of bounds on three with a fairway iron. I totally blew up on four where I put two drives into the homes left of the lake I was trying to hit over! I somehow managed to finish okay with a par on five and six, a bogie on seven, and a par on eight, but double bogied nine. Oaks 6th hole represents well the challenge of Blacklake's Oaks course. This par 5 is a narrow dogleg right with oaks everywhere! If you hit driver off the tee, you have to cut the dogleg a bit to avoid hitting past the corner into the trees - which I do often. Today, I hit a perfect drive into the fairway, clearing the trees on the right, and followed the tee shot with by a strong 3-wood, leaving a 50 yard wedge to the green.  Oaks 8th is another tough hole due to an abundance of oaks. Again, on this par 4 dogleg right, I try to clear the oaks lining the right side of the dogleg, but often fail. Today I left my tee shot on the fairway, just 60 yards from the green! A good wedge shot and putt nearly gave me a birdie on this hole. Unfortunatly, I finished poorly on nine. The Oaks 9th is decievingly difficult. Yet another dogleg right, it's very easy to hit a wood off the tee past the corner into the eucs and oaks, and cutting the corner is too risky. I choose a 4-iron off the tee today to play it safe and lay up, but managed to even hit it beyond the fairway - luckily, short of the trees. I put my next shot into the sand left of the green and managed to place the shot out of the sand over the green. I finally finished with a double bogie - ending a round I really didn't enjoy. Well, I'm hoping today's round was an anomoly and that I get back in the low 80's quickly! This round was the end of a 12 game streak under 90. The last time I shot over 90 was 3 1/2 months ago at Cypress Ridge Golf Course. Consistency in golf is certainly elusive! Time to practice... Better rounds ahead! |
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