Blown Away at Juniata

Juniata Golf Club
Philadelphia, Pa
Yards: 2805/2185 - 4990
Par: 34/31 - 65
Rating: 63.2, Slope: 106
Score: 50/44 = 94
Date: October 16, 2010

On Saturday I took my friend and occasional golfing partner MS to Juniata Golf Club for a real taste on muni golf. We have previously teed up this year at The Fairways and Horsham Valley, so he was experiencing a true "public" golf course. The rains from a few days prior had softened up parts of the course, but the greens were running fast and the wind was howling.  This made club selection extremely difficult and keeping the ball below the wind on many holes paramount.

 Juniata Golf Club Scorecard

After a decent start, with a bogey and a par at the first two holes, I struggled in teh blustery conditions through the rest of the front nine and shot a respectable, though somewhat disappointing 50.  The Third Hole was a prime example of my misery. Hitting a new Wilson Staff Smooth Driver, I crushed teh ball off the tee, only to be left with over 200 yards for my second shot. A 5-Wood into the wind only emphasized my draw and left me well left and still about 15 yards short of the green. A short pitch, a chip and two putts meant a double bogey 6.

 Windy conditions like this made scoring difficult

The back nine was just as treacherous, although I was able to take advantage of some of the Par 3s to shoot a much better 44. Bogeys and double bogeys were the scores of the day, although I did mange to par the Eighteenth Hole after a nice up-and-down from the right bunker. This left me with a 94, not bad considering the very windy conditions.

 The Wilson Staff Smooth Driver

As I mentioned earlier, I put a new Wilson Staff Smooth Driver into play for the first time during this round. I have been having trouble with several TaylorMade Drivers, most notably the R7, with was causing me to hit short duck hooks off the tee. I had not such problems with the Smooth. The ball flight was high, straight and long considering the windy conditions. I hit five out of eight fairways with the Driver, which felt solid and very controlable, despite its 45.5-in length. I'm hoping this might be the solution to some of my problems off the tee this year, which has generally been hit-or-miss. If I can hit the Driver consistantly, this will take pressure off the other parts of my game, as well as some much needed strokes off my score.