Back 9 Breakout at The Fairways

The Fairways Golf & Country Club
Warrington, Pa
Yards: 2255/2248 - 4503
Par: 32/33 - 65
Rating: 62.1, Slope: 104
Score: 44/39 = 83
Date: July 23, 2012

After recently lamenting my plight on the back nine during my rounds this season, I finally managed to get over the mental hurdle and put together a solid round of golf. Sunday I teed it up at The Fairways. Iguess everyone had the same idea as me: watch the final round of The British Open, then head to the golf course and play. The course was unusually crowded for so late on a Sunday afternoon, bu the started teamed me up with Phil and Brown, which turned out to be a very enjoyable pairing. I re-did the makeup of my golf bag, putting the Wilson Staff Smooth Driver, Adams Redline RPM 4-wood, Wilson Staff ci7 irons (4-GW) and Snake Eyes MCS-2 putter back in play.

 The Fairways Scorecard

The new bag set-up immediately paid dividends and gave and early indication of how the round might unfold on the First Hole. I crushed my drive up the right side, leaving me just an 8-iron over the pond into the green. Although I three-putted (missing an easy tap-in for par), I felt really good about the opening hole. I pushed my tee shot right at the Second Hole, but found the green and made the first par of the day. I followed that up with a two-putt par at the Third Hole. I then hit the only real bad patch of the day. I over-cooked my tee shot left of the green at the Par 3 Fourth Hole and failed to get up and down for a double bogey. At the Fifth Hole, I REALY, REALLY messed up. I topped my drive, then pushed my lay-up 6-iron right and off a tree. I tried to punch a 4-iron under the tree and over the creek at the end of the fairway, but shanked it into another tree. Another attempt at a punch shot ended up in the narrow creek, but on a small strip of grass. Pulling a Jean Van de Velde, I tried to hit it out of the creek, but to no avail. After taking a drop behind the creek and hitting over the green, I chipped on and two-putted for a 10! But I bounced right back at the Sixth Hole, with a 4-iron lay-up off the tee and a pitching wedge onto the green, where I made my putt for birdie. I bogeyed the Seventh, Eight and Ninth Holes for a 44 on the front nine. I was extremely happy with my score, especially after the 10 at number Five. But how would I hold up on the back? I had shot a 43 on the front my last round at The Fairways, but recent history has not proved fruitful.

 The Sixth Hole

I opened the back nine with a good 4-wood off the tee that left me in the middle of the fairway, less than 50 yards from the green. But my half wedge came up short on the front of the green and I tree-putted from there. Was this the beginning of the usual? It didn't get any better at the Eleventh, when from the middle of the fairway (a place I rarely find myself on this hole), I chunked an 8-iron that went right and out-of-bounds! I swear there is a ball magnet over there because I always wind up hitting it out-of-bounds right. I took my drop, then hit a poor pitch with my fourth shot, but then chipped to tap-in range for double bogey. But instead of continuing my slide to the back nine abyss, I found my righted myself. I made a two-putt par at the 139-yard Twelfth Hole and a bogey after hooking my 4-wood left at the Thirteenth. My tee shot found the sand at the 134-yard Fourteenth Hole, but a good out and a two-putt left me with bogey. I found the green at the 123-yard Fifteenth Hole and sank the 10-foot downhill putt for my second birdie of the round! I pushed my tee shot right at the 323-yard Sixteenth Hole, but I hit a branch and my ball ricocheted into the fairway, 170 yards from the green. My 5-iron found the bunker right of the green, but I escaped and two-putted for bogey. Another crushed drive at the Seventeenth Hole left me 155-yards to the green, but I toed my approach shot and came up just short. I putted from the front fringe with my hybrid and made another bogey. My drive at the Eighteenth split the fairway and left me a wedge into the green, where I finished off my round with a solid par. That gave me a 39 on the back nine and an 83 for the round. It's the first time I've managed to break 90 this season. My two birdies and four pars helped offset the horrible 10 I posted early in my round.

 The Fifteenth Hole

Despite the 10, I felt I played the best round of the year so far. I drove the ball the best I have this season. My approach shots were solid and I gave myself chances to score. I will take a lot of confidence from this round moving forward. I also think my Wilson Staff Smooth Driver performed the best it has this year because it was jealous of being out the bag. I hope it demonstrates that it wants to remain there the rest of the season.

Photos by The Muni Golfer

On the Move: A Few Tidbits

In less than a week, Mrs. Muni Golfer and I will be moving to a new clubhouse, so much of my time over the past few months have been devoted to readying our current clubhouse for sale and packing boxes as opposed to hitting fairways and greens.  For more than a couple of weeks my golf equipment--including clubs, balls, accessories and apparel--have been packed up and are awaiting the moving men. I will be so glad when we complete the move to our new clubhouse and I can unpack my clubs and my weekends will go from scouting open houses to staring down putts.

 The golf equipment is packed

In the meantime, the Muni Golfer celebrated his 51st birthday and received a wonderful gift from the missus of a ticket to Saturday's third round of the AT&T National at Aronimink Golf Club on July 23. The ticket was in a copy of John Feinstein's latest golf book, Moment of Glory.  The book looks at the underdogs who won golf's four majors in 2003: Mike Weir (Masters), Jim Furyk (US Open), Ben Curtis (British Open) and Shaun Micheel (PGA Championship). If it lives up to the excellence of Feinstein's previous golf books, it will help me pass the time on my soon-to-be longer commute to work.

The Only Golf This Weekend Was On TV

Because I needed to get some things done around the house and to give my elbow--which has been sore most of the season--a little rest, I took the weekend off from the links. I did, however, watch the second, third and final rounds of The Open Championship; both online and on TV. I love to watch links-style golf and I was rooting hard for 59-year-old Tom Watson to win his sixth Claret Jug. This would have been one of the all-time greatest stories in the history of sports. But unfortunately, Watson bogeyed the 72nd hole at Turnberry, then lost in a four-hole playoff to Stewart Cink. What made it even cooler was on that Saturday, I had read some of Cink's "Tweets" on his Twitter page about preparing for The Open in Ireland last week. This week, I hope to go back to the practice green and work a bit more on putting as I prepare to return to the golf course next weekend.

An Eternally Good Read

The Eternal Summer

Palmer, Nicklaus, and Hogan in 1960,
Golf's Golden Year

I have recently finished reading The Eternal Summer, an excellent book by Curt Sampson, the bestselling author of Hogan and The Masters. The book chronicles the unique set of circumstances that occurred in golf during the your 1960. Sampson calls it "the golden year" because it was a time when golf was finding its way into our living and consciousness through the magic of that emerging technology: television. It was also a time in which a golfer from Western Pennsylvania, Arnold Palmer, was capturing the hearts and minds of the public via the black and white imagines on the television screens. It was also the year in which a golfing legend, Ben Hogan, was making one final attempt at greatness, while a future legend, Jack Nicklaus, was slowing making a name for himself as an up-and-coming amateur from Ohio.

Sampson takes through the year: from Palmer's heroic wins at The Masters and U.S. Open, to his near miss at The Open Championship at St. Andrew's--which put the British Open back on the map for American golfers--to Nicklaus' near miss at the U.S. Open, to Hogan's last hurrahs at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. Only 233 pages, it is a short, but very entertaining read which I highly recommend for anyone who is interested in the history of golf as well as professional golf.

Duffy Waldorf at the John Deere Classic

Last night I watched The Golf Channel's encore replay of the first round of the John Deer Classic, affectionately know as the "Quad Cities." My favorite golfer, Duffy Waldorf, has an afternoon tee time and made a charge up the leaderboard, so he got some serious air time. He made eight birdies and is currently -6 and in a tie for second place. He's using this week to get ready for next week's British Open at Carnoustie in Scotland. You can watch Duffy talking about his round and the upcoming British Open at Inside the Ropes.com.