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Well, it was a fun two days of golf at a fabulous course, but my partner and I did not finish in the money. We shot 71-71 and beat a few teams, while the winners were at 65-65. It was an impressive field of players, with Senior Tour players Mike Goodes, Lonnie Nielsen and Gary Hallberg, and top flight club pros such as Darrell Kestner, Craig Thomas, Mark Brown, Frank Bensel, Mark Mielke and Danny Balin among others.
Assessing my own play, I would have to say that the event was a success on a couple of levels. First, I was able to play and practice four days in a row without feeling like I had been mugged and left in a ditch. Playing the past few years has been physically stressful to the point of being unable to make a decent swing, but today I was still driving the ball in play and longer than usual, which is a huge factor for me in my attempt to get back to being a competitive player. My pitching game around the greens was stellar (I pitched in for birdie in each round) which was nice since the runoff areas around the greens were super tight and the rough was that nappy kind of bermuda that requires a different approach than does northern rye.
My two problem issues were my irons, which were erratic strike-wise and often off target, and my putting, which was mediocre at best. I seem to be having more trouble with green reading than I used to, and I am playing too many courses where I can be pretty clueless as to how they break. I think I am going to have to delve more deeply into Aimpoint (green reading science) and I will report in on how that goes. My stroke feels OK, and when I have anyone watch it they say that it looks fine, but I probably need to practice more than I have been. It is odd that while I drove it way better my irons were suspect, but I am not worried because my irons have always been a strong suit. I do feel that now that I have some good competitive rounds under my belt that I will be able to put in some good practice sessions with the video and tighten things up a bit more.
One thing is for sure: Emerald Dunes is a wonderful place, so if you have a spare $75,000 and $18,000 for all inclusive dues you can join right up. Trust me, for the money that similar places are charging that is a real bargain. The practice facilities are phenomenal (I mentioned the short game area in my last blog), the course conditions are mint (the greens were actually running at 13, not the 11 that I had reported), and the course layout (Tom Fazio) is playable, interesting, and challenging. Throw in a great staff and excellent food and you have a seriously nice place to be. It is always a privilege to be invited to play at places like this and I always appreciate the opportunity.
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