When the Rough Gets Growing

It was my first play day with the women’s league yesterday. I signed up for the second year, and hopefully I’ll stay fit enough to last throughout the season. I’m limiting myself to no more than 2 rounds a week, once on Wednesdays with the league, and once on the weekend with hubby.

Yesterday, the league played at the same course where I shot an 88 a month and a half ago. Back then, the fairways were hard from the cold, and the rough grass was still thin. Plus, the greens had just been aerated, so balls landed squarely and putts rolled without much break. By now, the rough has grown as thick as a scrub brush and the greens were firm and fast, so balls landing on them had a tendency to roll like a marble out of a frying pan. 

In the end, I shot a pitiful 107. About 5 of those shots were from chunking my wedges into the thick rough. Another 5 strokes were from bunker shots that didn’t quite make it onto the green, resulting in crappy wedge shots out of the rough. I also lost a ball in the water, and another in a red stake hazard, after overhitting a ball past the green.

Thank goodness handicaps only include the 10 best of the last 20 rounds played, and I have enough decent rounds banked for the 107 to be inconsequential. But clearly, I need to practice my wedges. So it’s off to the golf course practice area. Or, since it'll be raining the next couple days, maybe I could just practice hitting balls off a bristle brush at home.