The course is designed by Tom Fazio and is one of the many clubs my dad oversees and operates. This is no easy course for me to test my skill and all of the knowledge I acquired over the past weeks including 88 bunkers through the 18 holes. The sand in the bunkers is known as SP-55. It is only used at five other golf courses in the world and one is the home of the Masters, Augusta National.
I arrived at the course a good hour and a half before the tee time to adequately prepare myself for the course. I went through my routine of stretching followed by range play and then focusing on the short game. I spent a good amount of time in the sand because I knew that would be a forth coming problem.
Bunker play is a very difficult concept to grasp, especially for amateurs. I am always intimidated by bunkers because I don't know how to lay it out correctly. I either skull it and take up no sand hitting it over the green or I take up too much sand and it goes nowhere. An article on PGA.com written by PGA professional Charlie King, taught me the secret to a good sand shot. The secret as he said is to take long shallow shots. This means extending the club out more and not just going half way through or striking it in an "axe motion." Instead, if you sweep the club like a broom and take up a little bit of sand, your shots will be more consistent and you can work with it from there.
After fully warming up, we started our round. This round I was playing with my whole family. My older sister Ashley, mother, and my father. If you are not familiar with the tee boxes in golf there are different tees for different skill levels of people. I don't hit from the same tees as the professionals in The Masters (although I would love too). My tee is further up to allow the course to be set at my golf skill level.
The round took forever because my sister, like the old golf me, likes to hit the perfect shot and if she doesn't she wants another try. A round of nine holes should normally take two hours and it took us two hours and forty-five minutes. I triple bogeyed twice in nine holes which never helps you score. I always strive to shoot a double bogey at the worst.
My best hole was the 7th which is a par 5. I normally hate par 5's because they are so long and involve too many shots. The drive that I had on the seventh hole was my best of the day. I hit it 276 yards down the fairway and I was setup perfectly for a second shot. For my second shot I was around 225 yards away from the hole but it was a downhill lie and I had the wind in my favor. I whipped out my three wood a struck it solidly. The ball hit right before the green and continued to roll to the back of the green. I was sitting on the green of a par 5 in two strokes. I was putting for an eagle. I overcame the excitement and hit a lag putt so I didn't overshoot the hole. The ball rolled and landed around nine feet from the hole. I was setup perfectly for a birdie. Up until that putt I had only shot bogeys and above. I hadn't made anything of seven plus feet from the hole. I ended up stroking the ball perfectly making it wrap around the hole and drop in. I jumped in the air like I just won The Masters, pretending a whole crowd was behind me cheering me on. I then turned around and my dad was giving me an evil eye and scolded me for yelling on a golf course.
http://www.pga.com/golf-instruction/instruction-feature/bunkers/easiest-shot-in-golf-it-can-be
Bunker play is a very difficult concept to grasp, especially for amateurs. I am always intimidated by bunkers because I don't know how to lay it out correctly. I either skull it and take up no sand hitting it over the green or I take up too much sand and it goes nowhere. An article on PGA.com written by PGA professional Charlie King, taught me the secret to a good sand shot. The secret as he said is to take long shallow shots. This means extending the club out more and not just going half way through or striking it in an "axe motion." Instead, if you sweep the club like a broom and take up a little bit of sand, your shots will be more consistent and you can work with it from there.
After fully warming up, we started our round. This round I was playing with my whole family. My older sister Ashley, mother, and my father. If you are not familiar with the tee boxes in golf there are different tees for different skill levels of people. I don't hit from the same tees as the professionals in The Masters (although I would love too). My tee is further up to allow the course to be set at my golf skill level.
The round took forever because my sister, like the old golf me, likes to hit the perfect shot and if she doesn't she wants another try. A round of nine holes should normally take two hours and it took us two hours and forty-five minutes. I triple bogeyed twice in nine holes which never helps you score. I always strive to shoot a double bogey at the worst.
My best hole was the 7th which is a par 5. I normally hate par 5's because they are so long and involve too many shots. The drive that I had on the seventh hole was my best of the day. I hit it 276 yards down the fairway and I was setup perfectly for a second shot. For my second shot I was around 225 yards away from the hole but it was a downhill lie and I had the wind in my favor. I whipped out my three wood a struck it solidly. The ball hit right before the green and continued to roll to the back of the green. I was sitting on the green of a par 5 in two strokes. I was putting for an eagle. I overcame the excitement and hit a lag putt so I didn't overshoot the hole. The ball rolled and landed around nine feet from the hole. I was setup perfectly for a birdie. Up until that putt I had only shot bogeys and above. I hadn't made anything of seven plus feet from the hole. I ended up stroking the ball perfectly making it wrap around the hole and drop in. I jumped in the air like I just won The Masters, pretending a whole crowd was behind me cheering me on. I then turned around and my dad was giving me an evil eye and scolded me for yelling on a golf course.
http://www.pga.com/golf-instruction/instruction-feature/bunkers/easiest-shot-in-golf-it-can-be
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