Taking one's medicine, part 1

After three solid rounds to kick off July, poor accuracy and distance off the tee (driver only averaged 155 yards thanks to some serious mis-hits), rhythm struggles thanks to a pokey quartet holding up play in front of me, and inconsistent ball striking (think tops and chunks) outside wedge range plagued me today at Garrisons Lake.

Oh well.

If there are any positive takeaways from the round, it was my partial wedge play. From pitching wedge range (105 yards) and in, I hit the green or fringe at 79%. Combined with only one three-put, I was able to salvage a 95 from the orange tees (5,672 yards, 67.3/119) ... but, oh, does the resulting 26.3 differential sting after counting four of my five previous rounds and losing a 19.8 off my card. Still a 20 index, but a 20.5 now rather than a 20.2.

The biggest upside was my company for the morning — a youth and high school hockey coach who I've gotten to know pretty well over the past eight seasons through covering his teams and his kid's teams. He opted to take a buggy, so I walked the front nine and buggied the back nine (as it turns out, I didn't log my steps because I kept my phone in the buggy, so we're estimating 10,000 for the round). Thanks for a fun round together, Brian!

Round Summary

Gross Score: 47-48–95 (net +6)

Pars: 3
Bogeys: 8
Doubles: 6
Triples: 1

Fairways: 4/14
Greens: 3/18
Net Greens: 9/18

Putts: 31
Strokes Gained Putting: 2.63
Total Holed Putts: 51 feet
Longest Made Putt: 11 feet
Shortest Missed Putt: 6 feet

Match vs. Course Handicap: lost, 4 and 2 (1-2-0)

Differential: 26.3

Pending Handicap Index: 20.5 (up 0.3)

Time: 3 hours, 35 minutes

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