Time Off For Golf: Round 2, Gasp

I played the blue tees at Potomac Ridge today. It was a bit warmer and a bit more humid today, but it was still pretty nice out. I walked the course today, and even with my super cool bag cart in play, I had forgotten how ... aerobic an activity it can be. Huffing and puffing my way up to my ball on the 15th hole, a course marshall stopped to admire my cart. He told me that he needed to get one of them because they're cool. Completely drenched in sweat as I was I pointed to his normal, powered golf cart and suggested that I needed to get one of THOSE. Despite the effort involved, I got around in just over 3 hours, and that was much faster than the 5 it took me yesterday.

Once again, I was pretty solid off the tee, managing to hit 7 of 14 fairways, and I only lost one tee shot all day. Unfortunately, I still couldn't putt or chip, and my approach shots were, on average ... shitty. The round broke down like this:

• Birdies: 0
• Pars: 6
• Bogeys: 5
• Double Bogeys: 4
• Triple Bogeys (or worse): 3
• Fairways hit: 7
• Greens in Regulation: 6
• Bunkers hit: 0 (!)
• Putts: 34
• Total score: 96

While my actual score was better than yesterday, the weird math of handicapping golf courses makes yesterday's round statistically better than this one. But I'll take this round over that one any day.

I was cruising on the second half of the front nine, having parred a par 4, bogeyed a par 3, and parred a par 5 to make a nice 3-hole stretch, when I came to an par three that was 160 yards uphill into the wind. I wanted to stay away from the bunkers and schmutz in front of the green, so I pulled a 5-iron and hit it better than I've ever hit a 5-iron before. It looked great. I kept tracing the line with my eyes, and it was just right of the flag, with a gentle draw. I was thinking that shot was going to be knocked absolutely stiff, and then it came down on an up slope some 20 yards behind the green and one-hopped into the woods. That hole that was looking like a par at the worst turned into a quadruple bogey 7. It's a humbling game. I'll just have to try it again tomorrow.