I'm back in Florida this week for a Suncoast Series event on the Watson course at the Reunion Resort. If you've never heard of or visited the Reunion Resort before, you should really check it out! It is a fantastic resort community with three 18 hole courses: Palmer, Watson, and Nicklaus. The Watson course is unique in that it has no water hazards. But what it lacks in water, it makes up for in sand traps and waste bunkers!
I teed off this morning at 8:30 to begin round one. Overall, the course is in good shape and the set up is a mixture of either really short par 4s or really long ones! Today, I started out okay. I just had a really hard time getting comfortable on the greens. I had several three putts. I hit great chips but misjudged how far they would roll out, leaving myself with longer than usual putts to save par. What's worse, is that the putts I usually feel VERY confident over ( inside 9 feet), I missed purely because I let those three putts eat away at my confidence and didn't stick to my routine. That's what I'm most upset about: I didn't stick to my routine and process.
Today was a rough day for everybody in general and our scores show it. We had to play the majority of the back nine in torrential rain and wind, and that's always difficult. It's weird that we saw all of the bad weather early this morning rather than late this afternoon which is more typical of Florida storms. But trust me and my rain gloves...we saw it all! As I said before I had trouble with the speed of the greens today. I also hit great chips exactly where I wanted to land them, but misjudged the speed of the greens and how far the ball would roll out. I did have a few bright spots in my round, carding two birdies for the day. I finished with a 79. My poor play was obviously a result of poor feel on the greens and there were also several times that the GPS system on the cart (yes...we're allowed to use any GPS device on the Suncoast Tour) showed a much different number than the one I calculated by walking off distances and using the pin sheet. These two variables made it harder for me to decide on a number and commit to a club.
After we finished the round, I went straight to the putting green to try and get a better feel for the pace. I found that the more decisive I was about the line as well as the length of my stroke...the better my results were...what do ya know?!? Haha! So basically, I worked on ingraining that process on every putt. I went through my exact routine for 75% of the practice...even marking my ball before the putt. I also hit a LOT of shorter putts, and worked on a chalk line to see the ball going in the cup over and over and over. I have also decided to trust the yardage that I calculate tomorrow and completely ignore the GPS system. I feel better about the greens and my game plan tomorrow! I'll be teeing of #1 bright and early at 8:00 EST! Thanks for following, and I'll keep you updated!
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