Today was a struggle! I ended up carding a 76 with FOUR three-putts! Ugh! Not only was I having trouble putting today, but my ball striking was frustrating. I struggled making solid contact and hitting it somewhere towards my target.
I started out pretty well, hitting a great drive and approach into #10, par 5 (we started on the back again today) & leaving myself with a 10' putt for birdie. I wasn't able to make the putt, though. My tee shot on the next hole (par 3) found the left bunker. I hit a mediocre sand shot leaving 20' for par. I did a terrible job of committing to the line and, as a result, lost all consideration for speed. It came up 10' short. I ended up missing that putt & three putting for double. I managed to regain composure & make regulation pars on the next two holes, but my approach on the par 5, 14th was 40' short of the hole. My putting woes continued & I three putted for bogey. I finished out the first nine holes with pars, making a great sand save on #17 & a fantastic TWO putt from 50' on #18.
I took a little comfort in making the turn at the same amount over par as yesterday & told myself to be patient. Unlike yesterday though, I never hit it close today. I only had four birdie chances that we're '15 or less and didn't make any of them. I did find one birdie on #5 when a 20' putt rolled in! But a misclub on #3 led to a three putt & I three putted again on #8 from just outside 30 feet.
I can't say that today's score was solely a putting problem, although it appears to be a major contributor since I racked up 36 putts total. I hit 14 greens, which is good statistically, but I rarely gave myself good looks at birdie & hit it so far away that it made my chances at two putting even slimmer. I putted for a while afterwards, & was significantly better than on the course. I noticed that I had a tendency to "hit" at the ball on the longer putts, so I worked on feeling an even tempo stroke. They had closed the range at the course, so I went over to one of the Disney courses & worked my way through a large bucket of balls. I really seemed to make some progress there. Maybe it was the "magic" of Disney or that I was the only one on the range, but I finally got a "feel" that seemed to help me make more solid contact and hit the ball on line more consistently. I left feeling a bit better about my swing.
There were some bright spots in today's round. I hit 14 greens. That's consistent improvement! I made some really good chips and par saving putts today. All things considered, today could have easily developed into one of those days where the wheels fell off & I gave in to mounting frustration. But thank the Lord, I was able to maintain my composure & plod along. I was pretty even tempered today & didn't give up. That's also consistent improvement!
I tee off tomorrow at 11:45 EST! Thanks again for checking in & for all of your support! I'll keep you updated!
Soli Deo Gloria
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