As the end of summer nears, the Richmond Country Club fairways are looking awfully brown as they play incredibly fast.
The club recently performed some maintenance on the greens to prime them for the fall season.
As such the greens were a bit sandy and slow this week, but we will all cherish the incredible grounds crew for having the foresight to do this now, before the rains come.
Admittedly, club head pro Mark Strong and I haven’t had a lesson in a few weeks due to scheduling conflicts, and I haven’t been out on the course much, as well.
On Tuesday, I managed to sneak in a cheeky round under sunny skies before the weekend clouds roll in.
I was playing bogey golf up until the ninth hole when I found the sand trap and played the ball as soft as a muffin, to barely get out.
From there, a poor chip and a two-putt gave me a double bogey.
On the par three 12th hole, I programmed my ball to find the lake, a sand trap and the pumpkin patch (O.B) to score a quintuple bogey.
When I hit the sand, I was too self-conscious about my muffin shot on nine so I pounded the ball across the green into the orange pumpkins.
On my way to one of my worst rounds in a long time, and feeling a bit of back pain, I managed to regroup by taking pars on three of my last four holes to finish with a score of 93 plus-23).
I think there’s room for at least seven strokes of improvement on this day (take away the quintuple and make it a par and turn a bogey into a birdie), but isn’t that always easier said than done!
Next week I hope to shoot my penultimate benchmark round, where I’ll need to hit at least a 95 to stay on pace for my goal of 89.
There’s always a bit more pressure when I need to publish a score, but I’m game!
Two upcoming charity tourneys
The 11th annual S.U.C.C.E.S.S Foundation Charity Golf Tournament is this Tuesday. Details are online at SuccessFoundation.ca.
The 15th annual Country Meadows Sr. Men’s Golf Club’s Charity Tournament for Prostate Cancer runs Sept. 11. Call 604-241-4653 for details.
