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The Graeme Project: Sand strokes add up on benchmark round

Bunker accountable for eight strokes in the third of six benchmark rounds this summer

So after last week’s lesson on bunker shots, I stepped up to the first tee box for my third of six benchmark rounds of the season and fully crumbled into shambles any time I hit the sand. 

I’m now entering a phase in my golf game where I don’t suck so much as to not care. This is a terrible phase; made worse because while I still suck, I also have a sense of entitlement when I make a bad shot (as if I should be better).

Yet, as if like clockwork, I have improved by six strokes, on average, the last two times I’ve played at the Richmond Country Club golf course under the watchful eye of head pro Mark Strong. If this holds true over the next three months I’ll get to my lofty goal of 90.

This round Strong provided me with some insight on penalty strokes because, well, I needed a lot of it. 

After pointing out so confidently that I was on my original ball (Callaway 2) heading into the back nine, I proceeded to flirt with the white stakes on the 11th hole. My ball ended up against a blackberry bush, on a mound of dirt and in front of a tree. Being a lefty, my only option was to whack it out a few feet. But, I could have taken a penalty stroke from this non-hazard lie by dropping to the side or behind me within a half-circle with a radius of two club (driver) lengths. Or, I could have dropped directly behind me in line with the flag, for as far as I wanted.  Think of a margarita glass with an infinite stem; that’s your drop zone in such a case. 

Also, I learned, you can’t be Johnny Lumberjack and break twigs or branches behind you for a better swing; but you may remove impediments around the ball. 

On the 15th hole I hit my ball into the water about 240 yards from the tee box. Goodbye Callaway 2. If you hit a ball into water, you may drop the ball two club lengths from the point it entered the hazard (220 yards for me).

On the 17th hole, I hit a ball out of bounds off the tee box. Here, you must tee off from the box again, with a one-stroke penalty, of course.

Golf Bunkers
Richmond News reporter Graeme Wood practicing bunker shots at the Richmond Country Club

 

I’d like to note that you get a free drop if your ball ends up obstructed by a man-made object. On the 12th hole I ended up under an excavator (must have been a magnetic ball) and was able to take a drop no closer to the pin.

For the round, I had another brutal start with a quadruple bogey on the first hole. I settled down on the fourth hole with a green in regulation (but I three-putted) followed by a par on the par-three fifth hole.

Things really became unraveled on the sixth hole with a quintuple bogey. It took me four shots to get out of the green bunker (extra frustrating because I had birdied (my first par-four birdie!) this 401-yard dog leg left hole in a practice round last week). But, I followed that up with a par on the par-five seven.

You can see the pattern of inconsistency I’m developing.

“That’s one of the most important things about golf. No matter how bad your last shot was, you always have the next one to make amends,” said Strong.

That mantra should always hold true in your golf game, especially if you’re getting frustrated in the sand. But it’s easier said than done.

For instance, after a great up and down (lip out) on the eighth hole for bogey, I had what should have been an easy par-three ninth hole. Yet, once again I ended up in the bunker where I blew another two shots. 

In total, I’m guessing I handed the Golf gods eight strokes failing to emerge from the beach. 

I finished the round with a despicable quadruple on the 16th hole (I’ve blacked out and can’t remember what happened. It must have been bunkers), and a triple on both the 17th and 18th holes (more bunkers).

I really felt I didn’t get any bounces, however. But I have to make those bounces; they won’t just come to me!

BENCHMARK ROUNDS (PAR 72):
April / May / June
 
Score: 119 / 112 / 107
Water balls: 3 / 1 / 1
Out of bounds: 2 / 2 / 1
Reg. Greens: 2 / 1 / 2
Pars-Birdies: 0-0 / 0-0 / 3-0
 

@WestcoastWood

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