Craw's Nest Tassie Round 1

UK Handicap; 3.3 USGA Handicap; 2.0

I’ve played 3 rounds since my last post, each quite interesting in their own right.
Saturday was a competition at my home club, and although very successful, could have been the best ever.

Teeing off first thing in the morning, I found myself at the unheard of position of being 4 under par after 5 holes, having had 4 consecutive birdies from the 2nd. I parred the next 7 holes, missing 2 short birdie putts in the process, and stood on the par 3 13th tee still 4 under par. I then stood on the 14th tee at 1 under par, after racking up an out of the blue treble bogey 6, on the back of a slightly pushed tee shot. I managed to compose myself for the last 5 holes, making 4 pars followed by a tap-in birdie on the last, for a gross 2 under par 69, and 43 stableford points. My best round of the season by some distance, but tinged with a little bit of disappointment in that, had I just hit my tee shot on 13 a little bit further left, and 2 putted for a par, I would have broken the course record, and also gone all 18 holes without a dropped shot, a topic I have talked about before. It turns out that the 13th was the only green I didn’t hit in regulation all day, and instead of it costing me a shot, it cost me 3. However, I think my 43 was good enough to win a competition (if anyone has beaten it then well done to them, they deserve it), and it got a massive 0.7 reduced from my handicap.

I was out first thing as I had to get the train up to Dundee straight afterwards, so that I could play a practice round for the Craw’s Nest Tassie on Sunday. It was quite windy on Sunday, and I enjoyed playing the Burnside course, in good company and in a relaxed mood. The course itself was in fantastic condition, and the greens were as you would expect from an Open venue – fantastic. The golf was alright too, a 75, which included 5 dropped shots on the last 5 holes as I started trying a few different things out.
This morning I played the first round of the Craw’s Nest Tassie, on the Championship course, and I’ll cut to the chase straight away – I shot 85, which sounds a lot, but is actually tied 54th out of the 170 people to complete the Championship course today. The wind was incredibly strong, and was from the south east, the absolute worst direction imaginable for playing this course. Apart from the 4 3-putts that I had, I actually hit the ball really, really well all day, it’s just that Carnoustie Championship in a strong wind is just one of the most difficult courses in the world. I started off with a 3 putt bogey, and then managed to par the next 4, which looking back was some achievement. A few dropped shots followed, but I was standing on the 12th tee 5 over par. The last 7 holes of that golf course are just so difficult, it’s impossible to convey in writing. You won’t understand it unless you have played them. A few examples; 12th, boomed driver, fairway bunker. 14th; boomed driver, fairway bunker. The par 3 16th was playing 214 yards to the hole today as the flag was on the front of the green, I hit a driver out of the bolts and got 20 feet past the flag (I didn’t help myself by 3 putting). The last hole typified the strength of the wind. It was 396 yards to clear the Barry Burn in front of the green today. I hit my two best shots of the day, a driver and a 3 wood, both straight and as long as I could humanly hit both clubs, and my combined distance of them was 394 yards, with the ball pitching straight into the water. Another 2 yards and I would have had a short birdie putt, as it was, after I’d fished my ball out of the water (unfortunately there was a bit more water in it today than when Jean Van De Velde went in for a look so I never got the chance to make a scene), I managed to get a good up and down for a 5. 4 really good shots to get a 5.

I did a little comparison of the round over my home course on Saturday, and my round on Carnoustie today, looking at the club I used for my regulation shot into the 18 greens. On Carnoustie I drove into 4 fairway bunkers, so where my regulation shot was a hack out sideways with a sand wedge (because you can only go sideways from those fairway bunkers), I have used the club that I hit for my next shot.

The graph below shows the variance between the two rounds, and it’s quite easy to see the pattern. Replace a 6 iron on my home course with a driver at Carnoustie, replace 7-9 irons with a 3 wood and 3 iron, and replace a pitching wedge with a 5 iron. The scariest thing to remember is that from the green tees Carnoustie is actually 100 yards shorter than my home course.

In terms of qualifying for the matchplay stages, I’m not in pole position, but I’m not out of it either. One thing is for sure, and that is I need to play well on the Burnside course tomorrow, ideally shooting 70 or less, but certainly no worse than 74. I may have one massive advantage over most of the rest of the field. The weather for tomorrow is forecast to be absolutely awful, very heavy rain and 35mph winds. However, the rain is not due to start until mid morning, and I am teeing off so early tomorrow that I may well be finished without getting wet. If this rain comes (which it will), and the wind stays at 7 on the Beaufort Scale (technically a ‘moderate gale’), then the scoring will go absolutely through the roof. I am praying for it to start the moment I sink my last putt on the 18th green in around 14 hours time.