Harmon Primm Valley Round 1

The greens got me.  Not the slope, not the subtleties.  No, it was the patchy poa on the bent greens.  It was tough, there weren't any gimmies, and I had a couple that just shot off in weird directions.  I'm sure the rest of the field dealt with the same thing, but some of my misses were short (very short).  It's a bit frustrating.

I hit the ball fairly well today.  Not great, but I hit enough good shots to shoot a good score.  My putting cost me.  Even though the greens weren't great, I should have shot a better score.  There was one putt in particular that shouldn't have gone wrong.  I tried to straddle my playing competitors' line, and I missed a really short one.  Like 10 inches.  I haven't done that since I was maybe ten. 

After that I didn't get mad, but I was very disappointed with myself.  I don't do those kinds of things.  I see other people do that and I laugh.  It's just so unnecessary.  At that moment it didn't feel like I was doing something stupid, but I look back on it and I can't believe I did it.  It was a tap in, and for some reason I thought it was better to clean it up than mark it.  Wow.

So, there will be no more of that for quite a long time.  I can make that promise, that's for sure.  There is no practical reason for doing something like that, and hopefully it will serve as a reminder of the fundamentals of golf (which don't include reaching out to hit putts).

My 73 today leaves me in a vulnerable position.  I need a pretty good round tomorrow to play on the "weekend" (Thursday).  The leaders aren't out of reach, though.  66 was low, so a good one will still leave me in good shape.  I feel good about the game, so I'm expecting to shoot a good score.

Luke