I Broke 80!

I did it. I broke 80. And I did it on an awesome course.

The Course

If its possible, Cascata was in even better shape this year than last even with a ton of rain. The greens were super smooth, the rough nice and thick and the fairways and tees and were going in nicely. This course is unbelievable. It’s an oasis in the middle of the desert. I feel so lucky to have played it twice now and have to thank Andy for a great round. Incredible.

My Round

This was my greatest round yet. And not just because I broke 80, although that helps. This was my best round yet because I played better tee to green than I ever have. My drives were long, confident and in the fairway. My approach shots, even from uneven lies, we’re struck crisply and accurately. It was a blast.

From a swing perspective, i tried to stay consistent. Take the club back (don’t worry that I’m really inside on takeaway), transition with the hips, and most importantly, fire through the ball. With the driver, I was focusing on ball forward. Square up the shoulders and hips and feet, keeping my left arm more off my left leg and trying to keep the club face square. Then move the club back with the shoulders and when I really want to hammer the ball, make certain to complete a full shoulder turn.

It’s hard to pick out certain holes or shots to comment on because in this round, there were a lot of them. But I think the consistency is what is most shocking. On the front, I had 7 GIRs. And many of those gave me legitimate looks at birdies. I didn’t convert them, but I had them. But I was hitting the green and it was excellent.

There are a few shots, like a 120 yard, uphill approach from a sidehill lie where I hit a knock down PW to within 4 feet. Or my 8i off the tee on the par 3. The caddie gave a yardage of 160 and hit flushed an 8i. Since I was teed up, I could see the divot about an inch past the ball and perfectly straight at the target. The ball had a beautiful ball flight.

I got some nice breaks too, which allowed me to have a chance, but I also had 2 3-putts and a 4-put, so those evened out.

I needed to par out 16-18 to break 80. I parred 16. On 17, I blew it with bad putts and put up a bogey. So I went to the 18th, a par 5, needing birdie to break 80. The 18th is a dogleg left and since I was playing for a score, Mitch (awesome caddy) suggested I not y to cut the corner requiring a 265y carry, and instead play the hole hybrid, hybrid, 60d and “birdie” with the wedge. To have the confidence to go hybrid hybrid on a par 5 shows how I felt today. I hit my drive straight down the middle to pretty much where we wanted it. With water right, the play was to hit hybrid down the left and avoid having to hit wedge over the water to the green. I don’t know if ipushed it or lined up wrong, but I got dangerously close to the water, fortunately having a bit of draw on the shot to bring me back left. But I ended up 95 yards with a sidehill, downhill lie,forced to carry my shot over water to a middle pin. I needed birdie so I went right for it and hit a great wedge to 9 feet. Mitch really helped with the line, spending a lot of time looking from all angles and we decided it just needed to be firm right edge. I’d been long all day so there was no way I was leaving it short. Stood over the ball and felt real confident, took it back and rolled in th center with pace. It was awesome.

The whole day was incredible and playing golf like that is exactly why I spend so much time trying to improve. Having a great caddy like Mitch on the bag gave me so much confidence knowing that the numbers and the line were right.

Now my next big goal is to become a single digit handicap player. I dropped from a 12 to and 11 (10.7) on this trip. If I keep playing like this, I might have a chance to get to single digits by the end of the year.