Club Championship Qualifier
It's "Go Time" for Your Hack
It’s Friday and Cripple Creek’s Club Championship qualifying tournament begins with 18 players vying for 4 spots in the final match play round next week. Your Hack is paired with Harry Steele and Jimmy Donnelly - what some would say is a “very comfy pairing”. There are a couple of flat bellies in the field that could be a problem, but also 3 former champs from the last 4 years - Paul Dillon, Harry Steele and your Hack.
Before we get started however, I need to go back a few days and set the stage. In our regular Wednesday game, your Hack started off par, birdie, par hitting fairways and greens with birdie putts inside 15 feet on each hole. On the 4th tee, the Senator remarked - “Wow, your game is really in shape for the Club Championship.”
It was something akin to the kiss of death as I proceeded to unload the big right miss on number 4 and hit my drive out of bounds. The following 3 hours were frustrating - 3 balls OB right, a shanked chip, and a hybrid right into the water on #17 - but also encouraging - 2 chip ins, 2 birdies, and a final score of 80.
I don’t know where the big right miss came from but I spend an hour Thursday afternoon on the range fiddling with my driver swing. I thought I found something other than dehydration on the practice tee.
Remember, one of my goals for 2022 is to win the club championship and the senior club championship. To be honest, after Wednesday’s round and Thursday’s practice session, I was not very hopeful.
Day 1: Friday Morning:
Your Hack arrived at the course about an hour before the 9AM tee time and had a good warmup session. The driver was long and straight with a 3-5 yard fade. My putting and chipping were good and irons were dialed. Everything was solid, except for the lingering angst I felt after my prior round.
I pulled my drive left off the first tee, clipped a tree and was 185 out in the rough. A punch, draw 5 iron left me about 30 yards in front of the green in the fairway. As we approached my ball, I was thinking just get up and down for par, no worse than a bogey. Good thoughts, but they quickly left my brain when I found my ball sitting in a divot that had only been partially filled with sand. Rather than taking an 8 iron and just making solid chipping contact to roll the ball onto the green, your Hack decided he was a PGA Tour quality player and tried to hit a spinning lob wedge in close. As the skulled wedge went skiding across and over the green, I realized I was just an idiot with a set of clubs. Double bogey start.
I settled into the round with routine pars on #2 and #3, but missed the green and failed to get up and down on #4 and #5. Both bogeys were the result of drives pulled left, leaving tough approach shots. A routine par on #6 was again followed by 2 more bogeys. Your Hack made his first birdie of the day on #9 and ended the front 5 over. We had a small wait at the turn and I forced myself to remember there were 54 holes left and, although wobbly, the first 9 was not horrible and I’d just come off a nice birdie where I hit a 6 iron to 7 feet and rolled in a delicate downhill putt. Harry had also shot 40, but Jimmy had a premature meltdown coming in with a 46 on the front.
After a par on #10 where the birdie putt lipped out, I made a mess of #11 and limped off the green with a triple. A sniped 3 wood into a planted area just left of the forward tee and an unplayable lie resulting in a drop on the cart path. This was followed by mediocre attempts to reach the putting surface and 2 putts. Your Hack was now 8 over and it was really time to buckle in.
Surpassingly I did, with pars on #12 through #14 and then sinking a nice 15 footer for birdie on #15 to get back to 7 over with 3 holes to play - the hardest 3 holes on the course to finish a round. Just right of the green on the 192 yard par 3, 16th, I shanked my chip into a bunker short-sided and made double. Then, on the 550 yard par 5, 17th your Hack dumped a 90 yard wedge into the water fronting the green, skulled the next wedge to the back fringe, and made a triple bogey after 3 putting the green. A nice par on #18 ended the round and probably my goal of reaching the match play finals.
I’d shot 83 with 2 triples, 2 doubles and 2 birdies. Only one 3-putt green, but a very poor showing. Harry had shot 80 while Jimmy posted a 97 after an unfortunate 12 on the par 5, 14th hole.
Of course, my thoughts were filled with panic, rage, and uncertainty, tinged with disgust. Tournament golf had kicked me in the teeth and I had no answer. Patrick Gogarty and Colby Hook, two college players, had shot 74 and 76. My buddy Pip posted a 78 and last year’s champion, Paul Dillon came in with a 79. Your Hack was in 7th place in the 18 man field, but only 5 shots out of 4th place. There was still a chance.
Day 2: Saturday Morning:
Cripple Creek received over 2 inches of rain after heavy thunderstorms Friday afternoon and overnight in Saturday morning. We were “cart path only” and I decided to walk and carry. I could stay in my own little world and focus on hitting shots and making putts. I’d taken a cart on Friday because of the heat and humidity, but I normally like to walk as most of you know. Let’s make this happen.
Standing on the first tee and remembering the double bogey that greeted me yesterday, I proceeded to do the same thing to start day 2. A pulled drive left into the trees was the beginning. My ball sitting beside a root was the end. I’d started both days with a 6 on one of the easiest par 4’s on the course. Did I say something earlier about still having a chance?
After a nice 8-iron to about 3 feet on #2, I recovered from the starting double with an easy birdie, but failed to get up and down after I pushed a 9-iron into the right, pin high on #3. Par on #4, but another pushed iron on #5 left me in the greenside bunker and another failed up and down. Following 2 relatively routine pars on #6 and #7, the big, right miss off the tee made a special appearance leading to an ugly double on #8. The driver was benched on #9 and I hit a nice 3 wood into the fairway and had 6-iron into the green which your Hack promptly hit thin into the front death bunker resulting in bogey and I made the turn in 41.
My final 9 was an embarrassment. I started the back the same way I started the front - with a double. Bogeys on 4 of the next 6 holes left me even further out of the running, but I was able to finish with a birdie on #17 and a par from way left behind a tree on the last. An 82 to be paired with the 83 from Day 1 and your Hack was done as the lightening siren went off as we putted out.
Colby Hook torched the front 9 with a 2 under 33 and finished even par, shooting 76-71 = 147 to take medalist honors. Patrick Gogarty posted 74-75 = 149 for second, followed by Paul Dillon (79-76=154) and Matt (Pip) Piperno (78-80=158) to round out the top 4 qualifiers for match play next Friday and Saturday. Congratulations guys and well done!
My finish? 83-82=165 only good enough for 6th place, 2 shots behind my buddy Harry Steele who continues to play amazing golf at age 80.
Final Thoughts:
Your Hack knows tournament golf is hard. Pencil in hand, putt them all out, and count every shot. You know - real golf. You have to be confident, mentally strong and keep your ball in play. I was none of these over the past 2 days. I hit 31% of fairways off the tee and only 40% of the greens. Too many penalty shots, a couple of shanks and a ton of missed putts under 12 feet. I did only have one 3-putt over the 2 days however.
Just for fun, I went back and counted my best ball on each hole for the 2 days. Even with the double bogey on #1 both days, I shot 73 with 4 best ball birdies and 4 best ball bogeys. You know your Hack needs to find something to be positive about his game.
On to the 1st Flight next Friday and Saturday as the Club Championship continues. My plan is to dominate the loser’s flight! Stay tuned.
I’m off to Philadelphia this afternoon for a Fried Egg golf outing Monday at Huntington Valley Country Club. Dinner with my son Will this evening, followed by a live Shotgun Start Podcast at Lulu Country Club. Then 36 holes on Monday at the William Flynn designed, Huntington Valley. 18 holes of better ball in the AM and 18 hole alternate shot in the afternoon.
My unknown partner will get to see the Hack’s current game in full display. I sure hope he is up to the challenge.