Your Hack Plays the DE Senior AM
These Old Guys are Pretty Good
The 2022 Delaware Senior AM was held at Wild Quail Country Club on September 19-20. Players had to be 55 and older in the Men’s Division and 50 and older in the Women’s. Sadly, only three women played. There were 80 players on the men’s side. Your Hack (who will turn 68 next month) entered, possibly looking for a “super” senior division but, alas, there was none. I had to play against the “youngsters”.
Wild Quail is a fairly easy course with a 69.7 rating and 123 slope from the 6,100 yard tees we were playing for the tournament. My game has not been trending well since our Club Championship, after which my handicap index had dropped to 2.1. A couple of weeks of scores in the mid-70’s to low 80’s moved my index up to 4.1, mainly resulting from the un-timely double bogies and 3-putts. I was also having trouble keeping the driver in the fairway. We’ll see how it goes.
The Delaware State Golf Association always does a great job organizing these events and I was looking forward to competing again.
Round 1:
After an hour and 20 minute drive from the beach to Wild Quail on Monday morning, I only had about 20 minutes to warm up and hit some putts. I got in about a dozen 7-irons swings on the range and spent the remaining time on the putting green. When we got to the first tee, we were informed that our 3rd had withdrawn and that we would be playing a 2-ball for the day. Luckily, my playing partner Andy was known to me as we played against each other in inter-club matches this past Spring and Summer.
At 10:20AM we had balls in the air. Hole #1 is a short par 5 measuring 489 yards and your Hack found the left side of the fairway 216 yards from the pin. Andy laid up about 80 yards from the green and I hit an almost perfect 3-hybrid high in the air that landed softly about 10-12 feet right of the pin. Andy’s wedge ended up near my ball and I was able to get a good read from his putt.
Unfortunately, the great read was wasted by not putting enough pace on the attempt and I left the putt 1 inch short, in the middle of the cup. Still, a birdie on the opener felt great - an eagle would have felt better. A lost opportunity.
After a routine par on #2, I pulled my drive left on #3 and was under a large pine tree. The attempted recovery shot was poorly struck and I left myself in the left rough with another pine tree between me and the green. Trying to focus on just making a bogey, I hit a wedge high enough to get over the tree but not long enough to reach the green and the ball ended up about 10 yards short. A chip and a lip-out putt and I had myself a nice fat double bogey on a 370 yard par 4. One over and, to be honest, a little pissed off.
#4 is a 140 yard par 3 over, into a headwind with large pond that covers the front and right side of the green. Taking the pond completely out of play, your Hack shanked an 8-iron right of the pond that landed on the back tee of the 2nd hole. I really wish I had a video of the shot tracer on that one. A sand wedge to 15 feet and another lip-out resulted in a bogey. Ok, 2 over par after 4 was not the end of the world and I just need to buckle down.
Pars on #5 through #7 got me back on track, although I missed a 6 footer for birdie on #7 (another lip-out). After what I thought was a perfect 5-iron on the 188 yard par 3, 8th hole, the shanks returned when I was faced with a relatively straight forward up and down to continue the par run - the result was another bogey. Your Hack then decided to 3 putt the 9th from 25 feet and finish the front nine with a score of 40 - 4 over par. Andy was playing relatively well on the front with 3 birdies that were undone by a double on the 4th. He shot an even par 36 for our first 9 holes.
We made the turn in 2 hours and 10 minutes which wasn’t bad for tournament golf, but remember that we were playing as a twosome which meant a lot of waiting around. Coming home, your Hack made pars on #10 though #13 missing birdie putts inside of 10 feet on two of the holes. Andy unfortunately hit 2 balls into the hazard on the right of #12 and made a triple, derailing his back 9.
My par streak was interrupted on #14 when I left my approach short of the green, chipped to 20 feet and then 3-putted for the second time in the round. A par on #15 was followed by 2 great up and down pars on #16 and #17 and I was still only 1 over on the back. The par 5, 18th hole was a birdie opportunity at only 500 yards, but we were into the wind. I sniped a drive left and had to lay up. The resulting par didn’t taste all that well. I’d shot 37 on the back to pair with the 40 on the front for a 5 over 77 and a tie for 17th place after the first round. Andy came in at 76, one shot better.
Stats: 35 putts; 2 3-puts; 1 birdie; 1 double; 43% FIR; 67% GIR
Four players came in under par with the leader at -4. 10th place stood at +3 and that would be my goal with the final round. Let’s just play well enough to get a top 10.
Round 2:
I arrived at Wild Quail about an hour ahead of our 11AM tee time. I was playing with Andy again and we had a 3rd this round which I hoped would make the pace a little better. I hit several drivers on the range trying to keep the ball within a 20 yard wide gap between two markers. The player next to me watched of couple of the drivers and asked: “Why aren’t you leading this thing?” He’s obviously never seen your Hack on the course.
After a good range session, I spent some more time on the putting green - they had been cut twice (after the first round and again in the morning before the final round) and were definitely faster than day 1. The thing about Wild Quail is that there is not as much break in these greens as they look. I tried to ingrain that thought.
Thinking good thoughts from the range session and the 2 putt birdie from the prior day, I stood on the first tee ready to go . . . and promptly duck-hooked my drive into the water. Ok, I screwed up, but let’s make a par and really get going. A 5-iron left me 90 yards out and a sand wedge landed 10 feet from the hole. Unfortunately, the attempt at a salvaged par lipped out and I started with a bogey. Not one to bounce back when it’s needed, I 3-putted the next for bogey, lipped out for a bogey on #3 and then 3-putted again on #4, this time for a double bogey. Four holes in, 5 over par, 2 3-putts, no fairways hit, and exactly one green in regulation. Nice start Mr. Hack.
After I’d sniped the driver on #1 into the water, I texted my golf buddies group an update and got a great response - “Get the F»> off the phone and concentrate!” Good advice, but I didn’t really pay attention until we go to the fifth hole. I continued to miss fairways, but I started making pars. A couple of greens hit, my first fairway hit on #9, a couple of good chips and 1-putts and I’d made pars on the last 5 holes to come in at 41, 5 over for the front. Andy started strong, but again hit a couple of balls into the hazard on #4 and made another triple, followed by a double a couple of holes later, and made the turn in 44. Mike, our 3rd from Wilmington, also shot 41 with two double bogeys. We weren’t exactly setting the place on fire, but at least we were all having fun.
Your Hack continued making pars on the 2nd nine, hitting fairways and greens, but not making any birdies. It seemed as if nothing would drop. I hit a lot of holes but nothing would fall in - I was continuing to over read break on this course.
After 9 straight pars, we came to the 14th hole where I once again sniped a drive short left and made a bad double bogey (again with a 3-putt). Par on #15 and a lipped out bogey on #16 followed. Easy pars on the last two holes and I finished the back at 39 and shot 80 for the day. A 157 total for the tournament left your Hack at T27 out of the 80 man field. Andy finished at 158 and Mike at 159 - at least we all broke 160 for the event, but the ultimate winner shot 69-68 to finish at 137. Here’s a link to the DSGA wrap-up of the tournament: DE Senior AM
Day 2 Stats: 37 putts; 3 3-puts; 0 birdies; 2 doubles; 29% FIR; 56% GIR
On a day when you can’t drive the ball or make putts, most likely you’re not gonna make the top 10. It was fun, but it was frustrating. Thanks for following along.
Next up is our final match this Sunday in the Cripple Creek season long 2-ball. My partner - the Sheriff - and I are playing our last match in our 5 team #1 flight. If we win, all 5 teams will end the season at 2-2. My hope is for chaos - a win and then a 5 team, alternate shot knockout final. It would be epic. Stay tuned.