The first round of the 2 day, 2 person best ball tournament is in the books. Blair and I had the second tee time and we found the conditions challenging at the beginning of the round. As the round unfolded, the temperature warmed up than the ground dried out. We had a good strategy and for the most part, it worked. We had two bad holes (doubles on both) and many good holes. As a result, we finished 30th out of 68 teams with a score of 79. We are in the third flight and three strokes out of first in our flight. We figure we left four strokes on the course, but that is the way it goes during tournaments.

Blair hit first off each tee. I decided not to change my game. This strategy worked very well for my game….for 16 holes. We hit the ball in play most of the time and our round was typical for our games. The greens were fast and challenging; similar to our practice round. However, this time the pins were placed in overly difficult positions which made putting and chipping very challenging. We only made one birdie for the day and that is definitely not good enough to move up the leaderboard.

My most disappointing and best shot of the day was on the 7th hole. (seen below) This island green is a challenge to hit because of the length of the hole. Playing at 410 holes into the wind, I figured I was playing for an automatic bogey. My best shot was a 260 yard drive that finished on the left side of the fairway. This set me up for a stock 7 iron to the middle of the green. Unfortunately, I thinned my iron and hit the ball into the water. After a reasonable chip, I two putted for double bogey. I experienced the highs and lows of playing golf in just one hole.

Blair started off slow, but found his groove on the 5th hole. He saved us many times by shooting par on holes that I struggled. He did play his typical game and as always, we complemented our play together. His strongest play was from 100 yards. He made many great approach shots that led to scores that we used on the card. The interesting thing about best ball is that we never know from on hole to the next how things will play out. For 16 holes, we were in perfect harmony.

Lastly, we were paired with Nick and Mike. They were great fun to play with and we all had some great laughs during our four hours on the course. We never know who we get paired with when playing in a tournament, but we were lucky because it was great fun for all. Nick and Mike shot better than us and we wish them luck during their round today.

As an updated, there is a high chance of thunderstorms this afternoon, so I hope we do not get rained out. More to follow tomorrow.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!