Played with Mark again, and a young Italian kid/exchange student, Allessando, whose English was difficult to understand, but who hit the ball a mile. He and I played from the blue tees, Mark, the whites.
I felt like I drove the ball very well all day, but the kid outdrove me on most holes by 30 yards or more. He's 17 or 18, what'd you expect? I did, however, hit 12 or 14 fairways. He did not. Overall, he was a very good player. We matched each other the whole way around. In the end, I think I got him by about 2 or 3 strokes. And yet, my score was only mediocre. The pressure between us was surely a factor for both of us. Mark, on the other hand, was barely even noticed by either of us. It was like he was just there as a spectator. He probably shot around 100. Poor guy.
It was cart-path-only. We has 3/4 of an inch of rain overnight. After going par/par to match Alessandro's par/par on the first two holes, I screwed up first. I had laid up on the third to about 50 yards out (though wanted to be about 70 yards out), but in the area that gets quite wet after rain. So I had a half-swing lob wedge shot in, off soft ground. Testy. Trying to not swing too hard, I went right underneath the ball, fat, moving it 30 yards into the high crap. I'm sure the kid was happy to see that. Ended up doubling the hole. He 3-putted and doubled himself. Still square.
Then on 4th, hit a great drive, but fatted my 6 iron approach 40 yards short. Again, with a lob wedge, had a less than full swing shot. Did not want to fat it, so made sure to get ball first this time. Unfortunately, got too much ball and flew it over the green by 30 yards on a line drive. Looked like I was in deep trouble in high grass. The kid took three to get on. I pitched to about 15 feet out of the crap. Then rolled the 15 footer with a 1 foot break into the hole to save bogey. At that point, Mr. exchange student realized, this old guy wasn't going to go away that easily.
He doubled with another 3 putt.
On the par 3 6th, I put my 4 iron into the drink left of the pin, pin high. He parred it. I doubled with the penalty. However, on the par 3 8th, He went wide right, landing high up on a mogul, while I hit the green and 2-putted for par. He doubled. He parred 9 while I bogeyed it. After nine we were square. Oh yeah, I forgot, Mark was still there. Who?
The back went similarly, but in the end I never blew up on any hole. He did twice. I had him by four strokes at one point, but think he got one of those back at some point. Even shooting an 82, it was a lot more exciting than the score would indicate.
bkuehn1952 says:Way to stay with the kid. I hooked up with two high school team members last week. Those youngsters can really hit it. I doubt I was as successful as you in matching up but at least I did not embarrass myself and managed +2 for the nine we played together.
3/22/20
bkuehn1952 says: