When I tried to qualify for the Florida Amatuer two years ago at Golden Ocala and missed a playoff by a shot, so I have good memories from the course. This time the plan was to come back with a solid game, the new putter, and do the thing.
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TL;DR version: Played in the FSGA Florida Amateur qualifier at Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club and shot 79. Needed to shoot 74 to advance.
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Back in April, I shot my first round in the 60s (a 69 🤣 ). I followed that up with another under-par round at my home track last weekend, so I was feeling pretty good despite a mild lower back strain has been bothering me for a few weeks.
The strategies and club choices I worked out during the hot afternoon practice round yesterday turned out to be not quite as helpful as I’d hoped because the conditions changed overnight with an evening downpour taking the course from firm and fast to a little mushy in the fairways. The greens are still new, so the rain didn’t make them more receptive and they baked out as the round dragged on at the standard tournament pace of hit-and-wait.
Setup-wise, Golden Ocala was tipped out and the pins were tucked. I can only assume the setup person was terribly wronged by someone in the field and this was their revenge.
Recapping the round
We started on the 10th hole, where I hit a drive to the right side of the fairway but was on a hill with the ball above my feet a bit. The expectation was for it to go left off that lie so of course I adjusted my swing to overcompensate and missed right. A first hole, nervy chip led to a long par putt that raced by about four feet. Made it. Bogey.
The 11th hole at Golden Ocala is a replica of Augusta National’s Golden Bell, the par 3 12th hole. In the practice round I hit a full 9i from 152 yards to the right-center of the green.
In the tournament round I hit a full 9i from 153 yards that had me wondering if I’d be able to skate on an open bar tab since it’s a tournament and the lounge at Golden Ocala wasn’t open on a Monday. That turned out to not be an issue since my ball instead decided to drop into the face of the bunker and plug.
I almost dunked the out but it rolled a ways and I couldn’t make the putt. Bogey.
I made it through ANGC’s 13th, the Road Hole, and first hole at St. Andrews with pars before coming to the 5th at Baltusrol, a mean 216-yard par 3 over water.
A thin-to-win 5W was enough to make it to the back rough and a chip to three feet had me thinking I’d escape with a par. A pushed putt made it another disappointing bogey.
As the greens dried out it took me a few holes to get the speed again, which was costly. I did manage to fade a 7i to 6 feet for birdie on the 17th hole, to which I’ll credit my greedy subconscious for even trying to do that.
Another three putt on the 18th hole (my ninth) had me turning at +4 and already knowing I was going to have to do something special to make it to wherever the hell Streamsong is.
Unfortunately, bogeys on the first two holes of the front nine put me deeper in the hole and farther away from mid-central-nowhere, Florida.
A thin, no-divot 6i from 187 led to a birdie on the replica of ANGC’s 16th. It was good roll and a nice moment in a tough round.
It was hot and humid out there and even though we were in carts, it was pretty grueling.
Takeaways
- The chipping lesson I took two weeks ago really worked
- I need to spend more time on the practice green putting when my back will allow it
- Another 10 yards of carry off the tee would have really helped. I was hitting one or two clubs more when the fairways stopped being firm and that limited my opportunities to score.
- I may need to optimize my driver shaft a bit or look for a new stick altogether
- If solving my problem with money doesn’t work, I may have to work out harder and pull the SuperSpeed sticks out of the closet… :tired_face:
- At 75.1/142, my differential was 3.1, so just a little over a stroke higher than my handicap
Miscellany
As I was standing on the green on the 5th hole, I nearly interrupted one of my playing partner’s putts as I exclaimed “HOLY SHIT!” at the sight of a guy in the group ahead of us angrily turbo-chucking an iron 50 yards into a lake after a bad shot on the replica of ANGC’s 16th hole.
In the practice round, I paired up with a father-son duo who were set to play in the two groups behind me. At some point around the turn I noticed the group behind ours had become a twosome, with the son no longer in it. After the round I asked the father what happened and he said his son quit after nine because he wasn’t playing well. Muy, muy mal :unamused:
A young, flat-bellied competitor came up to me on the putting green and I assumed it was to chat about my ridiculous putter. Instead he called me “sir” and asked where 10th tee was, making me feel old.
