2004-08-17

Sterling Hills Practice Round

Walked on at Sterling today and it turned out they had a shotgun start on nine of the holes so the starter told me I could play the front nine twice. After bogeying the first hole, then paring the second, a marshal came by and told me the starter had it wrong - the shotgun was on the front nine. He said I still had an hour and could either play real fast or just skip over to 6 and play in from there. I chose the latter and skipped over to six.

The course was 100% empty so I decided to hit a drive, and then play two approach shots from that same spot. Then around each green I would chip from various spots to the pin. I ended up playing 14 holes and didn't keep score. It was great practice and I learned a couple things about strategy.

First, I don't hit my irons very consistently. On one hole I my first 7-iron approach was on the front fringe of the green and my second was on the back fringe. They both felt like the same distance off the club - wind and bounce could be an issue but I noticed my nine iron was also 10 yards off on a couple occasions. I also had some approach shots where one was 20 yards right of the hole and the other was 20 yards left of the hole ? both pin high. From this I learned that statistically, I am not good enough to aim at the flag ever (at least from 135 out). Next time I play, I am going to try my best to ignore that flag and just hit commercial shots at the center of the green.

Second, there are spots around these greens where it is impossible to get up and down without making a long putt. Most of these greens are cloverleaf shaped. Let's say there is a blue flag on the left cloverleaf and you pushed your shot pin high onto the right cloverleaf. You will have a mound and a swale in between you and the flag and would need to putt up the green, over some fringe, through some rough, then down over some fringe again, to even get the ball on a line to the flag and good luck stopping it. I was in a couple of these spots today but just off the back of the green. I would try a dozen balls -bump and run, pitch, flop ? couldn?t get anything within 12 feet. I learned here that if it is a blue flag - you better be short of it - or right on target with your approach - I believe that is the exact definition of a sucker pin. If you go at the pin with your approach you are either looking at birdie or bogey - there is no middle ground. The same goes with the red flags - better be long and putt back to the hole. This is reason number two to aim at the center of the green - at least at this course.

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