Post by Richie3Jack on Jun 1, 2012 14:40:36 GMT -5
Last weekend I played La Cita CC and made a gameplan post. That post focused a little more on the overall theme of the course, but on spots where I could potentially make birdies. I think the overall theme was a good thing to have because I did keep some of my patience and that was enough for me to shoot 75 (+3) in spite of 2 early double-bogeys on #1 and #4.
However, those double bogeys wound up making me a little more aggressive off the tee in order to make an attempt at getting under par for the round.
What probably hurt me the most was concentrating bit too much on the positions on the course where I could possibly score well and instead I think I should have focused on the positions and holes where I may make a bogey.
In the end, the La Cita round was hurt by some weak putting, bad luck, and then a major miscue on #13, where I was 238 yards away on a par-5, right in the middle of the fairway…only to come away with a bogey. Then to make bogey on #15 when I’m 138 yards to the green and in the fairway. The next day I played Victoria Hills and shot 73 (+1), but came away thinking how hard that was and how hard it would be to shoot under par. But, then I remembered that I made 4 bogeys on the day and 3 of them were ‘unforced errors.’ Come away with a par on those 3 holes and I shoot a 70 (-2).
So this time around, I’ll focus more on the holes where there is a real possibility for a bogey.
Here’s a link that goes over all of the holes at North Shore with diagrams.
www.golfatnorthshore.com/course-information/course-touryardage-book
The main theme I get about North Shore is it’s a bit of a roller coaster type course, plenty of holes to make birdies and then plenty of holes where it’s designed to force golfers into big scores. North Shore is a US-links design on the front 9 and then a parkland course on the back-9, further solidifying the morale of the course as having to deal with changes to the course that are about as subtle as a punch to the face. So if you don’t birdie an easy hole like #1 (300 yard par-4), no need to panic because as long as you can keep the difficult holes under control like #3, you’ll likely wind up making birdies as there are plenty of other easy holes like #5, #7, #8 and #9.
Here’s how I see the difficult holes:
#3 (450 YARDS PAR-4): Water all down the right side. Need to avoid the water at all costs with a driver.
#4 (420 yards par-4): plays longer than the yardage, particularly if the wind is your face. Need to concentrate on hitting a solid tee shot and keeping it in the fairway. Then not missing the green on the wrong side (depends where the pin is)
#6: 238 yards par-3
#12: 425 yard par-4: Quirky hole because of the oak tree. I play this as a par-5 because it’s almost pure luck as to where your driver ends up.
#14: 158 yard par-3: surrounded by water with a TOUGH green to hit into and putt on.
#17: 200 yards par-3
#18: 460 yard par-4
The good news is that on the par-4’s, I fully plan to use driver. So, there’s no ‘trickiness’ involved and the ‘hit it well and get punished’ is more or less kept to a minimum outside of #12. At La Cita, my double bogeys came off of well struck, fairly accurate shots. But the design screwed me over with big oak trees right in the way.
As far as the par-3’s go, #6 and #17 are pretty much standard Danger Zone type par-3’s. #6 is actually longer than the Danger Zone. I’ll have to work a little on the hybrid before the round to get that grooved in. I’ll also have to keep in mind how I’m hitting my irons going into #14. As long as the shot is curving in 1-direction. I can then use that to go at the flag. If it’s curving left and right, then I need to play it a big safe.
3JACK
However, those double bogeys wound up making me a little more aggressive off the tee in order to make an attempt at getting under par for the round.
What probably hurt me the most was concentrating bit too much on the positions on the course where I could possibly score well and instead I think I should have focused on the positions and holes where I may make a bogey.
In the end, the La Cita round was hurt by some weak putting, bad luck, and then a major miscue on #13, where I was 238 yards away on a par-5, right in the middle of the fairway…only to come away with a bogey. Then to make bogey on #15 when I’m 138 yards to the green and in the fairway. The next day I played Victoria Hills and shot 73 (+1), but came away thinking how hard that was and how hard it would be to shoot under par. But, then I remembered that I made 4 bogeys on the day and 3 of them were ‘unforced errors.’ Come away with a par on those 3 holes and I shoot a 70 (-2).
So this time around, I’ll focus more on the holes where there is a real possibility for a bogey.
Here’s a link that goes over all of the holes at North Shore with diagrams.
www.golfatnorthshore.com/course-information/course-touryardage-book
The main theme I get about North Shore is it’s a bit of a roller coaster type course, plenty of holes to make birdies and then plenty of holes where it’s designed to force golfers into big scores. North Shore is a US-links design on the front 9 and then a parkland course on the back-9, further solidifying the morale of the course as having to deal with changes to the course that are about as subtle as a punch to the face. So if you don’t birdie an easy hole like #1 (300 yard par-4), no need to panic because as long as you can keep the difficult holes under control like #3, you’ll likely wind up making birdies as there are plenty of other easy holes like #5, #7, #8 and #9.
Here’s how I see the difficult holes:
#3 (450 YARDS PAR-4): Water all down the right side. Need to avoid the water at all costs with a driver.
#4 (420 yards par-4): plays longer than the yardage, particularly if the wind is your face. Need to concentrate on hitting a solid tee shot and keeping it in the fairway. Then not missing the green on the wrong side (depends where the pin is)
#6: 238 yards par-3
#12: 425 yard par-4: Quirky hole because of the oak tree. I play this as a par-5 because it’s almost pure luck as to where your driver ends up.
#14: 158 yard par-3: surrounded by water with a TOUGH green to hit into and putt on.
#17: 200 yards par-3
#18: 460 yard par-4
The good news is that on the par-4’s, I fully plan to use driver. So, there’s no ‘trickiness’ involved and the ‘hit it well and get punished’ is more or less kept to a minimum outside of #12. At La Cita, my double bogeys came off of well struck, fairly accurate shots. But the design screwed me over with big oak trees right in the way.
As far as the par-3’s go, #6 and #17 are pretty much standard Danger Zone type par-3’s. #6 is actually longer than the Danger Zone. I’ll have to work a little on the hybrid before the round to get that grooved in. I’ll also have to keep in mind how I’m hitting my irons going into #14. As long as the shot is curving in 1-direction. I can then use that to go at the flag. If it’s curving left and right, then I need to play it a big safe.
3JACK