Played at the Riverwalk today and we played the hardest of the three 9 hole combinations. I will actually be playing the exact same 9’s tomorrow as I was able to book a July 4th tee time with my buddy. I’m excited about being able to play on back to back days and today I wanted to come out to the Riverwalk so that I could play the same course two days in a row. We played the Friars/Presidio combination today that plays at a rating of 71.7/129, but is much tougher than that. If you click on the scorecard picture you’ll find at the end of each 9 recap, you can actually see the hole layouts on the scorecard. Gives you a good visual to go along with my descriptions….enjoy!
Riverwalk: Friars/Presidio 6,627 Yards Par 72
Front 9 Friars 3,230 Yards Par 36
Hole 1: 384 Par 4
Straight away par 4, hooked my drive into the opposite fairway to the right. 2nd shot was about 160 into the wind, took an 8 because I didn’t want to go over and it finished on the very front portion of the green. Had a long 70ft putt up the slope, hit a nice lag putt to about 4 ft and made the par. Par
Round (E)
Hole 2: 509 Par 5
Dog leg left par 5, hit my drive down the left side. Had a small tree in front of me so I couldn’t go for the green, just hit a 7iron over the tree, but pulled it slightly. My 3rd shot was about 125, but had to keep it under another tree. Wanted to just hit a low punch cut shot, took a 9iron thinking it wouldn’t go that far. Hit it perfect and that was WAY too much club and it ended in the rough over the green. A huge downhill slope to the flag located at the very front, hit an amazing PW chip to about 5ft and left myself an uphill putt. Drained it, for a great up and down, par. Par
Round (E)
Hole 3: 342 Par 4
Dog leg right hole, where a lake runs down the right side. Our GPS wasn’t working so I didn’t know how much it was to carry the lake to the fairway on the other side, so I just hit a hybrid down the left side. Turns out it wasn’t that far over the lake and I could have cut the hole off a lot if I hit driver. Will probably go for that tomorrow depending on the wind. Had about 128 left and hit a gap wedge. Hit a bad shot that I layed off and it leaked to the left rough. Had to flop it over a bunker onto a downhill slope, ball landed just a ft too short and stayed up on the collar. Very delicate, difficult chip now left for my par down the slope…..knocked it in, boom!! Par
Round (E)
Hole 4: 171 Par 3
Hardest hole on this side, lake on the left and right of this narrow green. Hit a 6iron, but it just came up short in the bunker. When I got up to the green, found the ball plugged badly in the bunker….with water on the other side of the green, I was really scared of this next shot. Tried to put the negative chatter in my mind away and I hit a great shot up to about 10ft…phew! Missed the par putt, but that hole could have been a lot worse with the plugged lie I had in the bunker. Bogey
Round (+1)
Hole 5: 395 Par 4
Straight away par 4 that you can let the driver eat. Hit a perfect drive, solid and down the middle, it ended in the fairway only 78 yards from hole, a nice 317yard drive. Wedge game is killing me right now, hit a lob wedge that came up short. Should be putting those on the green within 12 ft 80-90%% of the time, got to fix that. Continued my great touch around the greens though with this chip that looked in, but hit the stick and stayed out. 1inch par tap in. Par
Round (+1)
Hole 6: 175 Par 3
Wind was helping today and hit a 7iron that finished about 8ft above the hole. A quick downhill putt that I played off the toe of the putter to try and kill some speed….birdie putt just burned the right edge of the hole, 2 putt par. Par
Round (+1)
Hole 7: 507 Par 5
Out of bounds to the left, so I made sure I went right. Pulled my drive onto the fairway on the right, but only had 220 into the par 5. Blind shot, so I hit a 5 iron that actually ended up just short of the green about 15 yards. Made a good PW pitch to about 8ft below the hole…..rolled in the straight putt for my first birdie of the day, back to even! Birdie
Round (E)
Hole 8: 403 Par 4
Slight dog leg right hole, took aim over a set of bunkers on the right side and crushed it. One of the best feeling and looking drives of my life, just perfectly in the center of the club face and ended only 73yards from the green in the fairway, 330yards! Hit a lob wedge, to the elevated green and it ended about 15ft above hole. 2 putted for a par. Par
Round (E)
Hole 9: 344 Par 4
Took a 3 wood and hit a solid drive down the middle. Only had 106 yards, but it was severally into the wind. I tried to trap a lob wedge and flight it under the wind, but caught it fat and it fell way short of the green. Had to hit a giant flop to the green and almost holed it, but it finished about 6ft away. A little right to left breaking putt, but I missed it on the low side to make a disappointing bogey to finish this solid 9 from only 100 yards out. Bogey
Round (+1)
A great 37 (+1) on this Par 36 Friars Front 9. Hit a few really great drives and kept the ball in bounds. My wedge game really killed me this 9, but my chipping was on fire. Fairways Hit (FW): 3/7 43% Greens in Regulation (GIR): 4/9 44% Up/Downs: 3/4 75% Sand Saves: 0/1 0% Penalties: 0 Putts: 13
Back 9 Presidio:3,397 Yards Par 36
Hole 10: 398 Par 4
Hit my drive solid, but left into the opposite fairway. Had about 150 into the wind, hit a great 8iron right at the flag, but it finished just on the front of the green. Had about a 20ft birdie putt that I misjudged the speed on and left it a good 8ft short, missed the next putt for a bad 3putt start to the back 9. Bogey
Round (+2)
Hole 11: 178 Par 3
Over a lake and had a steady cross wind left to right. Hit a 7iron and played the wind, landed on the green and rolled down the slope to about 15ft above the hole. Another horrible lag putt as I left this putt also about 6-7ft short. Back to back 3 putts as I missed my par putt……putting is going to be the death of me this back 9. Bogey
Round (+3)
Hole 12: 511 Par 5
Dog leg right Par 5, reachable in 2 if you hit a deep drive, but I hit mine left again into a parallel fairway. Took a 5wood and crushed up about 60 yards from the green. Hit an ok wedge shot this time, but it was still 15ft right of the hole. Leaving my last two lag putts short, I was going to make sure I got it to the hole this time…..a little too much and I ran it 5 ft by. What do you know…lipped out that putt for my 3rd consecutive 3 putt….you have got to be kidding me right now!?!? Bogey on this par 5 from 60 yards out….unacceptable. Bogey
Round (+4)
Hole 13: 440 Par 4
Hit another really good drive that finished just in the rough, but was only 116 to middle of the green. Missed another green with a wedge in my hand as I left this one out to the left again. Continued my solid chipping as I chipped a PW to about 2ft, tap in par to stop the bogey train. Par
Round (+4)
Hole 14: 393 Par 4
Straightway par 4, but the fairway is separated by a river in the middle, so you are forced to lay up to about 220 from the tee. Hit a 4iron today that stayed down the left side in the rough. Had a terrible lie, basically dirty and in a depression. Tried to advance a 6iron, but hit it fat and it came up about 90yards short of green. Hit a good wedge to the center of the green, but missed my par putt. Bogey
Round (+5)
Hole 15: 538 Par 5
A nice par 5 to try and get a shot back….hit my drive over to the left and then hit a nice 5wood up to about 30yards. Had a really bad angle to the pin as it was tucked just over a bunker and I had to hit a long flop shot. Came off perfectly and finished just 6ft from hole for birdie….pulled the putt and let a great birdie opportunity slip by. Par
Round (+5)
Hole 16: 374 Par 4
Pushed my drive left and had to hit another punch cut shot to keep it under a branch. Only problem is this ball didn’t cut and came up short right. Hit a real nice chip to 4ft and made a nice up and down par. Par
Round (+5)
Hole 17: 148 Par 3
Someone in our group had a range finder and they said the pin was only 140. I hit a solid PW thinking that it was perfect, but it came up short. Thought it was in the hazard, but we found it almost imbedded on the edge in some long grass. Decided to play it and I had to chock down my wedge all the way to the metal and took a hack…popped out, but only a few ft. An unlucky break as that ball then rolled into a random pitch mark and I proceeded to leave that chip short as well. Kind of throwing my real solid round away here on 17….ended up making a double bogey 5. Double Bogey.
Round (+7)
Hole 18: 417 Par 4
Straight away par 4 that has out of bounds on the right side. Hit a real solid drive down the left side, ended up getting some nice roll on the cart path and finished only 80 yards away, 337 yard drive. Finally hit a solid wedge shot to about 8ft below the hole. Made the left to right breaking putt and finished my round off nicely with a much needed birdie on 18 after the disaster on 17. Birdie
Round (+6)
Started off this 9 with 3 consecutive 3 putt bogeys and a disastrous 5 on the par 3 17th, but ended with a nice birdie on 18. Although my stats will say I hit 0 FW’s on the back 9, I did hit a lot of solid drives that just finished outside the fairways….putting is what killed me on this 9, 41 (+5). Fairways Hit (FW): 0/7 0% Greens in Regulation (GIR): 5/9 55% Up/Downs: 2/4 50% Sand Saves: 0/0 0% Penalties: 0 Putts: 18
Final Stats: Fairways Hit (FW): 3/14 22% (Drove the ball great today, many solid long drives and kept the ball in bounds all day, win for me) Greens in Regulation (GIR): 9/18 50% Up/Downs: 5/8 63% Sand Saves: 0/1 0% Penalties: 0 Putts: 32
Overall I’m pleased with this round, I feel like I’m starting to hit the ball better after a horrible last few weeks. My back 9 was extremely disappointing, but it was not my driving that killed me like previous weeks, it was my putting. I’m playing the same 9’s tomorrow so I should improve my speed. My chipping and up and down game is staying really solid…I have proven that I can get up and down over 50% of the time on a consistent basis now and that feels really really good. Still need to work on my 120 and in wedge game, can’t continue to miss greens from that distance or put it on, but 20+ft away from hole. That should be my scoring clubs and I need to be making birdies or pars from that distance automatically, not bogeys. That will come with more playing and consistent practice, but I feel good heading into my round tomorrow. Will be playing the same two 9’s so I hope that I can improve on my +6 score today. Played well enough today to shoot about 2-4 over, but I won’t complain about a round in the 70’s after the disappointing past couple weeks.
My Journey 2 Scratch 