Robby

This weeks match was brought to you by Mr. Wuf. After taking a tough loss in the previous match, he decided to try and rekindle some energy at the course where he has shot his career low round. This subpar round included a hole in 1 on the par 4 18th. The course is Catawba Creek in Gastonia NC. This is a municipal course that has been made famous as the pro golf Harold Varner III learned to golf here. The course currently having a rough time coming out of winter or just being neglected. The greens were very splotchy and inconsistent. The course itself had plenty of dead spots and even the workers screwed up the tee markers.

On this day, it was just the 2 of us and the course was very busy. We tried to get the 2 people behind us to join us to help with pace of play. The 2 of them resembled a toothless Burt and Ernie. Instead of joining us, they would catch up and talk on every tee box while we watched the group of 4 in front of us play golf. This was confusing since they shared their life story but didn’t want to actually play golf with us.

As for the match, we were neck and neck on the front 9. The difference being the short par 4 6th hole. I decided to lay back off the tee and hit a 5 fairway metal that would leave me 133 yards to the flag. Mr. Wuf pounded a driver down and had less than 40 yards in. I would hit a 3/4 swing lowly flighted 9 iron that would hit and spin back leaving me 5 feet for birdie. His pitch would hit the left side of the green and roll all the way across the green and off the other side. He would chip to over 10 feet and miss the putt and have a tap in bogey left. I made my 5 foot putt that slowly rolled down the hill and moved from right to left. After 9, I would have a 1 shot lead.

The back 9 I finally settled down after the 10th hole short game blowup. Mr. Wuf had a triple and double bogey on 11 and 12. From there on we mostly parred in. Unfortunately for him this week the extra 5 strokes on those 2 holes were the difference maker. Last week I agreed to give him 6 strokes to make the match more competitive. I was able to beat him by 7 on this day.

The next matches will be June 8th and 9th in Myrtle Beach. It was agreed in the rules that we were playing 2 rounds and we each get to pick a course. I have picked Calendonia Golf and Fish Club for my course. I’m eager to see what he decides.