Hurricane fun round

I played last Friday with Mike at Rio Salado. The forecast was for 35+ mph winds, and Mother Nature did not disappoint. Wow was it windy! Rounds like these are what seperates the men from the boys right? Here we go!

As I said in the title, this was just a round of fun. What it turned into however was a lesson in patience and concentration. Playing in wind this strong requires constant commitment to your shot and nearly perfect execution. I hit what felt like a blocked cut tee shot just to hold it into the wind, which turned into a 25 yard hook. Ended up perfect, just a small little pitch about 8 feet above the hole. I hit what I thought was a light put, ran it about 6 feet by. Yikes. Made the putt. #2 is a 155 yard par 3, dead into the wind. I SMOKED a 5 iron, all over it. Ended up about 12 feet above the hole, a great shot if I do say so myself. Just tapped the ball, downhill downwind, 8 feet by. Made the putt. #3 is a short par 4, now the wind is dead off the right. I hit a really really really low 2 iron that ran forever. Short little pitch to about 5 feet. Just tapped the putt, great distance control, just too lame to have any chance to go in. Tap in par.

The fourth is a 160 yard par 3, just turned a bit downwind, I thought I'd hit a little punch 8 iron below the wind, I think I hit it perfect, just yanked it into the bunker. Blasted out to about 4 feet and missed it. Number 5 is a par 5, but really a par 4, short on the order of like 480-490 yards. Hit a pretty good tee shot and it just ran and ran and ran. Had about 130 yards in, but sitting on some nasty hard pan. I thought I'd hit a little punch, but I don't know what I actually did. At any rate, I ended up right of the green behind a palm tree, but on a sprinkler box. Free drop, good pitch to about 6 feet, and missed the putt, just never broke. Toe'd the driver on 6, but with the wind it just stayed dead straight. Thought I hit a good little pitch shot, but it hit hard and ended up about 25 feet above the hole. This green was hard and fast, my putt went by about 10 feet, but I made the comebacker, even after Mike had announced that I was surely going to 3 putt. He made his 6 foot comebacker as well and said he was thinking if he didn't make his, he wouldn't hear the end of it. You got that right my friend!

I tugged my dead downwind 9 iron on 7, but got a great bounce and was able to get up and down. #8 is a par 4 / par 3 combo. As a par 4 you have to play around a fence constructed to keep tee shots out of the DMV parking lot (city mandate). So we played it as a par 3, I hit the most disgusting 3 iron but ended up just past pin high left. Here's the fun part. As I'm at the top of the backswing of my pitch shot, I see a tumbleweed blowing across the green at me. In an instant I think "Is that a tumbleweed? Sure, it probably is, I mean we're in the desert and the wind is blowing super hard. Jeez, I hope I don't hit it into the actual tumbleweed", thunk, leave it short and up on top of the mound in front of the green. It was actually pretty funny and I'm not sure what I actually made. I think I just putted from the fringe (didn't make it) and either made the next one for bogey or missed it. I was too busy telling Mike what was going through my head and laughing. Let's call it a double to be safe I guess.

Hit a great tee shot on 9 leaving just a short pitch. I even called my shot, that I would leave it right of the hole even if it killed me. Wind howling from the right, bunker short left, hit it to about 5 feet and made the putt. So we turn back and play 1 again. First shot, I actually blocked into the wind hard enough to hit it into the desert. Ah hell, re-tee and try again. Hit this one good, but into the right rough. Hit SW over the tree to about 20 feet and made the putt. The wind is dying down a bit now, so I take 6 iron on #2 instead of the 5 iron I hit earlier. I just let up a bit on this one and put it just below pin high on the right side, about 20 feet away. Missed it low but a good par. I hit another 2 iron on #3, although not as good this time. Had 110 yards and hit a great GW to 5 feet and made it. Back on #4, 160 yard par 4, hit the punch 8 iron online this time, but it ended up over the back of the green, just dead behind this hump. I played about 6 feet of break on this 9 foot putt, nearly made it, but it raced about 8 feet by (literally was about as close as I could get it). Almost almost almost made it, but alas, I did not.

We packed up after that and headed out as the rest of the course was getting backed up. In all, I played pretty damn well for how windy it was. I usually hate playing in the wind, but we approached this with a really good attitude and had really good results for the conditions.