Clear Creek Golf Club

Saturday I headed a bit further south and found a place called Clear Creek Golf Club, a public course that seems to be adjacent to a parl of some sort. The place seemed pretty open much like a links course would be. After a decent warmup on the range and on the putting green I got to tee off around 12:30. At the time it seemed like I had the place to myself but we all know that rarely lasts.

Anyway, the first hole is a par-4 that has a creek crossing the fairway short of the green. I couldn't really tell how close that creek was but I eventually decided to hit 3-wood, just to be safe... and that was a wise decision as I ended up just about 20-25 yards short of the water. Unfortunately I either pushed or misaligned myself with my gap wedge and missed the green right and failed to get up and down so we started off with a bogey. Nothing tragic happened though.

The second is a par-4 that wanders left around a fairway bunker. The tee had to be up a bit on this day. I hit a very solid drive but I only had 100 yards left on a 400 yard hole. My approach to the green looked like this :

The second green at Clear Creek

This time I hit the gap wedge a little left and long but I was putting for birdie from about 25-30 feet. I had to come up over a rise in the green, making that putt tough to stop by the hole, a task that I failed to accomplish. I made the 6-footer for par so no damage done this time.

After hitting another solid drive that just missed the fairway left on the par-5 third I decided to go for the green from an iffy lie, probably something I shouldn't have tried with a 3-wood. I ended up hole-high to the right of the green as I hit an ugly low runner that just kinda kept stumbling forward. The pitch was nice but a little long, maybe 12-15 feet past the hole. Two putts gives me par.

I followed that up with pars on the par-4 fourth hole and the par-3 fifth. I pulled a 3-wood left on the fourth but hit a nice gap wedge from a ball-above-my-feet lie to about 20 feet past the hole. I then hit a nice 6-iron onto the green on the par-3, starting at the center of the green and drawing a bit toward the flag, again ending up about 20 feet past the hole.

On the par-5 sixth I hit another drive solid but a hade left, again just missing the fairway. After punching a 5-iron out of a haggard lie I only had about 100 yards to a back pin location on the green, shown below :

The approach to the green on the sixth hole

Gap wedge in hand, I tried to play out to the right of the pin but ended up leaving it out too far right, finding the fringe. I was only about 25 feet from the hole but I was on the wrong side of a ridge that ran through the green. The chip was hit as well as I could execute it but there was just no way I could get that ball to stop around the hole from where I was. I then missed the 8-footer for par. I felt I gave one away here, that pushed wedge cost me. The putt for par wasn't all that good either, I had been rolling it pretty well until then.

Anyway, that brings us to the par-3 seventh :

The short par-3 seventh hole at Clear Creek

The pin was on the front-right of the green so I only had a 9-iron in. While it felt solid I again pushed it to the right a little. Well, either that or I'm aiming that way today. At least I wasn't hitting those annoying weak leakers like I had been. Though I was short-sided again I hit an excellent chip for a tap-in par.

The eighth hole was another confusing tee shot, like the first. Its just 300 yards or so but has a big fairway bunker on the right side of the fairway. The fairway looks like it scurries around that same trap also. I didn't know if I should hit driver over it, hit 3-wood over the left side of it. I ended up hitting 4-iron left of the trap completely, not being sure where I'd end up with the other clubs. I pulled it a little, ending up just off the left side of the fairway, making the hole play longer. With 140 yards left to the hole from the rough I hit 8-iron and finished 25 feet past the pin, a really nice shot to be honest. Two putts for par and I was happy, though I left the birdie putt a shade short.

We close out the front nine with the 416-yard par-4 ninth :

Water protects the right side of the ninth green at Clear Creek

The hole is technically a dogleg left and I couldn't really figure out the right line to take off the tee. I picked a tree just right of the 150-pole and took a hack at it. I hit it about perfect, right at that tree, but ended up going through the fairway by about two yards. Still, I only had 170 yards to a back pin location that I really had no desire to challenge, especially considering the wet stuff to the right. I hit 5-iron about 20 feet left of the hole, slightly past the pin and onto the fringe. Again, I was on the wrong level, this time I was above the hole and needed to coax my ball down a slope to the hole. I decided to putt from the fringe this time and managed to get within a foot to the left of the cup. I was happy to take a par and finish the front nine in 38.

By this time it looked like I was catching up to the pack in front of me. There was a single immediately ahead of me ever since the fifth hole but I had been pacing myself well enough to avoid any delays. After a small wait, I hit 3-wood right at my target in the distance but again picked the wrong line, this time being two yards through the fairway on the dogleg right 10th hole. After a solid wedge to the green I had about 15 feet for birdie from above the hole, which somehow ended up being short. I had no idea how that ball stopped on that slope but a par is always good to me.

The guy ahead of me was waiting on the 11th tee so I joined him since there was a rather slow-moving threesome ahead of him. I'm not sure if this threw off my rhythm or what, but I hit my worst drive of the day here, pushing it to the right for the first time off the tee. Being a par-5 I had the chance to recover but my 5-iron from the rough didn't come out to clean. Now I had about 160-165 yards to the green, shown here :

The green of the par-5 11th hole

There is water crossing the fairway short of the green and again I had a somewhat iffy lie in the right hand rough. I decided on 6-iron and while I caught it clean I hit it a shade thin and ended up hitting the hump just short of the green and sticking there. I was only 20 feet from the hole but I had about 10 feet of rough to clear before getting to the surface. Fortunately the shot was slightly uphill, which allowed me to be aggressive and hit a firm chip to about two feet, saving par. That hole just felt like it could have been a lot worse.

We then came to the longest par-3 on the course, the 195-yard 12th. The tee was up quite a bit but the hole was cut back left. Still, the hole was 175 away and there was plenty of trouble left. I decided to hit 5-iron, thinking short was best to the back hole location. I hit another solid iron shot, much like on the fifth hole earlier. The ball hit the green on the back side and just trickled off onto the fringe again, leaving me with another downhill chip to the hole from about 30 feet away. This time the slope wasn't too severe but I gave it too much respect regardless of that fact and I left it about 10 feet short. I will still swear I made the putt even though I know it went around the hole... that ball looked good all the way there. Even now I feel like crying about it. The poor chip was to blame though.

The 13th was the longest par-5 on the course, measuring about 550 yards. My drive was again very solid but this time I didn't get the same draw or hook that I had been getting and I caught the edge of the fairway bunker on the right side. The recent flooding had washed out all of the traps so they were playing as ground under repair, as was evident here as all the sand was gone and the edges of the bunkers were washed out and my ball had settled underneath it. After a drop I laid up with 5-wood and then hit gap wedge onto the green, again just a bit past the hole. I missed the downhill 15-footer but a par is good.

I'm just now thinking to mention something about all of the putts I've had so far today and that is that every single one of them had some degree of a left-to-right break to them. Every. One. Like most right-handed players I don't do as well on those as I would on putts that scamper right-to-left. While I wasn't making too many I felt that I was making good passes at the ball so I'm not sure it mattered that much in the end. Still, after 13 holes I would have thought I'd have mixed in SOME variety.

Anyway, the 14th was the last par-3 of the day, today playing at about 145 yards. I hit 8-iron solid but a little left of the hole, safely on the green... or so I thought. The ball looked like it hit hole-high but it must have caught the slope of the green and ran off the back, stopping on the fringe. I did hit the shot a little lower than usual but I think that the ball would have normally stopped pretty quickly. I was about 30 feet from the hole but it was uphill (and yes, left-to-right again). I decided to putt and thought I might have struck it a bit too firm, instead I left myself about 4 feet short for par. Again, left-to-right, but I convinced my Titleist to roll in for par. That was probably the best putt I hit all day considering the break that was in that thing. On to the 15th!

After hitting yet another strong drive that ended up going through a fairway on the line I hit it on, I had to drop from a fairway bunker into the rough again. I seriously considered playing from the trap as I had a perfect lie but I decided to (1) play by the local rule and (2) save my club from potential damage from the exposed rocks and pebbles in the base of the bunker. I had a pitching wedge left but not quite a full shot with it as I only had about 110 yards to the pin. I was tempted to see if I could muscle a gap wedge there since what little wind we had was at my back but another trap was right in line short of the green. I took a little too much off but cleared the trap and left myself with about 20-25 feet for birdie, which I missed on the low side... to the right. Again. By this time it was a running gag between me and my playing partner, even to the point that all of HIS putts were left-to-right as well. I cursed the poor man.

By this time the threesome ahead of us was simply stuck in neutral or something. We ended up waiting long enough for another single to join us, making our happy party a threesome as well. After a bit of a wait we finally could play the short par-4 16th :

The view from the 16th tee at Clear Creek

Again, I was lost regarding what club to hit and where to hit it. My first playing partner told me about the falloff from the fairway to the left and about how far he thought the fairway ran out to the right but it didn't help too much. I ended up using 5-wood, which I rarely do off the tee. Since 4-iron seemed to be too short and 3-wood was decidedly too much I really didn't have another choice short of just ripping driver and chasing it down wherever it ended up. Anyway, I picked a line and hit a shot just left of said line, which ended up being 2 feet left of where the fairway actually was. No big deal, I made a good swing. Now I had about 90 yards left to a front hole location. Since I was in the rough I didn't want to try hitting a hard sand wedge, I've been using 85 yards as my max on that club and I didn't want to be short of an up pin. So we tried to choke down on a gap wedge instead.

The swing seemed good despite the ball drifting slightly right of the hole. The problem was I still managed to hit it about 10-15 yards too far, flying that front portion of the green and nearly ended up across the cart path. The lie was a bit narly, sitting down, and I had to try and pitch my ball up in the air if I was going to get it to stop somewhere near the hole. Perhaps it was the lie, perhaps not, but a semi-shanked it for the first time today. I truly think it was the lie, I didn't get that same "oh shit, WTF was that?" feeling that I had on those other adventures. The fact remains that I still had a tough up and down from where I was and I couldn't convert. My putt was pretty awful, I think I actually scuffed it before striking the ball. Double bogey here put me at 3-over for the nine and 5-over on the day. Rats.

The next hole is a par-4 that had a slight dogleg left to it. Some sort of hazard was on the right and would eventually cut across the fairway in front of the green. This time I had room for driver and I finally found a line that allowed my ball to stay in a fairway. I thin proceeded to hit the worst iron shot of the day, pushing a weak wedge onto the fringe short of the green. I made amends for the poor showing on the last hole by nearly holing out the chip for birdie, which made me feel a LOT better about myself.

On to the last hole, the 405-yard par-4 18th hole. There was water left but any type of good drive should clear that without issue, which was a good thing since I again hit my drive with a bit of a pull/hook. My ball hit the cart path at a point that seemed to be really close to the edge of the fairway, taking a huge bounce and disappearing over a hill. My impression was that I didn't hit the ball all that far left, later I'd discover that the fairway did kinda wander a little right at that point. I simply didn't think that part of the hole was reachable from the tee.

Anyway, eventually I found my ball in the left rough just 100 yards from the green so that bounce gave me quite a boost. I had about 110 yards to the hole and another hook lie so I tried to knock down a pitching wedge again. This time the shot came out nearly perfect, ending up slightly past the hole and to the right. I had about 12 feet down a steep slope for birdie, but this time the putt was going to break RIGHT-TO-LEFT. Finally! I now had a putt within a reasonable range that I actually might feel more comfortable with! I can make this! So what do I do? I hit it too hard and missed it high.

With a closing par I shot 77 so I came away pretty pleased. I only hit three (!) fairways but it felt like 10 or 11 with how solidly I hit those drives. I only had one drive that was poor (on 11) and I did hook a 3-wood left (on 4) but other that that the rest was reasonable at worst. I hit nine greens but found the fringe several times. Overall I played pretty well, definitely better than Falcon Point, and I felt like I made some progress with the irons, in particular some of the mid-irons I hit on the par threes.

Despite that, I know I'm coming over the top too much and coming in way too steep. On Monday I finally decided to give one of the local teaching pros a shot and had a lesson with Brian Smith over at Cypress Lakes. He had me do a drill that makes me feel like I was swinging like Jim Furyk or Lee Trevino. Not that extreme perhaps, surely much more like Trevino and his post-back issues swing but without the aiming to the left. In any case, I definitely felt like I was taking the club outside on the backswing then having to reroute to the inside coming down, swinging out to the "right" as I came into the ball.

I went to the range with that idea today and I could feel a difference after hitting a number of short swings with this drill. I hit full shots while trying to complete the same move and I liked what I saw. I'm a little concerned about taking it out on the course since its so different from what I was doing, but considering that my current swing is clearly not optimal what do I really have to lose? I'll hit the range at least one more time and then we'll give it a go on Sunday. I might shoot 73, I might fail to break 90. Either way, it'll be fun.