Scorecard: Seneca Creek: January 6, 2023: Back 9: White Tees +12

I shot +12 from the white tees.

Published by Underten Over

Last Updated January 6, 2023 12:48PM EST

Is shooting +12 worthy of a story? Not really, but the purpose of these stories is so that I can look back two years from now and go, "Remember when I was happy to get +12 from the white tees at Seneca?"

That assumes that in 2 years I'll still be talking myself in the first person.

The white tees on the back nine at Seneca got me good today. I played the exact same layout on Wednesday and put up +9.

On Wednesday, I was wailing trees. I did some of that today, but many of my shots just came up short.

Hole 20

On hole 20, shooting my KC Pro Roc from the white tee and I drilled the sign on the red tee right in the face. The red tees are the short tees. So I went like 30 feet.

Now essentially teeing off from the red, I needed to make it to bend in the dog leg. I came up short. I left myself pinched off to get to the basket in order to save par. I was lucky to get a bogey only. I did try a roller, but rollers literally go in the exact opposite direction every time I try one.

Practicing

That's how I like to practice on the course - I take shots. I'll throw rollers, forehand shots, grenades, thumbers, whatever. But if the outcome is literally ridiculous, which is often the case, I then take what I consider to be my best shot to make the hole, and score it.

Taking practice shots and trying different approaches to a problem is important, as-is navigating each hole with the best of my ability. So I practice different shots, but I also reinforce what it feels like to play each hole using what is the best shot I can throw. That's what I do in tournament play. I don't bust out crazy shots, I play shots I know I can make.

I used to practice by just playing whatever shot I happened to throw, but now if I throw an absolute trash shot, I might shoot it again. More often, I like to see if I can still par after missing off the tee, but sometimes, I want to feel what it's like to make that shot. Always throwing the bad shot and leaving it like that, it reinforces the bad shot, for me.

Hole 21

Things got worse on hole 21. I didn't play horribly, but I came up short.

Here's what the white tee looks like.

My game plan on this hole is one placement shot to get out of the woods and then attack the basket. Unfortunately, I came up short off the tee with my Star Mako3. Had I gone 30 feet farther, my plan had a chance to succeed.

You can see in this photo, I was just too short. The basket is another 220 to the right of those pine trees.

The only shot I have that can go that far and that shape is a backhand anhyzer. For some reason, at this time, I was getting twisted up about my grip and disc angle when throwing standstill, so I didn't turn my flippy Mako3 over enough and left myself a mile for par. Then I missed my putt for a double bogey.

Hole 22

On hole 22 I got in the trees and out of position. I could never get it back.

Hole 23

I played this from the white tee to the long basket. It's nearly 500 feet. This hole I played pretty well. It's basically the exact same tee shot as hole 21. But this time, I got there with my Star Mako3 for position. My second shot was also a successful position shot to the mouth of the mando leading to the basket. This is a downhill shot and I got too much air under it. I two-putted it for another double bogey.

Playing hole 23 from the white to the long basket is a legit hole. There is no room for error.

The rest of the holes I bogeyed.

That's why I like playing the white tees. I have to make every shot, or else, I'm not getting par. In terms of birdie opportunities, at least on the back 9, maybe 20 and 21 if I get lucky. I double bogeyed both today. On Wednesday, I bogeyed 20 and 21.

It's not that the red tees are easy, but there's more room to miss lines from the shorter tees. For me, from the white tees, literally every shot counts, and a lot of putts are going to be 25 footers or longer.