Your Hack Played in a Pro Am Again

For the first time in 3 years, I played in a local Pro Am yesterday. It was a GAP event held at Rehoboth Beach Yacht & Country Club and I was invited by our Head Professional, Andy Hewitt, to round out a team that included Nick Shevland (our current club champion) and Bill Gaughan.

A total of 35 teams teed off Tuesday at Rehoboth Beach Country Club (par 72, 6,327 yards), vying for the team title. The professionals were competing for a cash prize and Delaware Open exemptions. Teams were made up of four players each, taking the best net score of the four for each hole.

In the team portion, The Peninsula Golf & Country Club’s Greyson Rossi teamed up with Richard Hogarth, Dan Bittle and John Lappas to take the trophy with a net score of 14-under par 58. They won the USGA tiebreaker with the best final nine score.

In the professional category, an individual purse plus two exemptions and ties into the Delaware Open was up for grabs. Cripple Creek Golf & Country Club’s Andy Hewitt led the way with a 66. Bear Trap Dunes’ Michael Chanaud and Deerfield Golf Club’s Michael Tobaiason fired 69s to round out the exemptions. Andy was already exempt in the Open, but he also pocketed the $1,000 prize for winning. We had a lot of fun watching the round which included 6 birdies and no bogeys. Although he had trouble finding the fairway with his driver, his length and the accuracy of his iron play, freed his putter to work it’s magic.

Your Hack was obviously added to the team in the hopes of getting some par, net birdies to help the score. Because of my age, I was able to play up one tee, but gave up 2 strokes to play as a 5 handicap. I generally play Rehoboth well as my driver usually keeps me in the fairway and the par 5’s are very gettable.

The weather was cool with temperatures in the low 60’s under cloudy skies and just a light breeze. I missed the first fairway right and left my approach in the green-side bunker right. After playing the bunker shot to about 15 feet, my sometimes balky putter made it appearance with a very ugly 2 putt that barely snuck into the cup. Hole #2 was a great birdie opportunity as my gap wedge from the middle of the fairway stopped about 12 feet from the hole. The birdie putt was 3 feet short! We were even par as a team after 2 holes.

My first stroke was on the par 3, 3rd which is a longish hole, slightly uphill with water short and left. I hit 5 iron out on the toe that just cleared the pond and left a doable, uphill chip which I ran too far past the hole and then missed comeback putt. Bogey . . and the team remained at even par.

We finally made our first birdie on the par 5, 4th hole (3 of them actually) to go 1 under. Nick’s drive found water right, but he hit a great third onto the green and made the putt for a remarkable 4! Andy’s birdie was the result of a routine 2 putt. I found the water guarding the green after getting too aggressive with a 3-wood, but made par with a good up-and-down.

After missing another chance to add a birdie to the team total on the par 3, 5th hole we still sat at 1 under. Your Hack got a stroke on #6 and #8, hit both fairways and greens, but 3-putted both holes for bogey! Luckily for the team, Andy added birdies on #7 and #9 and Bill birdied #8. We were -4 as a team after the front nine. Your Hack shot 40 with 20 putts and 0 birdies. Fortunately, my playing partners made 7 birdies between them. My old short, yippee, wobbly stroke was just not cutting it.

Nick and Bill both birdied the first hole on the back nine and I finally added a par, net birdied on #11 which was cut by Andy’s 3. I had one stroke hole left and hadn’t helped the team at all.

Both Andy & Bill birdied #12 which moved the team to -7 for the day. My struggles on the par 3’s continued with bogeys on #13 and #15, but Bill and Nick added birdies on #14 and #16 respectively to keep us in the tournament. Standing on the 17th tee, we were -9 for the day with a par 5 ready for the taking - or so we thought. Andy, who had birdied the previous 3 par 5’s hit his drive right ending up under a tree and on a root. My weak, spinny drive ended up in a deep hole in the right bunker recently dug out by a fox (shoutout a free drop for burrowing animals!). Our partners were in decent shape, but no one was able to reach the green in two shots. Andy hit a terrific choke down, punch 3 wood off the tree root and didn’t break his wrist (he has US Open qualifying next week). But he couldn’t get up and down for birdie. Neither could the rest of us and we carded four pars.

The 18th hole was the last chance. A long par 4, into the wind, and a final stroke hole for your Hack. My drive cleared the bunker on the right and I had a 5-iron into the green. Andy was left, as was Bill, and Nick hit his drive OB. He was 1 under for the day coming into 18, but his double resulted in a 1 over 73. Bill ultimately made bogey for a 2 over 74.

My 5 iron was hit well but ended up pin-high right of the green as the expected draw did not happen. As was usual for the day, I was not able to sink the par putt and ended with a bogey and a 7 over 79. Andy however hit a towing approach from the left rough to about 8 feet and sank the putt which put us at -10 as a team. As outline previously, Andy’s 66 (6 birdies, no bogeys) left him in first place among the professionals.

Our team’s -10 had us in second place for a period of time, but the afternoon wave came in strong and we ended up in 7th place out of the 35 teams. Not a bad result considering my partners had to carry and old Hack around all day. Here is our team’s scorecard:

Naturally, I was disappointed not being able to help the team in the pro am. No birdies and two 3-putts on stroke holes is frustrating. 35 putts is almost criminal. The par 3’s were a problem - only 1 par and 3 bogeys. And, I only played the par 5’s even.

As you can see in the summary below, I only missed one fairway left and that was only by about 3 yards. Hitting 80% of the fairways is strong (I used my 2-iron on a couple of the short par 4’s to guarantee a fairway hit).

That is the end of my golf in April (the first official month of golf season in Delaware). I was able to post 12 rounds, 7 of which were in the 70’s and 3 of which were Competition rounds - 77, 79, & 79. However, I’m averaging 33.8 putts per round and 3-putting 6% of the time.

Since starting the season at a 9.8 GHIN Index, I ended April at 8.2 which is good progress toward my goal of getting to a 5 or less.

Thanks again for following my golf adventures and keep it in the short grass. Until next time.