Round #47 of 2025
Chestnut Mountain
Par 71 35/36
Senior tees 5654 yards 67.9/128
77* when we started our round. It hit 92* for our second half of our back nine.
50% Humidity under mostly sunny skies and a 10 mph breeze for the first 14 holes.
No threat of storms moving in at all.
There is no range at Chestnut so that meant my warm up was limited to stretching and practice putting. On the practice green it was obvious right away (as it always is at Chestnut) that the green speed was medium on the slow side. For 10 minutes I hit practice putts plenty firm and got a good feel for the pace that was going to be needed out on the course. I also discovered on the practice green that the greens were tender and semi moist under foot so that meant I could fire at pins and expect a land and stop finish or at the least a land, check, and settle within 6 feet.
The first 6 holes on the course are tight as heck, tree lined, and have sloped fairways. I leave my driver in the bag until the 8th hole on the front. On the first 6 holes I play a combo of 3,5,and 7 wood tee shots because placement is at a premium.
3 wood on 1 and then a 9 iron to the middle of the green. Two putt par from 35 feet. #2 is a Par 3 that played 143 yards. That is my 7 iron number. I flushed one that headed right for the pin. It ended up 2 inches from the cup. Tap in birdie. For the second time in a month I nearly made a Hole In One hitting an iron shot on a Par 3 to inside the length of a sleeve of balls. On #3 a par 5 I hit a PW for my third shot to 5 feet and made the putt for back to back birdies and -2 thru 3 holes. (third photo) Hit the Fwy with my 5 wood on #4 and then a 9 iron to the middle of the green and two putted for a par. On #5 the no.5 handicap hole I hit an 8 iron approach to 3 feet and made a third birdie. What the heck was this start....-3 thru 5? Three consecutive pars were next and then a bogey on #9. I finished the front 9 with a two under 33. What the heck it happened again.....I've shot in red numbers for the first 9 holes now a handful of times this summer and that is some rare stuff for me for sure.
I started the back steady with 3 straight pars. On the devilish 13th hole I have never felt comfortable with hitting my tee shot any time I played Chestnut. It is a zig zag downhill Par 5 where the tee shot is so tight to hit the middle part of the hole and not hit it any any of the hazards in the fairway. In previous rounds have hit driver, 3 wood, 5 wood, and 7 wood in an effort to just tackle the first shot on that hole that is so tough. I have had marginal success using the different tee clubs. I decided to just go with a safe 6 iron to the left corner of the second zag and not risk hitting a wood. It was the extra safe choice I thought I was taking. What happened? I came over the top bad and hooked that 6 iron into the biggest fullest tree on the left side of the fairway OB. Re teed another 6 iron and found the fairway. I had another poorly executed shot near the green. When it was all over I made double on 13. I so hate writing a 7 on my scorecard. Even thru 13 holes. I started to feel the heat about this point in the round. I didn't feel bad because I had been taking in fluid and food all round long it's just that the breeze that we had went bye bye and the sun got really cooking and the temps climbed into the low 90's. I got the ship upright somehow after my messy double and made pars on 14-16. On the last two holes I didn't have much left in the tank and while playing on fumes I made a bunch of lazy short tired swings that caused a pair of bogeys. So with my double 7 and bogeys on 17 and 18 I had a 4 over 40 on the back and for the round it was a 2 over 73.
Chestnut is tough right out of the gate. I got a handle on it early and that set the tone for my round.
Bill's friends have only been playing since their retirement years. They were very cool to play with and exercised proper golf etiquette and that was refreshing, but they took many times 4 or 5 shots to make it to the green. The pace of play was slow. The screen on our golf cart many times announced that we were 10 minutes behind pace. Our round ended up taking 4 hours 20 minutes.
Game ball? I guess I will have to give that award to my love of the game. I am still as crazy about playing 18 holes with the fellas as I was over 4 1/2 decades ago. I got it going early so I gave it my best shot to stay focused throughout the round. I hit a few speed bumps towards the end but they didn't end up continuing and causing me to completely crash.