Tee Time: 8:38am
Players: Youngjune, Harry, Wooyoung
Wow, what a round! I pretty much played my best round of golf in my life and this was my first round of the year in Korea! I played a few rounds back in January when I was in Vietnam but Korea has been too cold and I was skiing every weekend so no golf for me.
I have been practicing and taking lessons though but much less than previous years. It is nice to see that everything is finally starting to come together. When I played in Vietnam I played relatively well also but was lacking a lot of distance. I had decent distance this time so that was nice.
Since there was still snow on the ground in various areas and the bunkers were frozen, we were notified by the caddie that any ball in the snow (or lost in the snow) can be replaced or moved with no penalty. All bunkers can be removed with no penalty, etc. So modified rules.
Birch is generally considered the best of the 3 courses at Gapyeong Benest. Maple is the second best. Pine is generally considered the worst of the 3 but personally I like Pine. It’s the highest in terms of elevation so you get a great view from the top. There are some tough holes though and that’s why people don’t like Pine as much.
I started out with a hook on my drive so not the best start but it was in bounds and slightly left so ok. My second shot was really good and near the green. Third shot was a chip-in and the ball rolled in for birdie! Great start to the first round and first hole of the year!
At the turn we had the pizza. The pizza here is pretty good (caveat: for a Korean pizza).
After the turn, I had a decent drive and a great second shot that put me on the green. A medium distance putt rolled right in for my second birdie of the day!
My putter was on fire. I was sinking a lot of putts and getting close on the long putts with good distance control so only had 1 three putt all day. Everything else was 1 or 2 putts.
In the end, with some friendly scoring and concedes, the caddie scored a 83 for me! My lifetime best.
As for balls lost…only lost 2 balls. First ball was lost in the snow. I changed over from white to red balls after that. Second ball was lost in the water. Just a mis-hit…oh well.
Hopefully I can keep this up this season. Don’t want to tempt the golf gods so I won’t get arrogant or confident but will stay hopefully optimistic!
