Training Log Archive: PG

And then not having had enough exercise (to and from the start/finish from the car park was only 30 minutes today, I hustled off in mid-afternoon for a round at Bantry Bay Golf Club.

Actually it was for a little more map reading practice. There was no course map on the scorecard, but there was an aerial photo on the club's brochure, and it sure came in handy as I was as wild with my driver as I have been in a long time. Hitting it way off line, unbelievably finding the ball each time, and then consulting the aerial for a possible new route to the green.

Very pretty course, also pretty difficult, played it at about 6500-6600 yards, par 71, plus the wind was probably 20-30 miles an hour, I'd guess just a mild breeze for the locals, but several times I had to chase down my hat, and my bag got blown over a few times. Gail says I was getting a true Irish experience, except that it wasn't also raining hard.

Took me 3:20 to get around, I was moving as fast as I could, up and down a bunch of hills, but all the extra yardage finding my wayward shots, and then figuring out what to do next, added probably 30 minutes to the round. But enjoyed it a lot, scored a lot better (93, playing by the rules) than I deserved, because as JJ would say, I was sucks.

The first tee, no warm-up, dropped it right on the green, three putts later an easy 4....



And the tenth tee, 420 yards, dead into the wind, seldom have I seen a narrower target. I played it with imagination -- a drive way right, up near the 9th green, but in play, a second shot over a bunch of trees, again quite a ways right but just about hole high, and again in play, third shot a lob wedge over the greenside tree, 2 putts for an easy bogey. Deserved to get about a 10..... :-)

Shamrock day 2. Whatever hills we missed yesterday we certainly had today. Felt like I was going up most of the time, except at the end when it was down very rapidly.

Not as good a run as yesterday. Missed #1 to the left (not sure how it happened), went too far on #2 and had to come back, and very shaky dropping down to 9, took lots of extra time to finally decide I was too high. Overall maybe a couple of minutes. But very fast going down to 10 and 11, survived without trashing my ankles.

Overall, another day of really fun orienteering. I had a harder time get in synch with the map. The rock seemed not as well mapped as yesterday -- yesterday it all made sense, today I keep not being sure. A different mapper, but probably the difference was just how my brain was (or wasn't) working.

Would be nice to have some competition in my class. I thought about signing up for 55 or 60, but I'm quite happy where I am. I have a 20 minute lead in my class for the chase tomorrow but only 1 minute for the course, ahead of a M-16 Swede. I expect I'll get run down.

Lots more pleasant interactions with the Irish. :-)

The footing was similar to yesterday, though probably a little less nice stuff and a little more heavy stuff....



My course. And my route.

Results.