It started with a pitch from 35 yards that ran 50 feet past the pin. Then, the ensuing and inevitable three-putt. So, just another typical round of golf for this mid-handicapper. But somewhere after that first hole, everything changed. The round ended just under four hours later with a 20-foot birdie chance on No. 18 and tap-in par for 75 (and net 62) — a career-best round. This happened in mid-July during my first round at The Cardinal, the ballyhooed new 18-hole public golf course at St. John’s Resort in Plymouth Township. The course opened to public play in June. I had only shot in the 70s two other times (77 and 79), both in 2021, so it’s safe to say this score came out of nowhere. (I preceded to revert back to my usual bogey golf ways in the following rounds, forgetting my own advice along the way.) But, in the hopes of uplifting a fellow golf sicko or two, here’s what I learned from that memorable round at The Cardinal.
A breath of fresh air
Sometimes, a golf course suits the eye. That might be the case for me at The Cardinal, the first new public high-end golf course in the area in more than 20 years. Architect Ray Hearn’s rejuvenated 18-hole layout is far more open off the tee than its overbearing 27-hole predecessor. Hundreds of mature trees were removed — though certainly many remain — to open sightlines and make the course more playable for the average spraying golfer. This allowed me, a right-handed golfer who plays a fade, to feel a little less pressure off the tee knowing I could miss and still be in play. The lush rough was thicker than typically seen from public courses, so there was still a penalty for wild drives, and bunkers often guarded a side of the fairway. But I stayed in the short grass, which put me in great position to avoid big scores.
Just commit already
For too long, I’ve been uncommitted to my natural shot shape off the tee. I’ve tried to set up on the left side of the tee box for more of a draw the past few years, despite only being able to hit a draw for about one month total last summer. But I recently started to accept the fade/slice was my best chance to post scores the rest of this season, and so I began lining up on the middle-right of tee boxes, aimed down the left. Before my round at The Cardinal, I thought about keeping my left shoulder pointed at the target for longer during my swing, and this approach actually … worked. I’ve had rounds where I don’t hit more than a single fairway, but I hit my first six on this day, and 10 of 14 overall. That was crucial to stay out of the rough. This made even more of a difference because of the combination of lush, long grass mixed with firm greens. Balls were rolling out more than 40 feet on the green when hitting out of the rough, and they did not bite much when coming from the fairway either. But staying in the short grass from the men’s white tees at around 6,000 yards allowed me to hit numerous wedge shots in, which led to hitting seven greens in regulation on the front and four more on the back to easily set a season high.
Be ’score ignorant‘
I just made that up. But looking back, it nicely sums up my mindset when I’ve played my best. And I’m guessing it might help you, too. Instead of constantly obsessing over your score, being blissfully ignorant and removing the hovering anxiety that comes with pursuing a career score, or say, breaking 80, has been the easily identifiable common thread between my best scores over the past four years. A great example came on The Cardinal’s short par-4 17th. Our white tee box was right at the 277-yard plate (measuring to the green’s center), but driving the green did not cross my mind, despite it being at the edge of my distance. I was just trying to put a good swing on it after four bogeys in five holes. I aimed down the left once again and hit a bit more of a slice than I wanted, losing sight of the ball as it came down on the right side of the fairway. I figured it bounded into the rough not too far from the green. But as I got out of the cart near my playing partner’s ball about 50 yards from the green and walked forward and to the right, I spotted a speck of white on the back right corner of the green, pin high. No way, I thought. I turned over my right shoulder, spotting a grounds crew member sitting on his machine on the cart path, half-expecting a returning grin as if to say, „Yea, I threw that ball on the green just to mess with you.“ I’d driven a par-4 for the first time in my life without even trying. The only time I thought about my score was on the par-4 ninth tee, when I realized a four would give me an even-par 36 on the front. Accordingly, as I looked at Hearn’s gorgeous church pew bunkering lining the right side, I proceeded to blow my drive way right, and bogeyed the hole. But a funny thing happened on the dogleg left par-5 11th. After getting to the green in two — where I previously would always think about having a chance for eagle — I walked off my putt from the ball on the back left to the pin front right … 63 feet, sloping a little downhill and a few paces from left to right. And then, without changing my putting routine of no practice strokes, I did what I hadn’t even thought about: I dripped the ball into the cup for my first-ever big bird. I was suddenly 1 under par through 11 holes on a legitimate golf course. That success didn’t last, of course, but the mindset did not change. It was not intentional laser focus, but something allowed my mind to narrow only to the exact task at hand. The next shot. Perhaps it came from playing a brand new course for the first time, and allowing the senses to take it all in. But as I walked off the scenic 18th green, away from the fountain sprouting from a sizable pond guarding the left side of the green, the excitement knowing I had probably set a personal record score finally set in. And then I realized I hadn’t lost a ball either. Go figure: It’s still the little things in golf that are the most rewarding. Marlowe Alter is a Sports Assistant Editor at the Detroit Free Press. Email him at: malter@freepress.com.