Saboba Springs shootout Recap

Saboba Springs. A staple golf course located east of Riverside, Ca. Home to many mini tour events and Q school venues. Pretty much everyone who’s come up through west coast golf has played an event or two here. I really enjoy the layout. Pretty simple but does a couple hidden challenges scattered about. Tee shots are valuable here but typically, it comes down to who’s the best putter.

Coming off Santa Barbara two weeks before, I was feeling good. Ball striking was great, chipping and putting felt solid. Day one went pretty well. A bit of a slow start with a bunch of pars. Hole 5 is a dogleg left par 5 with water to the right of the green. I decided to cut the corner with driver which left me about 220 yards into the green. The pin was back right with water lurking just off the green. I pulled my approach a bit. It landed on the right edge of the green with a ton of spin. It caught a slope and filtered towards the fringe. Slowly it trickled down the fringe and off into the water.

After 2 drops rolling back into the hazard, I placed the ball on its landing spot from the previous drop which was on a significant slope. My chip came in hot and rolled to seven feet beyond the hole. After missing the putt, I was driven to take advantage of the next par 5. This was a pretty routine 318 yard drive down right center fairway leaving a light 6 iron into the flag. My approach landed 25 feet to the left which led to a tap in birdie. The rest of round one was like this. One minor mistake followed by a few good holes.

Saboba Springs has poa annua grass greens. Commonly referred to as a weed like grass, I learned as to why on day two. I couldn’t make ANYTHING of any consequence day 2. Typically courses have green rollers which flatten and compact green complexes. This course doesn’t use one. Poa annua is a rapid growth gras as well, meaning throughout the day, grass grows. I’d never competed on greens which changed so much throughout 5 hours of golf. It was pretty eye opening as I struggled to adjust. My journey is far from the norm so I don’t have the most diverse grass experience. However, it’s fun to find new challenges and learn how to learn and implement change during a tournament.

+3 total for the tournament. Ball striking put me in good enough positions to score well. I made a couple course management mistakes costing me both days. I will admit to playing a little timid at times (a common theme). Driver was great and when I was locked into the shot, I performed well. Not really happy with the score but happy with the trend.