Greens cause trouble as Souderton tops Pennridge
LOWER SALFORD >> Too many times Monday afternoon, a Pennridge or Souderton golf ball got waylaid moving across the green.
Belying their smooth-cut appearance, the greens at Lederach Golf Course proved a troublesome adversary for Indian and Ram golfers alike. While it wasn’t the best day on the course, Souderton did manage to take a 202-258 match victory over Pennridge.
Souderton’s Dawson Anders shot a match-low 38 but was also caught up by the bumpy greens.
“It’s not the best we could have played,” Anders said. “But our guys behind us will pick us up.”
Anders’ partner in the lead quartet, Anthony Barr, shot a 46 but also had a frustrating day. Jordan Engelhart, playing in Souderton’s third pairing, shot a 39 and his partner James O’Malley shot a 41 while No. 4 golfer Thomas Bulter posted a 40.
It was hot Monday, temperatures pushing above 90 degrees with almost no cloud cover but neither player in Souderton’s top pairing said it affected them. Barr actually prefers to play in hotter weather and they just chalked it up to a bad day.
“They were aerated last Monday, so they had been good until the sand wore off,” Anders said. “Now all the bumps are showing so it’s hard to play accurately. You can make a good stroke but it may not go in.”
“It’s pretty noticeable right now,” Barr added. “But you can’t worry about it, just hit the putt and worry about it later.”
Their opposition, Pennridge’s top pairing of Cole White and Michael Simpson, had some of the same issues. Playing just the front nine, it still led to a day with a lot of two-putts once they got on the greens.
“Later on I found that a lot of spots were bouncing or just stopping putts so that wasn’t really helping out,” Simpson, who shot a 48, said. “You can adjust to it but it’s more something you have to play through because it’s not like you can make every putt anyway.”
Holes 5 and 6 were perhaps the biggest agitators. The Par-3 Hole 5 was especially troublesome on the green, leaving putts short or off the mark while the longer Par-5 Hole 6 seemed to play extra long, according to Anders.
Simpson said his off outing was more on himself than the course. Between helping his older brother move into college and several other commitments, he missed the Rams’ last match and didn’t get to play over the weekend, so he wasn’t his sharpest on Monday.
Still, he felt he played well enough early, making up for some poor shots, but eventually everything caught up to him.
“I should have put away the driver early,” he said. “I hit a five-wood on the last hole and put it right in the fairway. Other than that, I think the spots I had just weren’t that good. The first few holes, I was chipping well and then it was a little iffy.”
Anders felt like he was able to get himself going down the stretch, hitting more greens and getting the speed of his putts up so even if the first one didn’t go down, he could tap the ball right in.
Both Barr and Anders said the course usually levels out toward the end of the season and right now, it’s tough going for anyone to make a putt on the first try. Having lost once in Suburban One League Continental Conference play already this season, Monday’s match was a big one for Souderton and the Indians got solid outings from their later pairings.
“They’ve been off and on but for the most part, they’ve been pretty solid,” Anders said.
“It gives us confidence in them,” Barr said.
Pennridge is a team still working to figure things out and Simpson said for the team and himself, it’ll come down to practice, repetition and rhythm.
Souderton (202): Dawson Anders 38, Jordan Engelhart 39, Thomas Butler 40, James O’Malley 41, Evan Kreiser 45. (Anthony Barr 46, Ryan Lowe 47, Jack DaSpain 57).
Pennridge (258): Cole White 45, Michael Simpson 48, Ben Baker 53, TJ Detweiler 56, Nick Perricone 56. (Caroline McFadden 56, Riley Lariviere 57, Nate Engler 63)
