Round Story — The Firecracker Open: 91, and Fifteen Strokes Better

My first competitive round of this project: the Firecracker Open at Lions Municipal. The number on the card was 91 (+20). Two other numbers matter more — and I’ll get to both.

The Card

LIONS MUNICIPAL · FIRECRACKER OPEN · JUN 23, 2026
Score: 91 (+20)   |   Started on 10 (back nine first)

STROKES GAINED (vs scratch)
  Driving   -8.4      Approach  -1.2
  Short     -2.4      Putting   -8.3

Driving:   3/13 fairways. Median 191, longest 254.
           Accuracy -4.5, Distance -2.9, Penalties -1.0.
Approach:  100-200 yds GAINED strokes (see below).
Short:     10% up-and-down. 9 shots from rough, 2 from sand.
Putting:   39 putts.
Conditions: 7am start, cool early, windy, hot by the back nine.

The First Number: 6 of 7 from 100-150

Here’s the one I’m proudest of, and it’s buried inside a bad scorecard. From 100 to 150 yards — my single worst strokes-gained band at the start of this project, the distances where I bled the most — I hit 6 of 7 greens and gained 1.3 strokes on scratch. In a tournament. Under pressure. On a tight course.

APPROACH BY DISTANCE (vs scratch)
  Under 100:   -3.2 SG    1/6 greens
  100-150:     +1.3 SG    6/7 greens   <- the worst band, now a strength
  150-200:     +0.6 SG    1/4 greens
  200+:        +0.1 SG    0/3 greens

That band is the whole reason this project has a practice plan. It’s what I named in my own weekly reviews as the leak. It’s what I’ve ground on in the simulator — the 80% sessions, the pressure ladders, the “club up and target the back of the green” strategy. And today, for the first time, it held up in competition. The thing I’ve worked hardest on didn’t just survive the pressure — it was my best part of the game. My entire 100-to-200-yard range gained strokes on scratch. The transfer from range to course, the central question of this whole project, just got answered for the scoring irons: yes.

The Second Number: Fifteen Strokes

I played this same event in 2024 and shot 35 over. Today I shot 20 over. Same tournament, same course, two years apart — fifteen strokes better.

That’s the lens I’m choosing, and it isn’t spin. A year-ago version of me walks off a 91 in a tournament feeling like the round was a failure. Today I walked off seeing a fifteen-stroke improvement and a clear, specific lesson. The scoreboard said 91; the trend said something truer.

The Two Nines

Two holes wrote most of the 91: a 9 on the hole-11 par 4 (early in my day, since I started on 10) and a 9 on the hole-2 par 4 (late). Strip those two back to even bogeys and this is a 77.

Neither nine was one catastrophic swing. Both were a bad break followed by a cascade. On 11: a penalty in a tough spot, then under a tree in deep rough, out short, chip short, three-putt. On 2: a drive against the fence and a forced chip-out, a good approach, then into a bunker — the sand looked hard but wasn’t, so it took two to escape — then missed short putts. The bad breaks were going to cost something. The 9s came from not stopping the bleed.

Where It Actually Leaked

The strokes-gained data is unusually clear once you read it by category:

The 100-200 yard game gained strokes. The scoring irons — my priority work — transferred to competition. Confirmed, not hypothetical.
Inside 100 was the approach leak (-3.2, 1/6 greens). The short wedges, often from trouble — not the iron play.
Driving was the biggest leak (-8.4), and it was accuracy, not distance. 3 of 13 fairways. On a tight course that left me in recovery mode all day.
Putting struggled (-8.3, 39 putts) — specifically my hands getting active on short putts. First-tournament nerves, most likely, since putting has been a relative strength.
The short game tells the cascade story: 10% up-and-down, nine shots from rough, two from sand. Scrambling from trouble all day, converting one in ten.

The Lesson

The pattern is clear: my stock game has arrived — the corridor driver in normal conditions, and now the scoring irons even under tournament pressure. What the tournament exposed is the other game: damage control, recovery shots from sand and deep rough, and short putts under pressure. Every leak today clustered around trouble and pressure, not my A-swing.

So I don’t have a ball-striking problem or a competing problem. I have a damage-control problem. Sixteen of eighteen holes today were competitive tournament golf. The skill standing between today’s 91 and the 77 that was available is the discipline to say, when a hole goes sideways: take the safe play, make the highest score I can live with, and stop at double. Don’t try to rescue par from under a tree. That — plus trustworthy escapes from sand and rough, and quieter hands on short putts — is the build list now.

First tournament of the project, in the books. Fifteen strokes better than the last time I stood on this tee, with my hardest-earned skill — the scoring irons — holding up when it counted. Two holes got away, and they showed me exactly what to build next. That’s not a disappointing day. That’s a foundation.