36 holes over the weekend for the first time this year and it was a mixed bag of results. Some good, some bad and some truly awful. This is a quick summary of the rounds.
Forest course at Pickala was the location for both rounds. It’s the only one fully open right now, but it is in pretty good condition considering we are only a few weeks since the snow left. We played the blue tees, so 5400 meters – these tees give a significant advantage to about 4 holes.
Despite having played a combination of about 36 holes prior, and a winter of once-a-week simulator golf, expectations were pretty low. I have been reading over the winter, The Four Foundations of Golf, and listening to several podcasts including the author, Jon Sherman‘s. The goal was to try to balance my mental attitude and enjoy the game more. I feel I am getting there, picking better targets, accepting the results but I hit some absolute shockers over the weekend.
Day 1
Day 2
I am not going to go into a shot by shot account of the rounds, but day one I couldn’t drive, on the second it improved quite a bit. Putting and approach, especially from 130 meters and in sucked quite a lot.
The highlights, the bad ones, were 3 skulled shots: 2 from the same distance with the same club. I don’t recall every doing that before so being the same distance away as when you started, but on the other side of the green, was a bit hard to swallow.
What did I learn?
Persevere: It’s only the start of the season. Damage limitation has been the goal for the past couple of years. I really struggle with this though as my bad shots are just so bad – almost difficult to account for (topping or skulling). I guess I really should practice a bit.
Mental: not angry or upset past a couple of steps away from the ball. Golf is fun (supposedly) I pay to play so enjoy the moments.
Remember the good shots: The was good over the weekend. Despite erratic driving and abysmal approach I did hit a reasonable rate of greens in regulation. I did hit a couple of par 5s in two and I did drive the par 4 18th both days.
I probably wrote at the beginning of last year, or at least I felt it, that I started the year exactly the way I didn’t want: no practice; no warm-ups; making stupid mistakes. I feel the same this year however I think I can reduce stupid. One of the great takeaways from The Four Foundations of Golf for me was when you hit a poor tee shot, for example, don’t go all out to try to make par – try to save bogey!!
How was your weekend? Has the season started as expected?
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