One Third at The Highlands

There are a few courses that I've played twice this year: Granite Ridge Cobalt, Century Pines, Victoria Park East, and King's Forest. You can add The Highlands to that list, as I returned to the Bradford area course for my latest round of golf. I fired my second-worst score of the season, matching the 111 that I tallied in my return visit to Granite Ridge. A debacle at Bond Head's South Course is the only round that was more pitiful...and painful too.

I won't bore you with shot-by-shot accounts of the holes that were played. I do that far too much on this blog, admittedly for my own benefit rather than for readers. Suffice to say that just one third of the eighteen holes played were acceptable. Four of these produced pars, while the other two resulted in bogeys. If one half represents a passing grade (and one can make a very good argument that it shouldn't), then one third is a clear and utter failure. It's a fraction that also applies to my entire season, but more on that later.

The remaining two thirds of my round were comprised of four double-bogeys, four triples, three quads, and a quintuple! We're talking bogeys here, not toe-loops, salchows or Dionne siblings. I had no control off the tee and hit practically every other shot thin. In fact, to describe some of my shots as thin wold be generous; many of them were stone cold sculls. On a couple of occasions when my playing partners had moved ahead of me, they had to be very attentive, lest they receive a screaming Titleist to the knee caps or family jewels.

I've now played 21 rounds this season and just one third of those (there's that number again) have produced a score below 100. After levelling off in 2010 and taking a bit of a step backwards in 2011, this represents a huge setback for my game. It reminds me of my very early days in golf, when breaking 100 was considered something of an achievement. However, after going through a period when I shot consistently in the low 90's and occasionally in the high 80's, breaking 100 just doesn't cut it anymore.

To put things in perspective, take a look at my handicap factor. In 2009, it dipped to 15.7, a personal best. I spent the entire 2010 season at about 17.5, then crept up to 19.0 by the end of 2011. At the moment, my handicap factor is 22.0, or six points higher than it was three years ago. If I don't have a good round next time out, my handicap will likely jump to about 23.5. This is because my sensational round at Willow Valley late last year will come off my scoring record.

As fate would have it, my next round happens to be this weekend at Willow Valley. We'll see what happens.

Score: 111
Putts: 38
Fairways: 3
Greens: 3
Penalties: 6