102. The number is getting to be like a cancerous tumour in my brain. The same goes for 103, 104, or any other number just above the century mark. Like cancer cells, they reproduce, viciously laying waste to a once healthy mind. Every time I post one of these scores, I feel like part of me dies. The snowball effect is incredible. Each failure reinforces the message: “You suck and will never be a good golfer.” Frustration mounts, along with self-doubt. There is an ever-present sense of helplessness. All of which only serves to perpetuate the downward spiral. The scores get worse, the psyche suffers, so the scores get worse still.
Before my latest visit to Paris Grand Golf Club, I had played 26 rounds of golf this season – at 26 different courses. While I like the variety, you could argue that playing a different course every time out does nothing to improve your scores, especially if you've never played some of those courses ever before. The optimist in me chose to believe there was something to this line of thought. Perhaps I wasn't really as bad as my scores this season have indicated. The pragmatist in me knew this was wishful thinking. Some of my worst rounds this year have been at courses that I've played many times in previous years. So the optimist and the pragmatist went to Paris Grand for the second time this year, to see which one of them was correct.
In my previous visit, I finished with a score of 103. I played reasonably well through 11 holes, then blew up on four in a row to destroy any chance of a good result. This time, I blew up on the first four holes, then played quite well for the remainder of the round. In both cases, I ended up at the same place. You see, the golf gods are as versatile as they are vindictive. In the previous round, I hit very few greens in regulation and took a lot of penalty strokes. This time, I more than doubled the number of greens in regulation, while cutting my penalty strokes nearly in half. Aah yes, but I greatly upped my 3-putt numbers, finishing with 7 in total. So what do you get when you bring a little more ying and a lot less yang to your golf game? 102, apparently.
I pulled my opening drive, failing to emerge from a chute of trees. My ball dropped straight down and trickled into a hazard for good measure. After a great recovery shot with the 5-wood, I duffed a shot with the lob wedge. I duffed with the same wedge near the second green. From the fairway on hole #4, I was unable to hit with the ball above my feet. I chunked one into a fairway bunker, then picked one further ahead into some long fescue. When I managed to find a green in regulation, as I did with a beautiful 5-iron / gap wedge combination on hole #5, I would 3-putt to hole out. I did the same thing on hole #7, after a great driver / gap wedge combination.
In my previous round, I amassed a lot of penalties, but none of them came on #8 and #9, a pair of challenging par-5 holes with big carries over a brush-covered ravine. I collected three penalties on those holes alone this time around. The one on #9 was particularly annoying, as I hit a near-perfect tee shot 280 yards to the end of a narrowing fairway overlooking the ravine. I was two yards into the left rough, which was just enough to be blocked out by some high bushes on the left. They forced me to go further right than I wanted to, bringing more of the hazard into play. Of course, my ball landed in the hazard and was lost.
I opened with a solid par on the back nine. More impressive was how I handled the stretch beginning with hole #12. This is the stretch that killed me the last time. On #12, I hit a laser to the left side, skirting the right side of some tall trees before finding the fairway. A conservative approach from 150 yards left me short of the green, but I chipped 12 feet past the hole and drained the putt for par. It was the only significant putt I made all day. On #13, I hit a 225-yard bullet with the 3-iron, leaving 120 yards to the green. It was so pure, a thing of beauty. The gap wedge got me on the green and flag high, but I 3-putt for bogey. I even made a nice bunker shot on hole #14 to salvage bogey.
The fact is, there were a lot of positive shots. But as usual, the positives weren't nearly enough. So who proved correct in the debate between the optimist and the pragmatist?
The pragmatist was right, as always. But the optimist refuses to die.
Score: 102
Putts: 41
Fairways: 4
Greens: 5
Penalties: 5
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