Well, this sucks. The season is winding down and my game is getting worse. I've played 38 complete golf rounds so far. Over the first 18 rounds, I broke 90 on six occasions, or once every third round. Not only that, but I broke 90 handily, with scores of 85, 86, 87, 86, 87 and 85. Over the last 20 rounds, I broke 90 just once. It happened to be a personal best of 78, but one good round out of 20 is not good enough. That stretch of 20 rounds includes close scores of 92, 91, 90, 91, 91, 93, 92 and 90, but I'm sick of missing the cut. Even more disturbing are the blowup scores I've had recently. Over the first 18 rounds, I reached 100 or more just once. Over the last 20 rounds, including this latest one, I reached the century mark five times. That is pathetic.
It's hard to pinpoint what changed. As the second part of the season began, small errors here and there crept into my games, pushing my scores into the lower nineties. Then as the season progressed, I pressed more and more to make up for this. If I was not headed for a sub-90 round, I lost interest and focus. Instead of finishing in the low nineties, as I had earlier, I started finishing in the very high nineties or over 100. Such was the case for my latest outing at Rockway Vineyards.
I started the opening par-5 with an atrocious drive off the heel of the club to an opposite fairway. A good 5-wood, 3-iron combination, followed by a great pitch and putt salvaged par, which I really didn't deserve. The wildness continued on hole #2, as I drove the ball left and out of bounds. My third from the tee was safe to the right of the fairway, but I hooked my fourth shot out of bounds again. After a penalty and drop, I hit my sixth into a greenside bunker. A decent out didn't hold the green. My eighth shot blew past the hole and I took two more putts to finish with a score of 10. Stick a fork in me, the round was over after just two holes!
I made bogey on hole #3, a 182-yard par-3, before the stupidity continued on hole #4. This is a short par-4 with OB along the entire left side. My first two tee shots both went OB. Switching to an iron, I finally put my fifth shot in play. From 150 yards, I duffed one across the fairway, under some trees. From there, I plunked one into a greenside bunker. Next , I picked the ball clean, sailing 40 yards past the green. With tree trouble and being short sided, I flew one to the opposite edge of the green. Three putts later, I collected a score of 12. It was a complete waste of time, waste of money, and waste of what might be the last great weather day we have this year.
I made four bogeys and a par to close out the front nine, but who cares? Who bloody cares if I can play five decent holes, or nine, or even fifteen! I need to play eighteen decent holes. Eighteen!
There were no massive blowup holes on the back nine, though there were four double-bogeys, thanks to some really garbage shots. Complete mis-hits! I won't describe them because I need to maintain some sanity.
I also made a couple of nice pars and respectable bogeys, but again, who the hell cares? Eighteen bloody holes! Eighteen, you idiot!
And the handicap factor jumped up to 17.6 – exactly where I finished LAST season! That is classic. I get a hole in one this year, I shoot a personal best of 78, I get my handicap factor down to a personal best of 15.5 – and a month or two later, it's all gone and I'm back to square one.
Great!
Score: 102
Putts: 35
Fairways: 4
Greens: 2
Penalties: 4
No comments:
Post a Comment