Good morning.
Golf on Saturday was perfect. Oh, wait, 100
is not a perfect score; quite the opposite. Not one par, although I did have one 5' par putt lip out on the "pro" side, but that's as close as I came. I seriously questioned why I should ever come back to the course again.
For some reason on Sunday, I did, knowing I'd either confirm Saturday's ineptitude or not, but at least get in a good 2 or 4 mile walk. But after a butt-ugly 7 on the first hole, something strange happened. Suddenly some of my shots actually started looking like my shots were supposed to look. I actually made a par on the second hole, a par 5. I hit a short but decent drive on that hole, leaving me just under 300 yards to the green. I figured the only club I hit decently on the driving range was the 7-iron, so why not hit that for the second shot? I normally hit that club about 150 yards, and that's what I did, leaving myself another 150 still in the fairway. So I hit another 7-iron to the front of the green, and since the pin was on the front, I 2-putted for my par. It was very satisfying to say the least. Several bogeys followed, but I used the same driver, 7-iron, 9-iron strategy on the par 5 seventh hole for my second par! Eight and nine are short par 4's, and with decent in the fairway drives and short irons into the green, clubs I suddenly could hit again, I parred both those holes and ended up with a 43, a full 10+ shots lower than on Saturday. I say + because some of the 7's on Saturday's card were as high as I could write down (for handicap purposes), and they were really higher, possibly much higher if it had been a tournament and EVERY shot counted - you know, REAL golf. ;)
The back nine was more good, solid golf, initially with only short irons from the fairway. But then, jeeze, I needed a 6-iron to reach a pin, and I talked myself into hitting the 6 like it was the 7, and I left myself a 10 footer for birdie, tap in par. And on 13, our signature par 4, dogleg left, water on the right in front of the green, pin in the back, I was 185 to the flag. What should be a perfect 4-iron for me, what used to be one of my favorite clubs but one I haven't hit well since, umm, last summer. What the hell, why not. Nailed it! Beautiful high draw over the water, ball stops 6 feet from the pin. Birdie putt just misses on the low side. On 15 I made my 8 inch birdie putt. Ended up with a 41, shooting an 84, which used to be a "normal" score for me.
Caused me to do something really dumb, too. I signed up for next weekend's Club Championship tournament, which after Saturday's round I saw no purpose in doing. It's flighted by handicap, and I don't play in the Championship flight, never have, but I like to be competitive and have a chance to win something, either gross or net, in my flight. We'll see.