It's coming (and going too)

There is always something satisfying about having an afternoon off work to play golf. I had a half day and so was on the first tee by 2.20pm and not a soul in sight. It was cloudy, breezy and bitter when the wind blew. However it has done a wonderful job of drying the course out since I played on Saturday. I had gone to the club today with the intention of a quick nine holes to keep my game ticking over and then onto the putting green to work on the changes to my chipping from the lesson on Sunday and give my putting its first workout of the new season.

I started off brightly. I pushed my tee shot at the 1st into the right hand trap but splashed to about ten feet and two putted. I hit a good drive down the 2nd, a solid second and a fine approach to about ten feet again. A fairway hit and a green in regulation. What was going on? A three putt curbed my enthusiasm. Mind you I stiffed my third from around seventy yards at the third (I'd driven into the right hand fairway bunker and had to lay up) to put a spring in my step. On the 6th I hit a majestic 5 iron with a hint of draw to the heart of the green for a par, made a sand save on the 8th and hit fairway and green for par on the 9th.

I was having a great ball striking day but isn't it always the way that when you have a lesson, you never get to try it out on the course? I wasn't missing too many greens, and when I was they were into bunkers, and so hadn't really had a chance to see how my chipping would stand up. I decided that as I had the whole back nine to myself I'd carry on. Well it seemed rude not to. Play or practice. Was there any real choice?

My drive at the 10th was a bit out of the neck but found the mown grass and I hit a towering 5 iron to around fifteen feet for a solid par. I hit an even better 5 iron for my tee shot to the 178 yard par 3 with a hint of draw which pitched and stopped around 6 feet away. I hit a weak first putt but made par. Reality kicked in and a single putt for double bogey got my focus back at the 12th.

The ball striking continued to be solid. I hit my worse drive of the day (a big loopy slice) at the 14th but hit a good 5 wood to about 40 yards short of the green and played a sweet 58 degree wedge to a tight front pin and put it 5 feet away to save par.

Having got home and looked at the numbers there was some very good news. I hit 50% of the fairways (which is one of my weaker parts of the game) and 44% of the greens in regulation. As my year to date GIR figure is a miserable 21% it shows a marked improvement. My ball striking is getting better but the bad news is the number of putts. There were 34 today including three, three putts. My distance control is poor and my short putting is tentative at best. We all know that as one part comes another goes but putting use to be my bedrock. I had a putting lesson last year and feel another is on the cards soon. I did take myself off to the putting green with the intention of working on it for half an hour but the wind was whipping up and I was frozen after about ten minutes and adjourned to the sanctuary of the clubhouse.

It's the monthly medal on Sunday (Royal Ascot knockout qualifier) and I'm cautiously optimistic of a decent showing. I'm also in a quandary. My regular partners are all otherwise engaged on Saturday and I'm in two minds whether to join one of the roll up "greedies" and get a round in or whether to have a lie in and head to the putting green to try to reach an understanding with the flat stick. My heart says play and my head says practice.

Total number of lost balls in 2010 = 7