Different Day Same......

After the relative success of my game at Sand Martins yesterday it was back to reality in the April medal. Those that have been following a sorry story recently will know that I'd only planned to play today to honour my commitment as I had a drawn tee time and that I planned to take a break from the game to see if my missing mojo would return.

The day didn't start well. The competition was delayed by almost an hour as a shroud of mist (definitely not volcanic in origin) lingered over the course reducing visibility at times to about fifty yards. Once the sun got to work though it burned off in no time and we were under way. I went to the practice ground to warm up but my initial efforts did not match the glorious sunny conditions. I had no expectations going onto the first tee and was determined that whatever would be, would be. That mindset was tested after shot one which was a horrid snap hook that headed towards the pond and thick rough and was never seen again. My provisional found a rubbish lie behind some trees and my pitch and run inevitably ran into a bunker. By the time I had holed out for a glorious 7 I was +4 after one.

I did par the 3rd and 4th and hit a great drive and reasonable second down the par 5 5th to leave about 150 yards to a back pin position. I hit what I thought was a good six iron which didn't carry the greenside bunker. An over exuberant sand shot over the green and a chip back on and I'd racked another double without seemingly breaking sweat. I managed to jump aboard the bogey train for the rest of the outward nine and by the turn had used eleven of my twelve shots in a stunning 46 (+11) to the turn.

Things couldn't get any worse could they? Well as I've posed the question the answer seems inevitable. I hit a lovely snap hook off ten into the garden of the property backing onto the course. Another reload. I did however make a par with the second ball to limit the damage. Just to prove to myself and my partners that I had a rough idea what I'm doing I hit the green at the tricky 186 yard 13th for par. And then the rot set in and any remaining flicker of enjoyment went as I took a double bogey 7 at 15 and then a triple at 16 including a missed putt from inside a foot (as if it really mattered). I did manage to save my best drive until last and managed to make a modest 6 (nett 5) on the par 5. Once the maths had been done it was an inward 47 for a marvellous 93 which was a nett 81 and 26th in my division.

So nothing much has changed. I'm still not enjoying my golf as I hate hacking it around any course. I got another 0.1 on my handicap making the goal of single figures that little bit harder to reach and I managed to get sunburned too. I'm playing with my regular partner Hywel tomorrow and then I'm having a week off. No practice, no lessons, no playing. Not even going to work on my putting. I'm hoping a clean break will allow the negativity that is crippling my golfing brain and the excessive moving parts in the swing can be vanquished into a quickly forgotten memory. At least the weather is set fair. Now where did I put the sun cream?

Total number of lost balls in 2010 = 10