Club Chump

It was the first round of the Club Championship yesterday with the top 32 nett scores surviving a halfway cut and playing a second round today. Although I had no pretence to be good enough to win the Championship itself (scratch prize) I was keen to make the cut. I'd been striking the ball great especially at the range on Wednesday night although my practice round on Friday wasn't as good as I'd hoped. Still yesterday was another day.

Let me start by saying I hate par 3's. Nasty silly holes that make no sense to me. OK I'm probably biased. I failed to make the cut shooting a miserable 90 (nett 78) to miss out by three shots. However the story of this disaster is the six par 3's on the course which I managed to play in a staggering eleven (yes ELEVEN) over par alone. Add in a double bogey down the 7th having hooked my drive into a bunker guarding the third fairway and that was more than my handicap allowance spent in seven holes.

You'd think I hacked it round but the truth is a little different. Granted a triple bogey at the first thanks to a duffed bunker shot and three putts wasn't how I planned it but a solid par at the 2nd and a five (nett par) which should have been better but for a putt that lipped out and things were going reasonably well. I parred the 4th thanks to a chip and putt and got another nett par at the 5th. Standing on the par 3 sixth I was ticking along. However a hooked drive out of bounds meant I had to play three of the tee and I duly missed my target left. I duffed a tee shot but then sunk an outrageous twenty foot par to limit the damage.

As I mentioned the tee shot at the next found huge trouble and I could only play out of the bunker on the third fairway and faced an all or nothing shot over the environmental area which I cleared but missed the green to the right and finished on a bare lie with a bunker to go over. No prizes for guessing where the next shot finished. I played out of the bunker and thinned it over the green. A chip back and another single putt for a triple bogey.

By now my head was shot. My tee shot at the shortest hole on the course missed right by at least thirty yards into thick grass. I hacked out into a bunker and got out and two putted. I did manage to par the ninth though with another monster putt but went out in 47 (12 over par and all my shots gone).

I decided that I'd throw caution to the wind and just attack everything on the second half. I hit a great drive down 10 but missed the green and made five. I hit a solid shot at the par 3 11th but it was right of target. If it wasn't for my bad luck I wouldn't have had any luck at all. It landed on the footbridge and my only place to drop was thick rough or play it off the stones and concrete. I dropped it, got it on the green and proceeded to three putt.  I did manage to single bogey the par 3 12th having missed the green left. I parred the next few and made a good five (nett par) down the 16th thanks in main to a brave five wood from the right hand rough under a tree, clearing the bunker some 170 yards away and running just through the green.

On the par 3 17th (218 yards) I actually hit a good tee shot to the fringe of the green. I then decided to chip when a putt would have done and put it to the back of the green where I took another 3 putts. I did finish in a bit of style with my best drive of the day down the last, a good five wood and a solid wedge into the green for a par.

The question is what next. I've tried working on my game and can hit the ball great in practice but can't take the form onto the course. Have I practiced too much or not enough? Why can't I play par 3's? I know the ones at Royal Ascot are hard and they are relatively long but I seem to be making a pigs ear of them all of the time competitively. Is it a mental problem now?

I took today off and didn't play or practice at all. There is a medal next week and I'm tempted to leave the clubs at home all week and rock up next Saturday and just go out and see what happens. However the golfing voice in my head is telling me to play a few holes and play my way into form. I'm not sure what to do but suffice to say single figures is looking further away than ever. I guess the only redeeming positive is that apart from the par 3's and my adventures down the 7th I was pretty solid for the other holes so we know it's in there somewhere.

I'll bounce back stronger and hungrier. This season and the journey itself isn't over yet.

Total number of lost balls in 2010 = 54