Club In My Hand

Whilst Homer's Odyssey may have weighed anchor for a short while I was able to take SS Homer for a short trip around the harbour this weekend. I managed to play in the usually Saturday roll up yesterday and having not played or practiced for several weeks optimism wasn't high. It was lower than a snakes belly after an abject warm up where there were more shanks than straight ones.

I wasn't overly fussed about the performance to be fair. After the recent family illness trauma and the cancer diagnosis any golf was a bonus. I was pleasantly surprised to strike a great 3 wood off the 1st just short of the green and chipped to within a foot for an opening par. A fairway, green in regulation and par on the 2nd was too much. My cup runneth over. A poor drive on the 3rd brought reality back as I didn't score any points but I did put the approach to the 4th to within 3 feet but missed an easy birdie. I lost a ball with a horrid tee shot at the 6th and made a safe five at 7. On the next, the short par 3 I had the honour and hit a great 7 iron to within 4 feet. My three partners all followed suit and it was very enjoyable to walk down the hole with all four shots surrounding the flag. I even managed to convert the birdie.

The back nine started off steadily but my putting started to let me down and a couple of three putts really killed my score. There were some highlights including a good recovery from a bad tee shot at the 14th, a fine shot into the green at 16 (followed by another three putt) and a good tee shot into the 17th. However I managed to save the best until last. I hit my best drive of the day and followed it with a reasonable 5 wood to leave 138 to a back flag. Playing directly into the wind I decided to club up and hit a 6 iron. I strike it well. In fact it was probably the only shot all day that actually found the sweetspot but I turned it over into the greenside bunker. Sand shots are usually an achilles heel but I got this one perfectly and it rolled out to withing four feet and I managed to sink the putt to save par.

All in all I managed 33 points which included two holes where I didn't score and 36 putts including 4 x 3 putts. To be truthful I didn't hit any shot apart from the last 6 iron well but found a way to get it round. My drives in particular were poor. None managed to get much above head height except for the two or three that I carved away right where annoyingly they flew on a much higher and agreeable trajectory. Having recently had a lesson and having a change to make but not really having had any chance to practice it I think I got a little too wrapped up in swing thoughts after the bad drive at three and maybe didn't quite let the swing flow. At least I didn't disgrace myself and it was great to be out in the warm Autumnal air.

Total number of lost balls in 2010 = 72