Better But Worse

I played in the big roll up at the club this morning. This is normally a competitive arena with fierce golf and fiercer banter and where a lot of the better players in then club play. Our group started off the tenth as the first was pretty solid and to be honest I have never liked starting the course that way around even though it was originally intended to run that way when the course was built.

I didn't hit an inspiring opener which was a smothered low hooky thing that didn't go very far although I did hit a good recovery just short of the green and made a net par to start. I have to be honest and say I played quite steady despite my reticence for starting on the back nine and was level with my handicap standing on the 15th thanks in particular to a good up and down from the back of the 13th after a thinned tee shot with way too much club in my hand anyway.

I hooked my drive at the 15th and as we were the only ones on the course (back nine anyway) opted to play back down the 14th fairway and leave an approach in rather than risk carrying all the thick rough and the ditch that runs across the fairway from a thick muddy lie. I hit the shot well and had a angle for my approach with a 7 iron in hand but pulled it left of the green and on the bank by the left hand bunker. I only had to get the chip running to find the slope on the green and take it to the hole and of course I committed the cardinal sin of not hitting it and leaving myself a downhill 12 footer which I missed and so dropped a shot.

Much like yesterday I started a run of single point holes on 16 and 17 and hit a ropey drive on the 18th which sailed perilously close to the right hand out of bounds. I hit a decent recovery and had 186 yards slightly downwind. I am usually a conservative player and would have pulled a short iron out to lay up short of the water but somehow found myself looking over the shot with my hybrid in hand. No idea why. I hit it great from a good lie in the rough but it started to fade right on the breeze and headed towards the pond. I didn't see a splash and when I got there is had made it and was about ten feet short of the green on the bank. I hit a good chip to within three foot for a fighting par and finished with 16 points which was a big improvement on the paltry 13 in yesterdays stableford.

When we got round to the first there was a queue and so the pace of the round slowed but I made a good four (nett par) to keep the score ticking over. For the second day running the 2nd hole didn't play ball and I was lucky to walk away with a single point. Playing the 4th I had a 7 iron in hand and the flag was at the back and it was into the wind and from 137 yards was confident of finding the dancefloor and making par. I hit it sweetly but turned it over. It was a bit of a squeaky bum moment as there is a big bank on the left of the green and it isn't unknown for balls to hit that and go out of bounds. Fortunately it landed softly and the ground is still wet enough that it didn't make it but a similar shot in May or June may have resulted in a reload. I chipped on to about twelve feet and the proceeded to three but for the first blow out of the round.

For someone who has berated his chipping, it was pretty good as far as my lowly standards go and I made a good up and down at the 5th for par and hit a very good lofted approach from short of the 7th and converted a tricky six footer for a par save. I dropped a shot follwing a missed green at the 8th and closed the round with a solid enough nett par at the 9th for 15 points coming home and a total of 31 which surprisingly was good enough to be the best in the fourball and five points better than the stableford twenty four hours before.

However as the title indicates it wasn't all good news. There were considerably less well struck shots today and a prominent hook developing and that is the enigma. I hit it better yesterday and come almost last in my division and hit it far worse today and outscore the group. I guess I want my cake and eat it and want the quality of yesterdays ball striking with the scoring of today and as we all know isn't how this game works. Do I take comfort in the fact that I was able to get it round or do I feel disappointed in the manner I did it? I can't say I'm happy and one green in regulation all round probably tells a story in its own right although I clearly course managed my way round reasonably especially as it was playing long in the damp and windy conditions.

Call me weird but do you know what I actually got more of a buzz from the round yesterday. I felt I was hitting it better and just couldn't make anything happen through my chipping and putting. I need to sort the hook out that has crept into my game. I suspect I'm getting the club trapped as I swing down as that is a long standing issue that often rears its ugly head and usually a sign I'm swinging too flat. I'm sure a couple of range sessions will put that right.

It's back to the grind of a working week tomorrow and I can't say I'm looking forward to it. I'd rather be out working on my game and playing but we can't have everything. It's been another ultimately frustrating weekend in terms of end products but I've had an absolute blast with all the guys I've played with and especially in the 19th afterwards. No matter how good or bad a round is, the sanctuary of the clubhouse and the cameraderie of fellow golfers always makes the pain and heartbreak that bit easier to bear.