Unlucky For Some?

Sunday dawned bright and sunny. Determined not to get caught out again I ensured there was a liberal coating of sun screen applied before venturing out for the monthly stableford. The neck, head and arms were still pretty red and sore and I didn't want them to get any worse. For the fashionista amongst the blog followers, Sunday saw me in a lime green Adidas shirt with zip front, black trousers with lime green pin stripe and trim, black shoes and lime green and white glove.

If Saturday had been a tale of two halves then the monthly stableford kept the storyline going. However as regular reader will know, I usually start well and fade into the pack, a bit like my bets in the Grand National and Masters. I had a great draw playing alongside Stevie Houghton (off 7) and Ed Murphy (he's heard them all before, playing off 17) and was in a positive frame of mind. Even when my tee shot found trouble at the first and I was forced out sideways and dropped a shot immediately to my handicap I wasn't concerned. I'd made 5 in the roll up the previous day and come back so I knew it was in there.

What I thought was there and what I produced on the sun drenched course however were two different things. A three putt at the 2nd stopped me getting the lost shot back immediately. From the centre of the 3rd and only 118 yards in I hit it fat and short. I went over the back of the green at the 4th and lost a ball at the 6th which was a polarisation of how I'd played it the day before. I even replicated the tee shot on the 7th and went way left but sadly there wasn't to be a Houdini like recovery and I had to make do with a bogey (nett par). I failed to score on the 8th after I thinned my bunker shot over the green but did manage to get two points down the 9th. Where were the heroics of Saturday? My score was lame. A meagre eleven points and much work to be done.

If the roll up had been about spontaneously collapsing, today was about a phoenix rising from the golfing ashes. Thanks to my renewed short game confidence I chipped and putted for a par at the 10th and although I gave a shot straight back at the 11th, I made a rare par at the next following a fairway splitting drive and a four iron to ten feet. Although the tee shot at the long 186 yard par three thirteenth was an ugly thin it found the green for another par. I pushed my drive right on the 14th but had a shot between the two large trees protecting that side of the fairway. I decided my 3 hybrid would keep it sufficiently low and give me the best chance of getting near the green. I hit it sweet. Low with a touch of fade it pitched short, skirted the left edge of the green, rolled off the contours to within eight feet. Granted I hit a lousy putt but it was another par. I secured my fifth par in six holes at the 15th and things were looking good. I knew the buffer zone was out of reach and that the handicap would finally be going up but I was playing well. It was just a shame it had taken ten holes to get going.

I had a bit of a chop down the 16th and gave a point back and gave another back at the next. Finding the green from 218 yards is always a tough ask and I rarely make par at the 17th. However now my handicap has gone back up, I'll be able to relax knowing the four I made there would actually be a nett par and good for two points. I hit another good drive at the final hole. I should say that I drove the ball really well, hitting 50% of the fairways in regulation. It is arguably the most erratic part of my game and so it was nice to have it working for a change. Of those fairways I did miss, none were by much and all were very much playable.

I followed the good drive with an exquisite 5 wood to leave me 88 yards to the front flag placement. The problem I'm having is trying to decide when this Linear method can be used for fuller shots such as a pitch like this and when I should just put a normal 3/4 swing on it and be done. In the end I did neither and shanked it straight right. Fortunately it didn't find the pond. I saved that for my next shot. In truth the shank threw me and the chip was played way too quickly. I hit it fat and sent the ball to a watery grave.

It wasn't the finish I'd hoped for although the 17 point total represents one of my better back nine performances for some time. All I have to do now is marry a normal front nine with the consistency I had shown for the last nine (we'll forget about the 18th). In the end my 28 point total was never going to save me from a handicap increase.

That increase has taken me up to an official handicap of 12.5 or 13 in real money. I get a shot now on the 17th. Am I disappointed? No-one likes to see their handicap go up but the harsh truth is that I've been struggling for a long time now. The short game had decimated those rare competitive games when I threatened to do well and there wasn't the quality of ball striking or the ability to create or protect a good score. Everything was a struggle almost from the off. However, historically whenever I've gone back up I usually get a good finish (top three) fairly soon afterwards and so get cut again. It's almost as if the extra shot emanates an air of calm and that the knowledge that I've that one shot left in the bank to use late on at the 17th means I don't try and push so hard with inevitable consequences. We'll see. It's the monthly medal next week and so hopefully the ball striking and short game will go from strength to strength and this is a mere pebble on the road back down towards my ultimate goal that remains a single figure handicap.