Cause For Celebrations - Yes But...

Well finally, after promising so much and frankly letting you all down I've managed to deliver. I played a round at Royal Ascot on Monday as a marker for two guys putting their second round cards in for the Stone Cup event being held (play any two days out of three over the Bank Holiday period). After months of near misses and what might have been I played sublime golf and went round in a personal best at Royal Ascot of five over gross (75), out in 37 (+2) and back in 38 (+3).

Right, lets get the downer and disappointing bit out of the way first. Had I just waited twenty four hours and played on Monday that score, equivalent to 44 stableford points along with my 31 points from the first round would have been enough to win the whole event. Gutted. It would even have been enough to get me down to an 11 handicap again. Doubly gutted. Why didn't I wait? Well the forecast had been for heavy drizzle and more persistent rain for Monday and so in my wisdom decided to play in the dry on Sunday. Of course the gusty strong wind I experienced also died to nothing more than a stiff breeze making it much easier to score. Thrice gutted. However there is no point worrying about what could have been.

Five over par. Well blow me. Where did that come from? There was no hint of that on Sunday when all I could manage was another measly 31 points to match the one I had on Saturday when I went into meltdown in the last four holes.

Time to celebrate - AT LAST!

 Ironically I started off with a four (nett par) which was a shot more than I managed on both two preceding days. I followed it with four straight pars before missing the green on the 6th,  hitting a rubbish chip shot and giving myself too much to do to save par. I missed the green by a good thirty yards left on the 7th when I hooked my approach and it looked like a third straight bogey at the short par 3 eighth but a great nine foot par putt saved the day. The ninth as usual was playing directly into the stiffish breeze and so played all of its 400 yards. I hit a good tee shot but was still faced with 179 yards in. I opted for a five wood into the wind and hit it great but just missed the green left and it was sitting on an upslope about fifteen feet from the hole. I told you my short game was coming back. I hit a perfect wedge and it pitched where I wanted and ran gently into the heart of the hole for a birdie.

I hit a booming drive down ten and then put my nine iron from 113 yards to four feet and converted. Back to back birdies. No you haven't logged onto a proper golfers blog it is still Homer's story. I dropped a shot at the 12th, the hardest hole on the course (according to stroke index at least but not the most difficult for me personally) by rushing my approach having spent some time looking for one of my partners ball and feeling pressure from the group behind to keep moving. I only had a six iron in my hand but pulled it into the left hand bunker. I even managed to make par at the 16th, the scene of one of the disasters from Saturday. I wasn't going out of bound left again. No way Jose. Instead I missed the fairway right but my recovery ended up about twenty yards short of the green. The new improved Homer short game (version 3.1) put the ball to withing five feet and the Odyssey putter back in the bag for the mis-firing Ping Anser did the rest. I dropped shots at the last two holes (still net pars) but I can't have too many complaints.

And there you have it. Vindication, at least in the short term that just once in a while I can still play this game

Of course we all know that it is all about doing it again next time out and I'm certain that 75 is going to take a lot of living up to. I have to be honest and say that good players, books and instructional DVDs all say that a good score will come when you feel perfectly calm inside and that is exactly how it felt. I didn't feel rushed, everything was in sync and even the odd bad shot didn't end up in bad spot. I could see the lines of the putts and my stroke was smooth. I felt I had plenty of time in the swing and that to be truthful felt that every shot would be good. I guess the million dollar question is how do you bottle that serenity?

Nothing better than shooting a personal best either and certainly a great way of getting rid of that bitter taste of frustration and not winning another Royal Ascot "major" but I'll take a 75 anytime. It's the usual Saturday roll up and the Centenary medal on Sunday so hopefully it won't be a flash in the pan. That's the beauty of my game. It's Forrest Gump golf. A round is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.