I actually got to play golf last week--not once but twice. Tuesday I played my local home course as a tune up for a round with a good friend that moved to Las Vegas. The round with my friend was Thursday and we played at a resort course in the Gold Country Hills close to Angels Camp, California. Both days the temperature was in the high 80's with a slight wind and very sunny. Is there anything better than golf on a warm spring day? How can you not love this sport, even if you don't play well?
My round on Tuesday did not start well on the short par 5. I duck hooked my drive into the trees. The rest of the hole did not go well as I developed a shank and everything went ugly right. I walked off the green with a 9 and walked to the next hole where the left-right army style golf continued with a triple on the hole. At that point a took a short inventory of what I was doing in my swing and tried slightly dropping my right shoulder. I also slowed down my swing. Hole number three saw me hit a magnificent towering drive straight and down the middle. Eureka, I found it! There were still a coupple of triples thrown in and two birdie putts missed, but it was a fun 100. Things did come together even though the score didn't show it. This is no time to panic.
Thursday rolled around and I was excited. We were originally sceduled to play a course South of Sonora, California but my friend called and said that there was a course near where he was staying that was in what looked to be in great shape. I had heard of the course he was talking about and the course was on my list of courses to play as was the original course. I agreed to make the change and play the second course. What a course and it was in fantastic shape. The fairways were lush, tree lined and green with the greens putting true and quick. It was very easy to fall in love with this course which was very playable and yet challenging.
The round started out well, at least on the drive. I did hit my drive into the rough on the left. I topped my second shot but hit a great seven iron onto the green with my third shot. Things went well on the front with me scoring a 46 over the nine holes. I was encouraged. The three pars kind of helped out the situation.
We bumped into the pro at nine and he asked how I liked the course so far. I told him that I had fallen in love with it. He told me that the course has that effect on players. His last comment was that the back was a bit harder. Well, let's get to it shall we?
I wish I could say that I played the back better than the front. Unfortunately, I felt a bit of a tug in my right side and it started to hurt. I took a couple of Tylenol to brunt the pain, but it never went away. I swung as well as I could and it didn't hurt on all swings. However, I did need to slow down my swing just a bit and was always mindful of the pain. My swing was unpredictable as that little tug was in the back of my mind. I would of loved to have erased the three quadruple bobies on the back, but that was due to the twinge in my back. I ended up shooting a 57 on the back for a 103 overall.
A 100 and a 103 are about ten to fifteen strokes away from where I was when I was playing regularly. I am not playing as much. Here is the important part of all of this. Even though I didn't score, I had a lot of laughs with my friend and I also had fun with the two guys I played with at my home course. Golf is about having fun and enjoying the company of others. It is not about score. I didn't throw my clubs in the lake and I didn't quit the game. I am going to play more this summer. The point of all this is golf is a lot of fun, especially if you keep in "fun" mode and stay out of "score" mode. Keep things in perspective and have fun.
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| It just doesn't get any better. Now let's make the putt for birdie. |
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