Next Year...

I lost in the first round of the club championship this year, disappointingly. Without going into too much detail, the round went like this: I lost each of the first holes to birdies and won the third. Then I lost the 4th to a bogey by missing a very short putt. My opponent and I tied the 5th and 6th holes with bogeys and the 7th, 8th and 9th with pars. That left me 2 down through 9. On the back nine, my opponent and I tied the 10th and 11th with bogeys, and I lost the 12th badly. That left me 3 down with 6 to play.

I began to play a bit better, winning the 13th and 14th holes. My birdie putt on 15 lipped out and my opponent made a great putt on 16 to tie. At that point, I was one down with two to play. I birdied the 17th hole and walked to the 18th all tied up, the first time the match had been tied since the 1st teebox. On 18, I hit a great drive while my opponent hit his into the left rough. Hitting first, I hit my 4i onto the green about 30 feet away. My opponent stiffed his approach shot to about 4 feet and sunk his putt in front of a large gallery, while I missed. Game over, thanks for playing.

I learned a good lesson this time around. Recreational golf, even while playing a match for $20 or even $200, is very different than playing a tournament, even a small club tournament. The fairways seem narrower, the trees more burdening, the greens slicker. It made no difference that I was playing the best golf of my life in the weeks approaching the club championship. I wasn't prepared, this time, for playing under the pressure and expectations that I faced.

After losing this year, I've now won the club championship 6 of the past 9 years. The three times I've lost, I lost in the first round as the defending champion. The psychology behind these matchups is key. As the defending champion playing the individual who qualified in last place (shooting 84 or so), the pressure's squarely on me while my opponent, probably just happy to have made it in the tournament, enjoys all upside with low expectations to win. I will have to do some thinking at how to attack this situation, but won't have a chance to face it again until 2015, assuming I have it in me to win next year.

As I wrote in my first post this year, "playing poorly affords me valuable perspective." It's true. It's frustrating but enduringly instructive going out on the golf course, expecting greatness and producing turds. It helps me realize just how lucky I am to even have the opportunity to pick up a club and play, to walk the course and compete. It may be a bit premature to say (as its about 82 and sunny outside currently), but I'm looking forward to ski season!

Who's with me?

July 2013

I had a mini breakthrough and a simultaneous setback yesterday, playing 36 holes at Metropolis Country Club. I shot 70 (-1) in a morning game, bogeying the 18th hole to just miss shooting 69. I went back out there in the afternoon with my friend Dan and had a nearly remarkable round. I found myself with a straightforward 20 foot putt to shoot a (-5) 66. This would have been the finest round of my life and one of the best rounds played at Metropolis, the course record being 65 in a tournament and 64 more recently in a weekend game. Unfortunately, I hit two poor putts, including a complete bonehead miss of a 2.5 foot par putt. Making that putt would have secured a 67, and a new record for me. Instead, I "settled" for the 68. Still, my best 36 hole performance to date, and I seem to be hitting my stride just in time for the club championship which begins this Sunday...

Back from Scotland

I shot 68 (-3) last Saturday, tying my all-time best. This after I almost missed my teetime by getting stuck in a 7AM traffic jam, only having time to hit 3 practice putts before my group was on the tee. The 68, strangely, felt like the highest I could have scored: I missed five putts of five feet or less. I hit solid drives and sharp approaches (11 birdie opportunities under 15 feet) and I stayed away from trouble by hitting the right clubs and sticking to routine. I made some, but not all, my putts.

I now know exactly what it takes to go out and shoot in the low 60's, but I know enough that I could just as easily go out next time and shoot 81. I hit 17 greens and the one I missed on #2, I nearly holed out a tough bunker shot. I missed a 5 foot birdie putt on the par 3 4th, and another on the 8th which turned into a three putt. But then I birdied 10 and 12, two of the hardest holes on the course and the two easiest 15th and 16th, just missing a 4 foot eagle putt on 16. I then missed two more very short putts on 17 and 18, leaving me stunned but still pleased with the round. I could have really gone low.

I returned from a golf trip to Scotland a few weeks ago with friends and played some of the historic/best/storied golf courses in the world. In a week, we played St. Andrews The Old Course, St. Andrews Castle Course, Kingsbarns twice, Carnoustie, Troon, Prestwick and Turnberry. Golf is much, much harder in Scotland. Part of it is the weather conditions, where 30 mph winds and driving rain describe some of the nicer days; part of it is the difference in turf, where the ball just does not sit up nicely on Scottish fairways as it does in calm Westchester or Long Island courses; some of it is the fescue which can swallow balls hit even slightly offline. Whatever it is, it's same game, but golf in Scotland is more complex and requires more creativity than stateside golf.

During the back nine at Carnoustie (the site of Jean Van de Velde's epic meltdown at the 1999 British Open), on a 460 yard par 4, downwind, I hit a Driver and 9-iron on the green but well past the pin, approximately 480 yards. On the 17th hole, playing into the wind, I was unable to reach the green with two of my best drivers on a 380 yard par 4. Forgetting about how a 30+ mph wind makes your swing unstable, you need creativity and trust to hit a 5 iron 130 yards into the wind or a 9 iron 175 yards downwind. Small mistakes are magnified and many of the best shots are not rewarded.

(Carnoustie 18th)

I went from playing unfamiliar courses in tough conditions back to where I've played hundreds of times in near perfect conditions. We will see if I can continue this momentum into the club championship starting in just two and a half weeks.

Turnberry

Turnberry

Troon

St. Andrews Castle

The Road Hole

Well Hi There 2013

I've shaken off the snow, blown away the dust, bought a new pair of shoes and of course a new driver. It is time for golf season.

I ended the season last year playing the best I've ever played. The first two rounds this year, though, I've struggled to an 84 and an 83. Not the golf I'm used to playing, and nearly a stroke a hole worse than the back end of last season. This level of play leaves me with mixed emotions. I dislike playing poorly. A lot.

Yet playing poorly affords me valuable perspective, and after I finish gritting my teeth, cursing under my breath and looking to the sky and asking "why????" I feel strangely gratified. Yucking it up around the course (two grounders on Saturday, one of which was a near w..wh...whiff) makes me realize just how difficult golf is. You can't figure it out. You can only appreciate the game when it's going your away, and respect it when it's not.

Golf's best moments are fleeting, and play out in moments, not minutes. So even as I struggled, missing short putts (back to back at least once), slicing drives and skulling chips, I approached a 35 yard pitch on the 11th, over a bunker to short pin, opened the face of my 62°, put a smooth swing on the back of the ball and knocked it right in the hole. No words were necessary, just a shrug, high fives from my playing partner and caddie, and onwards. I continued to struggle for the rest of the round.

I don't know what this golf season will bring, but will appreciate the ups and downs even as I struggle or perform.

DS

May 6 EDIT: Speaking of golf's best but fleeting moments, last Thursday, I hit the second best shot of my life. The 18th at Meadow Brook Club is a difficult par-4 dogleg to the right that goes steeply uphill to a diffcult and severely back to front sloping green. After a good drive that left me on the edge of the rough with 130 yards, I "chipped" an 8 iron in the hole for eagle! While the pitch I mentioned above might be a 1 in 200 shot, the shot last Thursday is probably more like a 1 in 5,000. Before last Thursday, I'd never holed out to finish the round. Sadly (on a relative basis) this time, I didn't see the ball go in; instead, I saw it seem to stop about 25 feet past the hole, and missed the ball trickling back off of the slope and into its home.