improve my golf game

We actually didn’t play the real course, but only the 3-hole practice course (one par-4, one par-3, and one par-5) 6 times. The weather was looking bad, so we didn’t feel like investing 58 euros in case we couldn’t finish the round.

This is not representative of how I was doing, but after 18 holes, I was 3-over. It is a rather easy (wide open and not long) course plus the fact by playing it over and over, you can learn what works and doesn’t work on each hole. Also, my hitting was unfortunately not that great, but I had 9 one-putts, so I saved 8 pars and had one birdie.

It actually could have been better, but I managed to double bogey the last hole, so I was one over going into the last hole. It was quite windy (understatement… probably at least 2-3 clubs), which does not playing more difficult, but if I had to pick a wind direction, it was probably the easiest of wind directions.

Overall, disappointed that I didn’t hit more solidly, but on the other hand, most of the other people were fairly impressed.

I played on Saturday and shot a 74. Actually, I wasn’t thinking about it, but going into the last hole, if I would have had the same score on that hole as yesterday (a birdie), I would have set a new personal record and shot a 71. Instead, I made a double bogey (only one in two days) and shot a 74. Like I said, though, I wasn’t thinking about it. A birdie on that hole was not out of the questeion, because it was a par 5 which was downwind. I had an iron to the green on my second shot, hit it into the bunker, didn’t make it on the green from the bunker, and 3-putted… Oh well, that’s golf.

Actually, my drives were not as good as the previous day, but I was actually doing better going into the last hole. That goes to show that “drive is for show”.

The entry about measurements made me feel philosophical about why I enjoy golf so much, even though I have not played that much in over a year (and not at all in the last 5 months).

With golf, you get the enjoy the nature outdoors. (Yes, I am sure there’s lots of chemicals to make the greens look nice but the point is being outdoors and enjoying the greenery.)

In addition, there’s lots about golf which you can apply to life:

• In golf, you have only one chance at a shot. (Well, if you don’t count mulligans, there is only one shot.) Same as in life. In general, you don’t get “do overs” in life. So in golf as in life, you should think about what you are going to do before doing it since you only have one chance.
• In golf as in life, whatever you decide to do, then you have to accept the consequences. If you decide to go for the green in two, and then you hit it in the water, it was your decision.
• In golf as in life, it helps to understand your faults and weaknesses. Don’t try to hit it 200 yards over water if you are not capable of doing it, or if you are only capable of doing it 10% of the time. If you are weak at something, then you should practice so you can become better.
• And finally, in golf as in life, if you mess up, like hitting it into the water, then it doesn’t do any good to worry, complain, be sad or upset by it. What is done is done, you have to accept the situation, and try your best from your next shot.

Without measurements, how can one tell if one is really improving? Of course with golf, there are golf scores. However, a golf score alone does not tell the whole story. Besides, if the golf score is better (or worse), what parts are better (or worse) and what parts can be improved to do better?

Today, played for the first time since November. In addition, I had only touched clubs once in that timeframe (last weekend).

I shot a 73. However, scores can be misleading. It was a short par-70 course (with a course rating of 66.5. That means my score of 73 really reflected a 6.5 over the course rating. However, I’ll take that. Also, I was disappointed that two of my bogeys were on par 5s where I was less than 50 yards from the green. Ah well, that’s part of the “attraction” of golf. Like life, you have to accept what has happened and that you cannot change it, and you must move on and do the best you can.

Regarding measurements, I hit 9 greens-in-regulation, one 3-putt, and one birdie. This means that it was a fairly average round for me. The big difference is that I made 6 out of 9 up and downs, which then lead to a good score.

For the first time in about 5 months, I went out to the driving range. I was rather pleased how I did, but was frustrated for a while that I was hitting shots way left. Must be the rotation of the earth or something like that. Anyway, I was able to generally correct it by figuring out I was moving too much to the right on the backswing. For every action, there is a reaction.

Also, finally got to try out the putting training device I bought from Dave Pelz website.