A Game of Inches

By on July 13, 2016

Rip

Well I have successfully completed the Open Event. By Success it does not mean I won unfortunately. It was kind of like whip cream on a nice turd.

I felt like I was the most prepared for this event mentally and physically. The golf swing mechanics were already in place and the ability is still there. I thought making the cut would be a breeze like a fat kid eating cake. If you can go out and throw up 66’s and 67’s consistently then you already know the talent exists. We need to turn these into Tournament scores. A scratch golfer cannot exist on any Tour. Those guys on the big stage are plus 6, plus 7 or plus 8 handicaps. This is the Goal! I wasn’t walking into this Tournament thinking I could win but I sure as hell should have won Miss Congeniality.

I had a great night sleep prior to the event. I remember when I was in High School I would spend summer nights camping out by the fire in my best friends backyard. Among sitting by the fire in our underwear telling stories and making lists of the hot girls in our school and doing stupid adolescent things (Like sitting around in our chonies! When girls would show up they had to follow the underwear only rule) I would always look up and see the Big Dipper in the sky. I am not sure why but this always kept me or put me in a peaceful state. Even after moving on in life and changing states 20 years later I still look up at night wherever I am and find the Big Dipper and reminisce on those mini adult hood times.

I was blessed to be able to play in an event miles away from my childhood town. It gave me the opportunity to stay with my best friend and his Family my first night before the event. After we spent most of the evening playing with his four kids it was time for me to go to bed. His oldest son who is 12 allowed me to stay in his room for the night. As I turned off the lights and lied down on my back in his bed I looked up at the ceiling and saw that he had glow in the dark stars on his ceiling……… in the form of the Big Dipper! I couldn’t wait to tell Mike in the morning as we then shared some of the camp outs we had with his son and the importance of the star formation over breakfast. Was this a sign?

I started off the day hitting the ball very well. The swing was effortless like a fat hairy dude picking up ladies with his Lambo. I was hitting fairways and greens and giving myself plenty of 15 foot birdie putts that I was sure would eventually start falling in. I got a little squirrely on a short dogleg right Par 4. I had to lay it up short of the green in a bunker and leave myself good putt to save a working man’s par. I executed the sand shot pretty good and had a legit chance for the par save. Unfortunately I missed it and made a lazy man’s bogey.

I had a choice here going into the next hole. I could get all upset and lose my cool by stomping and cursing. I could allow ALL of the negatives engulf my soul. This would most likely result in some bad aggressive swings on the next hole and many more to come and no doubt throw up some big numbers. Instead I chose to take a deep breath and allow what happened to just happen and forget. Next hole I smoked a 3 metal down the middle and left myself a calm smooth gap wedge to about 5 feet and made a birdie.

Back to even. I accepted the execution and never steered away from it. I knew that I did all I could on each shot and trusted everything.

The shots just didn’t fall my way. Sometimes you need to just get over it quickly and move on. Easier said than done but thus far I was 1 for 1.

Nothing miraculous was happening in my round I was just smacking it around hitting fairways and greens. No chip in, no bomb putts and no other darts were thrown. I just had to sit back and watch myself out play the two others in my group and witness them getting every putt to fall in from 25 feet. Hitting mediocre shots that got some of the luckiest bounces I have ever seen. Meanwhile I was hitting shots that appeared to be near perfect ricochet off flat smooth ground and putts break up hill in the snow both ways.

I was able to accept my own flaws and never got in my own way out there. This was a first for me in a long time. What I wasn’t aware of is how I became upset on the bounces I was getting in comparison of my playing competitors.

I kept asking myself why? What was I doing to deserve this? Was all of my hard work and patience not good enough? What am I doing so different that I am not getting any Love from the golf God’s? I am surprised I didn’t have any frogs plop out of hole and knock my ball out.

In my rounds prior to this I was averaging fewer than 30 putts per round. If I would have just done this I would have been 5 under par easily. My favorite part of the whole thing is I hit the ball great on the final 5 holes on Day 2. I did receive some of the worst bounces and hog shit results which caused me to miss 3 of the 5 greens in regulation. On the bright side I decided to start holing putts in those final 5 holes and had only 6 putts. 3 of holes I dropped putts that were outside 15 feet! Really, really good timing I say. FML

Never Give Up!! I knew I was missing the cut, I could have easily thrown in the towel and hung my head after seeing a pure piercing 5 iron go 20 yards farther than normal or a well struck wedge shot hit a competitors ball and ricochet off the green or a tee shot down the middle somehow end up under a tree right of the fairway. But I kept my composure stayed calm and stuck to my routine and the putts started to fall and I salvaged a decent round that could have been atom bomb finish. Unlike my Finish on Day 1!

  1. I learned I CAN hit great shots

  2. I learned that I can make putts and can carry the confidence into the next event

  3. Putting wins Championships

  4. I learned that I can shake off bad holes or bad breaks

Foo Golf Lives on to the next one.

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