Since my little Angela has come into our lives, my time spent on the golf course has been severely reduced. Don't get me wrong... I am NOT complaining. Spending time with my girls is far and away my favorite activity. But... with my not playing that often, it goes without saying my game has gotten a little rusty. Back when I was playing more often, my scores were consistently getting into the low 90s. Not great, but considering I started by posting scores of 110+, low 90's was a big improvement.
Over the past several months, I have gotten out to play a few times. In fact a couple weeks ago I posted a score of 90 at a course I had never played before and that score included four straight pars on the back 9. (Woo hoo!) Anyway.... about a month ago, my buddy Luke invited me to be his guest at one of Angel Park's member/guest tournaments. The format was a 2 man scramble which always helps when you are a little out of practice. I had intended to practice a couple times coming up to the tournament but a cold given to me by my lovely daughter put the kibosh on those plans. This past Saturday I showed up a little early hoping to knock the dust off the clubs and hopefully find my swing before we started.
My time on the driving range and the practice area seemed promising. I wasn't hitting the ball a mile but for the most part everything was straight. I would rather be in the fairway 50 yards behind everybody rather than 50 yards past somewhere in the desert. Straight is good. Our time finally came and we joined up with the other team playing in our group. It was my other friend Nass and his ringer... Err... His teammate. Based on our handicaps, our team would have a combined handicap of 23 while Nass's team was somewhere around 13. They should KILL us by pure score, but since they were giving us 5 strokes on each the front and back I felt good about our chances.
We approach the first tee and I watched as the other team put both their balls way down the fairway. Good start for them. As I walked up to the tee box all I could think was "don't slice. don't slice. DON'T SLICE!" I took a deep breath and tried to take a nice easy swing. At least I didn't slice. Instead my ball went straight.... straight left into the desert. I heard the others behind me take in a sharp breath and I hung my head in shame as I picked up my tee and turned around. Fortunately for me, Luke deals with pressure a bit better than I. He sailed his ball way down the fairway. It was a little to the right, but it was in the grass.
We managed to get up and down with a par, and as we walked back to the cart I couldn't help but feel lucky we had. Things got better for me on the next hole... We ended up with a par... then a par... then a par.... then a par... then a birdie... etc. When we made the turn, Luke and I were one under and I tried not to think about it so as not to jinx our game. Given our handicaps that was freakin' amazing. Basically every time one of us had a bad shot, the other had a good shot. Our games complemented each other perfectly that day. If I had to guess about who contributed the most I would say it as 65% Luke, 35% me... But given my lack of practice I am not going to feel too bad about that.
At the end of the round, Luke and I had shot even par. Take into consideration our handicap of 23 and we ended up with a net of 57! (Par 70 course) We are still waiting to find out if we placed in the tournament, but it felt damn good to turn in our score card. Nass's team also shot even par... but their net wasn't nearly as impressive. :-)
Here is a copy of the scorecard.
--C
Over the past several months, I have gotten out to play a few times. In fact a couple weeks ago I posted a score of 90 at a course I had never played before and that score included four straight pars on the back 9. (Woo hoo!) Anyway.... about a month ago, my buddy Luke invited me to be his guest at one of Angel Park's member/guest tournaments. The format was a 2 man scramble which always helps when you are a little out of practice. I had intended to practice a couple times coming up to the tournament but a cold given to me by my lovely daughter put the kibosh on those plans. This past Saturday I showed up a little early hoping to knock the dust off the clubs and hopefully find my swing before we started.
My time on the driving range and the practice area seemed promising. I wasn't hitting the ball a mile but for the most part everything was straight. I would rather be in the fairway 50 yards behind everybody rather than 50 yards past somewhere in the desert. Straight is good. Our time finally came and we joined up with the other team playing in our group. It was my other friend Nass and his ringer... Err... His teammate. Based on our handicaps, our team would have a combined handicap of 23 while Nass's team was somewhere around 13. They should KILL us by pure score, but since they were giving us 5 strokes on each the front and back I felt good about our chances.
We approach the first tee and I watched as the other team put both their balls way down the fairway. Good start for them. As I walked up to the tee box all I could think was "don't slice. don't slice. DON'T SLICE!" I took a deep breath and tried to take a nice easy swing. At least I didn't slice. Instead my ball went straight.... straight left into the desert. I heard the others behind me take in a sharp breath and I hung my head in shame as I picked up my tee and turned around. Fortunately for me, Luke deals with pressure a bit better than I. He sailed his ball way down the fairway. It was a little to the right, but it was in the grass.
We managed to get up and down with a par, and as we walked back to the cart I couldn't help but feel lucky we had. Things got better for me on the next hole... We ended up with a par... then a par... then a par.... then a par... then a birdie... etc. When we made the turn, Luke and I were one under and I tried not to think about it so as not to jinx our game. Given our handicaps that was freakin' amazing. Basically every time one of us had a bad shot, the other had a good shot. Our games complemented each other perfectly that day. If I had to guess about who contributed the most I would say it as 65% Luke, 35% me... But given my lack of practice I am not going to feel too bad about that.
At the end of the round, Luke and I had shot even par. Take into consideration our handicap of 23 and we ended up with a net of 57! (Par 70 course) We are still waiting to find out if we placed in the tournament, but it felt damn good to turn in our score card. Nass's team also shot even par... but their net wasn't nearly as impressive. :-)
Here is a copy of the scorecard.
--C
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