With the weekend over it is time to reflect on the two competition rounds I played on Saturday and Sunday. In April I have been struggling to play to my handicap of 10. Always two or three shots above it, meaning I’ve been creeping up from 9.6 at the start of the year to 10.0 now. The aim for me this weekend was to play around to my handicap – nothing more, nothing less. And apart from one hole on each round I managed it!
On Saturday I played in the May Medal at Sandford Springs. The weather was sunny and warm with a light wind. I set off with the aim of playing to my handicap and came pretty damn close.
Fairways : 40%
Greens in Reg : 28%
Putts : 32
Stoke Score : 84
I completed the front 9 at six over par which I was pretty happy with. A good back nine and I’d complete today’s goal. Unfortunately on the 16th hole I hit a hook drive and found myself at the bottom of a tree with a bad lie and only enough space to make a tiny back swing. I thought I’d be able to knock it out a couple of yards and then be able to hit at the green but unfortunately a couple of duffs later and after another bad lie and I walked off with a 7. I managed to bounce back and par the remaining 2 holes which made me feel better. On reflection I put the bad hole down to a bad drive, but it was also a bad decision to try to hack out. The only thing I could have done was take the ball back along the line of the flag with a penalty drop which would have meant a probable 6, so I think making the choice I took didn’t cost me too many shots in the end.
On Saturday night I was thinking about what I had to do to play to my handicap. On reflection is was obvious. Par 4 of the front 9, and 4 of the back 9 – with bogies on the rest would mean I play to 10! So this was my game plan for Sunday – it didn’t seem to hard and certainly something I could accomplish.
The weather man was unfortunately correct in his prediction for Sunday with stronger northern winds and heavy rain all morning!!! A number of people dropped out before hitting a ball and 4 walked in after 9 holes! The ones that were left to battle it out with the conditions were the brave ones!
Fairways : 69%
Greens in Reg : 28%
Putts : 32
Stroke Score : 85
The par at Theale is one extra than Sandford so with that taken into account the scores are equal.
I started off great! +1 gross after 5 holes meant that I had got my 4 pars very early into the round. I could now bogie my way to the 10th and I would be half way there. Unfortunately on the par three 6th I made a huge mistake. We all hit our tee shots into a strong wind and it looked like they all made it over the ditch before the green. We got down there and I saw a ball that was covered in mud, but I could just make out the Srixon logo. Pete, who generally doesn’t hit the ball as far as me concluded his must have gone in and so dropped and chipped over. It wasn’t until I had hit onto the green and cleaned the ball that I realized that I had played Pete’s ball! :-( We were both playing Srixons, and although we had uniquely identified them we didn’t declare them at the start so didn’t realize we were playing the same make! With the mud covering the ball I couldn’t see the number or make out the individual markings. So mistake made, and realizing it was my ball that had landed in the ditch I had to take a 2 stroke penalty for playing the wrong ball, drop behind the ditch for another penalty – and play out the hole for an eventual 8!
Generally an 8 on a par 3 would be card ruined! But I decided that given the hard conditions there wouldn’t be low scores that day and if I could get back to playing the way I started I would still have a chance. I managed to play the next 3 holes in par which meant I was only 6 over for the front 9, 1 more than my actual target – but considering the 6th hole a very good score!
With the weather conditions worsening over the back 9 I completed it in 8 over par which I think was reasonable. Much to my surprise my net 75 was good enough for second! Everybody found the conditions really tough and the scores reflected that. Everybody except Jason Burton who came in with a net 67!!! An awesome round, I can’t wait to see what his handicap gets cut to! So even if I had got a 3 on the 6th hole I’d have had no chance of beating Jason, which meant the overall it didn’t matter.
So I’ve learned a couple of valuable lessons this weekend. Always make sure you are hitting the correct ball, even when it is covered in mud, and never give up because you never know how everybody else is scoring! I am going to use the same tactic this week of trying to par 8 of 18 holes as it seemed to work well, and if it wasn’t for the bad hole each day I could have played to my handicap or even better.