I shot 100 today…

Why is my golf game so all over the place?

I scored 100 this morning. If I’d been playing cricket, or snooker, or scrabble, that would be awesome.

Unfortunately, I was playing golf, and this was my worst round in a LONG time. An even worse score than I racked up the other week playing in vicious wind and rain at Kilmarnock Barassie.

Golf can be a really cruel game sometimes. Every time I play, I’m full of optimism about having a good round; playing to my handicap, showing some general signs of improvement, or maybe even breaking 80.

That doesn’t happy often, and luckily neither does hitting the big 100.

So what happened?

Well, teeing off at 7.30am when you’re pushing 50 years old is probably sub-optimal, but it’s what me, Dave and a couple of other friends have to do if we want to play midweek, because we have to work.

Playing at this time inevitably means pulling into the car park with 10 mins to spare, doing a few quick stretches and hitting six shots into a net before it’s time to go. It’s not tour-level prep.

Also, I hadn’t swung a club for 10 days. That doesn’t sound like much, but things definitely felt a bit rusty.

But, I’ve dealt with both of those factors many times and managed a semi-respectable score. Today, pretty much every part of my game was off.

The first green at Saffron Walden GC.

Hole-by-hole

There’s nothing better than hearing a hole-by-hole account of someone else’s round, so here goes:

Front 9

Hole 1: Driver way right into the trees. Hacked out. Wedge to the edge of the green. Three putts. Double bogey.

Hole 2: Decent 3 wood. Inexplicable wedge right off the toe OB (almost into the clubhouse). Reload, hoik it left of the green. Chip on and manage to sink a 6 footer for another double.

Hole 3: OK drive. Decent 4 iron, then found back left of the green with a wedge. Three putted again for a bogey.

Hole 4: Massive pull-hook with a 4 iron. Hit provisional – same result. Couldn’t find the first one. Hack out. Pulled 8 iron way left of green. Thinned chip shot through the green. Pick up.

Hole 5. Weak 7 iron short of the green but OK. Average chip and two putts for bogey.

Hole 6: Driver right into trees. Nice punch out, and found the green with a wedge. Yet another three putt (my putting was all over the place) for a bogey.

Hole 7: 5 iron right into trees. Left the chip short. Putted onto the green, then two more to get down. Double.

Hole 8: Nice drive down the middle. Nice 8 iron right on target but it goes a bit long. Chip on and two putts. Bogey.

Hole 9: Nice drive again in the fairway. Slightly scuffed 4 iron but only 30 yards from the green. Completely chunked an attempted pitch, then overcompensated and went to the back of the green. Awful first putt left me having to make a six footer for a bogey.

Front 9: 14 over par with three doubles, one pick-up and no pars. Grand total of 10 stableford points.

Back 9

Right, forget the front half and let’s start playing some golf.

Hole 10: Good drive, average 4 iron, then a wedge on to the green and I DIDN’T THRE PUTT!!!! Par. This is much better.

Hole 11: Nicely struck 8 iron just drifted to the left but on the fringe. Terrible first putt and missed a five footer, for another three putt. Bogey. Concentration starting to wane at this point.

Hole 12: Pull-hooked 2 iron into the trees but the golf gods choose to spit it out into the rough, albeit 260 yards from the green. Squirty 4 iron right into the trees. Hack out. Wedge onto the green and two putts. Double.

Hole 13: I actually can’t remember what I did here, but it wasn’t good. Really must have lost focus by this point. Another double.

Hole 14: Possibly the easiest hole on the course. Very ordinary 2 iron into the right rough. Good 9 iron find the green and manage not to three putt. ANOTHER PAR!

Hole 15: Massive pull-hook with a 3 wood into the trees. Didn’t bother with a provisional. Also didn’t find the ball. Pick up.

Hole 16: Pulled driver left into trees. Hacked out, then decent wedge on to the green and two putt. Bogey.

Hole 17: Yet another pull-hook with the driver. Again no provisional, and again didn’t find the ball. I did hit a lovely 7 iron into the green though when it didn’t matter. Pick up.

Hole 18: Really weak, off-the-toe, 8 iron short and right of the green. Tried to be too delicate with a flop shot, into the bunker. Thinned one across the green, almost OB. Chipped on but couldn’t hole the putt so picked up.

Back 9: 14 over par with two doubles, three pick-ups and two pars. Grand total of 11 stableford points.

TOTAL: 100 shots (actually probably worse because of the pick-ups) and 21 stableford points. Ouch.

So, why is my golf game so all over the place?

This is the nature of golf, right? Sometimes it slaps you in the face, sometimes it gives you a warm embrace, with no obvious explanation for either. Like Forrest said, you never know what you gonna get (here are some tips on battling that inconsistency).

No doubt there are various technical reasons for all my bad shots today, but concentration for me is definitely an issue. If I don’t get off to a decent start, I find it hard to keep the round on the rails, and then the bad stuff just starts to feed on itself.

Luck, I think, also plays a bigger role than we think. Today I lost three balls that I might well have found on another day, so that’s six shots right there. I might write a piece about that soon.

Ah well, maybe next time will be better…