My first round of 2022 was one of the most enjoyable solo rounds that I’ve had in a very long time. I was on the tail end of a mild Covid case, and wanted to just get out and enjoy some fresh air.
I tried to set myself up to make the round as pressure free as possible. I’m a walker, and since I knew the ground would be soft from recent snows, I decided to carry a light bag instead of using my pushcart.
To lighten things up further, I decided to only carry 7 clubs, which is extra limiting when you’re playing half of your shots lefty and half righty. For each hand I just carried a 4 hybrid, 8 iron, SW, and my trusty Bullseye putter. I also decided I wasn’t going to tee anything up to avoid the extra bending over. I left my rangefinder at home, and my phone in my pocket – no GPS app and no music or podcasts to keep me company. I also didn’t bring a towel or club brush, but that was just an oversight. I really just wanted to try to enjoy the walk and not get caught up in my score. Plus, the course is really hilly, and I wasn’t sure if I’d have the energy to walk 18. It was also pretty chilly – the high temp only got up to about 37 degrees Fahrenheit, but it was sunny with a gentle breeze.
I decided to play alternate shot – tee off on the odd holes lefty and the even holes righty, then switch hands on each shot until the ball was holed. This seems to have a better flow than what I did most of last year, which was to play half the holes righty, and half lefty. For skill context, I finished last season as a 18.2 handicap index playing half the holes lefty and half righty.
I doubled the first hole. No big deal. It’s one of the tougher holes on the course and I was just happy to be out there. On the second hole, a short par 3 where I would normally would hit a hard PW, I stuffed a righty 8 iron to 3 feet and make birdie. Despite my best efforts, I start to think, maybe I should keep score. I didn’t have anything to write on, so I thought it would be best to try and keep my score in relation to something.
At first I thought about keeping it in relation to bogey, but I didn’t want to put pressure on myself – I still wanted to keep it fun. I settled on double-bogey golf and went on to the next tee box. I proceed to make triple bogey on third hole, then double the fourth. So far, this seems like a good plan. still seems like a good plan. I’m six over par through four holes, or two under my target core. I then go par, bogey, bogey, par, double. I finish the front nine at 10 over par, or 8 under my target score. Despite my best effort, I can’t avoid thinking about scoring – now I want to shoot a bogey round.
I ended up doing it on the number. On the last hole (a par 5 – about 470 yards) I just needed to make a double, and I found a way to do it. I hit a great righty hybrid, and awful lefty hybrid, and a good righty hybrid to leave myself about 30 yards short of green. My wedges had been working really well from both sides all day. All I needed to do was to not blade it and I’d make an easy bogey, or possibly a par. Of course I blade it (lefty), and the ball just barely stayed in bounds. I manage to wedge it on righty, and two putt for an 89 (the course is a par 71).
It was a really fun round. I duffed a number of shots, but I made up for it by keeping my cool, keeping it in play, and playing really solidly around the greens. I definitely missed having the rangefinder. However, now that I know the course pretty well, I’m not sure how much it really helps. The course isn’t particularly well marked – it doesn’t have any marked sprinkler heads, just the basic blue/white/red/yellow markers in the ground. The slope feature of the rangefinder was very helpful when learning the course because of the elevation changes, but I suppose I have enough rounds under my belt to not really need it any more.
This round has me thinking about my goals for the year. I’ll probably make that the topic of my next post. I definitely want to try and focus more on process oriented goals than on achieving a particular handicap, but rounds like this remind me just how difficult that can be. Either way, I’m really looking forward to this season.
Alternate Golf 