Four shy of complete disaster

Ye gods.

Despite the weather being picture perfect for golf last night (sunny, dry, low 70s, slight breeze), I shot the worst round of my life in a long time ... wait for it ... 68.

Yes, that's 68 over nine holes.

Again, for those blessedly devoid of golf knowledge, let me put this in perspective ... a typical 18-hole course has a par of 72, so that means the par for the front and back nine holes is 36 each. So, I shot 68 last night, which means that I only needed four more strokes and would have doubled the par for the nine holes! For those keep track at home, that's really not good.

I can't begin to figure out what was my problem. For some reason, I kept lifting my head on my downswing, which made me top the ball, which caused very poor shots, which means it took far too many shots just to get to the green because I couldn't get any loft or distance. For as much as I was confident that I had improved on my goal of making solid contact, I sure as hell did not do that last night. Amazing ... just amazing.

I don't know if the issue was that I was playing without my partner (who has a miserable head cold) and therefore was playing both of the guys on the other team or if I simply wasn't concentrating but didn't realize it.

I'm still just as frustrated now, 14 hours after playing, as I was last night walking off of the 9th hole. Speaking of which ...

If I had had any chance of redeeming myself last night, it was gone on the 9th (and last) hole. I hit a gorgeous tee shot to land right in the middle if the fairway and set myself up for a chip shot onto the green. The cup was at the front of the green which is protected by a bunker ... you can see where this is going. One chip shot later and I'm standing in the kitty litter.

OK, no big deal, I know how to hit out of a bunker, so if I take my time and ... three shots later and I'm finally on the green. Instead of a possible bogey for the hole (or even a par), I wound up with a seven. Ho-lee crap.

Here's my score card:

Hole/par/score

• #1 / 5 / 7
  
• #2 / 4 / 7
  
• #3 / 5 / 10
  
• #4 / 4 / 9
  
• #5 / 4 / 7
  
• #6 / 3 / 5
  
• #7 / 4 / 9
  
• #8 / 3 / 6
  
• #9 / 4 / 8
  

I'm trying to focus on the few good things that happened last night because the round was completely discouraging. So here's the good news:

1. On Hole 2 (275 yards par 4), I hit a perfect tee shot with my 3-wood ... straight, dead on. Then I shanked the PW shot to get to the green and four putted to drop the rock. Crap.
   
2. On Hole 5 (345 yards, par 4), I topped the tee shot and it flopped about 50 yards (at most) in front of the tee box. Hoo boy. But, with my 3-wood I hit a beautiful, dead-on shot to drop the ball less than a yard off of the green. It was all downhill from there (shot a 9 for the hole!) but at least I hit my 3-wood well, something I have trouble doing.
   
3. On Hole 3, I had to hit out of some very tall grass on the edge of the fairway using my PW. Was able to flop the ball right onto the middle of the fairway. So at least I had that going for me, which was nice.
   
4. On the par 3 holes, especially Hole 6 (172 yards) I teed off well and was hitting my irons fairly straight and with great loft, for the most part.

I'm trying to put this round behind me because I know it's going to affect me next week if I don't do so. But, damn, it's difficult to not roll this over and over in my head. I'm the type of person who falls asleep almost instantly when I get into bed. It took me a good half hour last night.

So, what did I learn this week?

1. That I really need to figure out how to recover from a bad hole. I didn't realize last night how much I carry poor playing from one hole to the next instead of letting things go and essentially "starting over" on the next hole.
   
2. A good tip from one of the guys I was playing against for teeing off. When placing the ball on the tee, put the words on the ball so that you can read them as you stand at address. That way, it forces you to look down at the ball and, hopefully, keep looking down so that you don't pick up your head.

Next week is another round ... gotta put this one behind me.