Grab the suntan lotion, kids, we're on the beach!

Shot 62 in the golf league last night and my partner and I lost the round, so we're 2-3-1 for the season. I just couldn't get anything working and only got four points for the night.

I'm trying not to focus on my score, but it still stinks when I shoot over 60 like that and look at the sheet from the league and see that my handicap is listed as 28 ... ye gods.

Having said that, though, I seem to have worked out the slicing issue in my drives (at least for last night I did). As I've mentioned before, for some reason this slice that has crept into my drive over the past few weeks. Well, after practicing and analyzing my swing, I realized the issue is that I'm cupping my hands at the top of my backswing which breaks my wrists and opens up the club face by the time I hit the ball.

So, I made a small adjustment in my backswing and that seems to have taken care of it because every drive was straight last night. Granted, some didn't go exactly where I wanted them because I mis-aimed and I topped a couple, but still, I met my goal of being able to diagnose the problem and find a solution and that's huge for me.

What's weird, though, (at least I think it is) is that the slice doesn't show up in my irons. I hit those straight on every time.

Moving on ...

Without a doubt, the biggest problem I ran into last night is when I hit into a bunker on the 13th hole, a 435-yarder with a slight dog-leg to the left. My third shot (I topped the tee shot, so I was screwed right from the beginning) landed in really tall stuff and I had to hack my way out with my PW. Sure enough, I couldn't clear the bunker and landed in the sand. It took me three shots to get out of the bunker and then I three-putted on the green. Not good ... really not good.

Despite hitting 62 for the back nine, there were a few good things that did happen last night:

1. For the second week in a row, I won the "closest to the pin" hole (last week it was eight feet, this week it was 11 feet, 11 inches). I also won the skin on the closest hole last week, so I won $25 (not sure how much I won this week). Every week the league has such a hole on a par 3 and it's the par 3 holes that I seem to excel at (my golf partner started calling me "Captain Par 3" last night).
   
2. Although I didn't birdie it, I did par the money hole last night, so at least I had that going for me ... which is nice.
   
3. Once again I was making solid contact, so now that I seem to have that down, I need to work on another part of my game. I've got a consistent address and solid contact, so I want to work on my aiming, which would help me immensely.
   
4. I only lost one ball last night, which was a huge improvement over last week when I lost four.
   
5. I didn't have any 10-stroke holes. It seems like every week I have at last one hole (usually a par 5) that I hit 10, but not last night. Um, I did have a few nines, but at least they weren't tens! < rolls eyes >

OK, so what did I learn this week?

1. I really need to work on my bunker shots. I'm not sure how I'm going to practice this because the only driving range in my area that I know of that has a practice bunker isn't very good ... it's literally like standing on beach sand because your feet sift through the sand and frankly, no sand trap is really like that. So I'm not sure how I'm going to practice this, but I definitely need to. I can't be taking three shots to get out of a trap. Of course, if I was a better golfer, I wouldn't end up in the kitty litter in the first place.
   
2. I should lower my expectations. I have to remember that this is only the second season I've been playing and I can't expect that I'm going to shoot around 50 over nine holes. I'd like to be able to do that, but I still have a lot to learn.
   
3. It's a cliche, but high risk, high reward ... I should every so often try to take more chances, especially with shots using my PW. Last night I was in some pretty tall stuff right on the edge of the fairway and normally I would've just taken a drop, but instead I decided to try hitting out of the grass and lo and behold, it worked! Flopped the ball right back onto the fairway and set myself up nicely for the next shot. Now, I may not want to do that every time, but making those kinds of shots will only add to my confidence.

Finally, I was wearing my desert camo boonie hat last night because it was in the low 60s, misty and very overcast. When I picked up Joey from daycare he said, "Dad, I love your hat! It's Star Wars awesome!" That's high praise from young Mr. Davis and it made me smile through all nine holes.