Swingin' in the rain

Co-worker of mine and I made our way through the 35-par, nine holes that is the Groton Country Club in Groton, MA.

Overall, it's a nice course with short and long holes, but battling the elements was definitely less funner. For those who may be unfamiliar with the weather here in New England, June thus far has felt more like March or April ... cold and damp. We've had cloudy and/or rainy weather almost continuously for weeks. Truly the last nice weekend was Memorial Day weekend in May.

The first couple of holes were OK, weather-wise ... just overcast, low 60s and humid. But, showers kept moving through and it got dicey for a while.

Needless to say, this didn't really affect my game because I ended up with a 60 for the round ... well, I ended up picking up the ball on a couple of holes because I was double par and had reached my patience limit.

Speaking of which, I finally lost it on a golf course. You'd think being the mediocre golfer that I am that I would have fairly low expectations for myself.

You'd be wrong.

Turns out, I was wrong, too.

I just could not make solid contact consistently and as I've said in this space many times, if nothing else per round, I want to make consistent contact. Just wasn't happening last week (or lately, for that matter). And as much as I'd like to blame the weather, my buddy, Craig, shot a 45 (although he's been playing a lot longer than I have and is a much better golfer).

Still, shooting in the rain was kind of fun ... at least it wasn't thunder and lighting. The course is nice, but wow are there some serious hills. On the second hole, you can't even see the pin on the green because you have to shoot up and over a hill. And then once you get over the hill, you have to shoot straight up another hill to get to the green.

But like I said, I had had enough by the time I teed up on the 9th hole (303 yards, par 4). I "teed off" (and I use that term loosely) and only hit the ball about 20 yards. I took the penalty stroke and teed off again ... same result. At first I picked up the ball and announced I was done, but Craig encouraged me to drop the ball somewhere on the fairway and play through for practice ... so I did and it was still a disaster because I used too much club and cleared the green and then putted all over the place.

In the short time I've been playing this game I've never been so frustrated. I actually think about my game all the time and I think I've figured out that my address is messed up in that I'm standing too far away from the ball. Going to work on that at the range and see if that's what the problem is. If it's not, then I've got to figure this out soon because I'm really getting aggravated and that's not what I want when I head out onto the fairways.

I'm trying to have fun, but damn it's getting so tiring doing so poorly so consistently. If the weather would break, I could go to the range and get some work done ... here's hoping we see the sun soon.

So, what did I learn in Groton?

1. I need to pay closer attention to my mechanics if I'm going to try and figure out what's wrong. You can't diagnose and fix a problem if you're not paying attention.
   
2. Without a doubt, I've got to be more consistent in slowing down as I enter my backswing. Between too much speed and potential issues in my address, my contact is all off.
   
3. Once again I've got to work on lowering my expectations. I haven't been playing that long and this game takes quite a while to get at all good.
   
4. Despite my recent troubles, I can play this game. My first tee shot last week was spot on and beautiful ... just perfect. And I did make a few great shots. Like Craig said, that alone should tell me that I've got the basics to play this game ... it's a matter of playing and getting more experience and, like anything else, practice practice practice.