An excellent birthday present

Turns out I can play this game after all.

Under humid and partly sunny conditions, we trudged around the back nine in the golf league yesterday afternoon and lookie lookie here ... I shot a 54! The best round I've ever had over nine holes.

Of course, it didn't start out that way as I lost my ball on my first tee shot. Over the course of play, I ended up taking three drops, so if I hadn't had to do that, I would've shot a 51 ... bummer. Still, I really felt good yesterday and was in a bit of a groove. Dunno if it was because it was my birthday (40th) but whatever it was, I had it working.

Even better, Kell and I won the round and it was close throughout, so that made for a great game. Kell also won the closest-to-the-pin hole and the skin for the hole, so that was fun, too.

Here's my score card:

Hole/par/score

• #10 / 5 / 6
  
• #11 / 4 / 6
  
• #12 / 4 / 7
  
• #13 / 5 / 5 - par! Woo-hoo!
  
• #14 / 3 / 4
  
• #15 / 4 / 8
  
• #16 / 3 / 5
  
• #17 / 4 / 7
  
• #18 / 4 / 6

Only one snowman and no nines!

Of course, what might have helped was a new weapon I bought earlier in the day ... a TaylorMade 3-Wood ... sweet! I picked up this club because I really hated my old 3-Wood. I just couldn't get any touch on the old club and couldn't hit it consistently. I tried out the TaylorMade at Dick's Sporting Goods and once I bought it, took it right across the street to the driving range. Ho-lee crap ... it's just incredible how different the club feels at impact. It's so solid and the ball really takes off. As with my driver, I was blown away by how much this club does for correcting a less-than-perfect strike ... just beautiful.

Anyway, I ended up using this thing on the tee on the first three holes last night (although the first hole was a mistake, should've used my 4-iron). It just felt so good in my hands and swings so sweetly, it felt like a perfect fit. Can't wait to test it out even more.

Last night I also had two really great drives. On Hole 15 (315 yards, par 4) I absolutely crushed the ball and landed on the fringe, just enough to keep me out of trouble. Saved the best for last, though, on Hole 18 (340 yards, par 4). Just tied right into the ball and landed almost in the middle of the fairway. If I hadn't fraidy-catted my chip shot, I could've been on in two, but it took three instead. Even though a double-bogeyed the hole, I still felt like I had done well.

So a good night all around on the course. Yes, made a few mistakes and ended up losing a sleeve of balls but still, it was nice shooting a low score (well, low for me).

Over nine holes, I learned the following:

1. Spending time on the practice green before the round is a good idea. I spent the better part of 20 to 30 minutes practicing different putts and chipping and it really did make a difference later. Still, I have a lot of work to do because I'm still taking way too many putts to finish a hole.
   
2. I don't have to use my driver on every tee shot, especially dog legs. Others in our foursome would use their drivers on some holes, but I went with my instincts and either used my 3-wood or 4-iron (or, in one case, my 8-iron) and still got the results I wanted.
   
3. Trust my instincts. On one shot, Kell advised me to take a club saying it was the one she would play in the fairway. But, I knew if I had done that I would have fallen way short of the green, so I took a club up and - PLOP - dropped the rock onto the green. I'm getting to know better every week how I hit clubs, so that's helping a lot.
   
4. I can get out of tough lies. We're on Hole 17 (300 yards, par 4) and my tee shot found some tree love and ended up in the middle of the fairway (thank you, golf gods!). I hit my second shot with my pitching wedge because I was less than 100 yards from the green and ended up over-shooting the green (figures, when I want to hit the PW like that, I can't!) and found my ball buried in some really deep weeds. Oy vey. I kept looking at the lie and was considering taking a drop, especially after taking a few practice swings and it looked like I had a scythe in my hand with all the weeds and grass flying in the air. But, I decided to hit out, instead. The ball ended up skidding onto the green rather than flopping with a nice arc (as it "should" have), but, I was on the green and didn't have to take a drop. I'll take that any day!

After the round, Kell kidded with me that maybe it was the Jack Daniel's that I had gotten from the bar for the cart that helped me yesterday. I think what helped is that I never focused on my score while playing. In the past, I've kept track of how I was doing during the round ... but not yesterday. With that pressure off, I think I was better able to focus on my game.