MY GOLF SCORE

MY GOLF SCORE

 

Golf? 

I expect many readers will just skip over this post, but Frog, Squeak, Widmer and my brother will know exactly what I am talking about.

 

So I am starting to get serious about playing golf again.  In my youth I played pretty well, generally shooting from 84 to 94 on any given day.  Currently breaking 100 is a good day.  I now practice two times a week and play one nine hole round.  I only play nine holes, because I walk and pull my clubs on a cart.  Playing eighteen holes just kicks my butt.

Please don’t make the usual comments about golfers just chasing a little ball over a cow pasture trying to put it in a hole.  That is like saying singing is just talking loud and with a beat, or painting is just copying what you are looking at, or dancing is just flailing your arms and kicking your feet or writing is just putting words down on paper or boxing is just punching people in the face…ok boxing is just punching people in the face but you get the point.  Golf is a game which takes great skill, patience and concentration.

Anyway

My score has come down from a 49 to a 52 for nine holes. 

If you ask how has your score come down when 49 is lower than 52 then you don’t know anything about playing golf.

Let me explain.

In golf, most golfers typically shoot three scores.  There is number of strokes the golfer counts, the number of strokes he actually took, and mentally he counts his “shoulda been” score.  The “shoulda been” score is what you should have scored if you didn’t miss any easy putts, have any flubs or lost balls and got a good bounce off a tree.

In the beginning of this year I shot a 49 for nine holes played, only I had three flubs I didn’t count because, well just because.  I put two shots in the water and didn’t take a penalty because I didn’t know the water was there…sort of.  I didn't miss any putt under 5 feet because they were called gimmies (considered good without actually putting.)  Basically I played so poorly I only kept my counted strokes.  My real score would have been too painful to admit, and my “shoulda been” score was not worth figuring out.  Actually my counted score was more like my “shoulda been” score.

Yesterday I scored 52, but I counted every stroke and every putt including penalties for two balls into the water.  When you start to play better you count more of your strokes, when you are playing well, you count every stroke.  I am starting to play well enough to count every stroke, and that is how a 52 is a better score than a 49.

I actually played well enough to mentally keep a “shoulda been” score… 43. 

A 43 is a very good “shoulda been” score for me!