Golf update

About a week ago I wrote about my poor behavior on the golf course. Well, this past Sunday I played again at the same place, Southwyck. I played with my dad, Mike, and Terry. Austin went with us as well. (By the way, we found his Nintendo DS, in the Tahoe, under his seat. We found it Monday evening during dinner. We asked Austin to again think about what he did with it after being told to put it away. We asked if he took it to the restaurant, and he did not have a good answer. He said "no, maybe, I don't think so, possibly". So, Jen went out and looked and there it was.) I was in a good frame of mind when we reached the course, even after dealing with Austin losing his DS and then not being able to get any refreshments at a nearby Exxon due to a gas spill.

 It started raining on us on the first tee box, and luckily stopped by the time we reached the first green. I parred the first two holes and things were looking good. Then, on the third tee box I hit my drive left of left. One bounce and it was out of bounds in a backyard. I finished the hole with a 7, triple bogey. I usually struggle with putting bad holes like that behind me. I let it affect the next hole or two and compound the mistake. Not this time, I roll in a 20 footer for birdie on number 4. A routine bogey on the difficult par 3, 5th followed by another birdie on number 6. Starting to see a pattern? Easy par on 7 followed by a bone head bogey on the easy par 5 eighth. Another opportunity for me to compound my mistake, and this time I do. I hit it in the water on 9 and make a double bogey. So, 2 birdies and I still am 5 over par through 9. The back 9 went much the same way. I made 4 birdies and 3 others (other being at least a double bogey) and zero pars. The inconsistency was maddening. One the one hand, 6 birdies in 18 holes is great. Only three pars is not so good, and 9 bogeys or worse is horrible.

 However, throughout the ups and downs, I held my temper in check and did not show any obvious outward frustration. Sure, the bad shots still bothered me. They even affected some of the following shots. But, at least no clubs were slammed or thrown. After we finished, I started thinking about golf and paying to be frustrated. It is very interesting that I will consistently pay money to go out for 4 hours and at times be frustrated with myself beyond belief. I love to play and I enjoy being outside. I especially love playing with my dad, cousin, and great friends. It is such an interesting game. Just you, a ball, and the course. There are no teammates, no excuses, and no one else to blame. You sink or swim all by yourself. Golf has taught me a lot about myself. Some of the things I was not pleased to learn. It is a maddening game, but one that I will play for the rest of my life.

Posted via email from SUMNER's posterous