And the wheels come off...

Had a mare today, but that said there are some promising signs. Played with former club captain Roy who was very supportive, encouraging and as seems to be the case with all low handicappers had an absolute stormer in my playing company. He scored a net 65 and could be in with a shout of winning the medal. As for me, two very obvious problem areas:

1. Shots off the tee 
2. Pressure putts

Started well today scoring a 4 and 7 on the opening two holes where I normally have a shocker. Then found the compacted sand on 3 and picked it clean leaving a nightmare second shot over trees. Punched it through instead and did well to make a double bogey 5. My game plan was to try the 3 Wood on the 4th as there is no Out of Bounds right, which is exactly where my tee shot went. The G15 was then confined to the bag for the rest of the round as I scored a disappointing 8. But the wheels came off on the par 3 6th, which is normally the start of my strong run of holes. Hit the GIR and then four putted for a 5. Shrugged it off, hit three great shots to make GIR on the par 5 7th then three putted for a six. Out of bounds on the 8th heralded a run of triple, double, bogey.

Then on 11 I hit a solid tee shot onto the green and guess what another three putt. The worst was still to come with a woeful 12 on the 12th before a run of predominantly double bogeys in. A glimmer of hope came on the 17th when I hit a long 6 iron to five feet to then leave the five foot putt an inch short of my first birdie. A bad bounce got my ball wet on the 18th but to be honest it was mainly due to too much fade off the tee.

Frustrating thing is the ridiculous number of shots I lost off the tee and those stupid triple and quadruple putts. But I am actually buoyed by my performance for a number of reasons.

• Today was my first time off the whites
• Today was my first medal
• From 170 yards to the pin I was pretty accurate
• My chipping was spot on

I hit 4 GIR, only 4 FIR and took 35 putts, which could (and should) have been a much better statistic. However, there will be no return to the yellows now and I am confident that with a couple of lessons, some practice with the 3 Wood and more play time I'll be able to post a much more respectable score in July.

Well done to all those that predicted a score between 106-110 and my apologies to those who felt I'd shoot lower, I hope to do you less of a disservice next time out!

109 (71)
4(3), 7(5), 5(3), 8(4), 7(5), 5(3), 6(5), 7(4), 6(4), 5(4), 4(3), 12(5), 6(4), 6(4), 6(4), 6(4), 4(4), 5(3)