Frozen cobwebs

I got to the club early on Saturday morning mainly because I had been frozen out of playing for a little while and felt out of practice. It was 3 weeks since my last game and it showed. I produced a whole manner of crap on the first two holes scoring an embarrassing 10 & 9. Two blobs, +11, oh dear. I feared at this stage that my chances of easily blowing away the cobwebs were limited.

But then out of nowhere my swing returned, I remembered how to putt and I started to pick up points. Despite the occasional blip (ok and a monumental feck up on the 11th) I scored on the following 11 holes (bar 11) amassing 22 points and a growing sense of confidence.

Unfortunately, it didn't last and my ongoing woes with the back stretch continued with the exception of a stunning 5 iron approach on 17 that was slightly tainted by a missed birdie courtesy of a bobbly temporary green.

In all honesty I can't expect miracles after a bit of a break. I am starting to get more consistent stringing together scores on a series of holes rather than having them dotted over the card. I clearly have a bit of a mental block on the start and end of the round as I consistently perform poorly in both places. Holes 13-15 firmly remain my personal Amen Corner.

When the swing is there it's actually pretty damn good and as my pro remarked I've got all the pieces of the jigsaw I just can't put them together on a regular basis. This is incredibly frustrating. What was nice was meeting two new golfers and being invited to join their Saturday morning gathering. The more I play and the more people I play with, the more I learn.

I had 7 penalties on Saturday and at least 7 horror shots that were truly awful. Sort that out and I'm cooking on gas.

114 (71)
10(3), 9(5), 4(3), 6(4), 8(5), 3(3), 6(5), 4(4), 6(4), 4(4), 8(3), 7(5), 6(4), 7(4), 8(4), 6(4), 4(4), 8(3)