Anyone got a painkiller?

Sore side, bruised confidence and a savaged scorecard are the results of todays medal. Prior to starting off I was informed that the format was medal stableford, so not the pure medal I had initially hoped for. Things started well. Pulled my 3 iron a little but I was pin high. My chip ran long but I putted in from the fringe for a par and four points. I then walked onto the 2nd tee and proceeded to hit three, yes that's right three, consecutive balls out of bounds. Perhaps being a stableford was a good thing after all. While the second and third tee shots went way out the first only finished a couple of yards on the wrong side of the posts. That small margin made a big difference. It obliterated my confidence and I had to scrap to reach 14 points on the front nine.

Silly errors compounded my round from the off and I flitted from moments of good, solid golf to some of inexplicable incompetence. Lack of concentration at critical moments was costing me shots all over the place and I came back with 15 points for a total of 29. That has caused a bit of dent in my golf confidence, things seemed to be going quite well but today it was a real mixture. Putting and short game really solid on the front nine, abandoned me on the back nine, almost at the same time as I got into a groove with my swing. Erratic, as I was dubbed today, is probably the most accurate turn of phrase.

However, the sore side is actually a good thing. The new swing forces me to make a fuller turn rather than use my hands and the dull ache is a reminder that I was using that additional bit of rotation. It certainly had an impact on my distance useful off the tee but not on the two occassions I cleared the green!!! It does feel smoother, less of an effort and more controlled when I get it right. Sadly I think it means I need to spend some dedicated time on the range/practice area bedding it in rather than on the course. Hopefully it won't take long...

99 (66)
3(3), -(50, 5(3), 5(4), 7(5), 5(3), 7(5), 8(4), 6(4), 8(4), 3(3), 7(5), 6(4), 8(4), 5(4), 7(4), 5(4), 4(3)