Dear Diary,
Today, for the first time..... Wait for it....! I BROKE 90!!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
COME ON!!
So pleased. It was a little bit soured by playing a kind of 'best ball' type thing on the first, where I hit my 3 iron (not great), and thought just for badness I'd have a practice tonk with my 5 wood, and ripped it down the middle. So I played both balls, took a 7 with the first one, and a 5 with the 2nd. I counted the 5, and it put a bit of a nasty taste on it, but - hey - oh well...
Out in 49 (not great), back in 40 - my personal 9 hole best, giving me a personal best of 89.
On the back nine, the place was riddled with squirrels.
On the 10th, after a cracking 3 iron drive, I pull my 9 iron well short and on the huge left-hand bank. When I get there, a little squizzle is sat there, 15 feet away, exactly where I want to land my pitch. I land it 2 feet away from him, and he doesn't move a muscle, just sits there looking at me, chewing nuts.
The pitch, though, is well short. It rolls down the bank and on to the green, but still a long way away. I think, "Well that's not very good - I thought you guys were supposed to be lucky for me?" So I step up to the putt and hole it from 28 feet! I turn round, and the squirrel is still just sat there, looking at me, chewing nuts...
Hilariously, on the par 3 13th, I hit what felt like a good 8 iron, kinda low and drawing slightly. Next thing I know, a squirrel pops its head up, looking at me from the end of the tee 10 feet - I'd played over it's head and finished 2 feet from the flag, followed by a two foot birdie putt.
On the long 350 yarder par 4 16th, I strike my third shot with an 8 iron from 130 yards to 2 feet again, and this time, there are no squirrels!
7 on the 17th
including a really dumb topped punter shot that went 10 yards. Back on form on the 18th, though I three putted from a long way for a 4.
Dynamite. Well pleased.
There were two other things I was chuffed about. One was that the CONGU handicap from that, if it had been one of my three cards, would have been 23.
The other is that I really resolved my putting stroke. I honesty thought I wasn't breaking my wrists and was putting with my shoulders, but found a new stroke, and that is to - sounds weird - stick both elbows out, so my whole 'shoulder assembly' swings as one. I must look like a right pratt, but it worked so much better, and the difference was immediately obvious, not least in my best ever 31 putts.
Gotta go look at a car in a minute, but hopefully might be able to get back on the course this afternoon.