I had another round that leaves me shaking my head. At times I think I am on the verge of greatness and other times….well, lets just say I need to go back to the drawing board. I do not understand the difference in quality of play during one round, but it has happened again.

Recently, you read an article where I shot even par with a 4 over front nine and and a 4 under back. It was a roller coaster of a round and was fun to play. Well, something similar happened just two days ago.

The weather was not good in the morning, so Blair and I waited until 3 pm to hit the links. It was very wind and we were misted upon, but nothing that would stop our round. Unlike my previous round, we started on the back nine of our course instead of the normal front.

I started with a birdie on the par 5, and then went 4 over on the next 4 holes. Then I birdied another par 5 (16th hole) and went 3 over for the last two holes. I walked off the first nine sitting 5 over and shaking my head wondering where my game went. Then suddenly, poof, I was a different player and the wide open last nine of the day.

I went birdie, birdie, par, birdie, par, birdie, par, par, bogey for smooth 3 under for this nine. It was my best score on the courses front nine ever. I was very disappointed on the last hole because I decided to play conservatively because of the water hazards on both sides of the fairway.

I ended up in the first trap on the right off the tee and played poorly coming in. I was hitting the ball flawlessly on the inward nine and should have just kept playing without making any adjustments. Another lesson identified for my memory bank.

For the day, I shot 6 birdies, two doubles, 4 bogies, and 6 pars. One of the very disappointing aspects of the round was the 3 penalty strokes I took for hitting my ball into a red stake hazard. Those 3 strokes were the difference between a 2 over round and a 1 under round. Of the 3 penalty strokes, 2 were caused by bad bounces because the course is playing very hard right now. It is the nature of the game and I accept the results without any major complaints. This is a case of “what if” for sure.

During both under par 9 holes, my putter was on fire. I sank several long putts that were unexpected. I have always said that putting is the great equalizer and these two rounds are proof of that. The funny thing, I never made any adjustments between the front and back nines of the two rounds. I guess it was magic.

As my adventures continue on the golf course, these low rounds of late has dropped my handicap index to 4.5. This is 2.4 points lower than the beginning of the season. I hope to get under 4, but time is not on my side. We shall see though, a golfer should never say never!

How are your adventures on the course going this year?

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!