Have you ever played a round of golf where nothing of interest every happens? You know, the rounds when you are hitting the ball okay, chipping, okay and putting okay. Your scoring is average and not matter what your thought processes are, no magic rears its head to be marveled at. It is a bland round and mentally, there is nothing you can do to prevent this mediocre round for unfolding any differently. It is as if you might as well as stayed home and cut the grass.

Fortunately, very few of these rounds happen over the course of my golf season. Usually during a round, several highlights (good and bad) add flavour to my round that anchors the conversation later in the or after the round. A great bounce, strong shot, or long putt are common themes. At least during my games something like this will happen to make my round a bit memorable.

As I said earlier, a couple rounds a year like I described above happens to my chagrin. I remember one time last year where this type of round was unfolding and as I played through the humdrum round, I realized after 18 holes that I played very well. Here is how it unfolded:

17 pars and 1 bogey. Now, this type of scoring produces a score of 72 on my home course at Osprey Links. However, during my round I was plagued with melancholy emotions because I could not get a birdie on the board. No matter what I tried, par seemed to be the score of choice that day. After 14 straight pars, I shot a bogey on the short par 3, 15th hole. This sparked a bit of frustration, but did nothing to spark any type of mental fires that made me realize I had a great score going on.

It seemed that during the first 2.5 hours of play, I was going through the motions with no real signs of my round unfolding into something great. It was as if was playing in a fog of “meh”. Well, after the bogey, I actually looked at the scorecard a realized that I had a great score going. Guess what? That did not change me mentally or physically. I just kept playing with no real intent of doing anything great.

After the round, I was very pleased about the score. I, of course, went through the litany of shots where I could have shaved off a few strokes. I talked about how my round could have been under par, yet I still felt laissez faire about the whole round. I hopped in my car after saying goodbye to my friends and drove home. I actually never game my round another thought until today. Funny, I would have thought I would have recalled it more considering the score.

Golf is a funny game. To be success (most of the time) we need to be engaged in the process of playing golf. To wander aimlessly through a round generally leads to poor golf scores, lack of enthusiasm for the round, or any highlights worth recounting is a disappointing waste of time. As I patiently wait for 15 April to arrive, I will make a point of working on my mental preparation for the upcoming golf season. The stronger mentally I play, the less likely a “ho hum” round will rear its ugly head.

Have you ever played a round of golf where everything just seemed blah?

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