Today started off amazingly on the golf course. The Mattawa Golf and Ski Resort is in great shape, the sun was shining, the bugs were almost non-existent and my playing partner was fantastic. Overall, my round started off great and I was playing very well on the front nine. Actually, Blair and I were both playing great until we hit the back nine and the wheels fell off. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for our poor play…..it just happened. I am not sure what happened and yet it did. Such is golf and I am still trying to find the reason for the change and I think I have the solution.

After a bogey on the first hole, I played a smooth even par for the rest of the nine. I was hitting the ball straight off the tee, my approach shots were reasonable and my putting was up to par. I will say that both Blair and I were hitting the ball great off the tee for the entire front nine. We made very few poor shots and our games were at our handicap indexes. We were both dialed in mentally which resulted in our physical game following suit.

Unfortunately, the back nine did not follow our front performance. I cannot speak for Blair, but I think my game failed on the mental side. For some reason, I stopped concentrating as much and relied on cruise control to get me through the last nine holes. Well, that was a big mistake as I shot an unusual seven over for a round of 82 on a par 74 course. I can tell you this sucked on many levels.

The reason my mental focus waned is that I was having too good of a time playing golf with my buddy Blair. We used to loop the course about 40 or 50 times a year about 4 years ago. I moved about an hour away and as such we only play a few times a year together. When we do play, we laugh, joke, poke fun and generally have a great time. This morning I was having a great time and as such forgot the reason we were on the course……to play golf. On the back nine I hit a few wayward shots that cost needless strokes and my chipping was not as sharp as on the front. My mental focus waned producing a smooth 7 over par on the back nine.

To not get me wrong, I had a great time today and the score was truly secondary to the fun I had playing golf with my friend. Golf is like that sometimes and the game is just a reason for two old friends to get together!

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