This week’s golf game was a marked improvement. I cut 7 strokes off last week’s golf score. Down to 105 from 112. I finished with a net 70 which was 5 strokes away from winning the tournament.
Better Putts & Fewer Penalty Strokes made the difference. This week’s difference was the number of penalty strokes I saved by NOT hitting my drives out of bounds (OB). While my driver was more erratic it was erratic in bounds. I hit nothing out of bounds and only 1 shot where I had to take a lateral drop. My putting was in much better control. I only 4 putted 1 hole which is my personal best.
Encinitas Ranch Golf Course has the nick name “Easy Ranch” so had I been playing a tighter course my score would have been 120 because of the 4 or 5 drives with massive slices landing in other fairways. I did hit my 3 wood and longer irons quite well and lost 1 stroke due to totally wiffing the ball (I swung to hit the ball but missed).
The Choke factor. I choked in 2 areas this week. First on the longest drive hole. I tried to murder the ball and totally blew it. The ball landed 10 yards short of winning (which was 50 yards shorter than my typical drive) and off the fairway by 10 yards. Second I could NOT remove the images of past bad shots from my mind and duplicated or over compensated the bad shots on 6 or 7 drives.
A windy day. Our golf day was almost perfiect. Warm, sunny but very windy. During our 4.5 hour game, the wind shifted 180 degrees. When we started the wind was blowing in from the desert and as we ended it was blowing in from the ocean. The wind did make the day exceptionally clear. The panoramic ocean and mountain views were crisp and clear. I adjusted for the wind fairly well making good club selections and adjusting my aim on the cross winds.
Energy Time. One factor that may have made a difference is I chose to eat some energy bars during the round. I ate 2 Zone Bars which seemed to have me finish the last few holes stronger than I recall finishing in the past few weeks. I walk the course and carry my clubs. At my current body weight, I burn between 2,000 and 2,500 calories by walking and carrying my clubs for 4-1/2 hours. I also drank about 3 quarts of water during the round.
Other Notes: I was the worst golfer in our foursome and the only one walking. What that looks like is 2 golf carts carrying 3 people (with one empty seat) and a guy who is hitting the ball more than anyone else chasing the ball everywhere while the superior riders watched and waited. This combined with Encinitas Ranch’s new speed up the play policy caused a bit of pressure for me to rush shots. I realized that the golf marshal is like the hall monitor from my school days. I never liked the hall monitors.
Zen Lesson: Golf, life & business are games of recovery. Each action has a result. Each result receives an emotional reaction or response then the next action is taken. In golf your next action is simple, move the ball toward the hole. The same is true for Life & Business if you have your intentions as clearly defined as the intention of golf.
Cheers,
-terry