WTH
I had a tournament this past weekend up in Amesbury, MA. Had never played the course before, but knew it was on the shorter side, had a few water holes, and a LOT of birdie opportunities. Rolled out my house around 5:20am on Saturday morning, hit Dunkin' for a coffee with espresso, and made it to a commuter lot in Vernon to meet my buddies for 6am and carpool from there. Arrive at the course around 8am, reg was supposed to open around then but they were still setting up. We decided to throw a few holes to warm up, get a look around the course. We play 5 holes, go to sign in and make our lunch orders, then continue from there warming up some more. What started as "let's play a few holes" turned into 12. Fortunately since it was a short course, I didn't really throw out my arm. And man, my putting was ON. Really warmed up well, and even around the practice basket before the Player's Meeting I was canning almost everything I threw.
Then the tournament started. A few disappointing 3's on two very birdiable holes started off the round. Missed a window going back into the woods on the next hole, resulting in a scramble to make bogey. Next hole, short little putt gets "FUCK YOU'd" by the basket, bouncing out on what would be a "good" putt on any other course's baskets that weren't 12 years old. And so it continued. When I was throwing well, the baskets were spitting me out. When I wasn't throwing well, I was scrambling to save par. I ended up with a disappointing 58, but I knew that I could just shake it off over lunch, relax, and things would get better.
WRONG. Second round was even worse. Even when I was throwing well, I was getting roll-aways and bad tree kicks every other throw. Putts still weren't sticking, and halfway through the round I just stopped caring. I started running every putt from 60' and in, and of course didn't hit a one. All of my comebackers were as long, if not longer, than my original putts - I even took a 7 on one hole as I kept blowing by the basket. Hell, I turned a deuce run into a 5 after I 4-putted from 30'. I ended up turning in an EMBARRASING 65 and couldn't have cared less.
On the bright side, not caring improved my spirits greatly. I threw like shit and at the end of the day I just didn't care. I was outside on a gorgeous day, in a beautiful park, with good people, and doing something I love to do. That was nice.
After Round 2 (the final round), while scorecards were being tallied and we waited for the Awards Ceremony, a few of us decided to play a few more holes to kill some time. All of my tee shots were beautiful, and all of my putts were spot-on.
WTH
Then the tournament started. A few disappointing 3's on two very birdiable holes started off the round. Missed a window going back into the woods on the next hole, resulting in a scramble to make bogey. Next hole, short little putt gets "FUCK YOU'd" by the basket, bouncing out on what would be a "good" putt on any other course's baskets that weren't 12 years old. And so it continued. When I was throwing well, the baskets were spitting me out. When I wasn't throwing well, I was scrambling to save par. I ended up with a disappointing 58, but I knew that I could just shake it off over lunch, relax, and things would get better.
WRONG. Second round was even worse. Even when I was throwing well, I was getting roll-aways and bad tree kicks every other throw. Putts still weren't sticking, and halfway through the round I just stopped caring. I started running every putt from 60' and in, and of course didn't hit a one. All of my comebackers were as long, if not longer, than my original putts - I even took a 7 on one hole as I kept blowing by the basket. Hell, I turned a deuce run into a 5 after I 4-putted from 30'. I ended up turning in an EMBARRASING 65 and couldn't have cared less.
On the bright side, not caring improved my spirits greatly. I threw like shit and at the end of the day I just didn't care. I was outside on a gorgeous day, in a beautiful park, with good people, and doing something I love to do. That was nice.
After Round 2 (the final round), while scorecards were being tallied and we waited for the Awards Ceremony, a few of us decided to play a few more holes to kill some time. All of my tee shots were beautiful, and all of my putts were spot-on.
WTH
posted by dave at
1:48 PM
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