I finally got to actually play a golf round! Been battling a sore back for the past week, but this past Thursday, I met up with a couple friends and we played a round over at Riverwalk golf club. Not having been able to actually play in 2 weeks, I didn’t come in with high expectations, but maybe that was a good thing because after the first tee shot, I knew it was going to be a good day. I ended up shooting a 77(+5). My long game was locked in and I hit a total of 11 out of 14 fairways! I only hit 9 of 18 greens, but never missed a green by much and 5 of them missed just short either because of spinning off the front or a misjudging of the wind. I account that to not playing much over the past couple months, as being able to accurately judge the wind is something that starts to get dialed in the more and more you play.
Nevertheless, I did hit a lot of close iron shots, but my putting continues to be my Achilles’ heel and I was not able to make many birdies. Despite having multiple great looks from inside 10ft, the only birdie putt I did make on the day was from about 40ft. Golf is a funny game and it always seems like the putts that have little chance of going in actually go in and the makeable ones slip by….at least for me lately. I think that just comes down to the idea of having no expectations. Dave Stockton calls it going “unconscious” when putting and it’s something that I’m working on getting better at doing.
I know I need to become less result oriented when it comes to my putting and just try to keep my same routine and put a solid roll on the ball. If I can do that, then I’ll make my fair share of putts. I’ve been trying to just pick a spot 1 inch in front of my ball on my line and roll the ball over that spot. It’s hard to miss a spot 1 inch in front of the ball, so it allows me to put more emphasis on the speed of the putt. I find my mind freed up with longer putts, but I still catch myself over thinking and steering closer putts or ones I feel I “should” be making, especially for birdie. I’m getting better at it however and if I keep working hard on getting to a point where I can go “unconscious” on the greens, I know that’s going to give me the best chance to start going low.
Final stats for the round:
Riverwalk Presidio/Mission 6,550yards 71.7 126
Score: 77(+5) FW: 10/14 GIR: 9/18 Putts: 32 U/Down: 4/8 San Save: 0/1 Penalties: 0
My Journey 2 Scratch 