As many of you know Golf is a very frustrating sport. The funny thing is that it gets more frustrating the better you get at it. There's probably some of you out there who are single digit handicaps and know what I'm talking about, but since the average golfer cannot break 100, I'll explain. When you first start out and hit the driving range for the first time you fell awkward as hell. You suck, the good thing is you suck consistantly, with the occasional flash of brilliance. That is where this game gets you, that occasional flash of brilliance where you hit a driver or iron so pure that you can barely feel the ball coming off the center of the club face. Then, after a LOT of practice and playing all the time, you start to get better. Then you get to where you can hit pretty decent shots and your flashes of brilliance become more frequent and they are sensational shots. This is where I am now... I am around a 14 handicap and getting consistently lower. Last weeked I had a career best nine holes. I played this last weekend on a par 71 course. 35 front nine, 36 back. This is an illustration of how golf can be your best friend and then stab you in the back. 1. Started out with a bogey on a par three, missed the green into the bunker, decent sand shot, but left it above the hole on a "games people play" type downhill putt. Just missed it and made a 4. 2. Next hole. Par. 3. Then chipped in from 50 feet for birdie on the next par 4. 4. Then made another bogey on an insanely long par 4. 5. Then a par 3 where I won the greeny and made a tap in par. The thought that I am just 1 over after 5 holes is starting to creeep into my head... 6. Then a 500 yard par 5. I boom my drive right down the middle and am left with just under 200 yards. Try to chase a 4 iron up the green but it comes up just short and too far left and I have to play another sand shot. This one goes just over the green. I chip it within a foot and walk away with another par. 7. Then another par and greeny on the next par 3. So after 7 holes I am still just 1 over... and that thought echoes in my head over and over on the next tee box until I chase it out... 8. Next hole I lip out the birdie putt for a par. 9. Hit a decent drive on the last hole. Hit a good lay up to put me right at 100 yards. Hit a wedge and I am talkin' to it big time to trya nd get it close. Creeps back down the hill to end up 20 feet away. Now my brain is RACING!!! This is it Fox ol' buddy. Just sink this putt and you are even par for the nine! Have to step away from the putt for a second. Then I hit it and it is tracking... tracking... trackinnnnggg come on baby!!!! just burns the edge of the whole. Tap in for par. 36 on a par 35. Still my lowest score ever on 9 holes but I have to admit I am disappointed. My boys are like "You were on FIRE!" "If you don't break 80 (which I have never done before) you SUCK!" What I don't know is that I am about to be mugged on the back nine. 1. Double bogey 2. Bogey 3. Triple after hitting my tee shot Out of Bounds. I am now 6 OVER after 3 holes and starting to freak out! Adam Sandler is in my head screaming "YOU BLEW IT!!!" OK Brain just shut up for a while and let me play. 4. Shank a drive. Hit an OK recovery, hit another OK shot into the green (good thing it's a par five.) 2 putt for par. OK back on track... Just keep making pars. 5. Par 3. Off the green but able to get up and down for a par. OK OK OK Nooo problem. 6. Bogey 7 over 7. Double bogey! ARRRGGGHHH 9 OVER on the back nine!!!! 8. Hit the green again on a par 3. At least I am making money on the greenies. Need a birdy BAD! Lips out for a par. CRAP! 9. Need a birdy bad! Hardest hole on this Nine... Hit another crap drive but I can still play. Try to clear the ravine by hitting a 3 wood from here rather than laying up 100 yards and trying to hit a three wood over the ravine and into the green. 3 wood just clears the ravine. Hit a shot from the edge of the ravine, out of the rough, uphill lie. Straight up in the air. stays up forever, comes down with ice on it. Within 6 feet. Birdy is now gone bye bye. but at least I can sink this par which I do. 36 on the front 1 over 45 on the back 9 81 Ties my lowest ever. I'm sure a lot of you are like "81!! Cry me a river! I would kill to make that score." The fact that had a GREAT shot of shattering 80 and my best round ever still bugs me. That's why this game is like a drug. I'll be back soon.
Thats still a good round...81 is my lowest score also.....now I am back in the 90's...I am starting to play more.......played Treeline the last time I played (92)........Practice,Practice,Practice if you have time......most importantly have a blast with your buddies.
Golf can be a frustrating game, if you let it. Just keep in mind that no matter how bad you may be playing, it beats the hell out of a day working. I average in the high 90s/low 100s. I'm sure I would do better if I could just stay away from the cute girls in carts who sell me beer.
There was great looking girl at a course outside of Austin, Star Ranch in Hutto. Everytime I played out there my buddies were looking for her.
Yeah, I know the feeling. I had a 37-45 for an 82 earlier this year. The assistant pros looked at my card and said "Nice turn, Snipe~". I got a little revenge later on this year when I shot 38-37 for 75. Of course, I only hit my driver 4 times - it helps being in the fairway. Good luck with it.
Just do what i do-- don't take score , just play for fun. it is alot less frustrating especially if you have a cold beverage w/ you.
I played Barton Creek Country Club (Private) ..through a friend I liked Bluebonnet Hill (Public, I think) Hancock was fun also. I really dont know my way around there. My brother in law drives me around.
After reading the SI article on Bill Clinton's golf game I dropped 25 strokes off my game. Ahh the power of "The Billigan" Hancock
Hancock is a joke. 9 holes of push over golf. Bluebonnet wasn't challenging enough for me... way too wide open. I tend to not play well if I am not challenged. Star Ranch is beautiful but pricey. Blackhawk in the same area is OK but they trashed that course to make room for more houses. Forest Creek in Round Rock is a tight little course. But if ya have a chance to play Barton, jump!
No one has truly played Texas golf unless you've hit your sticks at Country Campus, northwest of Huntsville. It used to be associated with Sam Houston State, but apparently they dropped their affiliation. Crappy course...my St. Augustine grassed front yard has better putting surfaces than CC did. No grass in the fairways. No shirt, no service was never enforced. As an added bonus, cow bunkers were periodically placed throughout the course. Words cannot describe this pasture. But on the bright side...I learned to play golf there...there is no surface I cannot hit a ball of off...there is no rough too thick to hit out of...got to work on my tan frequently...rarely mowed adjacent cow pastures made for wonderful ball hawking opportunities.
If any of you guys can ever get out to Horshoe Bay outside of Austin by Marble Falls...do it. Play all the courses you can around there.
LOL!!! We played that course a lot when we were at Sam. My one friend hit his ball over the barbed wire fence where the cows were. We held the barbed wire so he could get through to get his ball and a HUGE Bull came charging at him!!! Must have been mating season. It was an awful course, to say the least.
Any of you guys remember this... When the love of Caddyshack goes too far. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Despite losing a four-stroke lead in a span of three holes, Chris DiMarco ignored a heckler and put together a gritty comeback Sunday to win the Phoenix Open. Even though DiMarco's great tee shot on the raucous 16th was a tap-in, he was unnerved when a rowdy fan shouted, "Noonan!" as he stood over the putt, a famous line from the movie Caddyshack when Danny Noonan had to ignore shouts during his winning putt in the caddie tournament. DiMarco glared at the fan and gave him a thumb, indicating to tournament officials to get him off the Tournament Players Club of Scottsdale. "I think he missed the ending,'' DiMarco said.
