I had the 2nd best round of the year this week! My work in the simulator, especially with my intermediate distances has been paying off. Big time! I played 9 holes and finished 3 over. My handicap was brought down to 11.2.
I know, 3 over on 9 holes – not very impressive! But when I started as a 16 handicap and couldn’t seem to break 40 in a round of 9 holes…I’ll take it!
I started the round with bogey then triple bogey! In the past, that triple would have stuck with me for at least 2 more holes. Instead, I birdied the next two.
On #7 I hit a bad tee shot, putting me 100 yards out and sitting behind a “small-ish” pine tree. No way to get to the green, had a chance for the edge of it if I could execute a fade. Instead of taking my medicine and laying up, I went for it and dumped my ball in the water. Drop point put me 50 yards from the pin and I nearly holed it. Ended up saving bogey with the penalty.
Again, this would normally cause carryover for the next couple of holes. But I didn’t let it bother me and wrapped up with a couple of pars. One of which included winning closest to the pin for the night!
Why The Positive Attitude?
Well, quite honestly, I am just enjoying the game so much more. Really have to give a ton of credit to John Sherman’s book. Don’t get me wrong, it sucks hitting a triple bogey, but it sucks even more to parlay that into a couple more bogeys or worse.
It also helped that my short game from 100 yards in was money! I had two tap in birdies, actually I didnt even have to putt them. Had quite a few more approach shots that left me with relatively short putts too. I was putting for birdie quite a bit. My distances have improved a ton with the sim, its really making a big difference!