I recently changed to another division at work and it's been extremely busy thus the lack luster quantity of posts. Things are getting more settled in now with the addition of staff and has allowed me to return, somewhat, to a more routine schedule. It also turns out that my "new" boss, actually..I've known him for over 10 years, had started playing golf last year and has the golf bug..bad.
Anyhow, to make a long story short, we played yesterday. He knew I've been playing for some time and he just wanted to play with an experienced player. We played at this place called Willowick Golf Club in Santa Ana. If you wanted to call a course a "muni" this place fit the description. All the holes except two of them looked the same..straight with very wide fairways with no water hazards..a park-land golf course..to say the least. I knew from the bat that I wasn't going to lose a golf ball this round..and I didn't. It's very easy to find since it's right door to a local radio station and it's humongous radio antenna tower.
We got to the first tee, easy to get on, and he hit a decent drive right down the middle. I countered with a similar shot. He hit a "Rosie" and it went about 10 feet. I countered with a wedge shot that landed about 1 foot from the hole. I ended up getting a birdie and he ended up with a snowman.
Anyway, I wasn't really worried about me outplaying him and vice versa because he knew that I was a decent player. I came to just have a good time and solidify our working relationship. I got there a little early and picked him up at his car, in the parking lot, with the golf cart. I got a deal where you get a hot dog and soda included in the green fee..which also really made him extremely happy.
What amazed me was how perfectly I was playing that day..given the course was not that long, it was a par 71 just north of 6000 yards, but every shot was dead on. They just aerated the greens and there was sand all over the place. I can only remember 2 distinct shots that went awry. The first being a thin wedge that landed and stopped off the rear slope of the green and the second being an attempted draw with my hybrid that was more of a cooked duck hook. The beauty was that I was able to get up and down all day long, including these shots, and save par on multiple occasions.
I ended up going 1 over on the front and 5 over on the back (we were playing against the wind). I wasn't even thinking of keeping track of score, but the boss did, and I realized I was playing extremely well. All I can say is that it felt the same way when I broke 80 the first time. It has been over two years ago but you just don't realize what you're doing. I felt that my mind was relaxed and that you're in..for a lack of a better cliched word..zen. I felt good over every shot and knew that I was going to get close to the hole on every shot coming in. My tempo felt so good that day and I felt that I was able to feel the head of club on every swing. Ball contact was clean and I just had that "effortless swing" all day long.
Needless to say, I'm still giddy about it and just put me in a good mood over the weekend..and still feel good. Golfers are a strange breed, we can get in trouble by our wives, girlfriends, bad day at work, etc. but as long as we know we played a good round it seems to bring things back to normal.
Anyhow, to make a long story short, we played yesterday. He knew I've been playing for some time and he just wanted to play with an experienced player. We played at this place called Willowick Golf Club in Santa Ana. If you wanted to call a course a "muni" this place fit the description. All the holes except two of them looked the same..straight with very wide fairways with no water hazards..a park-land golf course..to say the least. I knew from the bat that I wasn't going to lose a golf ball this round..and I didn't. It's very easy to find since it's right door to a local radio station and it's humongous radio antenna tower.
We got to the first tee, easy to get on, and he hit a decent drive right down the middle. I countered with a similar shot. He hit a "Rosie" and it went about 10 feet. I countered with a wedge shot that landed about 1 foot from the hole. I ended up getting a birdie and he ended up with a snowman.
Anyway, I wasn't really worried about me outplaying him and vice versa because he knew that I was a decent player. I came to just have a good time and solidify our working relationship. I got there a little early and picked him up at his car, in the parking lot, with the golf cart. I got a deal where you get a hot dog and soda included in the green fee..which also really made him extremely happy.
What amazed me was how perfectly I was playing that day..given the course was not that long, it was a par 71 just north of 6000 yards, but every shot was dead on. They just aerated the greens and there was sand all over the place. I can only remember 2 distinct shots that went awry. The first being a thin wedge that landed and stopped off the rear slope of the green and the second being an attempted draw with my hybrid that was more of a cooked duck hook. The beauty was that I was able to get up and down all day long, including these shots, and save par on multiple occasions.
I ended up going 1 over on the front and 5 over on the back (we were playing against the wind). I wasn't even thinking of keeping track of score, but the boss did, and I realized I was playing extremely well. All I can say is that it felt the same way when I broke 80 the first time. It has been over two years ago but you just don't realize what you're doing. I felt that my mind was relaxed and that you're in..for a lack of a better cliched word..zen. I felt good over every shot and knew that I was going to get close to the hole on every shot coming in. My tempo felt so good that day and I felt that I was able to feel the head of club on every swing. Ball contact was clean and I just had that "effortless swing" all day long.
Needless to say, I'm still giddy about it and just put me in a good mood over the weekend..and still feel good. Golfers are a strange breed, we can get in trouble by our wives, girlfriends, bad day at work, etc. but as long as we know we played a good round it seems to bring things back to normal.
