Tag Archives: strokeplay

Resetting My Problems, Part 2

30 Jun

Guess what? My terrible golf continues – not a whole lot, but enough to demoralize me. As mentioned, I participated in my club’s Annual Club Championship tournament over the weekend. It was a mixed-fortune outing, with an improved score only on the first day; the second day’s outcome unfortunately regressed the overall two-day total. Like I have repeatedly emphasized, the spirit and mind are willing, but the body and ability are not. Sigh.

There were some brilliant moments, but there were more of the opposite that I could not recover from to minimize the damage. The first day’s score had four pars to cover the disasters on several holes. Pars are not to improve the score but to do damage control so that the score does not blow up!

However, on the second day, Lady Luck was not on my side; I could only manage one par. How is this miserly one par enough to minimize the disasters that occurred? We are not even talking about birdies, which were nil, zilch, and nada. 

So many near misses. A typical bogey became a double bogey, a par became a bogey, and worse, a double-bogey hole exploded to become a double par or more! Every hole, there were little mistakes here and there that added up the strokes! The only bright outcome from the experience was my putting. It was my saving Grace from an even higher overall score! Hats off to my caddy, who was of great help in this department for both days.

On the first day, I recorded only 29 putts, very impressive putting overall, I have to say, but alas, the same cannot be said for the other departments of the game. Honestly, it is rather amazing that I improved to 28 putts for the second day; I just took more strokes to get to the green! The irony.

Now that the stress of preparing for the Annual Championship is over, I can heave a sigh of relief. I can feel the tiredness in my bones and joints. Was it worth it? No. I am in more pain than ever! And although I gripe about not being physically fit, I actually played a game this morning, albeit half-heartedly. Sucker. It’s a love-hate relationship for this game called golf.

I will have a physiotherapy session soon to reset my body, and I hope it will help so I can play better golf in my next game.

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Annual Championship 2025

17 Jun

Over the weekend, my golf club held the 2025 Annual Championship for the Ladies, Senior, and Super Senior categories. It was a mixed-feeling experience. The Ladies and Super Senior categories teed off in the morning on Saturday, while the Senior category had their round in the afternoon. The Men category will commence this coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

All was good but hot! I played fairly decently and did not blow up any holes – no double-digit scores for the strokeplay event. Putting was good with the Scotty for 31 putts.

The next day, the categories swapped tee-off times, and the Senior category played in the morning. The other two, in the afternoon. And boy, oh boy, was it hot!

Despite the heat, I played much better on the second day. After we completed the back nine holes and crossed over, the weather changed and was cooler. However, don’t be deceived by the drop in the temperature!

As we approached the 4th hole and were about to tee off, an unexpected sudden lightning flashed! It was too close for comfort. We headed to the halfway hut nearby to take shelter, along with other players from within the few holes. But soon, everyone returned to the clubhouse immediately for safety. The rain came down fast and furious, and the siren came on.

The golf course was pelted and looked flooded, and the strong wind blew the sponsor’s drink tent onto the green at Hole 9! I have never seen an incident like this before.

Everyone had to wait out at the clubhouse until the weather improved. However, after some time, the Tournament Director and the Committee decided to abandon the second day of the 2025 Annual Championship tournament due to the weather, and scores from Day One for the Ladies and Super Senior would stand as the final results. While some players were unhappy, I was okay with the decision. The weather got too hot for me. The Senior category was not affected by the weather.

Looking back, my score from Day One compared to my past years’ participation was an improvement. And while I could have played well on the second day, I’m happy with my overall performance. It is over now, and I look forward to taking a break from golf.

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Iron Challenge 2024

23 Jan

What can I say about the Iron Challenge tournament this year? Well, it was a matter of could have or should have for the strokeplay tournament. The practice rounds did help with handling the long irons. All the other clubs were also good at ball striking, crossing most of the ponds and lakes safely. And I only lost one ball because of a mis-hit. Sadly, putting was the culprit and downright disappointing. I did not expect my putting to be so off the mark.

The TaylorMade Spider Mini did not rise to the occasion! Boo hoo hoo. I had five holes that I agonizingly three-putted and had only two miserable one-putts. But despite the 39 putts that I recorded, I did enjoy myself.

The weather was lovely, my flightmates were fun, and we all faced the challenges together in stride. On two occasions at the Par 3, my poor buggy mate returned with a snowman. But she wasn’t the only one. We all had snowmen on our scorecards! My fair share of snowmen was because of the putting! Oh well, this is part and parcel of the challenge.

Although the outcome was not the best, there is some consolation for me. I took the honors for the NTL (nearest-to-line) novelty, besting the 71 players in the field with a measurement of two feet and two inches to the line. Sometimes, little rewards like this make one forget all the adversity during the tournament. Will I participate again next year? For sure, a definite yes!

And for the record, I’ve decided to keep my long irons in the bag, as I feel comfortable handling them. But the Mini is out, and in its place is the Scotty. Putting is so important. I hope with Scotty now, my putting will yield some better results for my future games.

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