Bamberdele21
Active member
Does anything of note stick out in the memory bank?
I’m buzzing for it but also a tad nervous.
Good feels for sure
I’m buzzing for it but also a tad nervous.
Good feels for sure
Sliced it off the tee on the first into a normally safe area.
No one told me to hit a provisional despite me making everyone aware it was my first comp and I'd need help with rules etc.
Walked back to the tee surrounded by 30+ players to replay my shot 5 minutes later after not finding the ball. Great!
So really, the least perfect start possible! But its never been that bad since!
Yes it was called the Joe Shardlow Cup. I was 13 (18 years ago)
Fortunately they had a junior division as they usually let juniors play in adult comps, only however if approved by the committee due to potential for destroying the field due to advancing quickly with high handicaps.
It was a single stab Format and there was probably only about 25 juniors on the field but I won with 50 points off 27. Second and third we’re at 48 points.
It was probably around a year after before my handicap dropped to a level that was acceptable for me to partake in men’s events.
We used to play in fiddles during the school holidays. The old boys would have 24 handicap juniors off about 5 and somehow the juniors would still take money off them ?
Great times looking back, was really fortunate to have a really good junior team and a membership base that was as inclusive as possible for juniors, whilst keeping things fair for the main membership base.
Haha
How did the provisional go with the added crowd behind you?
Straight down the middle to be fair!
I'm better with more people watching for some stupid reason it seems!
When is your first one? This weekend?
Provisional balls are always perfect. If only we could hypnotise ourselves to think every ball is a provisional, we'd all be off scratch.Straight down the middle to be fair!
I'm better with more people watching for some stupid reason it seems!
When is your first one? This weekend?
Funnily enough I can remember one of the guys i played with, he worked as a blacksmith and had huge powerful shoulders and arms, on the 4th he drove into the deep rough about 70 or 80 yards from the green, at Haddington in the summer it was like hay, somehow we found it, i'm thinking he will do well to shift this, it looked like he took out about a tonne of grass and hit it onto the fringe of the green, remember thinking naw I couldn't do that !Not for me other than it was at Haddington, it was about 50 years ago, I struggle to remember games from a couple of months ago tbh !
Nice. So you’re good under pressure?
Got a stableford on the 27th feb and medals on the 5th March. I’m first in line for both at 07.04. Keen is an understatement but a bit edgy in regards to the proper rules.
I played my first club competition two months ago. A Stableford, with three other PPs -- all stalwarts of the Seniors section, with handicaps far lower than mine. It was also only my second time attempting 18 holes -- my club membership at that time only permitted 9 holes.
I was, of course, very nervous, and for the first three holes, played really badly. I even four-putted on one of them, and blobbed all three. The really great thing was the support I got from my PPs -- "we've all been there", "that was a good shot", etc.
Fortunately golf is a game played over three hours or more, so the nerves do die down, and from the 4th onwards I settled, began to enjoy the game, and at the end of the match, was shocked to discover I'd got 42 Stableford points, and was in danger of topping the leaderboard that day (benefit of an outrageously high handicap). Fortunately someone else won...but the following week, I got 48 points, and did win. I've never played that well again, though!
The lesson I drew from those first two events was that nerves can cause you to play badly; they can also get you to focus, and play really well. Now I'm more relaxed at the start of a game, I've lost the match nerves, and tend to play to my standard (depending upon conditions) all the time. I end up with points somewhere in the 30s, which is nice, but I know the hard slog now begins--getting my handicap down. I'm intrigued to find out if I can get those nerves back, and harness them to my advantage, in bigger events like the club Open, and in knockouts -- I'll find out this summer.
I try to play at least one competition a week now, sometimes two, and find I enjoy my golf much more now that it has a competitive element to it. It's also nice to play with golfers I've never met before, and become part of the group. I got a fair bit of good-natured ribbing about those first two matches, but nothing I minded in the least--probably the only time I'll be considered a bit of a bandit!
I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much you enjoy your first comp. Let your nerves be a spur to good play, once you are into the game. Have fun, and good luck!
About 5 years ago for me. I was a bag of nerves, not helped by the fact I'd never played off the whites before. Every drive seemed much harder than off the yellows. Didn't totally disgrace myself, got around 30 points. It got easier after that.
Provisional balls are always perfect. If only we could hypnotise ourselves to think every ball is a provisional, we'd all be off scratch.