Capella
Journeyman Pro
I played my first comp of the year on Sunday. Our season starter is always a relatively big one, because it is a qualifying round for the WAGC (a worldwide netto comp with a chance to win a free trip to the final in Malaysia, if you first qualify for the national final and then win in your handicap category there). Despite the slightly ostentatious name, the local qualifiers are just regular Stableford completitions, though, and the field is split into 6 handicap categories.
I had one of the worst starts into a comp round ever. Blobbed the first hole, topped my tee shot on the second but managed to scramble a really scrappy bogey there, hit my third tee shot into the woods ... you get the idea. I scored 4 pts in the first 5 holes (for the not so Stableford inclined ... that's a nett 6 over) and only because I holed two almost impossible putts. I was playing in a group with three guys who I did not know before and was starting to feel really really embarrassed about my game. I just could not get a clean contact on the ball. But I tried to not let it get to me. After all the commotion of the past two weeks (see the "Enjoy every second" thread) I was just happy to be out on the golf course and determined to have a good time. The weather was much better than had been predicted and at least one of the guys I played with was really really nice and supportive (the others were nice as well, but they were pretty much caught up in their own game, so we did not chat that much).
Starting on the sixth hole I managed to right the ship a bit. Funnily enough, things were suddenly reversed. Now my full shots turned out okay, but my putting and chipping completely went out of the window. I three putted on four holes and two putted on a few where I just had a chip into the green. But, to my surprise and absolute delight, I managed to par our 18th hole (something I had never done before ... it is a tricky hole to play) by holeing out a sloping downhill 12 footer. Overall I got two shots back and ended up with 32 pts. And to my absolute surprise (and I still feel I do not deserve this), I ended up first in my handicap category and will proceed to the German final in September. Looks like the rest of the field had not quite woken up out of hibernation yet (course conditions were brilliant and as I said, the weather was lovely, so no excuses there). So all in all, even though 32 pts is not brilliant, I am really proud that I managed to turn the round around after the really crappy start.
I had one of the worst starts into a comp round ever. Blobbed the first hole, topped my tee shot on the second but managed to scramble a really scrappy bogey there, hit my third tee shot into the woods ... you get the idea. I scored 4 pts in the first 5 holes (for the not so Stableford inclined ... that's a nett 6 over) and only because I holed two almost impossible putts. I was playing in a group with three guys who I did not know before and was starting to feel really really embarrassed about my game. I just could not get a clean contact on the ball. But I tried to not let it get to me. After all the commotion of the past two weeks (see the "Enjoy every second" thread) I was just happy to be out on the golf course and determined to have a good time. The weather was much better than had been predicted and at least one of the guys I played with was really really nice and supportive (the others were nice as well, but they were pretty much caught up in their own game, so we did not chat that much).
Starting on the sixth hole I managed to right the ship a bit. Funnily enough, things were suddenly reversed. Now my full shots turned out okay, but my putting and chipping completely went out of the window. I three putted on four holes and two putted on a few where I just had a chip into the green. But, to my surprise and absolute delight, I managed to par our 18th hole (something I had never done before ... it is a tricky hole to play) by holeing out a sloping downhill 12 footer. Overall I got two shots back and ended up with 32 pts. And to my absolute surprise (and I still feel I do not deserve this), I ended up first in my handicap category and will proceed to the German final in September. Looks like the rest of the field had not quite woken up out of hibernation yet (course conditions were brilliant and as I said, the weather was lovely, so no excuses there). So all in all, even though 32 pts is not brilliant, I am really proud that I managed to turn the round around after the really crappy start.
