On league night Monday, I reached the ‘Zone’ where peace and tranquility result in effortless shots that were bang-on. I shot a 2-under 68 on Goose-Moors at Conestoga. Between 9 on Goose and 5 on Moors, I had 6 consecutive birdies! The final birdie was on the 180yd par 3 on Moors. I struck a 6 iron that tracked to the hole and ended up hanging over the lip….a wind’s breathe short of an Ace.
It’s a shame, but it was by far the easiest birdie of the bunch. Although I was striking the ball so well and hitting a LOT of greens in regulation (12 in total), it was the putter that was HOT. In total I had 27 putts which has gotta be one of my alltime lows. Most of my birdie putts (and par saves) were between 13-20 feet. Sinking several of those will make a big difference.
I saved some really nice pars but in general I didn’t miss the green….which is how I scored low. With my game, my chipping and flops are the weakest part of the game. So if I can avoid them I will score low. Of the 7 holes I missed in reg I managed to bogey only one of them….plus a humbling TRIPLE bogey on the par 3 6th on Goose. At the time I was sitting even par so I can’t chalk the meltdown up to stress. Just lack of focus and also being in an uncomfortable situation: having to do a 30 flop over a bunker to an elevated green. Naturally I placed it into the bunker. A shitty bunker. Mostly because of the sand it took me 3 (yes 3!) to get out of the bunker followed by a 10ft save. I went back afterwards to replay that flop and put it within 3ft. Ouch. That 2 under could have been 4 or even 5 under without that mistake.
But there’s always going to be a blowup hole of sorts unless you shoot 59. Who knows how I would’ve played after that. Since I was now 3-over after 6 it wasn’t looking to be anything special so I loosened up. And that’s when it started to get good. In addition, my partner Rob mentioned a change in his stance that had made him strike the ball cleaner: He opened his back leg slightly which allowed for better rotation and less likelihood of the knee buckling on the downswing. I started to do this with remarkable success (obviously). You can read more about this in the new page I added regarding my swing tips and notes.
The lesson to be learnt in all of this is that in the end it’s about 3 things: Putting, putting and putting. Don’t ever take putting for granted if you want to play well. It’s the least ‘sexy’ thing (yet the most exciting part if you start draining them) about golf but it’s the MOST IMPORTANT part of the game.
But the thing I will remember the most about that round is how easy the swing felt and how I felt I was going to drain every putt when I was standing over it. Now the trick will be to find that zone again. It’s only happened to me a handful of times but let’s hope I can find it sooner this time around.