Forgive the following rant. It helps sometimes to write it down...
So it was the 36 hole tourney I had been waiting all Summer for. The club's Junior Scratch Cup at Portstewart and open to players with an index from 5-9. My form was good from the last couple of weeks. I had come off 2 good rounds and my ball striking has been good for a few weeks now. I even had a lesson! And yes, the putter slightly warmed up, so I kinda fancied my chances for the day. But sometimes, ye golfing gods have other ideas.
After an reasonable start I came to our par 5 7th. After a good drive I faced about 200 slightly uphill into a breeze. I decided to go for the green with my new Sonartec 3 wood. I hit it decently but slightly pushed it and it hung in the air for a while. It needed to carry a cavern in front of the green but I felt I got enough on it for it to be close. So when I came up into sight of the green I was delighted to see a ball on the front right fringe of the green, looking precariously balanced. A lucky break, I had just made it and what was even better was that I was lying 20ft below the hole. A few comments were made by my playing partners about being lucky, yeah, yeah.
Anyway when I got up to the ball, it was lying in a narrow rut, a mark made by the mower. Kinda unlucky as it was not marked off. But the ball was sitting decently, so I went ahead and played up to the hole, 18 inches for a kick in bird. When I went to mark it, I noticed that it wasn't my ball!!!! Turns out my ball was 10 yards further back lying at the top of the first step of the cavern. STUNNED. Who the hell leaves a ball on the edge of the green like that? If I had obtained relief from the rut, I would have seen that it wasn't my ball when I picked it up to drop it. I know it is my fault for not checking my ball. I even have marks on it to identify it. But I guess I was so convinced that it was my ball I never thought to check. It was white side up, so no markings were visible, (effing Nike balls!!).
So instead of a birdie I walked off with an 8 and my hopes shot to hell of the tourney!! Well, I managed to put it behind me, but tbh that wasn't my only foray. I managed to run up a 9 later in the round with an altercation I had with a fairway bunker. And in the afternoon I had a massive brain fart that cost me a 9 on a par 5 with 2 lost balls. So I guess I can't blame "playing the wrong ball" totally. But man, it's hard to bounce back from that sort of bad break.
Too bad as in 36 holes I had 4 birdies, and 17 pars, but three holes cost me 12 shots, and the winner came in 10 shots ahead of me! Kinda cool seeing a 16 year old win it. And also kinda cool playing with a 62 year old who shot the best score in the morning, a 77!!
Ah well, back to the drawing board!!!
So it was the 36 hole tourney I had been waiting all Summer for. The club's Junior Scratch Cup at Portstewart and open to players with an index from 5-9. My form was good from the last couple of weeks. I had come off 2 good rounds and my ball striking has been good for a few weeks now. I even had a lesson! And yes, the putter slightly warmed up, so I kinda fancied my chances for the day. But sometimes, ye golfing gods have other ideas.
After an reasonable start I came to our par 5 7th. After a good drive I faced about 200 slightly uphill into a breeze. I decided to go for the green with my new Sonartec 3 wood. I hit it decently but slightly pushed it and it hung in the air for a while. It needed to carry a cavern in front of the green but I felt I got enough on it for it to be close. So when I came up into sight of the green I was delighted to see a ball on the front right fringe of the green, looking precariously balanced. A lucky break, I had just made it and what was even better was that I was lying 20ft below the hole. A few comments were made by my playing partners about being lucky, yeah, yeah.
Anyway when I got up to the ball, it was lying in a narrow rut, a mark made by the mower. Kinda unlucky as it was not marked off. But the ball was sitting decently, so I went ahead and played up to the hole, 18 inches for a kick in bird. When I went to mark it, I noticed that it wasn't my ball!!!! Turns out my ball was 10 yards further back lying at the top of the first step of the cavern. STUNNED. Who the hell leaves a ball on the edge of the green like that? If I had obtained relief from the rut, I would have seen that it wasn't my ball when I picked it up to drop it. I know it is my fault for not checking my ball. I even have marks on it to identify it. But I guess I was so convinced that it was my ball I never thought to check. It was white side up, so no markings were visible, (effing Nike balls!!).
So instead of a birdie I walked off with an 8 and my hopes shot to hell of the tourney!! Well, I managed to put it behind me, but tbh that wasn't my only foray. I managed to run up a 9 later in the round with an altercation I had with a fairway bunker. And in the afternoon I had a massive brain fart that cost me a 9 on a par 5 with 2 lost balls. So I guess I can't blame "playing the wrong ball" totally. But man, it's hard to bounce back from that sort of bad break.
Too bad as in 36 holes I had 4 birdies, and 17 pars, but three holes cost me 12 shots, and the winner came in 10 shots ahead of me! Kinda cool seeing a 16 year old win it. And also kinda cool playing with a 62 year old who shot the best score in the morning, a 77!!
Ah well, back to the drawing board!!!
