The IGs v. The Geezers

[IrishGolfer]

My son and I played a match last night against two geezers. It was a fourball better ball knockout tournament, this was the first round. You take shots off the low man (me) and we played off the forward tees. We teed off at 6pm, thinking we would have plenty of light to finish (it gets dark about 10pm). While we didn’t rush, I didn’t feel like we played slow.

Anyway, the first thing to say is, these guys could putt! They started rolling in putts from all over the place. One guy holed three putts of over 30 feet. He was a little erratic, but the other guy was a Steady Eddie, didn’t miss many shots and holed his fair share of 10-15 foot putts. They teamed well. Given it was off the forward tees, these guys were a lot more competitive.

I started with 4 solid pars and we found ourselves two down! They used their shots well, but man were they good putters! We managed to get even by 10, only to fall behind again on 12 to another birdie (we had 12 nett / gross overall birdies in our match!!).

I kept telling my son to be patient and that things would turn in our favour. He’s 17 and was getting mad as hell. I had to pull him aside and tell him that it was NOT The Open and was only meant to be a bit of fun. I didn’t care if we won or lost, but just wanted to enjoy it. He seemed to get the message after that and even though we were down for most of the match, the fun factor was good.

We came to 15 all square and it was starting to get quite dark. So we agreed that if it was still all square after 18, we would flip a coin rather than play sudden death.

My son has developed into a good player, albeit a little inconsistent. He is frustrated that he is playing off a 10 index as some of his buddies are now off 5/6. He was not playing that well, and I joked to him that my back was hurting from carrying him for so long. He came alive on 14 and went par, birdie, nett birdie, nett birdie and we came from behind to beat these guys on the 17th green. Our better ball was nett -8! As we shook hands it was almost dark, 3 hours and 40 mins to the 17th.

What a fun night! The two geezers were great company and I enjoyed battling with my son. Into the next round!!

 

[warbirdlover]

Sounds like a fun round. Will be great watching your son on the PGA.

 

[limpalong]

Amazing difference between our weekday "geezer" group and the weekend young flat-bellies. We don't hit it far, but it is not that uncommon to have every tee shot in the fairway hole after hole. And, we can chip and putt. The youngsters hit it twice as far... and, often, into never-never land. Chipping?? These guys chunk enough chips we have to reseed the surrounds after a round!!
If more young players would spend at least as much time chipping and putting as they do with a driver on the range, they could lower their scores exponentially.
Glad the geezers were fun to play with. Most of us old timers are just happy to be playing golf... no matter the score. All we have to do is look around at folks of similar age and so many are physically unable to play... or dead!! Every day we can walk onto a golf course and swing at a golf ball is a blessing.
Don't be too upset with the boy. Youth can have difficulty practicing patience. Was great that you took him aside, though. We don't need another Sergio when your son makes it to the Tour.