How to recover from the worst round ever!!!
It’s a beautiful Sunday morning, the air is fresh, the sun is shining and I’m off to play what I think will be my best round ever! Few things to consider before I continue….
a.) Never attend a friend’s braai the day before golf, especially if there are no women there! The only result will be passing out at some stage of the evening and being woken up by drunken snoring men!
b.) Never play X-Box Tiger Woods golf the night before playing. No you are not Tiger Woods, and no, you never will be!
c.) Never trust anyone when they say “don’t worry, you can catch a ride with me” – Always, have your own vehicle and clubs handy!!!
d.) If you do point A above, ensure Car Keys are placed in a place they will be found easily, at the beginning of the braai!
Anyway, Golf is the one games where I can wake up at any time and will drive any distance to play! In this case, “The F*&^%%*g Lost City Golf Course.” After faffing around we were eventually on the road and I was excited for my round of golf. I had played reasonably well for my standards in the past few weeks so this felt like it was going to be a good day!
Before playing, I normally start off my day with a nice healthy breakfast; Sausage McMuffin, Hash Brown and Cream Soda. Another key is ensuring your clothes are both comfortable and respectable. At least if you play kak, you look good doing it!
I then raid the Pro Shop, where I am always in need of the R 5 balls and tees. Always seems to break tee’s, not sure if it’s because Im rubbish or if Im really strong!
On to the first!!! No matter how many times I have played, how well or badly I have played in the past, the first tee is always the worst for me!!! Whether it’s 3 other guys, or 20, I never have confidence playing that first shot, and just hope that it goes somewhere!!! In this case, not too bad, down the left but ok!
Second shot was ok and managed to scramble a 6 on the par 4, not a ring but ok for the first…. Then, I do not remember the rest! All I remember is telling my partner, sorry, and yes that’s another ring.
12 rings later with a mammoth 10 points, I had reached my golfing low point. All tee shots were slicing out of bounds, followed by shanked approach shots, duffed chips and missed putts. It was horrific! At one stage, I think it was the 16th, I felt like crying.
So after finishing and realising that I was in fact the worst golfer that day, and breaking records such as most rings in one day, there was one thing to do…… get drunk!!! Which I did thanks to the fantastic group of guys on the SOS tour! Castle Lite after Castle Lite, Chunky Charlie after Chunky Charlie, I was in heaven!!! No fairways, trees, sand or water in sight…..no wait I lie, Chips fines (Water) were in sight!!! I even managed to walk away with a few prizes…Fantastic!!!
Now the next day following a horrific round, you need to have a game plan… are you going to sulk and moan about it, or are you going to try find ways to improve your game? Do you treat it as a once off failure, or do you find a way to never be subjected to the misery again? In my case, I chose the latter and proceeded with the following plan of action….
a.) Forget about the round!!! Remember where you went wrong, but don’t hang on to the score or the misery!
b.) Make contact with your good golfing mates! No mate likes acting like a pro and giving you advice, however if you ask for it, they will gladly give it to you.
c.) Ensure that you meet them in a place conducive to heavy drinking in order to get all of their secrets out of them!
d.) Listen & absorb
Following my night at the Colony Arms with a few single Handicappers, I learnt the following:
a.) Some guys are born to play golf, others need to learn! Some guys can walk on to a golf course after not playing for a while and shoot 72, others can’t. Never compare yourself to another golfer. Challenge yourself and forget about how good other guys are.
b.) Putting – Place to 50c coins 15m apart on a carpet, and practice, practice, practice!!!
c.) I was also told to read some books, “How I play Golf – Tiger Woods” and another by Ben Hogan, can’t remember the title.
d.) Finally, as we all know, the more you practise, the luckier you get!
e.) Other than that, just got drunk and talked about all other things to take my mind off the game for a bit!
All in all, it was a miserable day, but I think I am stronger and more ready than ever to take on the next course with hopefully a better result. After all, could a day be any worse…. 13 rings hmmmmmmm???