Vacations are wonderful - except for your golf game.
The family went on a fairly long vacation in Europe. We had an absolutely wonderful time (See my Trip Blog at http://levinetrip.blogspot.com/). No thoughts of golf, until I returned home on June 21st - and saw the US Open.
Being away from work for a while, you don't get the chance to steal away some time to practice, either. So, I went out on Saturday morning not having swung a club in 4 weeks.
The warm-up at the range was fine. No signs of the horrors to come in the next 5 hours.
We teed off at 9:08am. Playing partners of Rich and Pete - Vak couldn't make it, and none of our alternates could play.
The clouds were low and threatening, but the weather forecasters all said there would be no rain until after 3.
Oh how I wish they were wrong....
The first drive was a little left, off the fairway - but decent. My 7-iron was pulled, again, left off the fairway - leaving me 60 yards to the middle of the green.
My normal 60 yard shot is pretty consistent - but not today. I hit it thin, and the ball went just over the green.
Bogey. (Little did I know that would be one of the best holes of the day).
The second hole was the par 4. For those of you that don't know, the Red course at Eisenhower has 2 setups. The "left" 2nd hole, a short part 4 that is a dogleg left - and a 160 yard (whites) Par 3.
I guess the Par 4 hole was repaired enough to play. My tee shot, with my 4 hybrid, was a bit right, but on the fairway 125 yards to the green.
Here's where things started to get bad.
I picked my 9 iron, swung, and the ball was 20 yards off the mark - another bogey.
The third hole was the third bogey.
Then we came to the fourth hole - still having a temporary green. I know I posted last month that I thought it was only a week or two away from opening - but I guess I was wrong.
My drive was perfect. Drawn around the dogleg left. It was the 6 iron that killed me. Pushed to the right maybe 30 yards.
Double bogey.
The next 13 holes were pretty much the same - Bogey, double, bogey, double. Sometimes 3 putting, sometimes missing short irons, and then driving the ball way left, right, left right.
I felt like Tiger Woods.....
Well, maybe not that bad - but pretty bad.
By the 18th hole, I had had it - mentally and physically. It was lightly drizzling, and my jet lag was just a wee bit still with me. My tee shot on 18 pushed a bit right - but landed in the rough on a steep upslope.
Wanting to get this nightmare over, I foolishly took my hybrid and swung. The club buried deep in the upslope and the ball went into the 1st fairway.
4 shots later I was laying 7 in the greenside bunker. I seriously had no energy left, and picked up.
I shot a consistent 50/50 - 100!!! Yep, the first triple digit score in years.
I could blame this on the vacation.
I could blame this on a bit of jet lag.
I could blame this on the endless calls/messages I was getting about my 40th High School reunion (that night).
But, the bottom line is - I sucked. My timing was off, my swing was off, my mental game was off.
It was amazing that I only lost one ball - tee shot off the 15th par 3 - whiffed a 4-wood and bounced the ball into the water.
So, what does this teach me (and you)?
You can never take this game for granted. There are some of us that are gifted with grooved swings, fine tempo, and mental tenacity.
Others, like me, need to work at the game - constantly. And, when playing, need to concentrate only on one thing - the next shot.
No thoughts of meals in Greece, or ruins in Turkey.
JUST THE NEXT SHOT
This is probably just the jolt you need every now and then, to bring you back to reality and realize that this game is HARD!!
So, in the coming week - I'll try to squeeze in some range time. I hope to play Friday (the 3rd) with my usual playing partners of Vak, Rich, and Pete.
Until then,
Keep it on the Short Hairs
