Golf...

Golf...

Last night I went golfing for the first time in almost two weeks. The last 3 or 4 outings have been Discouraging with a capital D.

Golf is such a mind game. Stop and think about it: the act of hitting the ball takes maybe 4 or 5 seconds for each stroke. So you play nine holes and shoot a 50, you actually spend about 4 minutes playing golf. This on a round that can take about 2 hours. So the rest of the time the game is in your head.

To score well you have to make every stroke count. You don't get many goofs. So when you take a bad shot, it is easy to say 'oh boy, now I'm in trouble. I'm going to end up with an awful score.' And then you go ahead and make your prediction come true.

There are also a lot of contradictions that you have to live with. Like if you hold the club too tightly, you end up with a wooden swing. But if you hold it too loosely, well, it can fly out of your hands. For me one of the biggest contradictions is caring about the score. If I care too much about it, I inevitably blow it. But you have to care a little.

So the key to my turn around last night was decided not to keep score. I decided all I was going to care about was hitting the ball well and having a good time. So I didn't keep score.

I started off pretty much like I had been playing - a couple or three strokes over par, but I really didn't care. I just enjoyed hitting the ball and seeing where it went. Then on the third hole I hit one into the trees on right side of #12 (a long par 5). Since I didn't really care what happened, I picked the riskier shot and, without much of a practice swing, punched it right out into the open where I was aiming. My third shot went right again, and instead of going up to the open fairway on the left went careening for the trees on the right. But it was a well hit ball and it looked like it might have cleared them. I walked forward, not really expecting to find it because I thought I probably lost it in the woods or the tall grass on the far right. When I got out of the woods, there was my ball plopped up a little grassy area with a clear view of the green. I hit a nice fourth shot on to the green, and then (let down) three-putted. But that shot over the trees was a turning point. I didn't still didn't care about the score, but I found myself really enjoying the game, and I bogeyed the next three holes, all of them close to par.

As I came down to the last three holes I told my companions that I wanted to par at least one of the three remaining holes. I was on the green in two, and put down my second put for par on #16 (par 4); had a beautiful drive, a long second put and a short drop for par on #17 (par 3); and was on the green in two on #18. I left my fist put short and missed par by about 2 inches on the last hole.

So I'm learning about caring, but not too much!

In other news, I had not one but two winged visitors last night. I don't know if they are the same bat, or different ones. One was in at about 1:30, and the second at about 4. They hadn't disturbed my markers, so I am back to square one in trying to figure out where they're coming in. This is not an accident or coincidence, and I'm really tired of it. Or maybe I should just say I'm tired; I feel really sleep-deprived.

I'm getting good at catching them: I'm using the garbage can technique in which you scoop into the bat's flight, by the time they realize you're an obstacle it is too late.