A Nice Winter Day

I know, it’s a corney subhead, but that’s all your Hack can remember from Thursday. The weather was fantastic for January in Bethany Beach with little wind, a lot of sunshine and temperatures inching into the low 50’s. We were riding a high before the projected winter storm coming this weekend and I was itching to get back out.

As the kid’s say, the “Olds” were out in force. Some neighbors from Bay Colony (Tom, Butch, and Steve) went out first and your Hack was paired with a couple of other Tom’s and a human rain delay, Glen. This is a group of guys I don’t regularly play with so I adapted to their game and played from the White/Gold combo tees which was about 5600 yards, reduced with temporary tees on the par 3’s. Let’s go out and shoot as close to par as possible from the up tees and see where the game is these days. I was coming off a 74 the prior week and was anticipating a low number.

After an easy par on #1 (wedge to 15 feet & missed birdie putt), I was sitting in the fairway on #2 about 115 yards out with a 9-iron in hand when the “unspoken” made a surprise appearance. Dead shank - bogey. Another shank off the 3rd tee (a short par 3) and another bogey. It’s funny how your mood can change so quickly when something like that happens. Your happy Hack became the hopeless Hack in about 10 minutes.

After righting things on #4 and #5 with pars, Mr. Shank made another appearance to the left of the 6th green. My second chip was further from the hole than the original so I just chipped in for par - funny game. Feeling good about saving par and having a short par 3 ahead was good for the ego, and that’s when “Golf” decided to have another say in the proceedings. Of course, another shank off the par 3, 7th hole - Bogey. After scraping it in with one putt pars on #8 and #9, your Hack made the turn in 38. Three over par with 4 shanked shots was not how I’d pictured the opening nine going.

My playing partners seemed oblivious to my struggles which is how I should have treated things. (I was ready for a drink even though I’ve not had an alcoholic beverage since last April). Ginger ale in hand, I headed to the 10th tee ready to forget the first nine and shoot a number on the back. Dr. Hack “diagnosed” the patient and decided I was moving laterally (swaying) during the swing. Problem solved!

Until it wasn’t. . . On the 10th green, Mr. 3-putt made his appearance. It turns out that the diagnosis was not complete and Dr. Hack failed to take a weak mental game into consideration. Another bogey and I was now sitting 4 over.

After a wedge to 10 feet on #11, the birdie putt lipped out and the birdie-less streak continued. Of course, the “unspoken” made another appearance on #12 ( a 9-iron from the bunker right) with a pitch-out to the back of the mound to the right of the green.

As I walked over the hill, I spotted a lady reaching down, picking up a ball and sticking it in her pocket. “Was that a new ProV1, number 1 that you just picked up?” I asked. Looking at me with what seemed like dead eyes, she said “Yes, I thought I’d found a new ball.”

Looking around I saw several clubs and balls scattered in the 14th fairway as she was obviously practicing on the course. “You really shouldn’t be out here practicing” I told her, “We have a practice area and putting green for that.”

“I know, but I do a lot of things I’m not supposed to . . .” she replied. Hoping she didn’t get hit in the head (again?) by the group in front of us when they teed off on #14, I pitched back onto the green and make another bogey.

Things settled down after meeting “dead eyes” and your Hack made par on the next 5 holes. A failed up and down from the left on #18 ended the round with a bogey and another 38 - 3 over par.

I’m not really happy about a 76 from the White/Gold combo tees, but we hit some good shots. It’s hard to score when you shank the ball 5 times and add in a 3-putt to the mix. On the positive side, we got up and down 3 times for par and hit wedges inside of 15 feet 4 times. No birdies though.

It’s winter golf with an old Hack so our expectations are not that high . . . yet.

Score: 76 (12 pars & 6 bogeys - no birdies)

Fairways: 8/14 - 57%

Greens: 10/18 - 56%

Putts: 33 - (3-putts = 1)

I hope you are enjoying the blog about my retired golf life. I use these posts to try and add some perspective to my game so that I can get better. Hopefully, they are somewhat entertaining and at least they are free! Please send me comments and share with friends.

Keep it in the short grass.