Broke 90 (and some other notable firsts:)

Yesterday I finally broke 90 for the first time in a club competition! :) The front 9 was scratchy BUT left me even par for my 24hcp (47) with 3 pars, 2 bogey, 3 double bogeys and one triple bogey and 15 putts. At this point I was thinking to myself that I'd actually be very happy with a 47 on the back 9 because the back 9 at my club is notorious for its difficulty! However I pulled out the best back 9 of my golfing career so far with 1 birdie, 5 pars, 1 bogey, 1 double bogey, one triple bogey and 13 putts! This gave me an 89 which is the first time I've ever broken 90 in a competition round and also the first time I've gone around with no three putts AND the first time I've broken 30 putts ending up with a total of 28 putts for the round! The other thing that pleased me no end was that I only gave up two holes during the entire round with 2 dirty triple bogeys (one on the SI1 par three 4th hole which is the hardest par three in England and then a stupid 7 on a par 4 that I shouldn't have had AFTER hitting the FIR and leaving myself a very achievable second which ended up in an ugly hook followed by two duffed chip attempts!!!). Even then these triples were "saved" by big one putts of around 10 feet! That was the story for all my bogeys and doubles because in every instance I was able to salvage a net par through my round through the best putting I've had so far!!! The highlight of the round was my approach shot in to the final hole, with about 75 yards to go and a pin tucked right in to the front of a well defended green (bunkers left, centre and right of the front of the green) I pulled out my 56 degree wedge, struck the ball absolutely perfect with the ball landing right on the front of the green, one hop then stopping dead 3 inches from the hole! That shot was probably the shot of my golfing career so far and earned me a nice bottle of bubbly for winning the closest to the pin in two competition on the last :) I'd like to say there was no luck invlolved (because there always is) but this shot was deliberately played because I've been able to devolop the ability to check my ball over the last month. I saw the shot I wanted to play, had the confidence to play that shot and, most pleasing of all, executed it perfectly and got the desired result! So to recap the highlights of the round; First sub 90 (89) competition round. First round with no three putts. First round with less than 30 (28) putts 8 pars (most ever in a round) 1 birdie (only my 8th birdie in my life and 4th in a competition) Most consecutive pars in a row with 4 (9th, 10th, 11th and 12th holes). Won the closest to the pin in 2 competition on the final hole! Anyway, in not sure if you have noticed but I'm pretty chuffed with my round yesterday so yay me [insert happy clapping here] :) Regards Mailman