Terrible hole to brilliant hole in one shot.

[Kellfire]

Well, I was playing this morning and not going so bad. Terrible front nine, including a nine at the first (arrived at course at 10.40, teeing off at 10.52 so no warm up whatsoever and I haven't played in a month).

After about 6 holes, the rain starts and the wind is so strong that it's virtually sideways rain. Clubs were getting soak, I didn't have my waterproofs and basically it's becoming a chore to even grip the club as my glove is so wet but we struggle on until the rain stops but the wind is blowing a gale still.

So anyway, I start hitting my irons pretty well and then I have a very strange hole. It's a par four 335 yards, which I tee off from with a 4i because I know I'm hitting it well. Or I thought I was. I drag it left and the wind does the rest, landing it squarely on the fairway of the next hole. No one was out on the course, really, the weather causing the group in front of us to give up so I decide to play it from there. I make it about 160 yards with the wind going left to right towards a greenside bunker.

This is where I did everything right and did things the way I wouldn't have two months ago.

I trust my club selection, I trust my judgement of the wind and I trust my swing. One thing I am very good at is club selection and distance. I have great feel around a golf course for distance.

I make it about 170 yards, given the angle from going to the next fairway and decide the wind is ever so slightly forwards as well as left so I pick out the six iron. I line myself up, don't hesistate and tense up and just hit it. Two or three bounces and it's nestled two foot from the pin. No fluke, exactly where I aimed it. I made the putt and in a round of mostly double-bogies, I carded a birdie.

That's why I love golf. That feeling, knowing I have the potential and I just need to practice and I have the distance and course management to get my handicap at least into the teens.

Beautiful game, this. Even in the wind and rain.

[golfpro999]

Awesome post. Enjoyed it greatly!

[Zeph]

That is an awesome feeling, hitting the shot exactly how you planned it, but where was the hole in one?

[Fat Slice]

Congrats, a birdie is always worth celebrating. Let me ask, though, what the big challenge was hitting off an adjacent fairway? Did you have trees to worry about? Or just the bunker in front of the green? To me, a fairway is a fairway and distance is distance and I will play from an adjacent fairway no matter who else is on the course and where - I just use etiquette to work my shot in and make sure to make it a good one (relax, take my usual routine).

[Zeph]

I hit some shots this week with strong wind, both to elevated and greens lower than the tee. First found the distance marker on the tee, measured up the exact distance to the centre of the green. Adjusted for a front or rear pin placement. Measured up the wind to consider using more club or hitting it lower to be less affected. Considered the green higher or lower in elevation, perhaps an extra or less club. Hit some of those shots pin high. It's so much fun. Also hit a draw around some trees to find the green on one hole, pulled it off like nothing. Went on to slice the drive on the next hole into oblivion of course, but that's golf.

[Shorty]

I line myself up, don't hesistate and tense up and just hit it. Two or three bounces and it's nestled two foot from the pin. No fluke, exactly where I aimed it.

You mean you actually wanted it to go on the green?

I'm amazed to read that you didn't aim for a hazard or a bunker. So the other shots that you hit onto the wrong fairway and all over the place - where were they aimed? It was a fluke - but that's golf. Do it 5 times and a row, then you'll know that it wasn't a fluke. You hit the shot you wanted to. Happens to most of us a few times around. Yesterday I holed one from 115 metres. I wanted it to go in. It did. It was a fluke.

[iacas]

I want my money back. Where's the hole in one?

And a terrible hole? You made one bad shot. I've made birdie on the 8th at Lake View from the 9th fairway and vice versa. It happens.

Anyway, uh, congrats on one good shot? Really, that's what keeps you coming back.

[Kellfire]

Tough crowd.

[Kellfire]

You mean you actually wanted it to go on the green?

I actually played some pretty good stuff yesterday mixed in with the duff shots. That's how I know my game is definitely improving, I find myself hitting the ball better and better every time I play. Yesterday was the first time I've ever played when I hitting those "fizzing" type shots that you hear when you compress the ball, take a little divot and the ball then sticks on the green instead of bouncing out the back.

I generally have been picking the ball clean off the deck on good shots, which looks nice but it doesn't control the landing.

I want my money back. Where's the hole in one?

Like I've said above, I hit more than one good shot yesterday but that was the one that really sticks in mind. I know you single digits can't understand our hacker's delight at sticking one that close.

By terrible hole I was alluding more to the mindset that can set in when you're a high handicapper. You see the tee shot drift onto the next fairway and sometimes it's very hard to get over that and you beat yourself up over it and the subsequent shots are impacted. Well, for me anyway. And don't worry, when I get my ace, you'll know all about it. Think someone asked me what the extra challenges were from the next fairway. I had to carry over a couple of small trees and a huge patch of rough. For a high handicapper like me, those things stick in your head even though they shouldn't be in play at all. It also made reading the distance a little bit tougher and it make the wind not just a sideways obstacle now but a diagonal one.

[Fairway_CY]

Hey man... don't let the guys who are way better than you and I take away the joy you got from hitting such a good shot. They pull it off 'a few times every round' and you or I will pull it off 'a few times every season'.

I don't know about you, but my 25.1 handicap is improving, but because I don't get to play daily (like those who pull good shots off 'a few times every round')... I'm not supposed (allowed) to enjoy a shot?

Please.

Great shot... way to turn a hole that could be terrible (because anybody who ever had a handicap over 20 knows that a bad tee shot leads to bad thoughts which leads to another bad shot) into a brilliant hole (because anybody who ever had a handicap over 20 knows that the feeling of hitting a shot like that once every so often is what makes us WANT to become sub-10 handicaps like the guys who pull off shots like that 'a few times every round').

I think I made my point.

Congrats and good luck with you game.

CY