Happy, even if it wasn't exactly perfect.

[McGolf-Doggie]

Fun round tonight. Had to go in stone cold at 6 pm, so a good amount of tee shot trouble was to be expected, and even more putting trouble.

Mediocre score but very pleased with iron shots that were just on fire. THe week of practice paid off.

THe last three holes 6i 180; 4W easy 210;
5 i 180 all straight and close to the green.
The 6 iron was long and bounced to the far fringe. When everybody else was hitting 5 woods or long irons.

Topped a bunch of tee shots to begin with. Airmaled the first green with a hot flyer gap wedge.

NOTE: The NXT extremes are Looong! Straight but long.

MENTAL GAME
I was playing with a golfer who's normally an outstanding guy to play with, and we had our share of fun chat tonight too, but he caught me by surprise by getting pissed off with his mistakes in a way that I didn't anticipate he would. Very out of character for him.

I let it throw me for a while. I hoped it wasn't my struggles on the first few tee shots that was bringing him down, until I got my own head in order.

What was bothering him, was a group of 4 women who were slow as molasses playing two groups ahead, who he let get him hacked off, plus his own misses to the left.

After you're past the basics and you have some kind of consistent game. So much is just purely out of your control. It becomes a mental thing to get your mind around, and put aside, like a zen buddhist, or pay the price with golf meltdowns.

Nothing like great iron play to make one's day, even if you leave putts on the green and tee shots in the rough.

42 is a middling score for me, but with no practice, I'll take it, as this one could easily have been a 37.