Hi guys,
This is my first post on sandtrap, I had to share my story of breaking 100 for the first time with you all as I'm very excited and want to hear other peoples stories.
I've been saying for about a year now that I would like to break 100, but never took it that seriously and only played once or twice a month. I was shooting anywhere from 105-120 at the beginning.
The golf bug hit me on a holiday to Phuket, where Mum and I went and played Laguna Phuket golf course. They have held the Johnnie Walker Classic here and it is a great course, the 9th hole you hit to an island green surrounded by a moat. It's compulsory to hire e a caddy to play here and I had to hire clubs, Nike Slingshot irons with one of those Nike Sumo square head drivers, a beast of a thing! It was a great experience having a caddy (she'd been a caddy here for 22 years) as I saw the importance of thinking your shots through, course management, club selection, wind, cleaning your ball on the green and reading greens, all the little things I'd never really paid attention to. Through the round I felt I was playing well, I'm not sure if it was having nice hire clubs (I was hitting the hire driver a lot better than the one at home), having a caddy giving me advice, or I was just playing my best, the caddy kept score so I couldn't add it up along the way. I even scored my first birdie on the par 3 16th, 8 iron landed a metre from the hole for a one putt, I was pumped and was high fiving everyone! At the end I received my card and it said I had shot a 99, however I checked straight away hole 3 (par 3) where I had teed off out of bounds (and the caddy said don't worry about it just hit again, knowing we were casual golfers), so teed again onto the green this time and 2 putted, she had marked me down for a par, when really it was a 5/double bogey including the out of bounds, making my real score 101. I had to be honest with myself! However I was happy as I'd played my best game ever, had an enjoyable game and the golf bug swallowed me.
So I came back to Perth, Australia, totally addicted only wanting to play golf whenever I could. I set up a "driving range" at my house with some bed sheets hanging from an extension cord between two poles on the patio to practice cleaner contact and my swing. I even went and bought golf books, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book and a Golf Mag instructional book.
In total I played 8 rounds of golf at Perth courses such as Whaleback, Collier Park, Armadale and Araluen. Score ranging from 130, shot at Araluen, I found this course very hard with lots of up/down hill shots, lost about 7 balls, and the fairways are not in the greatest condition making it hard for clean contact, to my lowest 103 at Collier Park, Pines and lake course where the shots were stringing together nicely.
Breaking 100 came yesterday at Wembley golf course. In terms of equipment used for this game I had heard people rave about Titleist Pro V1 balls so I bought 3 balls at the pro shop before the round as I wanted every advantage, $7 a ball! I didn't lose a ball and this would have helped greatly, however I think I have jinxed myself with these expensive balls! My clubs are Maxfli M series that I have had since I started playing.
I played the game of my life. On the "old course", one of the 2 18 hole courses at Wembley, par 72, blue tees, ACR 70, I shot a 52 front and 47 back. The scores went something like this:
Par 3's:
5, 4, 3, 4
Par 4's:
5, 7, 9, 4, 6, 6, 6, 5, 6, 5 (the 9 blow out came from getting it in front of a greenside bunker in 3 shots, trying to chip it over but it landed in it, taking 2 shots to get out of it then 3 putting)
Par 5's:
6, 6, 6, 6 (probably where I broke the 100)
Putts:
38 in total, 19 putts on both 9's
Greens in regulation:
3 out of 19, par on 2 of them, bogey on the other
Fairways hit:
9 out of 18, left my driver in the bag the whole day and used my 3 wood that I can hit 20-30 metres less but a lot straighter
On the back 9 I felt I could break the 100 so added my scores on the tee box of 18, saying I need to score 5 on the par 4, index 3! The tee shot was as good a shot I could hit with my 3 wood, and then the pressure shot of 170-180m out massive uphill to the green so I used my 5 wood off the deck. I thought the shot through, had many practice swings and it came off sweetly flying up to the green. All I had to do was then 3 putt it in, I missed a 1.5m 2nd putt (mate said my hand was shaking haha) and tapped it in for a total score of 99. I was very happy and hugged my mates at the end of the round instead of shaking hands. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face and the beer afterwards with good mates never tasted so good!
A year ago when I said I wanted to break the 100 I thought it would be a walk in the park, I was mistaken as it took lots of practice and really stringing good shots and holes together. I played my heart out and only just broke it. Have no idea what it's going to take to break 90 but I'm up for the challenge.
I would like to hear some other peoples milestone breaking stories, whether it be 100, or 80, going around on par, anything really! Please share :)