Well, its our 7th Wedding Anniversary - so where better to spend it than Pebble Beach?!? I can't think of anywhere else I would rather be! We arrived today and hit the links at Spyglass this afternoon. Spyglass Hill Golf Course is rated one of the toughest courses in the world and it lives up to its reputation! We were paired with Bill, who is here celebrating his 60th birthday, and Justin from Dallas who is playing here for the first time (and ended up shooting an 80 which totally contradicts my earlier comment that Spyglass lives up to its reputation as tough)! But hey - it was tough for me!
I really thought my entire game would come together today... my driver is finally working and my irons have been good all season, so it was about time! I stepped up to the first tee and smoked a drive down the middle of the fairway. My second shot was a smoked 3 wood down the middle of the fairway. My confidence was high; it was finally my time... WRONG! My irons and my short game left me. I duffed my next shot into the bunker; duffed my bunker shot into the next bunker, and then skulled my second bunker shot over the green. To make a long story short - I ended up taking an 8 on the first hole... and it didn't get much better after that! The next 15 holes were all about trying to find my iron swing, and trying to stay out of bunkers (because my bunker shots were disastrous!!)
So how do you get through a round of golf when your swing is off without getting too frustrated? Well - its difficult that's for sure. What made it easier today though was our caddy, Michael Jordan (yeah - that's really his name!), and the other players in our foursome. Every time Bill hit a good shot - every time - he celebrated with a vocal, "Woohoo". Justin scrambled from behind trees and tee boxes and somehow pulled pars out of thin air. Long putts by anyone in our foursome resulted in full-on rounds of applause by everyone else. And of course "Wedding Anniversary gimmes" got longer and longer as the round wore on. Everyone in our group had a great attitude, loved the game, and felt lucky to be out playing at Spyglass today.
On the 17th hole, I hit a great drive, and then finally hit a crisp 8 iron to about 8ft from the pin. I gave my birdie putt a chance but missed it and tapped in for my par. It the only par I had all day... but I had found my iron swing!! I made a bogey on the 18th after another decent drive and then a really good iron shot. It took 16 holes... 16 holes to find my iron swing today... talk about painful... but here are the lessons I took away from today:
1. There's not point getting upset over a bad drive!
My driver was finally working, but my short game wasn't so I was making triple and quadruple bogeys after driving the ball 200+ yards. Conversely - there have been plenty of rounds where I drove the ball terribly and walked away with pars and bogeys. So there really isn't any point stressing out about a bad drive
2. At some point keeping score is pointless - so just stop if you want!
I was scoring so badly that by about the 13th hole - I wasn't paying any attention to my scorecard because it really just didn't matter. Instead, I focused my energy on trying to find my swing. Who does your score really matter to anyway other than yourself?? There's no point wasting your energy beating yourself up over a bad round!
3. Attitude is everything - take time to enjoy the good shots and the good company
I walked away from today's round honestly not even knowing what my final score was. I enjoyed myself though, and I really enjoyed the company of our foursome. Their positive attitudes and enjoyment of the game was infectious... so remember the next time you're playing that your attitude and behavior could be making a big difference in someone else's round!
Below: Justin, Bill, Lisa, Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment