The Bogey Train
How I stopped trying to save the scorecard and started enjoying the round.
The Start
Not often do opening birdies go unpunished. We've all heard the other phrase before: "No good drive goes unpunished". I'm starting to feel the same as opening birdies. We've all been there before, a bit nervous on the first tee playing as a solo after you met three strangers you'll spend the next 4 hours with. The round started with fire. My slice held off just long enough to be a nice little cut and I found the fairway on the opening par 5. I played it smart, put a 6 iron within 60 yards; a stuck pitch shot and one putt later and we marked down our 4. Couldn't have asked for a better start, right?
Begin the Bogey Train
Next hole is a nice little par 3, playing around 150 into some heavy head wind. Left is OB, this doesn't bode well for my push slice (I'm left handed, I promise there's dozens of us). After the first hole I was feeling it; pulled my 6 iron, trying to swing smooth into the wind. Face more open than a 7-Eleven, pushed hard left, OB. Re-tee, with the only thought of 'just get it on the dance floor'. That didn't happen, short right, into the bunker. After an out that was a little too far and 2 putts, we jot down our 6, triple bogey. And just like that, we were on the train. I won't bore you with a play by play, but let's just say the next holes were: bogey, bogey, double, bogey. Walking up to the 6th green, needing two putts just to save bogey again, I caught myself wanting to do what I'm always guilty of:
Stop keeping score.
Pretend the round never happened.
The Flip
I told myself I wasn't going to do that this time. The scorecard is what is it. I have to keep marking and most importantly, I have to not care what that number says. I'm not going to quit on myself, I'm still going to track this progress, but I'm not going to view just that number as progress. I thought about the last few holes, sure my tee box game was trash. But 100 yards in I was hitting the greens, and I didn't have a three putt. That's progress.
The Freedom
I started swinging more freely, trying for a more athletic shot. I started enjoying the sun setting, the breeze off the water, the massive super awesome hawk the course has a nest for. Work sent us home early for the holiday weekend and here I am last minute playing a round. How great is that? Focused on clean contact shots, the 25 foot putt I drained and not on the duffed chip that barely landed on the green. I was ready to go again.
The Results
I ended up +8 on the front nine, even after the change in mentality at hole 6. Back nine though, I shot a +2. For me, I don't believe I shot better simply because I magically stopped caring. It's because:
I recognized that the front 9 wasn't going anywhere.
I can't go back and stick the green on the second hole.
But what I can do, is accept it's there and put some more positive energy and focus into each shot.
The Reflection
I don't think I'll always be able to flip that switch and really, I don't think it's a reasonable ask. We're all human after all. I'm sure there will be rounds where I let the few bad holes dictate the day. But I will say, this round definitely reminded me that the best thing you can do isn't to erase the bad holes, but to decide they don't rule the rest of the round. Ultimately, the score stopped defining what a good day was. What mattered was that I remembered why I booked the round in the first place.
Golf is hard.
Enjoy it anyway.
-- Jack