My Shiny New Handicap

So on Saturday it was the April medal. I must say after playing TGI on Friday night when is shot approx. 11 over for 9 holes I was not looking forward to trying to knock it around in the medal. I decided I need to get up a little earlier and make sure I hit some balls on the range before I went out, so I arrived at about 7:00 and concentrated on the skills tests on the range. I was hitting it OK but not great, but a lot better than on Friday evening. I was playing with Richard Clegg and David Court and we were off at 8:12. So after a quick coffee and a few Putts we were ready to go.
The course has changed dramatically over the last 3 weeks since Easter (can you remember the rain we had and how wet the course was?) and we all took a lot less club but still were all down by the bell after our tee shots. I made par at the first but I pushed my tee shot at the second over to the right then duffed my first chip and eventually put it on the green for 3, 10 feet away, but I made the putt and escaped with a 4. On the third I nearly holed my second shot as I hit a nine iron to the left and it rolled back down and across the hill and ended up 12" away, so a birdie got me back on track. On the 5th I hit a poor tee shot to the right but got away with a line to the green, however I then shanked my wedge over to the right but did mange to put it on the green with a chip for 3. Richard then chipped in from off the green to make a par, and I think that opened up the hole a bit as I then followed up with my 15 foot putt for par. The rest of the front 9 was uneventful with one more bogey and a birdie to go out in 36 level par. (interesting as I did not think I was playing well) The one thing I tried to was stay in the present as Bob Rottella tells you, you can only influence you next shot, you can do nothing about the past or the future so that was where all my thoughts were. After 16 holes was now only 2 over par with 2 holes to play, and staying in the present was not so easy, a couple of stray approach shots on 17 and 18 meant I finished Bogey, Bogey, but walked off with a 76, 5 under handicap. I was very surprised to see the scores that came in were not very low and he CSS ended up at 73 so I had a cut of 1.2, getting me down to 7.8, no more shot at the 18th, I think I am going to miss that one.
Now the interesting part for me is when we get in we all like to talk about our rounds, and of course I am n exception and I can bore anyone who dares to ask me how I played on a particular day. But what I find most interesting is how we all perceive our rounds compared to how our playing partners see it. My simple view of my round was the bad luck I had "I missed a lot of short putts, should have been a lot better, I remember I lipped out on 9, missing a 6 foot birdie putt on 10, missing a 4 foot par putt on 11, and three putting 12. I then missed another short one for par on 18. Damn I should have played better" Richard Clegg remembers the luck I had, "the long putts at 2 and 5, the 40 foot Putt for birdie on 8, the chip in on 13". I am sure you all find the same when you play, maybe we should view our rounds as others would and it may give us a more positive view of our golf.
I would also like to add that I go on to my list of winners who has benifitted from fitness training (Kier), lessons (Ryan)and psychology  (Rotella). I am not sure if it is proof it works but it is certainly helping me.
So today I am off to Crondon Park in Essex with Paul Dolan, Rob England and Richard Kindon. As Rob worked there recently filming a snooker tournament he has a got us a free four ball for the weekend. Lets hope the rain stops.