Every golfer knows this expression. It’s a phenomenon. It’s when the drive, the irons, the short game and putting conspired and make your round great. It’s a rare occurrence, just like once in a blue moon thus when an opportunity comes, every golfer must make the most of it, take advantage of that rare situation and enjoy the game in its purest form.
I experienced that rare occurrence recently. During the third day of my schedule at the 15th Eaglemaster golf tournament. Hard as it is playing with the younger golfers in Class B division, this Senior golfer summoned all his experience in course management and wisdom of the game and played the best round or maybe the best round of his life yet. I shot a 5 over or 77 on a very competitive Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club.
I can’t help myself in sharing the joy in playing the game we love to hate. With no special preparation nor specific strategy. I just hit my first drive at the center of the fairways, hit the second shot on the green for regulation, missed the birdie putt for an easy par. The same things repeated in the next four holes until I started to realize. This is something. Had some hiccups along the way and finished my first nine but when I glanced into my scorecard it says 39 or 3 over par. No birdies but pars, a bogey and a double bogey. Not bad.
That’s golf when the stars and the planets aligned, it seems everything is running smoothly as planned. But wait, there’s also a thing in golf called handicap. It’s every golfer’s estimated score over par and often players play their limits inside the range of their handicaps. Give them plus or minus 2 depending on the player’s and the course condition. But there are also exceptions to this rule. And that’s when that phenomenon happens.
As we went to the tee box of the back nice I prepared myself for the law of averages to occur. But wait again, you can’t control the alignment of the planets nor contradict what is written in the stars. I just go with the flow and when I came back to my senses, I was around the green on the last hole, a Par 4 addressing my fourth shot. The pressure now mounts as I need to hit it as near as possible to the hole. Avoid a pick up by saving a bogey. My flight mates were all in silence as I lined up my 3-foot putt. The longest three feet of my round. The deepening silence of the fairways was broken by a loud shout as the ball trickled in. A shout more as a sigh of relief rather than a celebratory shout for joy. I just cracked a 77 on the final day. What a relief. What a joy.
“It ain’t over till it’s over” says Yogi Berra. The outcome is not certain until the process is completely finished. Many times along the way I entertained some doubts but if there’s one thing that I always keep in mind when I hit some bad shots , don’t ever give up. There’s always a chance of the ball falling in even if it seems impossible to sink in.
In life as in golf, it always seems impossible until it’s done. But as they say, golf is the most unpredictable game. Once you think you have mastered it, golf will humble you. It will send you back to earth in the most humiliating way. And once you lost interest in the game somehow it will inspire you back and instill that confidence back again.
I can’t wait for my next round of golf, Fooooooooore.
