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UK Handicap; 3.5 USGA Handicap; 3.1

Another day of aching limbs after 36 holes the previous day, and the prospect of 6 hours sitting on a train as I head back to London.

After leaving Strathmore yesterday, we headed to Kingennie, a 3 year old 9 hole course on the outskirts of Dundee where a friend is a member. It was another course I hadn’t set foot on before so this was another blind experience, at least for the first 9 holes until we went round the second time for the “back nine”. Playing a nine hole course all of the time would drive me nuts, it must get so repetitive having to play each hole twice to get an 18 hole score, although the one advantage it does give is the knowledge of flag positions etc the second time around, as well as the motivation of improving on the first nine score. 18 holes and 72 shots later, and I was absolutely done for. The wind at Kingennie was extremely strong, and the hard ground, coupled with the new turf not being fully mature yet, made scoring very difficult. Par and SSS are both 68, so my 72 net 68 would have got me cut back to 3 had I been a member of the club playing in a competition. From looking at the scores from a members competition being played, the CSS increased to 71 due to the conditions. I would have counted this score towards my USGA handicap, as my rules for this handicap are that any round at my home course, and any round at another course which has been USGA rated (generally rounds in Scotland, where all courses have been rated), count towards my USGA handicap, but I cannot find the Kingennie Course and Slope Ratings anywhere so I’m unable to calculate it.

The CSS at Strathmore stayed at 72, so I have been cut 0.2, back to 3.5. This is still higher than I started the season at, but I’m starting to come into a bit of form, 4 of my last 5 rounds have been in my best 10/20 for USGA calculation purposes.

It’s getting to that time of year where there is not enough time available to do everything I want to. There is a competition today at my home club, but I can’t play as I’m up in Scotland. The County Championships are on Friday, and I won’t have time for a practice round beforehand, meaning I’ll be playing yet another course blind. The Forfar 36 Hole Open has been rescheduled for Saturday 24th July, which I can’t play in as I have a competition at my home club that morning, and have already booked a train up to Scotland that afternoon in advance of a competition I have starting the following Monday. If they had rearranged it a day later everything would have worked out perfectly, I’m going to have to just accept I’m not going to be able to play Forfar this year.

The next item on the agenda, as mentioned above, is the County Championship on Friday. It’s kind of crept up on me this year, however maybe that’s not a bad thing, as yesterday showed that the less time I have to mull things over in advance can work in my favour as I don’t have the opportunity to over-analyse things.