Hitting Form At The Right Time?

UK Handicap; 3.2-3.4? USGA Handicap; 2.4

I finally managed to put together a couple of half decent rounds on my home course on Friday and Saturday, a 72 on Friday getting me cut back to 3, and a 73 on Saturday cementing that position. Because the results won’t be published until Monday, I can’t tell exactly what my handicap is, as the CSS may come down due to the easier conditions, however I’ll definitely be somewhere between 3.2 and 3.4.

As usual, in those rounds of 72 and 73 there were multiple instances of stupid dropped shots. On both days I hit the par 5 11th hole in 2 shots, and took 3 to get down, there were various other cases of small birdie putts being missed. Take a couple of the daft ones off each round and it makes quite a difference, I’d be somewhere between 2.8 and 3.0 and closer to playing off 2, rather than clinging on to 3 as I currently am.

The greens had been cored and sanded during the week (there was no expenses spared on the sand, it was absolutely everywhere), so they were quite difficult to putt on, and although I put together a couple of decent scores on them, I’m glad that I came up to Scotland again yesterday afternoon to play in competitions this week on uncored greens.

Today I have managed to get a late entry in to the Murrayshall 18 Hole Open. I haven’t played Murrayshall in over 15 years, and can’t remember anything about it, but I know the greenstaff quite well so thought I would give it a go. It is a par 73 course, with 6 par 5s, 7 par 4s, and 5 par 3s, and it has a Standard Scratch Score of 72, with a US Course Rating of 71.8 and a Slope Rating of 131.

I am going to fall into the fatal trap of judging a course by looking at the scorecard, but in terms of scoring, the first 12 look like a good opportunity to get a few under par. In that time there are 4 par 5s, all of which are under 500 yards, 6 par 4s, all of 400 yards or less, and a couple of par 3s under 200 yards. The last 6 look a little more tricky in terms of yardages, but this is all irrelevant as the length is only one aspect of the difficulty of a course. Every course looks easy on a scorecard. My track record on playing courses blind is quite good, so I’ll be looking to keep this up and be around in somewhere around level par, if not better.

Playing today gives me a fairly unique opportunity to play for my handicap on 5 consecutive days, Friday and Saturday at home, Sunday at Murrayshall, and Monday and Tuesday at Montrose. If I don’t qualify for any of the matchplay stages at Montrose then it could even be 7 consecutive days if I play in consolation events on Wednesday and Thursday. I’ve then also got a competition at Monifieth next Sunday as well. These are the times where, one way or another, I need to play myself into a bit of form, as there are few enough chances to get my handicap adjusted, and I’m well behind target for this year, so I need a bit of turbo charged progress over the next week. We shall see if I can put this into action this afternoon in Perthshire.