Dark Matter – Night Golf, Putting & Holes in One

UK Handicap; 3.3 USGA Handicap; 1.3

I played Night Golf for the first time ever on Friday night. As you can imagine, Night Golf is exactly as it sounds. The tees, greens, bunkers and flagstick are lit by luminous markers, and the golf balls glow in the dark. Other than that it is completely pitch black. We played an event over 8 holes, all fairly straightforward par 4s, and I really enjoyed it.

It was a bit nerve-wracking standing over the first tee shot, having to trust your swing, but I hit a good one down the middle and soon got to grips with it. The balls only go about 70% of the distance of normal golf balls, so the clubbing needs adjusted accordingly. It is the sort of game that isn’t very enjoyable if you don’t hit the ball well, but fortunately for me I actually played quite well, and would definitely play again. It was also a great confidence boost knowing that I can trust my swing, and my ability to hit a ball is driven by a natural swing, rather than a visual adjustment.

On Saturday morning I played in a stableford competition, and once again managed to throw away a good round into the most frustrating result possible – missing buffer zone by one shot.

The main problem was putting; I missed 4 putts of 3 foot or less. When I only get 3 shots to play with in the course of a round, then losing 4 shots so easily is not going to lead to a happy ending. This may have been caused by me, but I’m fairly certain that the condition of the greens was also a factor.

There have been ongoing problems with the greens at my course for years, and a recent agronomist report was quite scathing. The short term impact is that tons of sand have been put on the greens, making short putts quite difficult as some of them break quite a lot and some others stay straight. I have 2 more competitions in 2010, so in theory I could be back up to 4 at the turn of the year, but I’m playing well enough to avoid this, and if I can sort the putting out then I don’t see why I can’t get cut.

I have never named anyone on this blog, but this next bit merits an exception. The round on Saturday was also notable for being the first time I have played with someone who got a hole in one. Having narrowly missed a hole in one by about a foot on the 13^th hole (our 4^th, as we teed off on the 10^th), two holes later Steve Pope hit a beautifully crafted shot that landed on the green, disappeared over a slight slope in the green, and wasn’t seen again until we reached the green, couldn’t see his ball, and peered into the hole. Well done Steve, I enjoyed sharing your celebratory drinks too!