Déjà vu

UK Handicap; 3.3 USGA Handicap; 1.7

Difficult to believe, but it’s over 6 weeks since my last post on this blog. A large part of the reason for that has been the weather – there have been two separate lots of snow in that time, and the course has been closed for an extended period of time. Below is one of the pictures I took of the course under snow, although to be honest I could have taken this photo on any day out of about 14 and the date wouldn’t be identifiable.

The first golf ball I hit in December was on the 26th of the month, and even then it was off a mat at a driving range. Normal service should now be resumed, both on the golf course and this blog.

The day after my last posting I woke up with snow on the ground, and 7 of us, who really should have their sanity questioned, decided to go out for 9 holes. It is the one and only time I have ever played golf in a scarf. Maybe there is a market for golf snoods similar the ones English Premiership footballers are wearing, much to the disdain of the more traditional members of the football fraternity. Playing golf on frozen, snow covered ground, is just a complete write-off. It’s nothing like anything encountered in the summer. Allowing for the ball bouncing 40ft in the air when it lands on a frozen green takes a lot of the skill out of the game, but one positive it does have is that you feel much better when you complete your mission and reach the warmth of the clubhouse.

After a completely blank December, other than those 50 driving range balls, I have managed to play twice in January so far.
Monday ended up in a round of 78 at my home course, on 18 temporary greens. Unsurprisingly, it took a little while to get going, and I reached halfway in 7 over par. I started to find a bit of rhythm on the back nine, and returned in level par, with a nice run of 3 birdies in 4 holes. Ultimately, the quality of golf wasn’t particularly great, but expectations have to be adjusted at this time of the year, at the moment it’s all about getting out there and keeping some semblance of a half decent swing going until it warms up a bit.

Today I played the first competition of the year, and the good news is that my handicap didn’t go up.
Where’s the déjà vu as alluded to in the title then? Well, like so many rounds last year, I found myself chasing the game very early, finding myself 3 over par after 6 holes. I then got it back to 1 over par after 11, and standing on the 18th tee I was 2 over par. A par or better required to get cut, anything higher to remain static. Well, to keep the déjà vu theme going, like so many times last year, I managed to completely blow an opportunity to get cut by taking a double bogey six, after chopping a drive into the trees then taking a couple of shots to get out. Completely daft, wasting a good round on the last hole, and definitely something I need to eradicate this year.
Having said that, although the course was playing very short a 4 over par 75 was better than I was expecting and isn’t a disaster.

The last, and most worrying, aspect of déjà vu is that my left knee became very sore in the hours after I finished playing. I had this problem at the start of last season, to the extent that I saw a knee specialist about it. I’m guessing that because I’ve not been playing, and haven’t been doing much exercise at all in the last 6 weeks, it’s going to take a bit of work to get my knee accustomed to the twists and turns of playing golf again. I need to get into a regime of exercises to strengthen my knee, as with the diary I have planned for this season I don’t want to be in pain throughout it.

The physical pain can be sorted by exercises, the mental pain of throwing away good rounds may be tougher to overcome.