My Average Round

How My Rounds of Golf Tend to Go

I have a love hate relationship with golf. There are days it is great, there are days I want to throw my bag in a water hazard. This sentiment can change from hole to hole. I am not a scratch golfer making it look easy.

The fact that the concept is dumb is not lost on me. The goal is to hit a little ball as far as you can, go search for it, find it, do it over and over until you get it in a hole. Then you go to the next hole and do it all over again. If you are in the rough or the woods, it can be near impossible to find the ball. Trust me, it is fun when you are with the right people.

Golf is by far the hardest game I have ever played. Watching the pros on tv, it looks incredibly easy. Go out on a public course on a Saturday afternoon, maybe 1 out of 5 plays like that, on a good day. I get matched up with very good golfers maybe once per 10 rounds. They generally are at about my level. While it is fun to watch a good golfer, they tend to be a little too serious, while the rest of us try to just laugh at the shot that just pin balled off of 3 or 4 trees.

So how do my rounds go? The 1st hole is usually a warm up. My 1st tee shot is usually far right, provided I actually hit it well-ish. I am a big fan of the breakfast ball. My 2 nd, 3rd, and 4th shots vary, depending on how tight I am. Once I can chip, I am usually ok. Putting isn’t my strong suit. Score wise, I am usually double bogey. I can end up with a par or a snowman.

Hole 2 usually goes a bit better, my swing is smoother. It is also an indication of the way my day will go. It is known to change on a dime. I split my game into 3 parts; long game, mid game and short game.

So my long game, it is hit or miss. I aim to account for my slice. It is getting better. I can hit fairways now. I do have days I should just be using an iron, but when I hit the driver, it is worth it. I was driving well 1 out of 5, I’m improved to 3 out of 5. I consider my long game my driver,

hybrid and 5 iron. On a good long game day, I hit the hybrid and 5 iron beautifully and consistently. I hit my 5 iron more consistently than my 4 iron, so I stay with it.

My mid game, let’s call it 170 – 120 out, is my 5 and 7 iron. Yes, there is overlap. Occasionally, I throw my 9 iron into the mid range mix. I have always had mixed results in this range. There are days I don’t hit in this range at all, except for some par 3’s. I say it doesn’t come up because I am shooting from further away, and within 100 yards for the next shot.

My short game is usually great. I hit my 9 iron and my wedges very well. Most of the time, I am hitting my gap wedge, which I will use from 80 – 30 yards out. My 60 degree wedge is suspect; I only use it from inside 30 yards.

Now, here comes the fun part, on a good day, 2/3 of the parts of my game are working. All 3 working in a round is rare. When the long game and short game are working, I can shoot in the high 80’s. The mid game won’t ruin my scores often, but it can cause a disaster on the occasions I keep coming into it. It goes 50/50.

There are days my long game just isn’t there. I’ll be scattering the ball all over. I won’t be getting any distance. My short game usually works with me if the long game is useless, so it might not be too ugly.

Finally we have the days where the long and mid game will work, but the short game says ‘Nope!’. It usually involves my pushing the ball left. My score will end up ugly. My putting is suspect at best.

I have days I will start off playing well. It will change on a dime. Usually something distracts me, like a cell phone. It doesn’t even need to be mine. The pace of play can change. It can even just be a bad shot. I have played great on the front, and be worthless after the turn. The front can be a debacle, then I look like the best golfer ever on the back. I have shot back to back 42’s, and put both rounds over 100. At least I know I have an 84 in me.

By Sebastian Wyczawski