I’ve placed a proverbial monkey on my back over the past few years by giving myself the goal of shooting under par, and recently it has become a bit of an obsession.
I’d come close numerous times but never quite got over the line despite knowing I was able to break 70, my course’s par, and seeing people I knew though the years go sub-par despite having higher handicaps than me.
One of my closest golfing friends has shot under par five times, but not for a long while now and despite having a lower handicap than him, he always had this over me.
Having shot level par multiple times and giving away a good few under par scores, I had began to wonder if it would ever happen. I remember bogeying the last, albeit in near-darkness thanks to a late tee time, to shoot level par and another time where I was two-under after 12 in a competition before limping home. Another round I left myself a short birdie putt on the 16th to go one-under, which I holed, and then remember barely even being able to grip my club on the 17th, a par-3, hoping that I wouldn’t shank it. Stupid right?
More stupidity came just a couple of months ago at Western Gailes Golf Club in Ayrshire. Playing with two scratch handcappers, I think I was off 4 at the time, I was basically having the round of my life. I barely missed a shot for 13 holes to sit one-under-par before we turned back to the clubhouse with the railway down the right-hand side.
Despite essentially flushing everything for the last two-and-a-bit hours, I was now doing everything in my powers to not slice or shank it. A shocking bogey followed at a par-5 (I did birdie the next though) and I ended up finishing bogey-bogey-bogey for a two-over 73. It really is incredible how your mindset can change in this game. From stress-free great golf to suddenly playing with fear, panic and negativity.
A month later I was in the middle of the fairway on the par-5 18th at Wildernesse GC in Kent with a hybrid in hand and the green easily in range. Birdie for my first ever under-par round. I felt okay at this point but proceeded to pull it left…
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