Thursday 6 September 2007

(Double) Bogey Hole

You know what I mean by a ‘bogey’ hole. It’s the one that you used to play with very little trouble and suddenly it’s defeating you round after round.
My current problem is a par 4 that doglegs right around two large lakes and has a ditch to the left of the fairway. This used to be the third hole and had a stroke index of five. That gave me six shots to get down in, which I could usually do and often managed to better.
But since the course was remodelled, this hole has become the 18th with a stroke index of eleven - an entirely different story! Whether suffering from fatigue or caffeine deprivation, I’m now incapable of doing it in five. Even six is a bit of a rarity, and it's taking the shine off every round.
I’ve tried everything, from playing safe (four to the green and hope for a good putt) to throwing caution to the winds, all to no avail. Yesterday is a case in point. I hooked my drive into the ditch, dropped out for a penalty and hit the next into the lake. After another drop, I played safe up the fairway but my next missed the green. You can see how this is going. Let’s just say that today my drive reached the ditch again, but getting down in six felt like a real achievement – even if it was actually a double bogey! As a friend of mine says, there's nothing like a good finish, and that was nothing like one.

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