A Great Way to Spoil a Walk, Isaan Thailand.

I am off to play golf tomorrow with a fellow teacher, I haven’t held a club in my hand for way too long and have been too busy (lazy) to even hit one practice ball. I have set no outstanding goals for tomorrow, other than trying to break 90 or a bogey a hole.

Even after not playing for so long, I do expect to have a score in the 80’s. Days gone by, any score in the 80’s would have been a shocking round of golf and I would have been an angry man.

Golf is a great game; it is you against the course. Even when you are playing against opponents you should forget them and try and follow the goal you have set for that day and everything else will take care of itself.

I remember when playing off a 1 handicap and playing against 27 handicappers. I had to give them 26 shots for 18 holes. So I was 26 shots behind them before even teeing off.

The great thing about high handicappers is, they are usually proud and believe they are as good as you or get a little carried away. We would always play for units or gamble for money when we played. Units could be anything from 20 cents to 5 dollars.

We would play for longest drive, nearest the pin on every hole, eagles, birdies, sand saves, chip ins and more. I would always beat a high handicapper through their head. It would start on the first tee with usually smashing a drive off the tee and then start putting negatives into their mind. This is a high handicappers worst handicap, is there mind or brain. So often after hitting a shot and then saying loud enough, ‘wedge,’ to see the high handicapper changing clubs and trying to whack a wedge from 120 metres is funny. I have many times taken a club out on a par 3, and seen another player then take the same, club then I change this club back and forth a few times until taking the club I always intended to hit.

High handicappers think of all the negatives on a golf hole, the water, trees, bunkers, out of bounds and so forth. A simple, ‘Don’t hit it into the water.’ Inserts a thought that will usually grow and the golfer might not hit it in the water but 100 metres away from it and into trees or another hazard.

This probably sounds very unsporting, but it was never done in malice or over the top, always very subtle. Even when I played pennant golf, playing against golfers off a scratch or even a plus handicap, this is where mind games were even more important than ever.

The only advice I can offer to high handicappers is, play to this handicap. Don’t try and shoot a 75, be realistic. You should have your game already played before setting foot on the golf course. Which holes you get one shot or two shots on. You should already know what clubs you plan using off the tee.

Tomorrow I consider myself to be a hacker, or weekend warrior. I am not delusional. I haven’t swung a club, hit a practice ball, chipped or putted in so long. So an 18 handicap or a shot a hole is my goal. I do hope to better this indeed.

Also I have already been over the course I have played many times before, remembering what are the best choices off the tee and the best places to miss shots. If I stick to this plan and don’t try to be too smart I believe I will be around the 90 mark.

We will know tomorrow.

Brunty