When I first started this column, one of the main goals that I had in mind was to make an honest attempt to pick up the game of golf myself. Admittedly, I haven’t done a great job with that. I managed to work in a couple of lessons early on, but this past spring and summer my goal of actually getting out onto a course, or at least going to the driving range, was sadly unmet. What can I say? Life has been hectic, and my work schedule at the moment really isn’t conducive to picking up new hobbies.
Mostly, I have been busy writing about other people’s experiences on the course, which I have enjoyed immensely. There has been a lot to write about in recent months, and while I haven’t been on the course for the purpose of playing a round myself, I am happy that I have had the opportunity to get out there and watch others do so. Specifically, I am glad that I could use this space in our newspaper to shine the light on some of our very talented local student-athletes.
With all of that being said, this past weekend I FINALLY got some clubs in my hands again as I carved out some time to visit the simulator suite at Cinema Social in Corbin. My performance left much to be desired, as you will soon read, but I really did have a great time. I’ll recap the experience for you now…
I chose to play at Muirfield Village in Dublin, OH. I’ve heard about Dublin before, and it seems nice, so I figured I would try there. I chose to play the front nine, as I knew that I would be biting off more than I could chew if I attempted a full round of 18 holes. I was using some hand-me-down clubs that my dad gave me a while back, as well as a used driver that I purchased at The Golf Course in Williamsburg after I featured them in a column earlier this year. There are golf clubs already in the simulator suite for folks to use, but I have been wanting to try out these clubs of mine for several months now.
On hole one I shot six over par. Hole two was five over par. I was doing okay, considering my extreme lack of skill and experience. Then the wheels fell off.
I struggled mightily on hole three, including landing in water on a couple of occasions. I ended up shooting 15, which was 11 over par. Yikes.
I redeemed myself somewhat on hole four with a quadruple bogey (four shots over par), and I had a decent drive on hole five before landing in more water.
The water hazards continued to be an issue on hole six, and I rushed a putt that cost me a couple more strokes.
I hit my best drive of the afternoon on hole seven, and for a moment hole eight looked like it had potential to be my best hole yet. This inevitably led to me getting overly excited and screwing the whole thing up royally. I was also getting a little fatigued at this point (yes, that definitely happens in golf). All of a sudden, I could not putt the ball into the hole to save my life. This was incredibly frustrating, because I feel that, generally speaking, I am better at putting than I am while driving or on the fairway.
After the ninth and final hole, I stood at 100 strokes. Or, 64 strokes over par. Not great, but you know what? I found that I wasn’t even upset about it. Actually, I am pretty happy that I managed to make it all the way through those nine holes in a little under an hour, and it is also pretty cool to know that I now officially have a score that I can go back and try to improve on. This golf thing is pretty darn fun after all.
Thanks for following along, and I hope you’ll come back next week as I wrap up this series.
