Yet another easy 6I from the tee on the par 3 10th and this one is struck well, right on line and looks good in flight. The ball holds up in the prevailing breeze, and comes to rest close, but seemingly a little short of the green. Once I get to my ball, I can see that it has pitched 2ft short of the green, popped back out of it pitch mark, coming to rest on the fringe grass about 3ft short of the putting surface. Don’t play the little chip shot to the pin all that well and leave myself about 25ft for Par. Would leave the putt about a foot short and tap in for another 2 putt bogey.

Take 1I again from the 11th tee and strike it well. Centre of the fairway, just outside the 150m marker. My 7I approach is again all over the flag, pitches on the green and I would 2 putt from 20ft for another par.

1I again from the 12th tee and again, straight down the guts, finishing centre left and about 155m away. Reaching down to pick up my tee peg, I notice I am in front of the markers. D’OH!!! 2 stroke penalty and play another ball. My second attempt at the tee shot, again with 1I is again straight down the guts and every bit as good as the one previous. Being down breeze, I go up a club and my 8I approach lands about 5m short in front. Bugger, should have gone with 7I again. Bump and run up onto the green, leaving myself about 10ft for double bogey 6. Thankfully, I manage to hole that one, parred the hole with the second ball, albeit for a double bogey 6.

Following that little drama, my brain decides to have a holiday and I take driver from the par 5 13th tee and surprise surprise surprise, promptly pull it left into the trees!!! Someone remind me to have a golfing lobotomy!!! Sheesh. So, I get to my ball and it’s laying in some cabbage and about a foot above my feet, so I take 7I to try and advance it and open up the face and stance to try and cut it out towards the fairway. Failing in both endeavours, all I manage to do is advance it some 50m or so and remain in the tree line. So now I’m about 160m away, still in the tree line and still ripping strips off myself for my tee shot. The tree I’m behind is reasonably narrow and for whatever reason I settle on trying for the glory shot, a knock down 4I hook type draw type shut your eyes type hit and hope type shot. Pull the trigger and as Murphy would have it, hits the tree flush in the centre and the ball cannons back towards me and stops some 10m from my feet. Now, I’m really angry. At this point some sense seems to take me, from where I have no idea and I chip the ball back to the centre of the fairway. Now I get to the ball and I’m about 120m away, laying 4. My 9I approach finishes pin high right, I would chip on and hole the putt for a double bogey 7. There goes my chances and my round I tell myself as I make my way to 14th tee.

Grabbing 1I, and battling my anger, I strike the ball sweetly, straight down the middle again, only to see my ball take a Warney inspired off break to the right on pitching in the centre of the fairway, to finish on the right side of the fairway with the real prospect of the gum tree on the corner of the dogleg blocking my approach. On getting to my ball I find it about 100m away and thankfully the tree is not in play. My pitch to the green falls short. I would chip on, nowhere close and 2 putt for another bogey 5.

Another delightful 1I from the 15th tee bisects the fairway and leaves me about 180m into a slight headwind. My 3I approach is all over the pin in flight and finishes some 5m short of the green. From there I would chip on and hole the resulting 15ft putt for a par. Noice!!

Next is the dogleg right par 4 16th. With 1I being too much club, I take 3I and again, strike it well, finishing centre right of the fairway, about 110m away. My 9I 2nd shot starts and stays right of the flag, finishing about 10m from the green on the wrong side of the green, leaving myself an uphill 3rd. Don’t quite hit this shot hard enough and the ball crests the hill then comes all the way back down to me. On the second attempt I get it to about 6ft and make that putt for a bogey 5. Not good, but, acceptable, given my frame of mind just now.

Walk to the 17th tee and seeing as I hit 4I last week and knocked it well through the green, this week I settle on 5I and hit it ever so sweetly. Right on line all the way. I lose sight of the ball squinting into the afternoon sun and resolve that it should be good. On getting to my ball, I find it on the dance floor, but, well short. Some 25ft short in fact. I settle my jangled nerves by telling myself I was right not to take 4I again. I would 2 putt for another regulation par 3 and walk to 18th tee, VERY happy in the knowledge that this rollercoaster round was all but over.

Grabbed the 1I again and this time, the ball started right and was trying to draw back to the fairway, finishing right hand edge, some 200m away. A 6I struck sweetly across the dogleg left me just on 100m away for 2. Don’t know why, but we encountered a little delay after I got to my ball and whilst I was waiting, I decided I’d check where I was at. Maybe it was some masochistic instinct, maybe just sheer stupidity, but I checked. What I discovered scared me somewhat. A birdie 4 would see me post a net 71. The simple fact was, despite all that had happened to me during my round today, I was still a possibility to break handicap. This stunned me. And now you know what happens next don’t you? I would blade the pitch shot across the green. Miss the green with the chip back. Chip on, and then 2 putt from about 15ft for a double bogey 7!!!

So, the numbers go something like this. (44/45) 89/15/74 including 4 doubles and a triple. 17 over par, 11 of them in 4 holes!! Yet again, the blow outs got me!!!

Man I love this game…

I remain undecided if I will go out next week or not. I am now 13 shots off the lead and can not win. Need a few days to calm down and try and work out what I need to do to stop these BLOW OUT holes from infecting my game.

As always, thanks for reading.

Cheers