Well, as usual the season started badly one bad round and one N/R so far and the handicap goes up 0.2 because of it. To add insult to injury I have had a 69 and two 70's between them....typical. Just goes to show you what happens when it counts. So the third medal of the season rolls round today and down I go hits an ok drive and approach to the 1st and lo and behold, the greenkeeper has decided to sand and feed the greens!!!!! On the day of a medal!!!!! So we are up agaisnt it from the start having to sweep the green of little stones and such before putting. I started with a par but then had 5 straight bogies after some poor ball striking and a couple of bits of bad luck. And to top it all off a fairly strong westerly wind is becoming a very strong westerly wind and all the holes I have played up until this point are downwind!!! So I'm standing on the 7th tee a single shot under my handicap with the hardest hole on the course before me.

Now, normally the red mist would have descended and I would have started to play hockey just trying to hit the ball really hard. But I decided against it knowing that despite the conditions I'm perfectly capable of finishing the final 12 holes in level par if I play well. So I smoke one away down the fairway about 290 knock a wedge to 15 feet and safe two putt par a par on the eighth is followed by a couple of hard holes into the wind. A silly bogey on nine followed by a scrambled bogey on ten and I have just about given up. But I am still able to make my buffer zone if I stick in and make no more mistakes....a tall order since I still have 4 long-ish par fours into the wind to play. However, I hole a handfull of 6 footers and finish right on the buffer zone.

Moral of the story, stick in even when it seems hopeless.

I learnt a big lesson today and hopefully it will calm the nerves for subsequent Medals and repair the early damage.

D.