Round Reflections: The story of how my score swung nine strokes in two weeks

I've had the fortune of playing two weeks in a row and we're overdue for a recap. The original summer plan was to play only every other week to keep costs down (childcare makes a weekly round that much more expensive). But since I'm pregnant now (!), I'm kind of in a rush to golf more, as I don't know if I will wake up one day and just not feel it possible anymore. Pregnancy is like that. So make hay while the sun shines, so to speak.

So last week, fresh off our vacation from the mountains and two weeks from the previous round, and feeling bummed about the way I putted with a suddenly not-broken-but-not-100% putter, I had the BEST ROUND I've had all summer. I felt amazing. I swung with ease and scrambled well, and despite my putting debacle I had only one or two putts per hole. If not for a penalty stroke on the last hole (I lost the tee shot in some native grass, it was a beautiful hit but I was clearly aimed there), it would have been a round of almost all pars and only a few bogeys. I shot only seven over for the day with that triple on the last hole.

The weekly challenge last week was Odds Or Evens. After the round, a member of the clubhouse staff would draw from a hat whether the scores would be calculated from the odd number or even number holes. I waited anxiously all weekend to find out what the result would be, all the while praying they would be evens since I had so many pars on even holes. They drew odds. Of course I only bogeyed and tripled the odds! So that was a bummer. I am SO happy with the way I played though.

Well this past week, things just weren't clicking so consistently. The challenge this time was to play from the back tees. No big deal for me, honestly, as this is a small par three course. I usually take all my woods from the bag to keep things light. I was excited for this challenge, but it turned into a bit of a roller coaster that I'm still mulling over.

I got a par on the first hole (the first time I've ever pared it), and thought, today I will be unstoppable.

I got a bogey on the next hole and thought, well that's to be expected playing from the longer tees.

I took a penalty on the third for a tee shot that went OB. No biggie, I thought. Just keep swimming.

Fourth hole comes along and I crush the drive a little over 200 yards to reach the left edge of the green. It felt and sounded amazing. There was even a longest drive competition that I'm 99% sure I won (they haven't posted it on the site yet). Here I go I think, time for a chip-in!

Then I duffed the chip, and three putt for a double. Drive for show putt for dough, they say. Oh well, I thought, move on and do better, lots of golf to be had.

Fifth hole I think to hit the driver again, but I didn't get comfortable; I topped the shot. Then I over shot the green to the back bunker. Then I got extremely winded climbing up the hill to the green carrying a heavier-than-usual bag with a slightly-more-pregnant-than-previous-week belly. The sand shot shanked right but at least got to the green. Then I SIX PUTT, for a whopping nine.

Slow down and breathe, I thought. Bring that heart rate down. Move on.

Hit the next green but three putted when my second lips around the hole. Still an improvement, I thought, and moved on.

Hit the following green with the most beautiful draw my 3-wood has ever touched, and sink the par putt. Back at it, I think.

Hole 8 was played forward for pace of play reasons since the shot carries water. It was hot but a clear day and things felt like they were flying farther than usual because of the heat, so I went for it with my pitching wedge. It flew right on line. C'mon, I thought, be good! It cleared the water, hit the fringe, took a spin backwards, and trickled down the rocks into the water.

Then I shank my next shot from the drop zone into the water. Finally on the green in 5, I two putt for a seven.

Almost done, I thought, keep your head in it.

A honest bogey on the ninth let me walk off the course on a slightly higher note. Tired and wet from that awkward line of sweat I should now be expecting to only get worse every week between my sports bra and baby bump that is visible through my polo, I welcomed the AC of the clubhouse to add up my nightmare of a 44.

I really didn't play so terribly that I'm feeling bad about it, I am just worried that unless I can repeat the first of these two rounds for the rest of the month, that this one round will edge my handicap out of the A flight. I want to stay there so I can be eligible for the league championship, even though I haven't won any weeks yet so it's not like it's within grasp yet . And I'm also nervous that if I got winded so easily this week, it's only going to get worse from here as the bump continues to grow. They have push carts I can rent but I'm not sure that will be better, and if it does come to it this fall I might be able to argue for use of the motorized carts (this course is walking only with exception of physical handicaps). But I love walking and carrying my clubs.

Oh well. One week, one day, one round, one hole, one shot at a time.

For anyone interested, I'm due in December so I'm just into my second trimester. This is my second kid and this pregnancy has so far been MUCH easier than my first; I'm so thankful for that because it's made golfing easier. I don't intend this to be a pregnancy blog, but since it's a blog about being a mom golfer, and I'm golfing regularly while also growing weekly, it won't be ignored completely. I'd love to hear from any other women who golfed through their pregnancies and what they experienced!

Round Reflections: Whisky, Tango, Foxtrot

Ok, so maybe today wasn't really a WTF kind of day. It wasn't great, and it might hurt my position as an A flight golfer in the league, but it could have gone much, much worse. Still, it did suck a little.

So Tuesday when I played, I three-putted a whopping seven of nine holes. Determined not to do that again, I spent every night this week using my Accelerator Pro putting mat and Balls of Steel weighted balls. It felt like I did some solid work and I was getting pumped to play. I was NOT going to be a bad putter today. I knew my swing felt good and my short game was solid enough that as long as I guarded against any double bogeys or worse with good putts, then today would be a good day score wise. And it was a net score day, so my handicap (12 currently), would be applied on top of what I felt confident would be a solid, sub-40 number.

Driving to the course I told myself to be confident, to trust the putts, and to keep my stroke solid. To stay in the present, not worry about score, and keep my primary focus on two putts or less per hole.

I had intended a short putting warm up, but was told that my ENTIRE 9 o'clock group was a no-show so I needed to play with the 8:50 group. This is fine and usually happens, but it did  rush me a little bit. So, of course I three putt the first hole. No biggie. I got some fight in me and wasn't going to let it get me down.

Then I somehow managed to bust my putter on the second hole. I putt with an Odyssey Tank Two Ball putter, and there is a little weight screwed into the bottom on the back to serve as a counter balance to your stroke. I really like the heavier club head, as I feel like I can keep my stroke in line as I putt. Well, today, the screw holding in the little weight fell out, and the weight came right out with it. Not sure if I will be able to get it fixed, as it will need to be checked for some damage.

The putter essentially still worked fine, but it did not have the same feel as I had practiced all week. And so even if I was chipping well, or by the time I was finally hitting greens (I hit three in a row at one point and feel pretty great about that), many of the par putts and at least two birdie putts turned into bogeys or doubles.

But I was still fighting and wanted to finish as strong as possible. Then on the ninth, I picked the perfect club but swung a little too far outward, reaching a side bunker that I've not yet experienced in previous rounds. This bunker had some thick sand and rocks, and the rain from the previous night made it heavy. Sand does not intimidate me and I usually play well from greenside bunkers (just learn some good fundamentals and swing easy!) but you wouldn't know that from the three swings it took for me to get out of it today.

So all in all, a season-high 43. After handicap it should be a 31, or +4. Not enough to win the flight for sure, and possibly a detriment to my handicap. They are calculated every month and I won't get another round in before July.

It will probably take me a day or two to think of what I learned from today. It was just a few mistakes here and there that cost me several strokes. I'll find some way to be positive, but it doesn't yet feel that way.

And a final gripe: one of the women I played with kept saying things like "well, now you have an excuse!" She said it right after I realized my putter was broken, "well, now you have an excuse to putt bad!" And she said it after talking about her vacation the previous week, "I hiked a mountain last week, so I have an excuse to play poorly today." She also said it to the handicapped woman we played with (I'm pretty sure she has rheumatoid arthritis and so she used a motorized cart special for those with disabilities - but, she was a tremendous putter and beat me by 3 strokes today) after she mentioned something about her health that week, "Well if that's the case, then you have an excuse!" It just was really off-putting and got under my skin at a certain point.

I was about to tee off on the 6th with her negative words rattling around in my head. That's when I remembered a concept from my absolute favorite coaches at  Vision 54 : the Think Box and the Play Box. Pre-shot, you can be in the Think Box, and have thoughts floating around your head because you need to make decisions about your shot. The decision I needed to make in this instance was actually not about my swing, and instead was to stop being bothered by her words and to let it be. Then, I stepped up to the ball (or into the Play Box, as they would say), and with no thoughts in my head, swung away, hitting my first of three greens in a row.

Seriously, check out Vision 54 if you want to become a happier golfer. They have some amazing mental game concepts that are easy to implement and can transform your game.