The Greatest Game I Ever Played

I've been debating back and forth about whether I should blog about my recent golf outing. I don't want to seem like I'm gloating. But, since this is sort of a man diary, I decided I'd blog about it. Judge me as you will.

Last Friday, 3 friends and I took the day off and went golfing. We played at Saddleback Ridge, one of my favorite Iowa golf courses. Saddleback is a 6615 yard, par 72 links style golf course. Links meaning fairly wide open with some rolling hills, and you really need wind to make the course play difficult. Saddleback is neat because it has a ridge through the center of the golf course that you have to play up and down on several holes, adding some additional challenges. Also, it's fun because it has 6 par 5's, 6 par 4's and 6 par 3's...very rare. Most courses have 10 par 4's, 4 par 3's and 4 par 5's.

I've been working on a setup change recommended by Nuke who has forgotten more about golf than I'll ever know. This change has started to feel more comfortable and I'm starting to hit it better. On Friday, I was hitting it really well. I shot 1 under par on the front 9, which is really good for me. But, I've done this before...in fact, I've shot under par on 18 holes before, but I've only done that on 1 specific course, and it's a really easy course (short, wide open and flat greens). The best score I've ever shot on a real golf course over 18 holes is even par, and I've only done that a few times.

So, I made the turn at -1 and felt pretty good. I immediately birdied 10 to get to 2 under, but bogeyed 12 to go back to 1 under. I made another birdie at 15 to get back to 2 under, and that's when I got nervous. I couldn't believe I was nervous...this wasn't a tournament, it was just a fun found with good friends. My drives, which had been straight and long all day started leaking right. I made a par at 16, but then hit a terrible tee shot at 17 and made a bogey. Now I was really nervous. A couple of years ago, I came to 18 at Saddleback at even par, and missed an 8 foot birdie put to go -1 for the day, so I had that rolling around in my head. I'm such a mental weakling.

Hole 18 at Saddleback is a relatively short par 4, but there is Out of Bounds all down the left. I blocked my tee shot right and had about 145 yards left to the green on a severe downhill lie. I hit a solid 9 iron, but it went long. This left me about 1 yard off the green with a pretty severe downhill putt. I hit a good putt, but it went about 5 feet past the hole. At this point, my heart was pounding, but I just kept telling myself, make a good stroke and get it to the hole. The putt was relatively straight, so I just decided to play it straight. I pushed it right just a hair, but it dropped in the right center of the cup. I was so relieved and happy.

That round of 1 under par, 71 felt better than any round I've ever played. In truth, I felt like it's the first time I've ever shot under par on a real golf course. And, to make it even better, I got to share the day with good friends and the weather was perfect. I've always known golf is the greatest game in the world, and last Friday, I had the greatest game I've ever played.