In which hot sun and a light breeze are in stark contrast to last year’s playing conditions for Eastbourne Downs Club Championship.
‘It is better to participate and fail than fail to participate’ – Debasish Mridha
Sunday August 7th 09:45am…
Barry: ‘Kieron reckons we should all have psychiatrists with us out on the course’.
golf101: ‘I think he might be on to something there’.
Barry: ‘Play well today’
Golf101: ‘You too Barry’.
And with that I headed on up to the practice ground in order to 'get my groove together' ahead of Round Two of the 2022 Eastbourne Downs Golf Course Club Championship.
It was already hot.
The sun had got its hat on, and everyone venturing out on to the course was wisely following suit.
What a contrast to last year.
The consensus amongst the players was that despite (indeed because of) the heat, conditions were appreciably more favourable than 12 months ago.
I'd come to the course early on Sunday trying to digest two things.
The first was a Greggs bacon roll.
The second was a self-medicated, self- reflective, self-confidence pill I'd been trying to 'swallow' since the end of the first day's play.
It's a pick-me-up familiar to all in the golfing fraternity. A placebo entitled 'I played better than I scored'.
Utter nonsense of course, the truth is 'I scored what I scored' but 'confidence is king' and all that, and a little dose of positive, self-delusion can be a useful prop. Also...
...I'd driven the ball so well.
...All my bad shots were on the greens, and that's easy to fix right?
...No-one can putt that badly two days in a row.
...The leader is only seven shots in front.
...Closing that gap is doable. After all, Paul Lawrie was 10 shots back on the final day of the 1999 Open and went on to win in a play-off.
...and...
...God that bacon roll is good.
How do they do that and a coffee for just north of £3?
At that price I'm going to keep on 'Grabbing a Greggs' on the way to the course ..and I'm practically veggie.
Up at the first tee I met my two playing partners, Dave and 'Woody'. Three blokes meeting for the first time because of the numerical similarity of their scores the day before.
Some early banter broke the ice and set the scene for the next few hours.
Introductions done, we waited for the fairway ahead of us to clear. Now there were three of us trying to 'get our groove together', before the off.
When it was my turn I hit a pretty good drive and left myself an 8 iron to to the green.
An ideal start but for the fact that a large cluster of bushes was directly between my ball and the safe haven of the green.
No matter, I must have successfully executed this shot hundreds of times.
And a couple of practice swings felt good.
So I was mildly surprised when my ball knifed into the undergrowth in front of me.
The ball shot off the club face as if desperate to find solitude, embarrassed at the quality of the strike that had just been applied to it.
And that was pretty much that! One loose shot leading to a triple bogey seven.
So, as it turned out, it wasn't the first shot I needed to 'get my groove on' for. It was the one after that.
Four pars on the bounce, were followed by another triple bogey at the 6th.
I finished the front nine, despite having parred six holes, at seven over par.
My golf for that first couple of hours was like the nursery rhyme...when it was good, it was very very good, but when it was bad it was horrid.
Somehow I managed to do even worse coming in. Eleven over for the back nine meant signing for a 90!
Still, Dave and Woody had been great company and both manged to keep a score going themselves.
There was time for a quick beer after the round, before heading to the back of the 18th Green to see the last couple of groups come in.
And standing there amongst fellow competitors nearly everyone's conversation seemed to feature the one or two 'bad holes' that had been their undoing.
Nearly everyone.
One or two players had put a decent score together.
And one of those was Callum England. Sounds like a proper golfer with that name I reckon.
Playing in the penultimate group, Callum backed up an 80 on Day 1 with an impressive 77 on Day 2. His total of 157 was too good for the Day 1 leaders.
A popular winner, and the youngest player in the field by some distance. Congratulations Club Champion!
And in the Ladies Club Championship, refreshingly played at the same time as the Men's, Nicky Awdry shot 87 and 92 to win.
Well done Nicky, that Round 1 score was a net 66, fantastic golf!
In the Men's Competition, wins were awarded for the best net score in all three Divisions.
Well done, James, Nick and Alan (Bennie):
And that wrapped it up for another year..
I've no doubt I'll be back for a tilt at the 2023 Championship.
Yeah I didn't play my best, but here's the thing...I was 22 shots better than last year.
If I shave another 22 shots of my score I win by three in 2023.
It's all about staying positive.
"The whole secret to mastering the game of golf -- and this applies to the beginner as well as the pro -- is to cultivate a mental approach to the game that will enable you to shrug off the bad days, keep patient and know in your heart that sooner or later you will be back on top."
Arnold Palmer
But that's all for another day.
Right now, if there's not too much traffic, I might just be able to make Greggs before it closes...
"Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You've got to believe"
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