I would do better if I hit it on my head

I am, of course, talking about my putter.

I was at the Palm Springs course at Batam for my first golf round in five weeks. Of course I was raring to go after such a long lay off, but was also extremely apprehensive about my game, especially the short game.

The round began with a double bogey caused mainly because of a three putt after my chip had landed 10 feet from the hole. This trend carried on all over the front nine which I completed with a heart wrenching 52 out of which I had 24 putts.

TWENTY FOUR PUTTS OVER NINE HOLES!!!! Oh the agony!

I was having trouble dropping short putts in. I had completely lost my feel with the putter. The only thing that was a saving grace was my long game.

I am now almost always teeing off with my R5 driver and doing a fairly decent job of it. Except for the occasional fade, I am hitting the driver absolutely straight and to considerable distance.

I am averaging about 285 yards with my R5 and my longest drive was a 335 yarder monster which allowed me to be 10 yards from the green in two on a long 568 yard Par 5. From there, after being in a position to either chip in for eagle or to chip in close and putt for birdie, I chipped horribly to 20 feet past the hole and then three putted for bogey. Oh the agony...aah the shame!

By the way I was going, I was predicting that I would be on my way to another worst unless I did something about it. And slowly but steadily, my feel around and on the green improved. My chips started to get closer to the hole and my putts started to drop.

And then I did something that pleases me immensely.

I parred five out of the last six holes! Four in a row from the 15th to the 18th! Aaah...

With that final burst, I hung my head low with a 95 and 41 putts! 41 putts! Can you believe that? Only relief was that the back nine was 17 putts as opposed to 24 on the front nine.

If only I had putted to my average, which is around 33 putts a round, I could have played to my regular scores of high 80s. But then, if wishes were horses, putts would drop!

All in all...Thumbs up on the driving, thumbs down on the putting. But at least one thing is for sure...if I get my putting feel back, I am in a much better position to attack the pins thanks to my long driving. Because of my driver, most of the par 5s are now reachable in 2 shots and most par 4s are a pitching wedge away.

The only way for my game, I hope, is up.

Let's see how it goes.

The doctor recommends more practice!