Best 9 hole score ever

I had gone, alone this time, to the Palm Springs Golf Course in Batam to play. It was my first round in a few weeks, after the last time I played to 84. As the time between my rounds gets bigger and bigger, I think I have started to value each round and therefore each shot, knowing that another round is not coming around the corner very soon.

I was planning to play alone, but bumped into the guys who I played with the last time. And since they were only two, they asked me if I would like to join them. I was of course delighted.

We started on the 4th hole on the Island course. 4th and 5th are fairly easy par-4s. Despite putting my tee shots with the driver in the right side rough (I usually fade with the driver, was not sure what I was doing this time, but blamed it squarely on my not playing for a while), I hit decent approaches to the greens (missing both of them) and then a couple of chips to within a foot of the pin and then single putts for two consecutive pars.

On the 6th, which is a difficult tee shot if you have a problem with hooking your driver, I did just that. I hooked my drive into water and then hit my 4 iron to the far left of the green. My putt lipped out and I made a double bogey.

From then on, I parred 7th, 8th and 9th. I was next to the green in two on the par 5 8th, but messed up my putt for birdie and so just made par.

On to the Resort course, and I bogeyed the first four holes. A couple of them because of bad breaks and bad bounces, the others with miserable putting. I made all three of my 3-putts on these nine holes. I signed off on these 9 holes with a 7-over 43. Not bad considering the fact that I could have been three strokes better had my putts not lipped out. Imagine, I had 21 putts for these 9 holes alone!

So back to the Island course to finish the last three holes and I was determined to make the most of the remaining holes.

The 1st is a par 5 which has the fairway going around a small water body. There is a way to get to the green across this, but that needs a decent tee shot to the edge of the right fairway and then a tight approach to a green which you cannot see from there. So instead of teeing up with my driver, I hit a 3 iron to that exact edge of the fairway, had a great lie to hit my second, hit a clean 4 iron (which turned out to be one club too many because of the wind choosing to pick up around that time) to the right rough over the green.

Then came a marvelous chip, something I will remember for a long time. It landed exactly where I wanted it to and then took the slope of the green to turn right and tracked it's way toward the flag, stopping two feet from the pin. A single putt later, I had my birdie!

I parred the next couple of holes to make it a 1-over 37 for nine holes, my lowest ever 9 hole score! And with that, I shot 8 over for the round, my third lowest score ever! All this after playing irregular golf for the last couple of months!

The last three rounds have been a revelation to me. I have shot an 82, an 84 and not an 80. Not bad for someone who has not had too many rounds in the last couple of months.

The one story common across all the rounds is this: I have got a lot more consistent with my iron play. I am very rarely hitting a bad shot with the irons. The driver has been tricky, fading during some rounds and then hooking during the next. I think I have solved the problem with the driver during the last few holes of the last round, but that I will only be sure when I play next. Chipping has improved dramatically. My decision to try and see, in my mind's eye, the ball running before each chip shot has paid huge dividents since I have made better chips and saved a lot more pars in the last couple of round. The sore point that remains is my putting.

I have made 34, 33 and 36 putts in the last three rounds. I am having at least three holes per round where I end up three putting, for a lot of reasons. And most of the time I am doing it because I have no feel for the distance of the putt.

So I have decided to focus a lot more on my putting. I want to get it down to around 30 putts per round. I also want to work on my chipping to be able to get closer to the pin. These two places alone will work towards saving at least four to five shots a round. And if I do that a lot better, who's to say? I could even play under par in a few rounds.

I know I am getting ahead of myself, but I am just so kicked at playing so well despite the long breaks in between rounds. If I can play this well despite not playing often, imagine how well I can play if I was playing with a lot more focus, practice and regularity.

Just imagine!