The 2019 Golf Season

It's hard to say what makes a successful season for myself, I don't have any aims for handicap and some days I just don't have hunger to play well. I suppose my season is rated on trophies, money on my account in the pro shop and overall attitude towards my game.

2019 started pretty similar to every other year, with a few cold rounds and not really wanting to play golf. As with any year, The Masters came around and whether it was Tiger Woods winning or Augusta, I got an extra bug to get out and play in 2019.

The new toy - I decided I wanted an extra boost this year, like many amateurs across the country I went for a new driver. After narrowing down my search down to 3 drivers, I went to the range. After testing I decided the Taylormade M5 was the driver for me. In all honesty, it transformed my enthusiasm and my attitude towards tackling the golf course in 2019. I have been an advocate of plotting around golf courses and keeping the ball in play. The truth is I was beginning to get bored of not using my length and accuracy (relative to the average golfer), in order to give myself more scoring opportunities.

My Season opener

My season and new attitude started with the Spring Meeting. In round 1, I would post a 79. The round would have been what I was expecting, rusty from little competitive golf with more attacking shots. I think golfers see players around scratch as tour players, thinking that more aggressive play should lead to more birdies. The truth is that more aggressive play, normally ends up with more good shots, mixed in with lots of sticky situations. When you are not playing on Championship golf courses, covering vast acres of land, it normally means that the misses off the fairway and more noticeable around the green can be more dramatic.

Round 2 would be good proof that my new strategy was going to pay off in one round, maybe sooner rather than later. I would only go round in 75 (+3), but the Quadruple bogey on the 8th hole was the undoing of a good round. The strange part is that this is not a new aggressive tactic, I have always cut the corner to make the hole more scoreable. My average for the 8th hole in 63 rounds is 4.1, which proves that this was just 2 bad swings at the wrong time. Shooting -1, with driving the last hole and holing for eagle for the other 17 holes, meant that I was not far away from shooting under my handicap with this new tactic.

What happened next

The following rounds would follow a similar pattern to the Spring Meeting. In Club Championship I would post 76 & 81, another inconsistent 2 rounds. Then came what I was looking for, a run of competitions, where I could play regularly and feel my game was ready when I stepped on the first tee. Its worth noting that I started this run with my handicap at 1.9, this will be relative later in this story.

First up was the Open Championship Medal. Carding only 2 Birdies, I back this up with lots of opportunities that only culminated in 3 bogeys. A lot more solid effort and a round that would give me some confidence that my game was in good shape for when I had my day. The next competition would be the A.J. Hill Tankard. I would post a 75, with a nervy and non aggressive bogey on the 18th hole. I had hit a few wayward drives in the closing stretch, which second guessed the driver play down 18 with a tight flag. I was annoyed I couldn't trust myself to be aggressive and to be honest just made a complete mess of the hole. This would be the last time I would do that this year, I had a game plan and I had to stick to it.

The Definer - The Carey Cup would be my defining attacking display of the year. Recording 2 bogeys, 2 Double Bogeys & 5 Birdies, I had another 73 for the year. I was starting to think that I would always shoot over par and 72 was just a fictional number that players shoot. The highlight for this round was the last holes, a nervy pull on the par 3 17th would see me hit it out of bounds for the first time in competition golf at Lamberhurst since joining in 2012. The anxiety of just needing one birdie to shoot under par was to much for me, I even had to hole a 10ft putt for the double. Then there was the 18th, its hard to say if I had hit driver if I was not over par, but the double bogey on 17 left me no choice. I would make a good birdie after an aggressive drive. The funny part is the double bogey on 17 was probably the most important thing to happen to me this year. Its not the failing to close out the round I took from this, but the bounce back birdie on 18. I looked at this round as a 71 + a bad swing.

The Final attempt

The final trophy available to win in 2019 was the Hurricane Shield, played just a week before presentation day. 7 days after my Carey Cup 71 + a bad swing, I had some momentum in my game from the birdie on 18. I always have 2 sayings on the first green, 'You can't birdie them all if you don't birdie the 1st' or 'You don't want to birdie the 1st, its all down hill from there'. Today would be 'You can't birdie them all if you don't birdie the 1st'. To be honest the greens were not at their best and sometimes they helped, sometimes they didn't. I had a lot of quick putts that due to the conditions were now more holeable. the only blemish on the front 9 would be the 3 putt on the 7th, when I left my first putt 6 feet short from distance. Now 'You cant birdie all the back 9 unless you birdie the 10th'. Back under par after 10 holes, I had a tricky 2 holes before I got into the scoring area of the course. Safely past the 11th & 12th, I now had 3 to 4 good birdie chances, starting with the back to back par 5's. Having not hit a good drive 13, I was forced to lay up. I have an issue with the 13th lay up, in the fact that it is the flattest part of the golf course. On 90% of pitch shots at Lamberhurst, you are working with or against the lie of the land. When I get on 13, it all feels like it is a bit to easy and I am not calculating something into the shot. Not for the first time, I would catch my pitch heavy, clearing the water hazard infront of the green by 2 feet. After a Bogey on such an easy hole for someone of my length was a massive blow to my under par ambitions. It was now imperative that I found a birdie on the 14th and hung on over the last few holes. The 14th couldn't have come at a better time as I average 4.7 on the par 5 over the 63 logged competition rounds. Standing over an eagle putt for a great bounce back from the bogey on 13, I would come agonisingly close and have to settle for a birdie, Back under par!.

'That Shot' - Then my shot of the year happened whilst standing on the 15th fairway, with 170yds to the flag I ripped a 7 iron straight at it. I'm guessing somewhat but using some experience in this as well. When my ball landed, it took a jump to the right and rolled. As I walked up, I could see my ball within 12 inches of the hole and a big pitch mark in front of the hole. My theory is that I had pitched within 3 inches, kissed the flagstick and then spun back to a foot. I now believed this was the day I had been waiting for, I now had a 1 shot lead over under par and my goal was to stay in front of them after 18.

I wont string it out any longer, I finished with a 2 under par 70. Yes, I did hit driver on the last and although I found a soft muddy lie, I played the percentages and made par. I haven't told anyone this but I almost missed my 6 inch tap in. I didn't wait to mark and just finished off, but it must of been a bit bumpy around the flag as my ball jumped left and just about caught enough of the hole to fall in. Now that would have been embarrassing if it stayed out!

I am a firm believer in golf that you have to deal with disappointment in golf in order to achieve in the coming attempts. I think it is the drive not to let the same thing happen twice. There was no way I was going to hit it out of bounds again on 17 or play 18 so negatively I mess the hole up completely.

I finished my season with a handicap of 1.3. This was mainly down to the 70 in the final competition but I shouldn't take away the 75's & 73's that help consolidate and set up the final round.

Notable Achievements in 2019

Another notable achievement throughout the year was a Scratch Cup knockout win. That's 6 in the last 8 years, with the others being a DNP & Semi Final loss. Thoughout 2019 I also achieved 8 top 10's in Division 1 from 14 events, showing my new mentality towards each round has brought some consistency along with better scores. I am understanding that sometimes I will not contend with this mentality but I am now looking for 5 or 6 hot rounds a year where I take advantage of situations, Rather than 10 round where I am there but not threatening.

The Team

The team golf at Lamberhurst has been very disappointing over the last 3 or 4 years and the reason to why I had contemplated leaving a few times. We are not blessed with a depth of golfers that can compete in the big county team events like Perman shield or Kent Scratch Foursomes. The only achievement I can take out of these events is how I contribute myself. We would bow out of the Perman shield in the 2nd round and I would claim 3 1/2 points out of a possible 4. Most notably I led the team out in the singles in our last match against a recognised player in the Kent circuit. Shooting -3 for 15 holes, I would win that game 4&3. In the Kent Scratch foursomes, I would win every game I played but unfortunately be knocked out due to our 2nd pair suffering a heavy defeat.

I can take this record as a win in 2019 but will always be disappointed that we couldn't get further in the competitions. We have a few additions to Lamberhurst this winter and I'm looking forward to the 2020 competition, thinking we can get a few rounds further than we have achieved lately.

So in 2020?

In 2020 it is going to be very much the same. I have purchased some new Ping i500 irons to imbed into my game over the winter, meaning that once the season starts next year I should be comfortable with my bag. Some new wedges and possibly a 5 wood will need to be purchased around April next year, probably coinciding with The Masters being on the TV.

I am not a great goal setter as my golf can be very sporadic and sometimes I get a run of rounds, sometimes I will go a long time without playing. If I could shoot another under par round next year and win 2 trophies again, I would count that as another successful season.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my 2019 season, golf is always full of ups and down but if you can just find that one bit of positivity out of a negative, you can finally shoot 'that round'.

GOC