“Ladies’ Day is here – who needs sun when we have colours…”
Ladies’ Day for Open Week 2013 has arrived: How terribly exciting. Somewhat unfortunately typical Irish Summer weather has also arrived – on with the thermals, ho-hum. But both Clubhouse and Course were buzzing with electric feminine energy so the sun was not missed overmuch.
Off I went with two of our fine upstanding Lady Golfers with sufficient gravitas and golfing talent to keep me exceptionally firmly grounded. I still went through my usual 9-12 hole warm-up routine – the less said about the front 9 the better – although I did manage a brief flash of inspiration (perspiration??) and the whisper of potential with a (net) birdie on the 5th. And to be fair, my driving was improving steadily – the ones that were not irreparably duffed had a reasonable bit of distance to them. I must now begin to really work on my accuracy because all the distance in the world is absolutely useless unless direction can also be mastered – golf is very demanding indeed.
Thankfully the calming influence & unbelievable consistency of my companions began to work on the back 9. Needless to say, I scratched the 10th but did manage another (net) birdie on the 11th and a monster drive on the 12th. Then I went all out and (just) managed to log a score on the 13th as well – 3 holes in a row – I was on a roll.
My drive on the 14th was good nuff also but my 2nd went a tad awry – it sent my Loco ball to nestle comfortably in the grass on the right of the green with only a wee Cliffs of Moher sided bunker between me and a par putt. Not a problem – after yesterday’s 18th – not a problem. 600 came out and I was just gonna drop it down behind Loco and chip him onto the green – cuddling the pin, preferably. Not a problem, indeed.
So confident was I that I had my head up to see where Loco had landed before I’d even hit him. So Loco went into the sand to play. Ok, still not a problem. Only a minor detour. Sandwedge out and shot played to almost perfection. I say almost as Loco hopped out of bunker but decided he wanted more beach time and rolled back in to play some more. A slightly more major detour, but still not a problem. I addressed him again with my trusty sandwedge & whoosh –the perfect shot was struck. So perfect he hopped straight over my head, behind my back and frolicked in the sand again. Maybe starting to become a wee bit of a problem – only 1 shot left. But I dried my tears of laughter and smacked Loco out of the sand at last.
With laughter still ringing musically in my ears (between my ears? Echoing emptily therein, perchance?) we approached the 15th tee. Loco, having had his fun at the beach declined for once to go and play in the woods and found his way to the back of the green in two. And I actually got to “putt for birdie” – Loco declined to oblige, but I got AN ACTUAL PAR – A NET EAGLE. I did, alas, scratch the 16th (adrenaline overload, no doubt) but Loco & I - we were in the groove and my “putt for birdie” on 17 lipped out and I got a 2nd ACTUAL PAR / NET EAGLE in one round. Wow. This self-inflicted mental torture we call golf is very addictive – can’t help but love it though.
And yes, I only scored 1 on the 18th, thanks for asking…