Before I explain today’s round, I would like to acknowledge how grateful I am to be able to play golf in January. As such, one reason why the three of us (me and my regular golf pals) consistently happen upon perfect days that were forecasted otherwise, is because we are willing and wanting to play, even in wind and rain. Today was not one of those days that the weather forecast calls for 30km winds and instead they are about 6… more so it called for 30km winds and they were probably more toward 70.
We arrived with excitement as always. I had a lesson last week and I am still trying to consolidate the changes we made to my swing (unfortunately every time you have a lesson you get a little bit worse for a while as your body gets used to it). The first tee box at my Golf Club is perhaps the place where I feel the most nervous… someone is always watching, and quite seldom do I ever have a good first hole. Perhaps because of the wind, and the not perfect tee shots from my playing partners, I had low expectations, and therefore no nerves. I teed it up real low and had perhaps the best tee shot I’ve hit on one, straight up the left side of the fairway with a perfect angle looking toward the green (although I could never reach it in 2, its a long Par 5). I realized as soon as I got to my ball that it would be a perfect opportunity to play my 19 degree hybrid, which I usually have a hard time consistently getting high off the ground (perfect for a windy day!). I don’t know if it’s the swing changes from my lesson, but I hit that hybrid like gold today. (Golfers are allowed to brag because we are also extremely hard on ourselves).
The wind was gusty, and it was near impossible to predict how the wind would affect your ball. Here’s a link to show not only how windy it was out there… but also how gosh darn beautiful Victoria Golf Club is: Windy on the 4th.
As I walked up to the 7th tee box, I saw the ocean crashing up below, and didn’t think I had it in me to play the point (what we call holes 7-10, as they are all along a perfect, gorgeous ocean front… I know…tough life…). While walking back to the clubhouse, I chatted with a group who told me only one of them got onto the green on 8… with a 4 iron (this is a Par 3, often almost always reachable with a wedge, or for me a 9 iron). I went down to the range and practiced the new tweaks to my swing instead of retiring right away. You can take a peek at it here: 7 Iron Practice.
I am working at coming across my body on my back swing (so my left arm should cover more of my right shoulder than my neck from the angle this is filmed at, and throwing my arms down, as my hips tend to turn too quickly, so when I hit the ball my arms have time to move straight through after impact, instead of folding around me, which was long a habit of mine.
I will be honoured and astonished if anyone got through this. It brings me perhaps too much joy to think, talk, and write about golf.
