Rob and a friend, E, are playing in a Club scramble tournament. E’s dad is driving them. Rob worked for 1/2 hour with his coach this morning on getting his drive straight, and first shot off the tee he swings it at a 45 degree angle into the woods. The girls who make up the 4 ball shout “good shot“. In my calm detachment I forget to mark the tree so am in no position to help find it. We’re off to a good start !
Mom driver of the girls is loudly complementary on all shots – the good, bad and ugly. Not Rob’s kind of cheer-leader !
Golf is such a head game. The more you tell yourself how badly you are playing the worse you play. It’s a vicious circle. You’ve got to have a mechanism to stop that chatter in its tracks.
The round is long, excruciatingly hot and annoying. Rob never finds a rhythm and hardly finds a fairway. Mom driver’s well intentioned “it’s okay” chorus never subsides and 9 year olds playing an almost 2 480 foot Par 9 leads to unrealistic expectations all round – but they are friends and laughing and having putting competitions on the practice green within 5 minutes of finishing.