Headed West!

Last week I played a two day tournament in Destin, Florida at Emerald Bay. I went down a day early to get a practice round in and learn the area a little better since I'll be spending more time there.

I left early Tuesday morning and caught the interstate west. Everything was going good until I went through a construction zone around Marianna. A man pulled up eside me and rolled down his window saying my tire was going flat. Great! I pulled off under a bridge and since I was dressed to play golf in a couple of hours, i decided to call AAA. One thing lead to another and lets just say, ask my mom what she thinks of AAA right now. I ended up changing the tire and stopping at the next Walmart to get a new one. Little set back was all.

I arrived in Destin only to be greated by a wreck on 98 thathad traffic backed up for miles. I was thinking great, I already had to call and move my tee time back because of the tire! I ended up getting to the course and had a few minutes to warm up.

Emerald Bay had the most beautiful fairways I've played on in a while. I liked them so much I took pictures of them as I was playing. Just like the divots you see on TV, they stayed together rather than turning into dust. Much to my surprise though, the greens had been shaved down to low and then rolled to make them flat. They were hard as a rock. Well, I didn't feel like I played well so I was a little aggravated with everything. I left to go find my hotel, the Village Inn.

It was about 6 miles away on the far end of Destin. With it being spring break weekend and all, the roads were pretty crowded and restraunts were packed. I had found the hotel online for a real cheap rate and needless to say, a cheap hotel is what I got.

Without much sleep from all the party noise going on in the rooms beside and above me, I got up and went to McDonalds. I got to the course my usual hour ahead of time. My tee time was at 8:30 so it was still a little cool outside. I got warm and headed for the concrete greens.

Trying to master the greens was discouraging, and before I knew it I heard my name called for the box. I teed off, placing a fair drive about 285 down the right side. Here we go!

To make a long story short, my putting killed me. I had 40 putts the first round. My average is 26. If I would have putted like normal I would have led by 6 shots on the first day.

I was so upset after the round I grabbed a bite to eat and went back to the course. I putted on the green until I was tired. I ended up hitting a thousand putts and about 150 chips. I sat down for a second and went to the range. I ended up hitting about 300 balls there. I felt better about the next round, so I went to my room.

A little tired from the practicing and the round in the morning, I hit the sack about 8:30. Once again, don't expect much sleep during spring break week.

Same routine the next morning, McDonalds, then arrive an hour early to warm up. This was going to be a better day is what I told myself. I practiced hitting the ball below the hole so I'd have uphill putts rather than aiming at the stick.

To make another long story short, I ended up shaving 8 shots off my score and improving my putting by 8 shots. Still with 32 putts I felt disappointed.

Every golfer has bad rounds and I just had my first of many. I ended up placing 8th, maintaining my 12th and below record. I learned a lot from that round and will use it to make myself a better golfer.

I was suppose to play in Navarre this week but they had some water damage on the course so I'll be practicing for next week which will be Summerbrooke of Tallahassee. Yea no cheap hotel!

Thanks everyone for all the support!

Thanks Mr. Jerry Hicks for picking up my tab at Edwin Watts the other day!

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Glen Bishop

Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots, you get good breaks from bad shots, but you have to play the ball where it lies. - Bobby Jones