We arrived back from Madeira late last night. The week was really great and we were able to relax and have fun at the same time. In addition to lounging around and doing nothing sometimes (reading and sleeping under the sun with an amazing ocean view) we also traveled around and explored the island.
For a better impression of what we did and the places we visited, have a look at the Vacation to Madeira album.
For the first time in my life I have been disqualified from a golf tournament, before I even hit the ball a single time. It all happened less than a couple hours ago and I'm still recovering from such an unexpected disappointment.
It's not like I did anything bad, or did I?
My official start time at the Dutch Senior Open was 14:20 but for some reason I had 14:40 engraved in my mind. Although I've been living here for a long time, I still have problems with the 24-hour clock they use in Europe.
I purposely arrived very early so that I could spend much time warming up for this important event I'd been looking forward to for many weeks. I registered myself an hour before and started practicing and getting loosened up.
At two thirty I went to the first tee. Some official lady came up to me and asked if I was "Keffin" Gish. When I said I was, she said that I had missed my starting time of 14:20. That's not possible I answered, my starting time is 14:40. She pointed to my scorecard and there it was perfectly clear: 14:20 indeed.
What bad luck. They were very strict and would not make any exceptions to the rule. When I gave her an emotional story of looking forward all year to the event that was my big highlight, taking off two days from work, their final cold judgement wouldn't budge an inch. I even got a little desperate and said that I suffered from a slight form of dyslexia, meaning I often can't help but mixing up the numbers. Too bad, those are the rules and we are very strict. No I would not be allowed to play in a later flight. They wouldn't even refund the fifty euros registration fee I paid less than an hour earlier, what a waste.
(I will write them a polite letter and appeal for a refund of the fifty euros which I believe is a reasonable request)
What's even stranger is that I had a bad dream last night. I dreamed that they wouldn't let me play because I was wearing my new white golfing shoes. For some reason these shoes didn't not adhere to the official rules, and no matter how I pleaded they would not listen to me. It was one of those frustrating dreams where you have almost reached someplace, but at the very last moment you get prevented from going any further because of some bizarre and nonsensical reason. Like running a race but right before you cross the finish line your legs freeze up or turn to rubber and you cannot move while everyone else passes you by in a flash.
Perhaps it was my subconsciousness trying to warn me in a symbolic way: that the start time I had registered in my mind was incorrect. Too bad that I did not remember the dream until afterwards, when my disqualification and resulting ruminations brought back that faraway memory of a dream. So much for mysterious spiritual messages when you cannot heed to them as well.
I learned my lesson the hard way and know that I need to be extra careful next time. This has been yet another exciting day's journey in an unpredictable life.
Shake it off, adapt and go on. Life continues as usual.
Tomorrow I will be playing my first round of the International Dutch Senior Open at the Golfclub Broekpolder. If I make the cut on Friday I get to play in the final round on Saturday. Wish me luck.
All those days of grueling practice and mental preparation have finally resulted in the ultimate success. With satisfying rounds of 74+77+80 during the weekend, I played exceptionally well.
Best of all is that I won 1st place at the Club Championship. Life is good and I'm starting to love this sport called golf all over again.
My handicap dove down to my lowest of 4.3 and then got bumped up to a 4.4 handicap.
Next week Thursday I play in the International Dutch Senior Open and will do my best to keep up the momentum, my plan being to make the weekend cut.
On average nearly half of your golf shots are on or around the green. The reason that practicing putting and short chip shots is essential to playing good golf.
That's why lately I've been spending much time on the practice putting green. Two or three times a week I drive by after work and spend an hour or two putting around.
I've developed my own practice program. I make a loop putting around the perimeter of holes. Two is even and putt ins count for one under. Three balls per hole. I am not allowed to make a single three putt. Every single putt counts, even the very short so-called easy tap ins. This keeps one sharp for the important stroke play tournaments where every hole must be putted out to completion. If I do three putt I have to start all over again.
Sometimes I'm lucky the very first try and make it through all the way around without three putting. If that happens I have to keep on going until I three putt and then start all over again. I keep on going for an hour or two. A couple days ago I made it through the first round at eight under. Another time I kept three putting the first hole and had to restart three times, made it to the second hole and three putted that hole and on and on. Sometime I make it to the very last hole and miss the very last two foot putt.
When I've had enough putting for the day, I head on over to the chipping green. There I can practice short chips from the fringe and just outside of the fringe in the rough. This usually goes on for half an hour, but I cannot leave until the last ball is chipped into the hole.
I find this ritual very relaxing and peaceful. Often I'll look at the clock and see that two hours have gone by without realizing it. This is a mental game which sharpens my mind and allows me to escape from the stress and chaos of the real world. Funny how the human mind likes these kinds of games and gets re-energized by whacking around a little white ball into these round holes in the ground.
I am very pleased to announce the latest release of ZCP which is a major improvement and offers some new and interesting features.
Thousands of brave soldiers sacrificed their lives seventy year ago today. Many more would die before Europe would be liberated from the oppressors.
I've been playing golf for so many years now that I've pretty much experienced every crazy possibility you can imagine. During the monthly medal last Sunday, I did it again much to my amazement and entertainment of my fellow players. I will try to explain what happened.
I was playing pretty well that day except for my drive on the eight hole which I pulled to the left. Worried that it was a lost ball, I was relieved when someone else spotted it in the deep rough.
Rather than getting a double-bogie and possible triple with my provisional, I now had an easy chance at a bogie possible par. Since the rough was so thick I had no choice but to place it safe and chip it out into the middle of the fairway. All I needed to do was concentrate and get the ball out of there.
Because of the thick grass and perhaps some carelessness on my part as well, I had to hit the ball much harder than usual, and I caught the ball on the toe of the club causing it to fly out sideways and to the right. I saw it shoot out and fly directly at a low trajectory right at my bag, making a loud thump and disappearing in thin air. The ball had disappeared, where did it go?
Hitting your own bag is bad enough due to a penalty stroke, but what was the ruling if you could not find the ball afterwards? Would I have to take a two stroke penalty for a lost ball and play the ball again from the original spot buried in the high rough in addition to the one stroke penalty for hitting my own bag? This could be a disastrous hole, having to hit my ball again but this time lying five. Six out on the fairway (hopefully), a long iron onto the green (hopefully) and two putts for a nine or possible ten on a par four hole.
Upon closer inspection I examined where the ball had struck my bag which had been a direct hit on the side pocket zipper. The zipper was slightly open, and there inside together with all my other balls and tees was the original ball! What are the odds of that happening? Luckily, I had marked the ball with my unique pattern and was able to distinguish it from the rest of the balls in there. No one believed me at first, until I showed them the ball and explained what happened. It was a miracle mishap.
As it turned out I managed to save a double bogie by sinking a thirty foot putt. I wrecked my double bogie free round again, but it could have been worse, much worse.
It was a long two week wait but it was worth it. My fantastic new driver has finally arrived. I dropped by the driving range on my way home from work this afternoon to give it a try. The first couple drives were clunkers, then really low but far, and in between a big bad crush of a drive. The default factory setting is at 8.5 degree loft which might be a bit low, but there's some utensil I can use to adjust the loft a notch higher or two. This new club is going to take some time getting used to but I'm patient.
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