I haven't played any serious golf since September of last year. Sure I hit balls a couple of times and practiced putting and chipping a bit, but I had become so distraught with my lousy game last year, that I decided to put gold on hold for awhile. Maybe even give up the stupid sport for the rest of my life.

It being winter and too cold outside, I was even less inspired to continue honing my golfing skills so things just went along fine as long as I didn't try to play golf.

Yesterday I played at the Leeuwenbergh Golf Course with a couple friends (Reinier, Vanessa and Maurits), accepting that this would be purely for fun and relaxation since I'd surely hack around and make a joke of myself.

For the first time in two month I hit a half a bucket of balls, and I was even surprised how good it went.

Then everything magically came together. A nice par followed by a birdie on the first two holes. One under par after two holes, are you kidding me? So then I bogied the next two holes to go one over, part of the game. Parred my way to the turn, and continued parring down the stretch for twelve holes in a row (that must be some kind of record). Knocked the ball in the left-hand trap on 17 and scrambled for a bogie, and ended up with a par on the final par 5 hole.

Final result: 37 + 36 = 73 (two over par).

Last year I had played so poorly that I had accepted the painful fact that I may never be able to play a decent round of golf again, maybe not even breaking eighty the rest of my life. Out of the blue and totally unexpected, I manage to pull off this miracle. Dear God thank you for blessing me with such a fantastic day on the golf course. Yes, there is still hope so never give up.

I guess I still have it inside of me, somewhere deep yet accessible. It's a great feeling knowing that I am still capable of pulling it off. If I put my mind to it and get a little bit lucky along the way.