Trying to break 90 again: back on the golf course

<!–

–>

After one round of golf in the last five years, Dave Tindall is trying to break 90 for the first time in more than a decade. Follow his journey here.

August 28: Fast forward to August 16th when I hit my first shots in three years during a 30 minute session at the range.

That was 12 days ago and because of this and that – it's always this and that – I've been standing on the first fairway at Bentham GC in North Yorkshire and haven't swung a club since.

Even worse, I haven't hit a putt since 2021. left

So, as I stand there, Titleist G25 driver in hand, I take a moment to reflect. This is my first round of golf in three years and my second since 2019.

With just one range session under my belt (about two days ago) and a vague memory of how to grip the putter, there's every reason to believe this will be a disaster.

That being said, unpredictability is often a friend and not an enemy. In my head, I've already given myself a pass. Forget trying to get anywhere near 90, I'm giving myself permission to shoot for 120 with maybe a few good holes along the way.

As I prepare to hit on a calm, partly cloudy day (see photo above), I can see a narrow little road with trees on the left and driving range nets waiting for anything carved on the right. Obviously, a quick thought “I can beat them” runs through my mind as I take a second look at the nets.

But, no, I sweep one down the fairway. A decent connection too although not too far on a hole measuring 377 yards. I'll take that.

Five shots later after a superb second, a fat third, a decent wedge and two putts I write a '6' on my scorecard. Double bogey but '6' is fair, right? World No.1 Scottie Scheffler had both '6' and '7' on his card during last week's BMW Championship.

Then I accidentally bogeyed the 18th, thinking it was a 2, and made another double-bogey 6. Again, I'll take it.

The real second is Stroke Index 1 despite being a Par 5. There are a couple of hits there but they are an '8' due to the sloppy – let's say rusty – work on the green.

So the round goes on and, honestly, I'm hitting the ball a lot better than expected.

I hit seven of the next eight fairways – all with a driver – and connected well with most of my irons.

I am completely mechanical on the greens. By that, I mean I am honest and produce the same result. And that, in my case, is a two putt.

I two-putted my first nine holes and 14 out of 18 overall. I need three bogeys (9, 11 and 16) and one putt (hurrah!) on the 13th.

Crunching the numbers

For this project, I think it's a good idea to try to carve fairways, greens and putts. All novice hackers like me have a sense of our (relative) strengths, weaknesses and major weaknesses and statistics provide clear evidence.

And it's pretty brutal proof in my case.

So, let's cut to the chase and see those door points.

Fairways hit: 8 of 14
Legal green: 1
Score: 38

Outside 9:54
At 9:48
Score: 102

Yes, you read that right: one green in regulation. To be fair, I think I was 5-10 feet away from getting the right number placement on about six other occasions but there is no getting away from how brutal it is. One thing!

Aside from that sad fact, I hit some pretty good irons (by my standards) even though they weren't straight enough.

And my rigs would like to say at this point that they generally had no chance of GIR given the short distance I travel.

Taking 38 putts is obviously not good either but perhaps understandable given the total carelessness with my flatstick. I putt one over four feet, eight feet on the last.

Earlier this month, Golf365 ran a few tutorials with mental health coach Duncan McCarthy and there were several lines that went along:

“We definitely don't spend enough time on how well we do something.”

“As a club golfer, we can mark the end of the round. We can get five marks for our mental, physical and technical performance. Performance is a mixture of those three things and it's the ability to combine all those three skills on any given day to perform.”

Taking the starting point, I'm trying to break 90 for the first time in over a decade. Shooting 102 in my first round three years back and second from 2019 wasn't bad at all.

And, guess what, thanks to the straight drive I didn't lose a single ball.

At the start of the back 9, I played a five-hole sequence of bogey, double bogey (three-putt from nowhere), bogey, par, etc. That's five over five holes.

Since my round was a par of 71, averaging a bogey every hole ie playing from an 18 handicap, would have seen me round at 89.

In other words, taking a positive view from today's evidence, breaking 90 is not something for fairies.

There is still a long way to go and I know that sometimes when I start a sport again – this has happened to me in golf – the first game back can be better than expected. It's from the second on that old habits return and reality kicks in.

I also have to say that I got goosebumps when I looked back at some of the photos/videos my teammates took.

It's a cruel analysis that I throw around like an old man. I mean, at 55, I am an old man I think. Although, as I do park runs and still dress like Oasis just hit the charts in the 90s rather than convert, I refuse to believe that I code.

But watching my knees sink as I hit the drive and how low my arms are as I swing the club back, I'm a little surprised. I love good deeds from sports people and I have always tried to put them together, so, frankly, the video fills me with great disappointment. Is that really me?

My rhythm is pretty good which saves the day a little bit but, technique wise, there's a lot to be done. No wonder I hit it not far.

However, as Duncan McCarthy said above, to get an overall idea of ​​how the round went, we can judge our mental, physical and technical performance.

Psychologically, I would give myself 4.5 out of 5 as I remained calm, appreciated the good pictures and showed little disappointment for poor or missed putts.

Physical and technical: maybe 3.5 and 3.

Without saying right away that my one bunker shot involved chipping it over the green into a completely different hole, I'm going to take the score, go back to the range and buy one of those fairway putts.

Cycle 102 is a marker placed on the ground. Base camp. Now to continue climbing. Only 13 shots to be fired.

READ MORE: Stop moaning! A top mental health coach reveals four tricks to staying positive on the golf course