Beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to finding a time to play golf in the spring in the Midwest. If I had known it was going to be as cold as it was today, I might not have played. But, next week looks like rain and a possible quarantine, so I was determined to play today. Belk Park consistently has some of the best deals on GolfNow and today was no different. I almost had the course to myself for less than $20 even with fees.

Oddly, you wouldn’t know the cold was affecting me as much as it was if you just looked at my scorecard. I made two good putts on the first two holes after having to scramble after errant shots with driver or 3-wood– the first to save par, the second to save bogey. Not sure how those were my only two that went in all day from further than 6 ft. when my hand warmers hadn’t heated up yet and I couldn’t really feel my hands.

My other three bogeys on the front were really just run of the mill holes where sometimes I get up-and-down from those spots and today I didn’t. I hit four greens, three-putted one of them thanks to a bad lag putt, and saved par on two of the five I wasn’t on in regulation.

The highlight of the front was the 360-yard 5th. I was playing through the lone group I would see until 16, which normally spells trouble for any golfer. Someone waves you through and you immediately shank the drive and cuss at yourself under your breath for looking like an idiot. I hit one of the my best tee shots of the day but it just caught the fairway bunker 95 yards from the middle of the green. I can’t remember the last time I was in a fairway bunker because I avoid them like the plague, but this one is right at my carry and it was 2-yards from being perfect. Thankfully, I hit maybe my best long bunker shot ever and picked a knockdown pitching wedge perfectly off the sand and spun it right into the middle of the green for an easy two-putt par.

The back was a little rougher. I bogeyed four of the first five holes. I redeemed myself on 15 though. I hit my drive to the end of the fairway before the small grass drop-off, about 110 yards out. I thought I flushed a pitching wedge, but it came up short because of the fact I was hitting to a green probably about 10 yards up and/or some wind above the trees I couldn’t feel or notice. I was bummed because I birdied this hole the last two times I played it on back-to-back days. However, I had a good uphill easy chip and this hole apparently refuses to not be birdied, so I chipped in from the front right of the green a few yards off the fringe for the first time in a while.

Unfortunately, I had to wait on every shot for the first time all day on the next hole and proceeded to make an extremely unlucky double-bogey on a manageable par 5. I first blocked my drive way right which isn’t normally bad on this hole and managed to get back in play with a normal 5-iron into a big green. I slightly pulled it but with the wind and slight cut it looked to have it would have been all over the flag. However, one little skyward sticking twig of a branch snatched the ball out of the air, and it took a devastating kick right and down the hill into the hazard.

I hit great shots on the entirety of 17 and 18 to hit my only two greens of the back, par out, and leave the course feeling good though.

I played to my course handicap yet again (6 of the last 8 at or under par with strokes).* I am scoring well, and yet I know I still have so many small dumb mistakes to clean up if I am ever going to put up that illustrious even-par round. At the end of March, I am going to sit down and analyze my rounds and notes more closely and try to figure out an exact formula I need to be shooting for. I know I need to hit more greens (probably 12 per round) and that starts with figuring out clubface control more consistently. With my irons that means never trying to kill the ball. I just have to trust my yardages and club up if I feel I’m going to have to kill it. With the driver, I need to pick a swing thought and stick with it. You can’t miss both ways and right is better for me on most holes because I can hit my cut around trouble and run it up the fairway. Those pulls that wind up behind a tree are just brutal. Thankfully, I kept the snap-hook in the bag at least for today.

Note: I am still going off my DiabloGolf USGA Handicap, because I don’t yet have 8 scores, let alone 20 in my GHIN. I realize you only need three rounds to establish a GHIN (currently, 5.9), but I think for my purposes and not comps against other people it makes more sense using the one with 189 rounds instead of the one without the 20 they use to sample from or even the 8 they pick. I am an 8.1 on Diablo, but it will be interesting to see how much it comes down when it updates on Sunday. If they are within a shot, I might make the switch before I hit the 20. I am going to keep my Diablo and keep entering scores because it will be interesting to see how the old system compares to the WHS. Plus, it has literally every round I have played since the end of February 2012, and I got a lifetime deal for free for helping out the company get official USGA club status back in the day.