It’s good to be back. After taking an almost two-week hiatus, I got back after it with a good round at the Golf Club of Wentzville.

I told myself I was stopping for the Coronavirus, but if it had been as nice as it was today the whole time it would have been much more noble. The curve has started dropping here, so it was well-timed.

For not hitting a real golf ball for 12 days, things went pretty well. I was just four-over when I stepped onto the 18th tee. A wind-aided (or hurt if you’re trying to hit the green) rope draw with my 3-wood from a side-hill lie 30 yards over the green and nearly into the parking lot on my second shot helped lead to my first double bogey to end the day. I’ll take that though because I’d rather go down swinging and have a shot at eagle than play it safe with my 4-over which doesn’t get me anything besides maybe a slight reduction in handicap.

I had two birdies to go with my six bogeys and one double. I should have had more birdies. They punched the greens sometime during my hiatus. The greens were still “fast and firm” but I over-read a ton of putts and was burning up edges all day.

I drove the ball great and the ball striking was shockingly good for a lay-off which is why I hit 10 greens. I didn’t intend to chip and pitch more with my 60-degree when I normally use my 54-degree, but I did because of the greens, and it worked well.

I think my work during the break is what led me to success today. I worked with the speed sticks every other day as recommended. I bought a couple balance boards to build up the small muscles in my legs and core because when my swing really goes it’s usually a balance issue. I did some “feel” work on my swing to make sure I am squaring the face better and not letting my hips sway as much. I hit these flat disc golf balls that work on strike and ground contact.

Finally, I made over 100 putts every day from 7 ft on my indoor putting green. I then marked off every putt between 1 ft and the end of my mat at 7 ft and would work on moving back and forth with consecutive putts. This helped a lot because after drilling putting stroke consistency this let me see where I was more or less automatic and where I need to take more time over putts.

Tomorrow, every golf course is slammed, but I was able to find a tee time back at Golf Club of Wentzville. Hopefully I don’t fall prey to the second day back curse.