My Best Round of Golf

It’s not just a number

Kathy and I have played a lot of golf all over the world.  And when I invite people to play they often ask how good I am or what is my handicap. My response is generally the same.  I just play golf for the enjoyment.  But the full truth is,  I play golf for the challenge of getting better.  I want to see if the course I am playing is going to give itself to my style of play or am I going to have to work it, bend my game to the will of the course.  Both are good and I love figuring it out while enjoying the beauty of what is out there.  The trees, water, grass and whatever the backdrop of the day is.

Most of the time my best round of golf isn’t just a number.  The score is a low one, but I have had some bad rounds of golf with a low score.  And I have had great rounds of golf with a high score.  Well, let me explain. It usually starts something like this…..

I get up in the morning and take a shower.  While in the shower my mind starts to think about the day.  Hoping I will play well. Thinking of long straight drives. Great chip shots and of course spot on putting.  Everything is ready to go and I am off to the course. I am sipping my coffee on the way and Kathy is quietly asking about what swing thought she should have today.  We chat a little about it and then arrive to the course.

Check in is smooth and we have just enough time to go through our pre-game warm up and step up to the tee.  As I stand on the first tee looking at the hole I plot my first shot.  Of course I am always a little nervous because the first shot can dictate the rest of the round.  I take a deep breath, look around and take in the course.  The sun has just come up and there is dew still on the ground.  Kathy steps up, gives me a kiss and says, “Fairways and Greens baby, fairways and greens”. (She always says that and always wants me to play well.)

As I said, the first drive is important to me.  It fills me.  Or, it empties me.  But on this day, it is straight and long.  Right where I wanted it to go.  Leaving me full of confidence.  I go back to my bag, the club slides right where it belongs.  Shouldering my bag is effortless. Brutus, (my service dog) falls in right beside me and we start a walk to Kathy’s tees.  Brutus and I stand and wait for Kathy to swing away.  Then we are off.

As I walk up to my ball I can feel the next shot, see it in the air and landing on the green.  I am hoping it will be close.  Giving me a chance for birdie or an easy par.  I pull my next club out after carefully calculating the yardage, wind and where I want the ball to land. I step up to the ball and swing.  I don’t take a practice swing.  I never do.  I just get to the task at hand.

After landing the green, my confidence grows.  I feel taller, stronger.  As I walk up to the green I start looking at the ball.  Where the slope is, how far I am from the hole.  My mind’s eye sees the putt.  Then a smooth pendulum swing and the ball rolls in.  Maybe it is one putt or two.  But, it is not a bogey.

As I pick up my ball and say my score out loud I am happy, but not excited. Over time I have learned that getting too excited destroys the next shot.  I do let it fill me a little more.

As I am walking to the next hole I make sure to look around and see the course, listen to the birds and chat with Kathy.  I try not to concentrate too much on golf or shots until I am stepping up to the ball.  It gives my mind a chance to rest and enjoy what is around me.

As the day goes on it is the same for every hole.  Step up, then  swing.  Good shots fill me a little more.  They are not all good.  Yet somehow I fee like getting up and down is never out of reach.   Now I am filled with more confidence and more desire to make this shot.  Get to the green no matter what it takes.

The struggle and the success battle all day.  The beauty of the course is everywhere.  Kathy is having her own story unfold.  We are able to share the perfection and failure of each shot.  We are sure to point out the special things we see.  We even are able to bolster each other when the time is right.

Somewhere during the last few holes I feel it.  The round is part of me.  The end is near and I know that if I continue to swing smooth, enjoy what is unfolding and take what the course gives me, I will have a great round of golf.

As I step up the to last tee, it is almost like the first.  I need a good drive to make this last hole come together and give me the results I am hoping for.  Now Kathy says, “You got this baby”.   I know she is right. Standing behind the ball I go through my routine.  When I am ready, I tap my driver head on the ground and start stepping up to the ball.  I take a deep breath.  The ball launches off the driver. It flies through the air and lands in the middle of the fairway.  The second shot is a smooth swing with a little back spin on the ball.  It bounces on the green with one hop and a little roll.  Now just one or two good putts and the round is over.

I love it when the score is the low 80’s.  But sometimes I have an 88 and know the round was solid and the course was a little better than me. The round still is a great one.

The good thing is that I just made a one putt to score one of the lowest rounds of golf in my life.  I know it before I start adding. Looking at the numbers anyway to be sure that it really happened.  77.  Wow. 77.  Now a new feeling creeps in.  I start telling Kathy about my best shots.  Of course she listens as if she wasn’t there to see them.  Most of them she even said, “great shot”.  The high stays with me for the rest of the day.  And even going to work on Monday I will get to tell the story of my greatest round of golf to a few golfing buddies that will stop by my office to see how my weekend went.

Good rounds stick with me.  Kathy and I will talk about them weeks, months and sometimes years later.  The funny thing is, we end up talking about the beautiful course or how perfect the day was.  We rarely talk about the score or the shots.   That is why I always enjoy the course for what it is giving me more than golf, more than great shots.

The next time you step up to the tee and get ready to have your best round of golf, look around, take a deep breath and enjoy what the course gives you.  There is more to golf than good swings and low scores.

By: Marc Festa

We are 18 Holes and Counting.  Fairways and Greens.