2002 Golf Summary:
I’m thinking if I wait for a whole year to start this, it’s gonna not be as good as if I did it in three parts, the Beginning, the Middle and the End. I think that makes more sense, so here’s the beginning.
The Beginning
(January 1st, 2002 through June 21st, 2002)
The data is simple. In 540 holes, there were 2639 shots
resulting in a 4.89 stroke average, or 87.9 score for eighteen holes. The
monthly numbers go progressively up as I played more, and poorly. Right now
it’s the first day of summer and my swing is better, some putts are going in,
more bogeys than pars, so far, but things are generally looking up. The weather
has driven the year so far. A warm winter (who plays golf outdoors in upstate
New York in February? Well we did, and more than once). It was a warm winter,
followed by a really wet spring. This moment finds us drying out, still, and a
day or two of NO rain shall reduce the course to perfect.
Lakeshore is working out so much better a place to be
than, say, Deerfield.
The Middle (June
22nd, 2002 through August 31st, 2002)
June, July and August were absolutely beautiful, weather-wise,
and the course responded accordingly. There were 648 holes played in 3026
shots, a 4.67 stroke average, or 84.1 for eighteen holes (a nice improvement
from “the Beginning).
The new greens on three and five finally worked into play
and though the eighteenth green didn’t make it this year, the base remains for
another try next year. The best thing I can say about my game is that the new
practice area behind the third green, the “old” third green and it’s
accompanying sand traps, has given me an excellent place to practice my
chipping and sand shots, and that chipping practice, along with much better
driving and putting really put a good “middle” on my season. There was almost
NO rain during these three months, so the ball ran a long ways on the ground
and I’ve learned to hit off the tight, dry fairways (most of the time, anyways)
keeping my head down and saying, slowly, “Ernie Ells”, in a one, two tempo
attempt to grove my swing. I’ve been so busy playing that I haven’t any current
photographs of the course, so it shall be a mission of mine to capture this
really beautiful place with what now will be fall photographs.
What a life, what a lucky guy I am. Stay tuned.
The END
(September 1st, 2002 – October 31st, 2002)
September and October were beautiful. The course was in
great shape and I played very well, indeed. Playing 531 holes in 2,417 shots
for a 4.55 stroke average, 81.9 for eighteen holes, got me to a nine on the
handicap meter. I’ve hated to write this section because I didn’t want the season
to end, and we’re still playing but the official scoring has ceased and “just
one more round” can be heard around the course from all of us whom are obsessed
with golf. I guess that’s how it is here in upstate New York, in, now,
November, looking forward to April and next season while teeing it up in the
cold, wet slop of early winter.
‘Twas a great season, but next year, ah, next year shall
be even better.
