The Links and the British Open

David R.

July 18, 2010 - 10:27 AM

My round of golf on Thursday went as expected. I hit a 96, which is pretty typical for me, especially when I haven't played for while. That 96 is pretty good, considering how I started. On the first three holes I had to take a drop penalty because I blasted my ball into no-man's land. I was able to settle down after that and piece together some decent holes (that's debatable). As I feared, my brother Zach hit a better score than me, and it is now safe to say that I am the worst of the three male golfers in my family. That's not exactly something I'll be bragging about.

There was some excitement on the 16th hole. It was a par five and I was hitting my second shot with my fairway driver. The ball I hit was absolutely crushed, but was heading right for the residential area that backs up to the course. Watching the path of my ball, it was inevitable that it was going into the houses. All I could do was watch and wait for the "thud" that came ringing across the course on impact. Thankfully nothing was broken, and the homeowner was very understanding, mentioning that it happens all of the time. I'm sure it's beautiful, but I don't know if I would like to have my house backed up to a golf course where it could get pelted with shots gone wild.

My biggest problem is in fact my driving ability. I can drive the ball much farther than my dad and my brother. Why is this a problem? Well, it is a rarity that I hit that ball on a straight line. I usually hit a wild slice, or hook, or just hit it on a bad line. Because I hit it so far it goes way farther in a bad direction. My brother for example, hits a few in a bad direction but because he doesn't hit it as far it is usually still playable somewhere in the rough. When I hit it bad it sails well over the rough and into an even less desirable location. This is when I have to drop and it all goes down hill from there.

Keeping myself in the golfing mode I have been watching a lot of the British Open, being played at St. Andrews, "The Old Course," in Scotland. The tournament is about to end and the leader outright is a young man from South Africa who has a name that no one can pronounce. Tiger finished tied for 23, a less than stellar performance. Every time a new tournament rolls around I hope that Tiger can get back on the horse and dominate like he used to. Despite all of his off-the-course antics he is still the best golfer in the world, and the game is much more exciting when he is on the leader board.

Today will probably be a day of rest for me. On Friday night I went with a few friends downtown and a lack of planning left me and my friend to walk seven miles to his house on Saturday morning. Great thinking college boys.