Conference 7.286::golf

    
    	The time that was most frustrating/disappointing for me has
    	have been a couple of years ago... I was playing at the course
    	that I grew up on (Maplewood, in Lunenburg, Mass.). I go back
    	there every other year or so to bring back some GREAT memories
    	and to hopefully shoot a low score (it is a short nine hole
    	course (for now). Any ways the fourth hole is a par four, dogleg
    	right and if you hit a good 3 wood (for me any ways) over the
    	trees on the corner of the dogleg you can reach the green. I
    	played that hole a few thousand times (no exaduration) when
    	I was in highschool and never put it on the green, I saw some
    	of my friends do it, but not me. Well, two years ago I hit
    	that smooth 3 wood off that fourth tee and knew when I hit it
    	that it had to be on the green. When we got  to the green sure
    	enough there was my ball about 15 feet from the hole (great
    	right!). Well from there I just let the emotions take over
    	instead of calming down before hitting the putt...! Yup, I
    	proceeded to three putt from there...! Par....! 
    
    	Oh well, I did drive the green...
    
    	Gene (looking_forward_to_hearing_some_of_your_stories)

      The club fall championship 1988... I was up 2 holes on the turn,
    (after giving away 2 others early).  My opponent threw a 38 at me
    on the back 9.  (this was the 6th flight mind you...)  On 11 I was
    up only 1 hole after a short missed putt for par on 10.  My tee
    shot on 11 sailed O.B. (ouch), but I sucked it up and killed my
    second tee shot.  11 is a par 5 and I was able to hit 4 iron to
    the stick on my second (read 4th) shot.  I tapped in for
    eagle(+2 penalty) and only tied the hole with par.  When we got
    to 18 I was down 1.  I hit a sweet drive and flew 8 iron to the
    stick, my opponent, still hot also reached in 2 but had 18 feet
    for birdie... I had 2 feet.  He lagged his putt to about 3 feet
    and putted out for par.  The noose tightened and I MISSED THE @X&#
    2 FOOTER and lost the match.  My score for 18 was 85, my opponent
    87.  (6th flight mind you!) and my finest round of my career to
    that point resulted in a loss.  The fellow I played went on to shoot
    88 in the finals and win the flight.  To this day 18 is a choke
    hole when I pull the putter from the bag.
    
    Glumly... Rick 

    Phew! It's really tough to sift through the wreckage, looking for 
    a particularly horrible memory...let's see, the lowest of the low 
    points from a season filled with them probably occurred during a DEC 
    league match, on the 5th hole of Stow South. If you're unfamiliar with 
    the hole, it's a nasty par 5 that puts a premium on the tee shot; not 
    much to aim at, but above all don't lose it to the right, or you're 
    down the slope into the heavy timber. On this particular occasion, I 
    somehow managed to relax and make a nice smooth swing, putting the tee
    shot out on the flat and level. At this point, the rest of the hole
    sort of bends right to left, and it's real easy to yank it into the 
    woods on the left, or push it into the forest on the right. The 
    temptation is to lay up with a 5-iron, but I opted to be aggressive, 
    and pulled out the 5-wood instead. Damned if I didn't put another
    superb move on it, and hit it dead solid perfect, leaving myself an 
    itty-bittyy half pitch shot to the green. On all counts, absolutely
    the two best back-to-back wood shots of my life!
    
    What followed deserves at least an "R" rating (for "rotten"): my
    attempt to "cozy" the wedge went completely haywire, and I
    pull-sclaffed the ball (I know it sounds impossible, but I *did* it) 
    into a bunker, and wound up with a nice, fat 7! As I was walking off 
    the green, steam issuing forth from both ears, my opponent (who'd
    spent most of the hole in the trees but also managed to "save" a
    double bogey) said I should ask Stow management to erect a monument at
    the spot from which I'd mangled the pitch, inscribed with the words 
    "I WAS HERE IN TWO!" Somehow I resisted the urge to put my balky wedge 
    to good use, and we both survived the round.

    I think  I  had  too many frustrating times this year to remember the
    all, but the last one  was  just  last  thursday  at  Trull  Brook in
    Tuksbury (sp?), that was my first time there.
    
    On Wednesday, I got an invitation  from my DEC league partner to make
    a last round this year, so I took the day off.
        
    Now I had been improving my game slowly but  consistently during this
    year.  Another friend joined us, someone that three years ago used to
    play far better than me (he still does, but not as  much).   I hadn't
    play with him in a long time, so I wanted to show  him  how better my
    game was,  and,  yes  you  guessed,  my mind took off and my game was
    TERRIBLE.
    
    The worst hole was, I think is the sixth, a par five that  runs along
    the river on the left side, and me being a lefty, hazards on the left 
    immediately light  up  a  internal  sign:   WARNING.  Well to make it
    short, I put two balls  in the river, thanks to a big slice, and took
    a 10 in that hole. I also had two triple boggies in other holes.
    
    Trull Brook is a par 72,  69.5  handy and 115 slope, I think is about
    6000 yards from the white tees.
    
    I ended up with a 95, in something that could had been in the 80s.
    
    Tavo
    
    P.S.  BTW, the greens were awful,  all sanded and fertilized, but the
    rate has been reduced to $14.

    
    My nightmare was during my third year playing.  I was playing well
    over my head, carrying a double-digit handicap and shooting scores
    in the seventies for several days in a row, and was on my way to
    a sub-par front nine.  I bogied the first hole after hitting the
    pin and having to chip back onto the green, then proceeded to birdie
    the next six holes!  Of course by now the rest of the foursome is
    giving me the business and on the eighth hole I dump my tee shot
    into the water and double-bogy the hole.  On the ninth I hit a long
    draw (rare is an understatement) that winds up in the woods, of
    course we find it and I play it (took three shots to get back to
    the fairway) and wind up with a triple bogy and flat par for the
    front nine.  Closest I've ever come to playing nine under regulation.