Feb. 20, 2009
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I teed it up with my teammates in Parrish, Florida to kick off our spring season. The Central District Invitational is always a fun event because we stay in houses on the golf course. Our hosts treat us like royalty and spoil us with what seems to be a bottomless supply of the ripest strawberries you've ever tasted. It always feels a little bit more like home to stay in a house...not to mention the fact that the first tee is only a par-5 away from our front door! So, thank you to Dorothy and Ed, and Betty and Jim.
Monday was a long, 36-hole, 10-hour day. My feet were angry with me, and my performance wasn't quite what I was expecting.
After a good night's rest, and a fresh start the next morning, I turned it around and made a great comeback on Tuesday. Although I didn't put together a full tournament, it was a good confidence boost to finish strong with a four-birdie, two-under par day.
Yes, it was a windy day, but not so much that it was overpowering. Wind can have a variety of effects on a golfer: either you let the wind get the better of you--mentally and physically, or you learn to be patient and work with the wind. Sometimes a nice stiff breeze can be a good thing. It makes you focus harder.
The course was set up very fair. The greens were rolling great, and it wasn't terribly long. With the help of three close approach shots and a downhill 20-footer on 10, I found myself in position to finish strong. I usually don't like to keep a close watch on my score, but I knew I was playing well.
I stayed present and focused on my targets to finish up the round. I put myself in position for three more good birdie opportunities on the last three holes, but settled for tap in pars. Got to leave some room for improvement, I guess!
As a team, we didn't play our best, but we have a lot of great tournaments to look forward to. Now that our feet are wet again and we are back in competitive mode, I expect some great rounds to come. We have a lot of talent on this team from freshman Nicole's distance and ball-striking, to junior Shannon's accuracy and fierce competitiveness, coupled with the birdie blitzing Kelley and Caney, we're sure to be a tough team to beat for the rest of this year.
Hook `em!
Kristin Walla
|
|
 |
