I Go East and My Golf Goes South

Written on 11-8-25.

        The other awful round came with Herman (not his real name) this past week.  His back was tweaked, he said.  He and his wife had lifted their pellet stove…badly.  I could tell it was bad, but I wasn’t falling for it.  He has told me many times in past rounds that something was ailing him, and then he shot nearly even par.  It was no different this time.  He only struggled and moaned a bit when teeing his ball, or when he would retrieve it from the hole.  I would tease him by saying, “Easy there! Do you need some help?”  

I also told him I would be his caddie if he needed more help.  Swinging his golf clubs didn’t appear to bother him at all, though.

My good back and I put together an abhorrent round.  It was another mix of...

lousy full swings and poor short game.  The more I tried, the worse it got.  After the round was over, and I owed him two beers, he ended up +3 on the round.  He even made a birdie on hole #18 on our first nine, the back nine.  That’s a tough hole!  He ended up even on those nine holes, so the three bogeys came on our second nine, the front.

I stayed close for four holes on that nine, and then I crumbled like a snowman made out of dry snow caught in a breeze.  He even gave me six strokes!  Six strokes, and I still couldn’t beat him.  Six strokes for nine holes, not 18, and I couldn’t get the job done.  He deserved those beers.  We ate out at Chili’s after the round, and his wife joined us, so one of those beers ended up being for her.

He joked that he was upset for being three over, and then he asked me how I did.  He asked that on purpose in front of his wife.  I told him he had three digits, and so did I.

As we were walking off the course, he said he was relieved (or happy to know) that I loved golf.  The inference was that if I didn’t love golf, I would have run over my clubs instead of putting them in the back of my Jeep.  He is right.  I still love golf.

I went to my range yesterday and did some drills.  Of course, I had success.  I saw a YouTube video that showed some guy who lifts his right thumb off the club while swinging.  I tried it, and it was wonderful.  It allows me to swing the club on more of a natural path, and I had plenty of power.  My hope is this practice and new little thumb trick turns into round in the 80's again.  This season started off so well, but it has gone south lately.  Hmmm, I go east and my golf goes south.  Ha.  That’s golf.  Hopefully, the weather will stay warm enough to allow me to straighten this all out before this season ends.

Oh, and I did improve my score by six strokes from the Virginia trip, so that’s something.  Not much, but it’s something.

I looked that pro up, and his name is Marco Penge.  He’s an English golfer, and he’s the one who lifts his right thumb off his clubs when he swings.  It’s called the “flying thumb,” and it helps to prevent the right hand from taking over too much.  Cool.