I DON’T normally make New Year’s resolutions but I set myself a few golfing targets that I wanted to achieve in 2012.
The most important was to avoid taking more than 110 shots in a round and this soon developed into a fixation.
My aim looked achievable as I stayed under the magical mark in my first seven outings, while my confidence grew when I shot my best round ever, a masterful 94.
But as any high handicapper will tell you, disaster is always lurking just off the next fairway.
My first mistake was booking a round for Friday the 13th but I soon made my second error on the first tee, a slice into the trees leading to a treble-bogey seven.
If that was bad, disaster well and truly struck on the fourth, which began with a topped tee shot and continued with a wild slice into the undergrowth.
I decided to go for glory, attempting to shape a fade into the green, a shot I am plainly not capable of. The result was my ball hitting the trunk of a tree no more than two metres away, with the ball ricocheting out of bounds, leading to a score of 11.
A run of half-decent holes gave me a chance of avoiding 110 as I headed out for the back nine – but my hopes were soon dashed.
Despite taking an iron from the tee at the 11th, a duff meant I failed to reach the fairway and resulted in me hacking down the hole for several shots.
I attempted to rescue the situation by hitting a lob wedge into the green. That proved to be another terrible idea as the ball was thinned through the green, coming to rest inches from a fence, from where it was hacked to a tree root, resulting in a nine.
I needed a miracle but one was not forthcoming, with the highlights of the rest of the round including a double hit and a lovely shot that looked to be heading straight at the flag, only to fall a club short into a devilish bunker.
The end result was a score of 114 and the death of another dream. Oh well, there’s always next year.
Follow me on Twitter @JohnMBoyman
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