AS A SELF-CONFESSED hacker, I have come to accept inconsistency as the only constant in any particular round.

No matter how well I seem to be striking it, I am always aware that my next shot could be the one that destroys an otherwise respectable score.

Sometimes, however, even I am |surprised by the extremes my game manages to find.

I recently shot my first sub-100 round of the year. That’s quite a good day for a golfer of my limited talents, but I went on quite a journey to get there.

I began badly, topping my first two tee shots a total of 50 yards and generally hacking my way around the first few holes – but then the tide turned.

A solid par on the par-three seventh was followed by another par on the eighth and only a duffed putt prevented me making it three in a row on the ninth.

Another par followed at 10 and I began to dream of a personal best score – but reality bit back at the very next hole. Having mishit my second shot along the ground and into a ditch I did brilliantly to literally splash the ball out, only for it to go straight into a pond.

I took the eight with good grace and was still in the hunt for a lifetime best approaching the 15th, one of the easiest holes on the course.

However, the golfing gods chose this moment to take their revenge.

I pulled out a nine-iron, made my swing and looked up to see the ball fail to get more than three foot off the ground as it homed in on a bush 20 yards from the teeing area.

I decided to play a provisional – and did exactly the same thing again, resulting in a six-over-par score of nine.

Driven by anger, I proceeded to play three of the best holes of my life after this, finishing par, par, bogey to card an unlikely 99, hitting some brilliant shots along the way.

It was only after I finished that I realised I had taken more one more shot on the 128 yard, par-three 15th than I had on the 16th and 17th combined, two par-fours measuring a total of just under 700 yards.

It’s a funny old game.

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