What a terrific weekend I just had. Danny and I had signed up for the Sunshine
State Shootout in Sarasota a couple of months ago. Neither of us had ever played the courses
where the tournament was going to be, so the whole event was a new experience
for us.
We drove down to Sarasota on Friday night, getting there
well after dark so it was impossible to see the courses before we began
playing. On Saturday morning we got up
in plenty of time to get to the event.
Danny and I were on different courses, so I drove him to his course,
Water Tower Park, which was closer to the hotel than the course I began on at Lakeview Park.
When I arrived at the park and checked in, I took a little
while getting used to the course, and planning how I would throw some of the
holes. While the holes were relatively
short, there were several canals snaking through the course, plus it had a fair
amount of trees to navigate around. I
don’t know why, but when I think about shooting over water, I absolutely freak
out. It’s all about losing a disc – just
because I didn’t execute the throw properly.
So, after taking a brief look at the course I went back to
my car, opened my trunk and got rid of almost all the discs I had in my
bag. Instead, I filled my bag with other
discs that I knew how to throw but that were not my “favorite” discs. You know what I mean. Instead of throwing that favorite white
Leopard, I substituted a blue one, and then added another Leopard in case the
first one took a dive in the water.
Since my home course only has one hole that I have to throw
across water, I don’t keep a stock of floatable discs in my stash. And I don’t have a pole to carry with me to
retrieve a disc should I throw it in the water.
Most of the people at this event had poles for disc retrieval and one of
the women I played against had a whole bag of discs that floated. Smart strategy.
At the start of the round, on my very first hole, I did not
execute the throw well, and splash! My disc went right in the water. I recovered from that mistake, but when I
went to putt in the basket, my putter hit the rim, fell to the ground, and
rolled right in the water. What a
disappointment! That was the only putter
I had put in my bag! Fortunately, a
fellow player was able to retrieve my putter, and after that I was MUCH more
cautious with putting.
My first reaction was to say, “I can’t do this! I’ll end up losing all my discs by the time I’m
done.” Then I decided I should just get
tough, proceed to the next hole, and be more careful. After about three holes, I started gaining
some confidence, and began playing much better.
I began making par, and making much better disc placement. I scored many pars and bogeys, which was
comforting.
But then I got to hole six, again didn’t throw my best and
landed right in the middle of water.
Bye-bye purple Leopard! I marked
my lie, and threw to the basket, and heard the sweetest sound, “Cha-ching!” I got a circle 3! If it hadn’t been for the penalty stroke for
landing in the water, I’d have made a birdie on that hole.
On to the next hole, again over water (14 of the holes on
this course have water in play), but I just kept saying, “There is no
water. There is no water.” That seemed to help, and I made a great drive
that landed me well within the circle at the basket. Once again I heard, “Cha-ching!” when I
putted and wound up with my first-ever
birdie in competition!
More tomorrow……
131 Days to Worlds!
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