I'm a fair weather golfer, I don't normally play between mid-October and mid-March (well, not these days anyway) - it's too cold, too wet and too muddy. So, it's been a few months since I last touched my clubs. So I was over the moon when I found WGT in November as I could continue to hone my skills. And having played solidly on WGT for the last 3 months I thought I had masterred the real golf game; I could hit any shot within 1 yard with alarming consistency.
So, I went out a couple of days ago full of enthusiasm and anticipation of reading the wind perfectly and hitting all shots to within a yard.
Oh boy! For the first 4 holes I hadn't a clue how to even swing the club. Now, I can play the game - I used to play off 8 and have completed a full round at level par gross and 9 and 13 holes 3 under and 2 under respectively. But not this game. Started off 6, 6, 7, 7 for a 10 over par after 4 holes. And not only that, I lost 3 balls in that time. Now I would like to blame WGT and their stuttering meter here, but I'm not sure I'd get away with it in this case. The 3rd hole is a rather innocuous 135yd par 3 with water about 15 yards short of the green and another 10 yards to the pin... that's 25 yards total who need to find a calculator. The hole is a downhill and so plays shorter than it's yardage. So I took out my 9 iron which I hit 130... and hit it into the middle of the pond - 30 yards short! Got another ball... exactly the same result. Could I really play this game or was it just a dream??? Another bogey on the 5th and I was starting to believe it had all been a dream. But then it came back to me and I started par'ing a few holes. Driving became good and the rest of the game started to follow. A birdie on the 14th confirmed that I could actually play this game.
But unfortunately all that practice on WGT did nothing for my game. So I guess it's back to square one and practice, practice, practice. That sounds too much like hard work!