State Mid-Am: Hope I Don't Miss Out This Year

With my back at 100% (and by that, I mean 100% of what I can reasonably expect it to be), I am starting to play a little more golf now - only about as much as I was playing last year, at best.  But my scores haven't quite improved, despite my showing signs of playing better than ever.  The driver is still a little too crooked, although light years from where it had been recently, pre- and post-back issues.  Driver yips is what I had, and have hopefully remedied that, if not straightened it out altogether (yeah, that'll happen).

Because of said issues, not to mention being closer to 50 than 40 in age now, my handicap has reached Rita Coolidge territory (at an "All Time High"). OK, it's at 7.4, and has been higher of course, but not in the last 10 years probably. You can see the chart of my most recent 20 rounds below.

The tragedy in all this, other than a slight ego dip, is that the annual tournament I look forward to, uh, annually, requires it to be no higher than 6.4.  It's the Minnesota Golf Association's Mid-Amateur Championship, hosted every September on two courses.  I missed last year's, which actually was OK because my back was in no shape to be playing with, but I had played in it the previous four years.

This year was going to be really cool, not because I was going to finally make the cut for the third day of play (probably not likely), but because of the host courses this year.  One of them is Midland Hills in Roseville, which was, and I believe still is, the home course to my Alma mater, Roseville Area High School (Alexander Ramsey when I was there, pre-merger with Frank B. Kellogg High School). I haven't played the course in nearly 30 years.

The other is Town and Country Club, of which the V.P. of Sales in my company is a member, and has talked about taking me to sometime. I will then no doubt impress him so much with my character over the next four or so hours, surely the fast track will be mine.  He has offered some insight on the course as well (bring your straight club; leave driver in the bag whenever possible), and it would be nice to get it on the course for a practice round.

So I've got some work to do by the time my entry fee is due (September 4 ).  I'll need to drop my handicap a full stroke; some of which will be accomplished by my recent score of 79 (two combined nines from league play equalling a 6.0 stroke differential). If I were to play the same 18 holes for my next two rounds, scores of 77 and 76 would do it.

I wouldn't have to play quite so well if I can get four full rounds in by the time I register.  The challenge is that the next revision schedules after tomorrow are August 15 and September 1.  So if I don't get my handicap down by August 31, I won't be able to enter.  But if I don't get it down until after August 14, I'll be forced to wait until just a few days before entries close for the tournament before I can enter, and thus risk it being filled up, and I left out.

So my plan is to try to get three full rounds in on or before Aug 14, and hope that at least two of them are really good.  If so, I'll have a chance to come up with excuses-a-plenty as to why I again missed the cut.

If not, my sessions with my old friend and bowling pro instructor might begin a little early this year.