Nerves and slowplay.

Last Saturday, I joined the Samarahan Country Club's Ballsweep. At RM100.00 per golfer (inclusive buggy fee, goodie bag and lunch) there was no reason not to play. I was playing in the Handicap 19 - 36 category and because my game has been rather erratic, I didn't expect to win anyway.

It was a shot gun tee-off so we started off on the Par 3 on Hole 17. Personally, I don't like starting on Par 3's but fortunately, my first short of the day, though short of the green was safe. 

In summation, I didn't play very well (what's new?!).

For starters I was hit by a case of the 'nerves'. Secondly, a golfer in our flight was slow and I mean terribly slow, but we will get to that later.

So, nerves. I have played in a few competitions and I still get nervy whenever I tee up. This time though was rather ridiculous. I was stubbing / duffing chips (which I haven't done in recent games) consistently and I was hitting shots, really fat. As a result, the confidence in my swing and game took a terrible beating and it was infuriating to say the least.

The silver lining from Saturday's experience though was that I improved in two areas. I was having a pretty good 'driver' day and on a day when my iron play was awry, my 3 wood oddly enough performed excellently. Out of 13 drives, 10 were sweet and straight. The 3 wood on the other hand was a much needed boost of confidence. I used it off the deck 3 times and every strike was pure, flush and more importantly, straight. 

Now on to the subject of SLOW PLAY. I have played my share of long rounds but Saturday was ridiculous. It was bad enough that we were teeing off at 11.00am (when it was getting very hot) but it took us a ridiculous 5 HOURS to complete the round and we didn't even stop at the halfway house.

(As a disclaimer, this has got nothing to do with age. I have had the pleasure of playing with other senior golfers who play at a very good pace and the displeasure of playing with younger golfers who play at a snail pace)

Said golfer (let's call him uncle) was probably in his late 50's / early 60's but it wasn't his movement that was slow. It was his super long PRE-SHOT ROUTINE and his lack of urgency to speed up. 

On the tee-box, he would take at least 30 seconds to set up (I timed it) and he would take nearly as long for every other shot. I could nearly see the grass growing.

As we progressed along, the golfers in front of us eventually disappeared from sight and we were more then a hole behind. To make things worse, the flight behind us were soon just 'a-stroke' away and they were clearly agitated from the lengthy wait. 

The course marshall came to our group 3 TIMES to tell us to speed up play and at various stages, we politely told uncle that we had to speed up play. To send a message, twice the marshall told us to walk off the green after taking our putts and uncle was left on the green alone. Didn't make a bloody difference and frankly speaking, uncle was lucky that he wasn't penalized.

It didn't matter that his fellow flight mates had to wait an eternity for him to take his shot or the fact that we were holding up the flight behind us. He was simply oblivious and went about his business.

I don't want to blame uncle but if I am being honest, my game was affected to an extent. To compensate for his slow play, I was taking less time for my setup (especially during my putts for instance) and I was brisk walking / jogging back and forth. 

Some may say I shouldn't have given a crap and just carried on as usual since it was a competition, but I was honestly embarrassed because we were holding up the flights behind us and I loathe SLOW PLAY.

Uncle wasn't a beginner either. I think he plays to a handicap of 20 or lower and as a seasoned golfer there was a serious lack of awareness and etiquette on his part. Suffice to say, I won't be looking forward to be in his flight again. 

Uncle if you happen to read this, I am sorry if you feel offended but I believe my views are warranted.

Whether it's a casual round with your mates or a competition, there simply is no room for SLOW PLAY. 

- End of Rant!

But in other news, what about Jordan Spieth? A 10-stroke victory at the Hero World Challenge beating out an elite field of golfers. My word is he playing some scintillating golf at the moment.