The golf season is almost over. As of today, my home course is closed for the season to get some maintenance finished before the snow flies. But this season has seen a lot of good and some bad.
The Good Stuff
The big one here is my handicap index. After a lot of hard work, I've got my index down to the lowest it has ever been.
I started the season at a 12.3, and climbed up to a 15.0 in July (thanks to how 9-hole scores are now counted in the World Handicap System). At the end of August my sister and I went out to play in the mixed league that week. They play some interesting games in that league - that week the highest score on the hole got to steal a club out of the lowest scorer's bag. By the end of the round, I was down to 7 clubs and shot a 40 for nine holes. That round brought my index down to an 11.2 - tied for my lowest index ever.
And after some adversity in September, I'm now down to 10.8.
The Bad
To start the month of September - right when my game was really starting to heat up - I hit a huge obstacle. My favourite club of all time - my Ping G400 driver - is no longer usable. A large crack down the face of the club and now my biggest weapon is out of the bag for the rest of the season.
That, paired with a sprained ankle, didn't leave me much hope to get below my lowest handicap of 11.2. But, after a week or so off of golf, I made my return for our annual league wind-up.
And it was awful.
The ankle brace I was using kept me from transferring my weight properly and getting my hips square to the target. Which led to a whole lot of terrible shots and 16 holes of frustration. But after a bit of a eureka moment, I realized that by flaring my foot a bit I could finish my swing like I had before my injury. And from what I think may have caused my injury, doing this might actually prevent it from happening again.
The following round I ended up scoring a respectable 42. A few days after that I was only able to get in 13 holes before sundown. But, by using Golf Canada's rules for incomplete rounds, I was able to enter a round of 81.
And that was what dropped me down to my 10.8. So, it was a little bit of a hollow feeling not getting it done with a complete round. But, I've worked hard to get here and should take some pride in the season I've had this year.
2024 Recap
The list of accomplishments looks pretty good this year:
Best 2-day tournament finish (4th overall and a low net)
Best 2-day tournament total (161 - 17 over par)
Best single tournament round (79)
Lowest handicap index (10.8)
There were plenty of lows, too. The early season struggles with the shanks which led to a ballooning handicap index were immensely frustrating. But, I think that learning to fight my way out of that has led to my wedge game improving quite a bit. My confidence with the short clubs is higher than I can ever remember.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get a few more rounds in before the season ends here in Alberta. If I do, I'll have to have a damn good round as my one round in the 70s this year is set to come off my handicap soon. This winter I'm planning to get out to a golf simulator at least once a month to keep my golf game going so I can hit the ground running next season.
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