A game less traveled

Today's round of golf was "interesting". I was playing with my cold (which isn't as bad as usual, thankfully - it's already starting to break up after 2 days), and had that "disconnected" feeling some people get when they're sick - you feel like your body is about a half-second or so behind what your brain is telling it to do, and everything takes extra effort.

I played one step from horrible for the first six holes - even lost two consecutive shots on the long 4th hole. A couple of my shots were pretty good (monster drives on 3 and 6), but overall I was erratic and had no touch at all, and once I made the greens I had no feel for speed or line. It was ugly.

Then, on 7, something happened miraculously, and I hit a decent tee shot, followed by an OK wedge to near the green and a nice chip to about 5 feet. And I made the putt for par.

On 8, I hit a near-perfect 7-iron onto the green - dead on line with the pin but about 10 feet short. The birdie putt was just short and I had a tap-in for another par.

This was weird. My drive on 9 was crushed, but seemed to be fading just a little right. I went to look for it in the right rough, thinking that the ball I saw in the fairway was Ric's tee shot, even though it seemed a little long for him.

When I got up far enough, though, I saw it was mine. Ric's was also on the fairway, but behind me and to the left. I must have gotten a really nice bounce off that rough area. Anyhow, an easy chip and two putts later, and I closed out the round (and the golf league season) with a 52 - right about where I've been all year. But with 3 pars in a row. Hopefully that bodes well for Friday's tournament. And hopefully I'll be breathing normally by then. Signs are promising.