LarryLong

Late last week I flew into Brisbane for an overnight golf trip with some mates from Uni. We're pretty far flung nowadays (one lives in London) and we are lucky to get the foursome together once a year, so it's a big deal for us and we try to make a big event of it - nice courses, grudge-match atmosphere and constant sledging over 2 rounds. It's the highlight of my golfing year.

Our first round was at Brookwater, and I was very impressed. What a lovely course. That said, I pity the fool who has to play there every week. Soul-destroying was the term we agreed upon to describe it. I shot an even 100 - and won. One of my fellow choppers shot 72 on the back 9, which was a constant source of entertainment. We were running a bit late towards the end of the day and played the last 4 holes in 'speed golf' mode - run to and from the cart, no practice swings, no looking for lost balls. Strangely enough, I played my best golf of the day when I was doing this. Maybe I need to ditch the pre-shot routine?

Highlights for the day were:
- Being first in line in the pro shop pre-round and snaffling the last pie.
- Hitting a 6 iron to 2 feet on the last and missing the birdie putt that would have saved me from raising the bat.
- Hitting a tree stump in my follow through and bending the shaft on my lob wedge, and almost losing the ball after it went 20m into thick greenside rough.

Day 2 was a round at Redcliffe. We were shellshocked after a day at Brookwater, and Redcliffe was just what we needed. A nice, well-maintained course where you can find the crap shots but still get punished if you're not playing well - which I wasn't. I shot a woeful 104 after suddenly developing a vicious outside-in swing and pushing everything waaaaay to the left off the tee. My short game is so bad that I absolutely have to drive like a pro to have any chance of scoring well, and that went out the window. My highlights were:

- Hitting a 7 iron through a gap in the trees onto the green while being buzzed by 150 mosquitoes. Once again, no pre-shot routine. I think I'm onto something here.
- Watching two of my playing partners fail to make the ladies tee
- Holing a long putt and calling it when it was still 6 feet from the hole
- Having our names called at the airport when we were too busy perving at hot chicks at the food court and almost missed the boarding time for our return flight.

Thank heavens neither of those rounds will be going on golflink. Club golf resumes this weekend, third handicap card. Time to stop the chopping and play some decent golf again.