A lot of people choose to blame various problems on the new wave of mega homes: housing affordability; the plight of neighbourhood character; loss of trees; loss of privacy.
Now I have a new problem that can be blamed on mega homes: my golf game.
Lately, I have been finding it difficult to find time in my week to get to the course to meet up with Richmond Country Club head pro Mark Strong, but we finally agreed to an 8 a.m. shotgun round Wednesday morning.
The problem was that a marathon public hearing on mega homes (building massing) dragged on until about 1 a.m. If only I had known.
With about four hours of legitimate sleep, I arrived bleary-eyed at the course and practised with a few new drivers, as I had snapped mine on a drive last week (it was a cheap driver).
With a bit of a warm-up, I embarked on my first hole, the par-five 10 with my partner Dr. Eugene Marks, 76, a retired oral surgeon.
So I tee it up. Whack! I hit my driver on the ground and the ball goes 20 yards.
Mega homes.
The next shot I lose complete control of my grip and bounce it another 20 yards.
Mega homes.
Then, I hit it into the greenside bunker on my fourth shot.
Mega homes.
A three-putt later, I’m looking at a quadruple bogey to start.
Mega homes.
Then I triple bogey hole 12.
Mega homes.
You get the point. This isn’t how it was supposed to go!
I managed my first “official” birdie on hole 13 and settled down nicely with two more pars while avoiding any more double bogeys, or worse.
I had finally woken up from my mega home nightmare.
But it was on hole one where I would have most liked a mulligan as I began a downward spiral that couldn’t be blamed on anything other than a series of bad decisions.
I absolutely crushed my drive — by my standards — about 260 yards and had an easy approach from the right fairway fringe to the left side of the green. However, I chose to go for the hole toward the right by flirting with some trees halfway down my sightline.
My pitching wedge failed me and I hit the tree and settled for a double bogey. That was two, maybe three shots on my scorecard after a decent (given the quad) plus-10 first nine.
From there on I just didn’t catch any breaks, triple-bogeying holes three and six and not making one par.
On hole six I hit it to the right with my drive (my consistent slice is now an occasional bad hook) and chose to risk playing through a willow tree, but I hit the trunk and lost yardage.
I ended up with a 95 and my great partner Gene beat me by one stroke.
Next time!
As I mentioned, I’m trying out new drivers. Some say loft is the most important aspect of a driver, but for me weight is the biggest issue, much like it is for me with hockey sticks.
I found the heavier driver I was using required a stiffer grip; at times the shaft slipped out of my hand.
I tend to tee up my ball from an average height and I’m satisfied with a 10.5 degree loft, although I hope to test out some other varieties.
SCORECARDS:
Month: April May June July August
Score: 119 112 107 98 95
Water balls: 3 1 1 1 0
Out of bounds: 2 2 1 0 0
Reg. greens: 2 1 2 3 2
Pars-Birdies: 0-0 0-0 3-0 3-0 2-1
