At the driving range, in the driving rain

What is the point of the driving range?

That's not a rhetorical question: I went to a range earlier this week and did the obligatory practice putting, practice chipping and practice swinging the club. All I learned is that I am as wildly inconsistent when the ball is sitting on a rubber tee with nowhere to go as when I'm on an actual course trying to put the tiny sphere into a cup.

You might argue that the driving range is where you're supposed to figure out your swing, work out the kinks, etc. It doesn't help. All I do is hit bad shots (and bad putts and bad chips) over and over again, with the occasional -- and unreproducible -- sweet swing.

I can do that on an actual golf course, and get some exercise in, to boot.

My experience on the driving range this week wasn't a total loss. Thanks to the range markers, I did learn that I can hit the ball consistently, no matter what the club, about 100 yards. That's with a 4-iron, 5-iron, 7-iron, 5-wood or driver. Good to know.

Now back to the course.

Rainy Day Golfing #12 & 35

For all my other golfing faults, at least you can't call me a fair-weather golfer. Today, Labor Day, I worked my way through 18 holes at Manor Golf Club in Sinking Spring, Pa., slogging through a soggy front nine before the sun finally showed, ever so briefly, later in the afternoon.

I half-expected to see werewolves out on a day like this.

At first I thought I had a way with rain; the first hole, an uphill par-4, provided my first birdie in more than 10 years. Immediately after that, I fell apart. The second hole a par-3, resulted in a 6 (although, to my surprise, I only two-putted it). After that I had two eights, a 10 and a 9.

The 10 that came on hole five was my best guess; after eight shots of not hitting the green, I gave up that hole. It took me four putts to finish with a 9 on the next hole, but I did manage a bogey on hole 7 before finishing the front nine with a 10 and a 12, respectively. On both holes I estimated my score because getting to the green was as futile to me as building a perpetual-motion machine.

The back nine went much better. I bogeyed the 10th hole and double-bogeyed the 11th. One hole 12 I hit another 10, but at least this was honest: It was a par-5 and I took five shots to make it on the green, followed by five putts. The other par-5 on the back nine was a little bit better. I still scored a 10, but at least I was able to two-putt. Yes, that means I needed eight shots to get on the green.

Give me a break. I'm new at this.

So close! So very close!

The weather cleared up on the back nine, where I finished with a 62 (compared to 71 on the front). Still, I don't blame the rain. Frustration and impatience set in on a number of those first holes.

How can you tell? Note the lack of putting on one-third of the front nine.

Golf is a game best played with an attitude of, "embrace the suck." If you can't be good, you might as well just try your best and have fun. Rain or shine. Luckily I learned that lesson before the day ended.

One of my goals for this year has been to finish a round with double-par or better. I scored a 133 today, seven shots better than the 140 I had hoped for. Next time, I hope to reach the same goal, but this time finishing every hole.

Even if it means something worse than a 12 on the scorecard.

Speaking of scorecards, here's mine from today:

And here's a look at my latest putting stats. They're getting a little bit better.

As is my average scoring, though I'm still far from average:

Keep foozling that niblick!

Don't hate the driver

One of the most oft-used pieces of advice that novice golfers receive is:

Don't Use The Driver.

It's the most difficult club to hit. It will ruin your game. It will run off with your spouse and steal your credit cards.

To be sure, it is tough to hit a driver WELL. But at the par-56 course today, I was struggling with every other aspect so that when I reached the par-4 ninth hole, I decided to try my driver, a Mitsushiba that I'd found in a thrift store many years ago.

The results were, in short, not horrible. I hit the ball far and slightly to the left, but it landed close enough to the green that I was able to reach it in three shots. I finished with a 7, a score I've gotten before on that same hole. It felt good to know it was my lousy putting that cost me, rather than horrible shots to the green.

It all went downhill after the first hole.

By hole nine, I had already resigned myself to a day of terrible putting. After one-putting on the first hole for a bogey, I played terribly on the green the rest of the day. Forget about three-putts: I had to four-putt some holes (including an otherwise satisfactory ninth) and on one ignominious occasion, a five-putt.

My putts alone were one-under on the front nine. Oy.

So I spent the back nine figuring out how to putt. It may have made a difference; I made 27 putts on the front nine and 26 on the back.

But back to the driver; At Village Greens in Sinking Spring, Pa., only two holes -- nine and 18 -- are long enough to warrant anything but an iron from the tee. After my relative success on hole nine, I tried Mitsushiba on the last hole. Once again it went left, but had good distance. A line of trees to the left of the fairway kept my ball from going into the street. Hey, I'll take any help I can get. From there I needed three more shots to get on the green. It sounds like a lot, but I was pretty pleased with the last shot, one I took with my lob wedge that got me slightly uphill of the hole.

I finished the hole with a 7, three-putting to finish. On this kind of day, three-putts don't bother me. As much.

Finished with a 106. My scores keep going up,
not down.

The goal of cutting down on three-putts eluded me to day. I probably don't need to point out that my goal of breaking 100 at Village Greens was just as unreachable.

I suspect the two are related.

Here are more stats from today's game:

Putting is my downfall

Of all the ways that golf can frustrate the beginning golfer -- and there are many -- this week none compared with the vexing art of putting. All the good shots from the tee on seem wasted once you get on the green and you need a million shots just to triangulate the hole, even though you can see that IT'S RIGHT THERE! IT'S RIGHT FRICKIN' THERE!

Hole 2 at Village Greens in Sinking Spring, Pa.
That water hazard is only there after hurricanes.

In a good week, I'll play the par-56 Village Greens course on a Monday or Tuesday, so I have time later to play a more challenging par-70(ish) course. As I've mentioned before, courses that are heavy with par-3 holes are great for beginners, providing the right amount of challenge without making you feel you have to crush the ball.

Where the game gets vexing -- as it does on any course, no matter the length -- is on the green. After last week, when I shot 101 (which is, yes, still 45 over par), I felt confident I could break 100 on Monday. The weather was nice, I was more familiar with the course and something has to be said for all the golf I've been playing. Right?

Right?

As it turns out, no. During play I never bothered adding up my score. I simply recorded my strokes at the end of each hole, relaxed and assured that I was having a good day on the course. When I checked my round score after getting a 7 on the rather difficult 18th hole (two previous scores there were 8 and 10), I was surprised to find I had shot a 104, three strokes worse than last week.

Then I counted my putts at each hole and I wasn't surprised anymore.

I three-putted the first hole for a 5, but managed to par hole 2 after getting my tee shot on the green and a pair of well-executed putts. Those must have been the exceptions of the day; only once more on the front nine was I able to two-putt, and I finished that hole with a 5. I two-putted two other holes on the back nine. On hole 13, when I once again hit the green from the tee, it took me three putts to finish the hole with a bogey.

I know a birdie at this stage of my playing is unrealistic. But a par would have been nice.

I can't blame just the putting. Many chip shots put me on the green so far out of range of the hole that one-putting was unrealistic. Had I played a better short game, I might not have needed so many putts to finish the hole. In one forgettable case, I two-putted the ball to the lip of the hole, but it wouldn't budge.

Where's Bill Murray's Carl from "Caddyshack" when you need him?

The best part of the day was my ignorance of the actual score until I finished my round. It made for a much more relaxing round. And relaxation is key when you need three putts (and in one horrible case, four) to finish a hole.

Here's my scorecard, along with the ignominious putting statistics. I still hope to be able to break 100 at Village Greens before the end of the year.

Next round will probably be back at Village Greens. Now I only have to beat a 104.