Instant mood change

Playing with my regular group on Sunday, playing a simple $5 Nassau (team net better ball, one of the guys is a bit higher cap, 3 of us are very similar). 9th hole, match tied, relatively short par 5 at 463 yards, uphill and usually a slight headwind so it plays more like 480-490. Very large green, trap covering about 1/3 of the fairway on the left about 50 yards out with a swale (very firm ground) between the lip and the green, and greenside bunkers front right, left, and back.

Hit a great drive (for me, not by WRXer standards) about 260 into the wind, middle of the fairway, end up about 200 yards to the pin, which is slightly in the front. FC hits an even better drive about 10-12 yards past mine. My shot is uphill with the wind in my face, playing about 215. I've got the choice between stretching a 4-iron and laying off a bit on a 5-wood. With the pin a bit in the front (and about 50 feet of green behind it), I decide on the 5-wood. Hit it well, but low on the face, screaming line drive right on line that clears the lip of the trap by about a foot. You can't see much of the green from that far out, but I'm thinking the way my ball was running I'll be at the back of the green, maybe even in the back trap, which I'm perfectly okay with given that I'll be lying 2.

FC steps up and hits a beautiful high draw with his 5-iron, slightly held up by the wind, right at the pin. We can see it bounce once, nice soft bounce, looks like the ball should be pretty tight.

As we're driving up, as expected, we see his ball sitting next to the pin, less than a foot past it on a dead line, must have just missed the albatross. I see my ball on the back fringe, about 50 feet above the hole, start thinking about the putt, knowing I'll have to hit it to match FC's tap-in eagle.

I walk to the back of the green, looking over the putt as I'm approaching. FC walks over to his ball finish off. Before I get to my ball, I hear him mutter "F--- you", and see him walking back toward me. I look down at the ball in front of me, and sure enough, it's not mine. My screaming line drive had somehow bit in the very firm turf in the swale and checked up, while what looked like a soft bounce for his ball had rolled out 60 feet past where it landed to the back of the green. Instantly went from the disappointment of a good approach shot that would have led to a very makeable birdie but still lost the hole to the rush of a tap-in eagle that won the hole and the $5 for the front. Quite a rapid change of emotion.

What's your rapid change story, good or bad?

4-Ball. My partner plays stroke 1 and 3 into an environmental area and is in pocket before we leave the first tee. I put my 'safe' tee shot with an iron into the same environmental area. Opponents have a ball in the middle of the fairway on this opening short par-4 so I go for broke with the driver for my 3rd stroke from the tee, end up on the fringe of the green and 2-putt to a very pleasing bogie to tie the hole.

Rapid mood change came later in the round where despite playing lights out their high handicapper is matching me almost every step of the way. We get to the 6th hole of a 9-hole match and my opponents are both stroking and in A position off the tee. I put mine in an adjacent fairway but end up with a pretty clean look at the pin with only a medium height tree in the way. I knock an approach to about 15 feet and the high handicapper is just about a foot off the backside of the green.

He of course proceeds to chip in for the crowd pleasing 3 for net 2 on a par 4. Mood change. I then proceed to make my birdie putt. Further mood change. The next hole is the toughest hole on that side where the tee shot can easily find trouble and the green is tough to hit. The high handicapper of course is sitting about 10 feet away in 2 (net 1) and makes the ever so pleasing 2-putt net birdie which further darkened my mood.

Was having a mediocre round in a high school match years ago. Frustration peaked when I didn't hit a 2 foot par tap in hard enough and got stuck in an aeration hole. Made my first hole in one on the next. Pretty sizable change in mood after that, even more so for my opponent.

Probably the fastest mood change I had was like something out of one of those Snickers commercials (except years before they came out).

I was partnered with my buddy Dave for a round on one of those "5 rounds in the 3 days" long-weekend guys golf trips to the beach. Second round of the second day I was down about three sleeves of balls at the turn and we'd literally had to use Dave's ball for every single hole so far. I was, to put it mildly, acting a bit "discouraged".

Stopped at the halfway house to relieve myself and grab a Coke and a candy bar (not a Snickers, it was a Butterfinger). Proceeded to hit fairway, green, one-putt birdie on the 10th hole and shot like five strokes better than my handicap on the back nine. Scores would have been maybe 65/40 if I had played everything out on the front nine.

Sunday morning on the first tee Dave hands me two Butterfinger bars. He says, "One for each nine today".

Started the round with an 11 on a not too tough par 4. Finished the front 9 with a crowd pleasing 60. Hadn't had a beer on course in about 25 years but I caught the cart girl on the way to the 10th tee. Got two 16oz beers and had them downed by the time I teed off on 11. Much better mood. Played better and my cart partner said I was a lot more fun on the back 9.

I was playing this uphill par 5. In a nine hole league many moons ago. Worm burned my driver under a tree to the right of fw. Punched out. Worm burn 3 wood in fairway on a serious uphill lie. Took my 5 wood out figuring I'd hit it high and mighty. Well I did just that. I couldn't get a whole lot of hip action since it was so uphill but I just crushed it. Over bunker and straight at the hole. Get up there and had almost holed it. Ended up 3ft. below cup uphill putt. Made it for easy 5 to win hole. I honestly did not know what to say to older guy, at time, I was playing. Lol just kinda shrugged my shoulders after he said that was a @#$% of a 5 wood.

> @sprcoop said:

> Started the round with an 11 on a not too tough par 4. Finished the front 9 with a crowd pleasing 60. Hadn't had a beer on course in about 25 years but I caught the cart girl on the way to the 10th tee. Got two 16oz beers and had them downed by the time I teed off on 11. Much better mood. Played better and my cart partner said I was a lot more fun on the back 9.

Had one of those go the other way. Two man better ball net tournament, started with a double, went -7 over the next 6 holes. Beer cart shows up, bought a few for my partner an I. Finished +6 for the day.

Match play, early round in our club match play tournament. I’m getting 8 shots from my low hcp opponent, Bud. Hole #1, Bud makes 20-footer for birdie. I counter by sinking a slippery downhill 10-footer for par. But no, I don’t stroke on that hole. Dang!

Hole #4, par 3, we both have birdie putts. I sink my 12-footer. Bud makes his downhill 10-footer. I’m even par through 4 holes and down 1 in the match. Many mood swings in this match as I was playing out of my mind but never led in the match, eventually lost 3 and 2.

i had quite the opposite thing happen this past saturday. playing at a course for the first time so i was unfamiliar with the layout. was having a rough day but had a chance to take some chances on the last par 5 of the day. i was told i could clear some trees that cut across the fairway to get in position to have a mid-long iron in. i hit a drive right where i was told to hit it and it seemed to have cleared the trees. we drive up and theres a ball in the fairway in what appeared to be the line of my ball from the tee. i walk up and saw a blue dot similar to my ball so i assumed it was mine. i had about 240 left to the hole though so i hit hybrid and hope i can get ahold of it. hit a perfect shot that lands about 6 feet from the hole. as we get up to to the green, one of the other guys i was paired with that day says that he lost his ball on the fairway. i look at the ball i hit and its his. my ball never cleared the trees to begin with. anyways i tapped in for eagle just for the kicks. but man that was disappointing haha.