update

27 July 05

 

July has been interesting, but I sure haven’t accomplished much with the golf.  With the qualifiers for the two largest fields of the year in consecutive weeks and the fact that I was playing so well, my expectations were high.

 

The US Senior Open qualifier was in Oregon on 14th of July, and I woke up that morning with back spasms, and was unable to even finish the round.  I have never had any sort of problem with my back, so this was a real nasty surprise.  I then went home and had one day to try and get some therapy before getting on a plane for Scotland.  When I got to Scotland, my back was still an issue and I shot 80 in the qualifier for the British Senior Open and didn’t get in.  There were 52 spots and 75 qualified for the tournament.

 

Since my air travel wasn’t for 5 days and the cost to change the ticket substantial, I decided to make the most of the trip, turn it into a holiday and learn to swing the golf club with my ‘new’ back.

 

Played links courses in Northern Scotland every day.  And now my back is fine and my golf game really good. 

 

Played Murcar in Aberdeen, Royal Dornoch (teed off at 540pm with no one in front of behind, on a sunny evening), Tain, and walked, carried my bag for 36 holes at Golspie.  Even made a hole in one at Golspie on the second hole…….

 

Northern Scotland courses are not crowded, the people are amazingly friendly and the days are long.  Golspie is within 6 degrees of the Arctic Circle, so stays light until 11pm this time of year. There is plenty of time for everyone to play.

 

Even though the golf year has been a bust so far, I will continue to stay positive, work on my fitness and game, then play in the Monday qualifiers for Seattle and Pebble Beach.   I still think something good can happen in this process.

 

Thanks for all your support.

 

Scott.