A week ago I wrote about the 10 mistakes I made down the stretch to limp to an 89 at Indigo Lakes gold course in Daytona Beach, FL and how I had walked off the course that day with a disappointed feeling. Why then does the 88 I shot at Ormond Beach’s Riverbend Golf Club leave feeling happy and hopeful in my continuing efforts to break 80?

I think it’s all about how I arrived at the 2 scores. Last week I started hot and then staggered home with a triple bogey on 17 and salvaged a bogey on 18 to card an 89. This week I made the turn at 47 following a shaky front 9 which included 3 double bogies and a triple bogey. Looking at my scorecard at the turn, I realized that, while I most likely would not break 80 on this day, if I could get it together on the back 9 I still had a chance to break 90. I knew I still had 6 mistakes I could make and still shoot an 89.

A 10th hole bogey a strong drive put me in an immediate hole, but I then rallied for back to back pars. Now, with 6 holes remaining, I still had 5 bogies to give, so I immediately squandered 3 of them on the next three holes!

Three holes to play, and 2 bogies to give, I knew I couldn’t afford to get sloppy. I closed out with a par-bogey-par and carded an 88.

The theme of the day, and the thing that gave me a positive feeling coming out of the round, was the fact that although I was uncomfortable out of the fairway all day with my irons, I decided to swing them conservatively. opting for shorter, yet directionally truer approach shots and then relying on my short game to salvage a decent score.

This strategy worked, as I was up and down from just off the green on 8 holes, including a round ending 6 foot put which I holed on the 18th green. What this meant is that my round ended in a positive manner, much better than sneaking in under the wire as I had the previous week.

The way may game had been lately, I feel like I’m as close as I’ve ever been to that every elusive 70’s score, but we all know how golf is.

My Breakin’ 80 golf blog details my quest to break 80 on the golf course and gives me an outlet for any other deep thoughts I might have on the great game of golf. Be sure to visit my eBay golf club store for great deals on used golf clubs the I can no longer find a place for in my garage or my Amazon.com Golf Shop for shiny new gear!

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