My journey began in earnest this morning. Okay, to be honest it started Saturday. Not that nothing has happened before this weekend, but things got a bit more real for me today. We have, in fact, been planning, our route is largely mapped out (although specific courses haven’t been selected yet… we just have a list of potential courses along the route in each state), our budget is somewhat set, and I’ve certainly started the process of fantasizing about the couple of days we plan to spend at the end of the trip “recuperating” in Hawaii (I should point out I am uncommonly good at fantasizing, so I am truly excelling on that last item).
Today, though, I got my first blister… it’s all fun and games until you get your first blister (or, someone gets poked in the eye, all things considered… I’m the big winner here).
On my about page I discussed the great support I’m getting from my family… and really… that’s exactly what I’m getting, its fantastic! One of the first things they suggested to me was “go out and golf every day for a week or so and see how your body responds. If you have any aches and pains you didn’t expect… if you even still like golfing when you have to get up every day and do it first thing in the morning.” So, I’m doing that now.
I’m on day three and so far the biggest hiccups have been trying to get a good picture of these baby ducks and this blasted blister. Both are my fault… I’m not a very good photographer (which makes no sense, because I have a great phone!!!) and I managed to buy a golf glove that appears to be one size too small. One of these things I can fix… unfortunately for the ducks – and your viewing pleasure – it’s not my picture taking acumen.
For the record, I had a very good opening nine, coming in at three over par. Speaking completely off the record, I did not do so well on the second nine… 11 over. Still, the 86 was pretty standard for how I’m hitting the ball right now and more than acceptable to me. I was birdie free, so that means I was fairly consistent (at least on the front nine) with several pars. Exactly what I’m trying to accomplish at this point. The blister started acting up on the 11th hole, I blame it for everything that went wrong on the back nine, including me accidentally tripping on a sprinkler head, forgetting my banana in the car, and struggling to determine the distance to the hole while standing about 8 feet from the 250 yard marker (in my defense, it was gold… who looks for gold things on a golf course??!??!??).
I got a nice “local knowledge” tip from the gentleman I was playing with about the break of the eighth green (in short it is always less than it appears when you are above the hole) and really enjoyed my young (13 year old) playing partner dispensing nuggets of advice like “Don’t worry about trying to hit the ball. Just take a good practice swing, and allow the ball get in the way.”
Yep, I think I’m really going to enjoy this project… blisters and all.