I'm home this week from college, having finished Winter Term of my sophomore year at Washington & Lee University. Knowing I'd be home this week, I contacted the coach of my high school team to see if I could join them at practice--an alumnus-guest appearance, I suppose. He agreed, so I met them at around 3:30 this afternoon at our home course, Simsbury Farms GC in Simsbury, CT (I attended Westminster School, a boarding school also in Simsbury).
Golf has much to do with the reason I'm home this week. I've struggled a bit on the golf course this year. I've always been a pretty solid player tee-to-green and a streaky putter. To that end, I have putted particularly poorly lately, which has left me on the outside of the five-man travel team for our last two tournaments of the year. But being able to see my family and hang around at home has been relaxing so far. Furthermore, my afternoon reviving old memories could not have been better.
I arrived at Simsbury Farms about 20 minutes before the team. The putting green was faster than I remember from past Springs. Pleasantly surprised, I decided to continue to work on figuring out how to keep my left hand from coming alive too much and pushing the putter open. I hit some decent putts when I made my backswing shorter, so I decided to put it in play on the course.
To put it bluntly, it worked beautifully. I hit all nine greens in regulation and shot 33, 3-under par. After starting with four pars, I hit the par 5 5th green in two and made a 25 foot eagle putt. I made my lone mistake on the next green, three-putting from about 30 feet, but a 15 footer for birdie on 8 and a 10 footer for birdie on 9 capped off a good nine, something that has been lacking lately.
In thinking about what caused m to play so well, I decided that it was more than the putting stroke change I made. It was some good old-fashioned nostalgic mojo. While all the new faces on the golf team made me feel old, playing with my coach and two current juniors (one whom I know well) felt comfortable and right. Just the thing I needed to get back on track, I think. Here's hoping it continues. Even though my W&L golf year is over, I'm looking forward to playing in some tournaments this summer and returning to proper form. And I have nostalgia and home to thank.
