End-of-Season Wrap-Up

In my home state of Maryland, the handicap season goes from March 15 to November 15. Toward the end of October, I had a string of low-90 scores and was anxious to end the season by breaking 90 again, which I had achieved a handful of times in the previous months. Instead, I fell into a deep, dark slump.

It started on Halloween, when I ventured out on my own and got paired with two retirees boasting single-digit handicaps. They rode a cart together and I walked, which meant I was on the run the entire time, just trying to keep pace. The adrenaline boost from the expected cardio seemed to help power some long drives, but after a few holes, I was huffing and puffing and just wanted to slow the round down. By the 18th, I was mentally and physically exhausted and ended up with a 100 on my card.

Rather than take a break, I decided to push through and play back-to-back days. Since the Defectress only plays on Tuesdays, I reunited with Seri and Bea and some new Korean golfer gal pals of theirs. I even ran into Dodi and played an impromptu 9 holes at twilight.

While it was nice to see some familiar faces, I just couldn't catch a break on my scoring. I could blame a million things -- my playing partners were too chatty, the lawn mower guys on the course were too loud, the group ahead was too slow, the group behind was too fast, I didn't have a snack at the turn, the sun was in my eyes on that drive, a bug landed on my ball on that putt, I think I pulled a muscle in my tricep, my bunions are bothering me, and so on -- but what I think it boiled down to was I was just trying too hard.

By November 15, two things were certain: the handicap season would be over and the weather would be too cold to golf. I had two goals: play as much golf as possible and score well. At least I met one of those goals.

So I end the season with an 18.6 handicap. Not terrible but not as low as when I started keeping a handicap earlier this year. As soon as the weather allows, I will get out there again. Scores won't count now that the handicap season is over. And without the pressure of scoring, maybe I will actually have more fun.