It's obvious from my score alone that Friday's round was much better than Thursday's. I'll get to why in a bit, but first I need to revisit my rant from the other day.
My main complaint was that slow play is a major problem and the players who cause slow play aren't reprimanded or penalized for it. What's worse is that if the fast players try to take matters into their own hands, they are often seen as rude. However, in my mind the slow player is already being rude because he's slow. If the slow player then responds with the smug response, "We haven't been warned yet," why is the fast player judged. That's the double standard I was referring to. Once a fast player mentions that the group should speed up, the slow player should immediately be the one feeling worse; not me.
I also mentioned that there really isn't a whole lot that can be done. Enforcing stricter penalties would run the risk of allienating players from the tour. I now believe I've come up with a possible solution. If a tour decided to eliminate the "honor" portion of play then some power would be in a fast player's hands. No longer would I have to fear stealing somebody's honor on the next tee if I got there first. If "ready golf" was implemented, the first player to the tee would hit regardless of what they scored on the previous hole. It might work and it might not, but it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.
That's it for me and slow play. Feel free to post a comment if you have another suggestion....
I played much better on Friday, but it's not like I hit the ball that much better. Most importantly I was mentally ready to go and prepared for just about anything. The things that broke my concentration and upset me on Thursday either didn't happen or didn't affect me on Friday. Most of the things didn't happen because one of the guys played much faster and wasn't quite as vocal as he was during the first round.
However, the guy that called me, "Bubba", "Boss", "Buddy", and a few other things besides Neil, did get fined for conduct unbecoming of a professional. On the third hole he hit a shot that landed near the hole but spun away to about 40 feet. As it spun away he slammed his club into the ground, broke one of the 10 commandments, and said something that rhymes with duck. The rest of the round he was well behaved, but it is also worth noting that his mother showed up on the next hole so I'm sure that was a reason why he remained calm. After the round, when he was awarded the fine, he disagreed. In my mind it was very well deserved; if not for his single action on Friday, at least for an accumulation of Thursday and Friday.
The same guy was actually very complimentary about my game. On Thursday he asked me how much I work on my putting stroke.
I told him, "About as much as anybody else."
He then told me that he really liked my stroke and that he can see me making a lot of putts with that stroke. Those compliments carried over to Friday where he once again complimented my putting stroke (on the 1st hole!). Later, he complimented the simplicity of my golf swing and how he likes that I seem to just step up and hit the ball, not worrying too much about where it goes. That was great to hear because that's is what I strive for in my golf swing and putting stroke.
On the day, I hit 14 greens which is something I haven't done in a tournament since May. I also hit a lot of fairways and the 2 times that I hit the ball into the primary rough, I was lucky to get a decent lie that I could advance the ball onto the green. The one thing that prevented me from shooting lower than 72 was putting. I just didn't make many putts. Perhaps the fact that it was late in the day and the greens were full of footprints and spike marks, or maybe I just misread the putts. Either way I leave Oklahoma with a lot more confidence than when I arrived and I leave with some momentum.
Next post is from Omaha, NE.
Neil
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