Deer Park Masters Qualifying 2022
After a short break away with the family, I was back to Deer Park which has hosted many Tartan Tour events these past few years including the SPGA Championship along with the 36 Hole Masters ProAm. Qualifying for the ProAm has featured for the past 20 years or so and the score to get in very rarely changes, 2 or 3 over normally does it.
A nice day for golf was a light breeze from the east and temperatures of 18 Celsius. Short-sleeve weather is always a bonus in this country and after all it is supposed to be summer. An early time of 8.27 am, which is the calmer time of day, and probably the best time to play because the course is fresh and just been cut. My two playing partners and I got away sharp and I spoke with Player A regarding his time with the PGA as he was older than I and we had never met before despite his name being familiar. He joined the PGA in the 80s and has seen his fair share of changes. He was intrigued by my attachment and after I explained my role, the events we hold, and our aims he didn’t ask anything else about it. A common response from some and not much else to say about that for the time being.
As we worked our way through the front 9, I had the opportunity to speak with Player B and interestingly he does some work at Sandyhills Golf Club, which used to be my home course. He knew my Dad and we chatted enough for me to enquire if he had a faith. He was brought up Presbyterian but did not attend church and does not describe himself as religious, however, I got the impression he understands we are no accident. I think the thing that puts him off is there are too many ‘religious’ organisations out there, and I pointed out human beings are quite good at forming religions but not very good regarding true faith when it comes to God. I hope I gave him something to think about.
The back 9 at Deer Park is normally easier to score on with slightly more birdie chances but I let slip a couple of dropped shots at two of the easiest holes. Despite hitting the ball better than I have in a long while, I’m not getting up and down enough when I miss a green. I need to try and play more to sharpen this up and hopefully, I’ll get the chance to do that in the next year or two when more time can be allocated to Golf work. A 25% conversion rate is really poor and should be closer to 75%. A combination of not chipping close enough and missing some 6-footers that should be going in – Slack.
Player B chatted a bit more over the last couple of holes and he asked how often I get to Sandyhills as he’s never seen me up there. I said that I normally play very early morning with my Dad once a month so not many people would know I was out playing. He offered to have a few holes with me the next time I’m up and I’m happy to do so. I’ll also get my Dad to keep chatting with him regularly.
As we concluded our game I was very aware that I was on the qualifying mark playing the 18th. A par would have sufficed but another failure to recover from missing the green pushed me a shot above qualifying. I could analyse this from a few angles saying if I hit a longer club off the tee if I put a better swing on the approach to hit the green if I hit the bunker shot closer if I holed the 7ft putt. There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in golf but truth be told it’s not how but how many, and I gave myself plenty of other opportunities in the round to put the ball in the hole from a decent range (conversion rate!). We keep going, and it’s not rocket science, Golf or Faith.
Yours in Christ,
Vincent Brown, PGA Professional and Logos Golf Ministries Ambassador