PGA Challenge Bishopbriggs Golf Course
I’ve not played Bishopbriggs Golf Course for the best part of 30 years and was hoping to get along for a practise round last week.
Sadly I didn’t manage due to family commitments but really wish I had. I could only remember half the holes and not necessarily in the right order.
Not great prep. For the two rounds I was paired with two younger players I’d never met, one for each day.
On the first round I was able to have some meaningful conversation over the first few holes. He seemed quite interested in what I did and was able to share what LGMS was all about and some
of the events we’ve been involved with.
After a lost ball on the 5th and 6th holes from myself and my partner respectively, we had some ground to make up so the conversation was intermittent.
I was struggling a bit off the tee and my partner struggled on the greens. Neither of us were scoring great but I was proud of the fact I didn’t get annoyed despite making a quadruple bogey on 15 and then a treble bogey on 17!
I knew something didn’t feel right mid way through the round but couldn’t quite pinpoint it. As we finished my partner commented on how calm I was despite my finish but I explained my faith helped me deal with anger and frustration more and more throughout the years.
I offered to look at his putting stroke on the putting green afterwards and think I helped him as he was grateful for the advice.
A nice finish to a tough day.
On day 2 I was playing early and my partner and I got to share some conversation on the 3rd tee. I asked if he had a faith and the answer was the usual “no”.
I did find out there was a background there but this gave me the opportunity to give a very quick testimony in under a minute. Not bad I thought. He still didn’t bite but at least he knows what the story is and where I am.
My partner really struggled and I tried my best to encourage him but he admitted he’s hardly played this year. It was good there were no groups pushing behind us and that at least took the
pressure off a bit. I was playing better on the second day and managed to get to the 15th hole at 2 over but still didn’t feel 100% confident in the swing.
This was where it went the day before and I did the same thing again, only it felt like the swing had gone this time.
Really strange feeling but very disappointing to go 6 over for the last 4, especially from a technical breakdown.
As we finished and said our goodbyes, I chatted with my Dad about what happened and we both were confused but knew there would be a logical explanation. I knew
I would need to get back to basic drills and practice to sort what was clearly a technical problem.
In hindsight, I think this has been coming for a while but sometimes we can fool ourselves into thinking everything’s ok because its not bad enough. How often does this happen with everyday life?
I think it just got bad enough with my golf but I refuse to be despondent and will endeavour to enjoy the struggle. (Read James 1)
All we can do is keep going,
Vincent Brown, PGA Professional and Ambassador for Logos Golf Ministries Scotland.
To get in touch with Vincent go to our Contact Page
