My boy is putting me to shame at the moment with his golf game. At 14 he's now outdriving me by 50 metres at least and his chipping and putting around the green has improved so much, he's beating me overall now on Stableford points in club games. His handicap is still high but it's coming down considerably. At our Social Club round last Sunday at Calderwood Valley Golf Course, he lost 13 strokes off his handicap with a club record 61 Stableford points.
Just to put this into perspective, when he first started with the club at age 12, he had hardly played so he needed a high handicap to keep his interest. So they gave him 72. That's four strokes per hole. But at the time he needed it. He could hardly drive it off the tee, he would take four to five putts on every green and he could not chip, he'd hit it over the back every time. But slowly over time, he has got better and he's now doing golf for sport at school each Friday. That 72 handicap was 62 on Sunday and is now at 49. Still very high but with more practice I reckon he'll come down even more over the next 12 months.
Last Sunday he hit his driver out of this world. We had a longest drive hole on the 5th, almost 500 metres off the back tees. We were playing the back tees because it was the championship round. He hit it around 250 metres, straight as a die and for the first time ever, put his name on the longest drive marker. Two other guys behind us beat it but he was proud of doing that. He ended up with bogey but with a four stroke handicap on that hole that gave him a net Stableford score of an albatross and 5 points.
The 11th is a long par 3 190 metres over water. He took the driver but took a more measured swing and again hit it straight and long landing just over the back of the green. Made a nice delicate chip to 3 feet and sunk the par putt. Another hole with a four stroke handicap so that gave him a net -1 again equal to an albatross and 5 points.
You might think the guys in our club wouldn't be happy with this and might call him a burglar and all sorts of names but they've actually been really encouraging. They love him being part of the club, treat him like any other member and reckon it is great to have a junior player doing so well.
His win on Sunday was his second of the year and I think he may have finished higher than me as well in the overall Club Championship. Like his cricket though, he doesn't have the drive or ambition to do it professionally he just enjoys it for what it is. And he really loves beating me!
deadspin.com
