I Think I Just Played The Golf Round Of My Life

There are so many different reasons to enjoy the game of golf. It's fun to get outside, it's a fantastic way to have a good time with your friends, and it's a fun way to get a bit competitive. The way I've always approached golf is...I'm not really competing against the guys/girls I'm playing a round with. I'm just competing with myself and against the course.

I haven't been able to play as much as I normally would so far this summer. I've been busy planning a wedding and running back and forth to Minnesota for family events every other weekend but I was able to get a round in this afternoon. I played Ellis Golf Course, in Cedar Rapids, and I'm pretty sure I just played the golf round of my life.

For starters, I've been golfing for a long time. I played every summer when I was a teenager and started playing pretty regularly when I turned 22, and got a full time job. When I first started playing on a regular basis, my scores would be insanely inconsistent. I'd play a round and shoot a 94 and then the next day I shoot (what felt like) a 194. Today, for some reason, everything seemed to go okay.

Weekend warrior golfers will often let players pickup putts that are within a foot, give each other 1 mulligan a round, and never mark higher than an 9 on their scorecard. Normally, I fall somewhere in the middle of the "weekend warrior" category. I'll hit a warmup ball off the first tee box, pick up putts that are 1 foot out, and fluff a ball up that is in the rough. Today...was completely different. I started out pretty hot and wanted to see how far I could take it, before my round fell apart. Which would be pretty normal for me.

I've always counted every stroke when I golf. Every single out of bounds, every ball in the water, and any ball I couldn't find, I've always made sure to take the extra strokes. It's hard to know if you're getting any better if you don't count all of your strokes. I normally don't care what the score is at the end of each round, I just like knowing I hit a few good shots. This afternoon...I hit A LOT of good shots. More than I've ever hit in a single round. Even more importantly, I made a lot of putts and rarely three putted.

For the first time in my golfing life, I shot an 83. I finished every putt, never used a single mulligan, and only lost 1 ball, which I counted a penalty for. It's annoying to think if I could've found the ball, I might've been close to breaking 80.

Golf is an interesting game. You can play one hole and look like you've been playing your entire life. On the very next hole, it can look like you've never swung a club before. A lot of weekend warrior golfers have the ability to put up decent scores but just never put an entire round together. Today, it kind of felt like I put an entire round together. Was this the greatest round of all time? No. But I've always said "I'll take anything under 90." This afternoon, I blew way past 90.

There are a ton of better golfers than me. Some will see this story and laugh at an 83 and that's totally cool. I hope one day 83 is on the lower end for me. Right now, it's not. I've always wanted to shoot a score like that. Now it's time to see if I can ever hit a 79. I'll probably quit golfing if that happens.