Not one but two rounds of golf were played over the long weekend. Saturday was Greenfield Park with Scramblin’ Jim and some guy named Chuck, Sunday was at Grant Park with Dan and a friend of his. This is the second time this year that I’ve played back-to-back rounds on a weekend, and it went much better this time around.

Saturday’s round teed off at 7:44am. Our threesome was joined by a lonesome. His name was Don, sometimes called himself Donald. Quite a character. I decided a few weeks ago that Plan B is the new Plan A - it’s 3-wood off the tee for me, until I can work out/get help with my driver. Plan B/A worked out pretty well on this day - I probably hit 7 of 14 fairways. Outside of 3 holes, the ones I missed weren’t by much. My mid-irons were also solid - I believe I had 4 or 5 birdie putts for the day. Unfortunately, my putter abandoned me, which was a surprise. I’ve been putting very well all summer, and particularly over the last month. It was a relatively unspectacular round - very Eberhardy-ish. I walked off with a 100 on the nose.

Scramblin’ Jim made a nice attempt at a 60-footer on the 12th hole, which missed the cup by about 2 inches on its way by. Had he made that shot, I might have dedicated a whole post to it. But he didn’t, so he gets a paragraph.

Sunday’s round took us a total of 5 hours to play - slow play at Grant. I finished with a 49 on the front, but the first 3 holes on the back were awful. I then put together a nice strech of holes, with pars on 3 of the next 4. One of them was on the par-4 16th hole, about 380 yards. My tee shot fell just off the fairway; my second shot advanced to about 100 yards out from the green; the third was a mis-hit that landed in a depression about 25 yards in front of the green. My fourth was a pitching wedge up the hill that dropped on the fringe, then rolled… into the cup. Very nice.

So at this point, I needed a combined 13 on the last 2 holes to make a 100. The 17th is a 100 yard par-3, so I felt pretty good about myself. Unfortunately, I plopped my tee shot into a bunker in front of the green. Even more unfortunately, I’m a horrible sand player, and it took me 2 shots to get onto the green. A two-putt from there, and I walked off with a 5. Needing an 8 on the last hole (another par 4), I still felt pretty good.

My tee shot on 18 was hit well, but carried to the left and landed in a patch of small pines. My attempt to get back onto the green hit a tree, and my third shot left me about 180 yards out from the green. I still felt OK at that point.

My next shot was shanked well right, actually landing on the fringe of the 9th green. The name “Jean Van De Velde” ran through my head.

I tend to get a little flustered when I hit into someone else’s fairway, so I rushed the next shot, just trying to get it back in play. And I flubbed it. So I took another, which caromed off of a tree. One more shot left me short of the green. I pitched up but left myself a 20 footer for an 8 and another even 100. Which I missed, leaving me with a 101.

A cumulative score of 201 for the weekend is pretty good by my standards, but it could have been so much better.