Before embarking on my golfing quest, it is important to understand what a typical round looks like. This way I can highlight improvements in a much more measurable way.

The simplest way to do this of course is to lay out some past scores and typical issues during those rounds.

So here is a typical "good" round that I played in 2024. I call it a good round because it's not my worst scorecard and I hit enough good shots to want to come back! :-)

This was played on a hot day at my local course. The conditions were fairly typical for mid-late spring, with plenty of grass, a little bit of moisture in the low areas (it's a hilly course), but mostly firm without being treacherous.

The first hole set the tone for the day. It's a long Par 5, but downhill and with just enough reward to take on the risk. I managed to get on in 2, with driver and 5 wood to the front left and a pin tucked to the centre right of the large green. I managed from there to 3-putt for par. From then on, the round was a tory of misses that were compounded with poor recoveries. There was many fat-toe irons and missed fairways, and when fairways were hit, the drives were in suboptimal positions. The icing on the cake came when I added up the scores for the day and I lost by a stroke to my 15 year old son.

While it wasn't the worst score I posted for the year, it was very much a typical "good day" for me and still very disappointing. My putting wasn't spectacular and my approach play was severely lacking.