quota league

date: 6/4/07 (again)
course: newman (again)
holes: 9
score: an abysmal 54
putts, etc: didn't keep track, but lots of 3-putts.

interesting wildlife: i saw two bunnies chase each other into a bush. then all of a sudden there was this huge commotion in the bush. after the initial noise, a pretty pissed-off looking duck flew out, leaving the bunnies to their business.

on mondays, ithaca municipal has what they call a "quota league". in this league, in which anyone can play, you pay $10 up front, then you are assigned a number of "points" to make based on your handicap.

birdies: 4
pars: 2
bogeys: 1

if you make your points, you're in the money. depending how many people make their points, and how many points you make, the pot is divided.

there are also skins, meaning whoever has the lowest score on a certain hole (also handicapped) gets a certain payout.

so after hitting 47 from the red tees (not the ladies tees, mind. newman has two sets of tee boxes, red and blue, for the front and back 9) that morning (making what would have been 8 points, actually), i was pretty confident.

yeah. so i get out there and i fricking kill a drive on the first hole (my least favorite hole) and i'm like. yes. this is going to be awesome. well, so much for that. after making a generous snowman on the first hole (i hate that fucker), i lost 2 balls (4 penalty strokes total), doubling and tripling my way around the course.

also, on hole number 8, after i had already sent one to play ping pong amongst the towering aspens, i did something amazing. i topped my second drive, sending it flying about 6 inches off the ground towards the blue tee marker. it hit it square, then bounced the ball back BEHIND the tee! i hit a negative yardage drive! i then proceeded (after moving the ballwasher and bench out of my way) to cream a 3-wood 235 yards, get on the green on my next shot, and two-putt. long story short, if not for the woods (2) and remarkable negative drive (1), i would have had a par. instead, an unlucky 7. so it goes.

i ended up earning 3 points, the only good thing about which is that next week i will have to earn even less points to be in the money. i hope they don't think i sandbagged them if i play a decent round. also, maybe next week i won't play 18 holes the morning before league play... maybe.