My Usual Game, Part 1: "Why Do I Play This Game, Again?"

Spring golf can be the greatest experience, or it can be something that makes you wonder why you ever chose to pick up a crooked stick and chase a white ball through the fields.

I played yesterday on the home course after three days of heavy rains. 90% of the fairways were casual water, and that's no exaggeration.

Add to that a cold front came through overnight, and we left the first tee in steady 20 MPH winds with gusts reaching towards 40 MPH.

And finally, there's something about Eagle Ridge that makes the winds blow in your face no matter what hole you are on, save for the opening three.

Sounds like a bunch of excuses, right? Well, no, I should be able to handle a breeze and I should be able to work my golf ball the way I like. I know how and I know better...but somehow that escaped me for most of the day yesterday.

It's my fault I almost threw up my first triple digit score in nearly forever and it's certainly my fault that I chose to swing too hard, to give the club death grips and to not rotate my body back and through. And it's my fault that I was so far away from the hole on most greens that I wasn't able to save my own keester with the flatstick.

That's the bad news. The good news is that I have changed my short game technique and I chipped in and saved par on two other holes with my new swing. Plus, I finally replaced Larry Mizuno, my old trusty 60 degree wedge with Andy Taylor-Made, and Andy earned his pay with the par save chip into the hole.

All in all a very frustrating day on the links. Then again, a bad day on the links is always better than a good day at work, and I got home in time to watch the full round of the final pair from Bay Hill. Tiger's back and it was a pleasure to sip my Fat Tire, lick my wounds and watch golf being played the way it ought to.

There's plenty of blank scorecards in the clubhouse and my game is on the come, even if it took three steps backwards yesterday. A blank scorecard is hope renewed, and a good round is faith found once more.