Made in the 80's?

My first golf post of the year... I was hoping it was going to be full of astounding news of me consistently shooting in the 80's and tearing it up out there. But it isn't.

I've seen the 80's once so far this year (88, with a very consistent 44 front, 44 back) and have been quite close on several other occasions. As it has been for the last 5 or 6 years, what seems to be separating me from the 80's is anywhere from 1 to 5 shots... we'll call these shots "extra" shots. The shots that (for me) show up a few times a round, usually at the worst possible times. They are the duffed second shot after a great drive, the chunk of a chip that only goes 3 feet, or the thin attempt at a chip that scoots across the green and never looks back.

My most recent effort was an angry 94. Angry at myself for being such a doofus... thinking I could actually shape my shots off the tee and out into the fairway exactly where I wanted them. It has happened in the past where I attempted to play a draw and it actually worked... so of course I got cocky and thought I could do it whenever I wanted. Wrong! So twice during the round I tried to draw the ball with the Driver, and twice it started on the exact path I wanted... and kept going straight instead of drawing nicely back into the fairway. Bad times. Both holes resulted a drop penalty and a pair of triple-bogeys. Believe it or not, it's difficult to shoot in the 80's when you card 7's and 8's. I will eventually learn that fact.

The really crappy thing is this: let's say that on those two holes, I hit the fairway instead. Not far-fetched by any means, because I've been pretty good with the Driver this year. And say I get a simple bogey on each hole. Well, that's four strokes right there, bringing me from a 94 to a 90. Shave off one more duff somewhere on the 18 holes, and that is 89... which yes, is a score in the 80's.

Maybe I'm destined to be a low-90's guy forever, but I refuse to give into that. I'll be out for a quick nine tomorrow after work.