THe Goose's inaugral round

So lately the Goose has expressed some interest in learning how to golf. A week or two ago a few of us...okay, 12...went to a kind of "joke" course where I showed her the basics of a golf swing.

When I say joke course...the fairways are harder to hit out of than the deep rough on real golf courses. The rule is to "sweep the green when you are finished putting" because the "greens" are...well...sand.

Still, she learned the basics of the swing and how to hit the ball. So we went to a short Par 3. As in 1113 total yards for 18 holes. REAL short. The longest hole was 82 yards. But that is okay...she does not hit it real far yet.
I, on the other hand, do. I played the entire course never needing a club longer than a soft gap wedge and most of it was my sand wedge, a club I will hit anywhere from about 50 yards on in. I was mostly trying to put a new shot in my bag, a flop shot.
As you can see, even by the second hole her swing is still a bit stiff. We are working on that. The first hole was about what you would expect. 64 yards, straight, sand to the left. I was on in one, 2 putted for a par. She reached in 3 and 3 putted.
Her putting instruction was not extensive: "You have played mini-golf, right?"

"Yeah."

"Just do the same thing here. Don't worry about reading greens or anything like that, just roll the ball to the hole." I have to admit, for her being a new golfer...that actually worked pretty well. For an executive course it had some interesting greens, including one that had better than a foot of left to right break on maybe a 10 foot putt. That I did not expect...

Anyhow, the second hole was more of the same. I reached in one, 2 putted for par, she reached in 3 and 3-putted.

On the third hole, I reached in 2 and 1-putted while she reached in 2 and 3 putted.

And so it went; she had 5 6s, 2 7s, an 8 and a 5 going out, I had 6 3s, a 4, 5, and 6. Yes, on hole 8 I really struggled.

I tried to flop a pitching wedge. It did not go well...and proving sometimes I don't learn from my errors, I tried a flop shot with my sand wedge. So it took me three to get on the green. And I was at the wrong end. I wimped on my first putt, leaving an 8 - 10 footer...and here is where the break came. So I 3 putted. Meanwhile, the Goose was on in 3, then 3 putted...so it took her all of 8 holes into her golfing career to match my score on a hole.

Anyhow, I shot a 33 going out to her 57.

On hole 10 she actually accomplished another first. She overdrove a 56 yard green. She discovered she did not need to be afraid of taking a full swing. She still ended up taking a 6, but now she knew she had more power than she had thought.

Hole 11 was a 54 yarder. Her drive landed on the green. She 2 putted for her first par! (and the second time her score equaled mine...)

I am still super proud of that, even though it was a short course; getting up and down in 3 on your first time on a course, even a short course, is something I find impressive.

As golfers will, she promptly regressed and took a 7, but still...

Hole 14 was my only birdie of the day as I was on in one and drained a nice little 10 footer that broke right to left. It was a pretty good read on that hole.

She also impressed on the 17th hole. She hit into a sand trap and, given the choice of hitting out of the sand or me tossing the ball out of the sand for her to hit, she hit out of the sand. And did pretty well, I might add.

She improved 7 shots on the back 9, touching up a 57 while I stayed the same at 33 coming in.

I am super excited she has taken up the game. I am also excited she is showing so much improvement so quickly.