Sunday, I got back on the course for the first time in almost three weeks and shot a 46. For 18 holes. OK, that’s ridiculous, it was nine holes.

It’s been a long time since I was satisfied with a 46. Given where I’ve been, though, I’ll take it. It’s like someone tied me down and was burning me with a branding iron and then decided to stop and just slap me in the face a few times. It’s a strange sense of relief, but I’m certain it actually is relief.

I got a couple of tips that put me on the right track. If you read regularly, you might remember me talking about having an issue with my takeaway and an issue with my grip pressure causing me to not square the club face at impact.

Two quick tips and it was like night and day. I decided to play a round about ten range balls after the switch was flipped so there was a little uncertainty there. Just to be clear, I ran out of range balls, I wasn’t inflicted with some sudden delusion of grandeur. I’ve hit many more since then.

I was also half way through reading Golf is not a Game of Perfect by Dr. Bob Rotella (review coming soon). I believe that had me in a better frame of mind so it probably wasn’t all from the two tips.

Looking at my stats, you might not understand why I’m satisfied with a 46. Well, for starters, you’ll notice that my last round posted in there was over a month ago. Things were going so sour that I wasn’t playing much. Then after July4th I didn’t play at all. I was practicing a lot, though…if you can call it that.

I was spraying balls into the woods, into the water, and off the property. I was losing balls by the dozen.

A couple of quick tips on the range, and I lost only one on Sunday.

Losing only one ball is not really a source of satisfaction for me. I’m satisfied because I played way better than a 46 indicates. These are the things I’m taking into consideration:

• I hadn’t played at all for over two weeks
• I have three new wedges in my bag that are taking time to adjust to
• Prior to this round, I couldn’t keep the ball on the course

My misses were actually decent misses. Like fading a little too far and ending up in the rough. The regular rough, not the stuff that had never been mowed since the place opened in 1999. Like ending up in a green side bunker after hitting my 3-wood approach to the 9th hole trying to get there in two as opposed to ending up on the 18th hole or 50 yards from where I started. Like coming up 10 yards short because I under-clubbed in a steady headwind.

I can tolerate that stuff. Those are things I can work with. I can sharpen my short game. I can work on my knowledge of how to play the wind better. I can live with ending up in a green side bunker trying to get there in two from 250+ yards out. What I can’t live with is wild inconsistency and confidence-shattering uncertainty.

The fact is, I had 4 pars. I hit 3 greens. I hit 3 fairways. I only had 16 putts even after 4 putting a hole (that was just dumb laziness there). And I had one blow-up hole where I hit into a hazard then my approach got into some nasty rough under a huge tree right next to an elevated green. That was a little ugly.

There were three shots where I regressed back to my old mistakes. But that’s OK. In time, I’ll ingrain the good stuff.

So why am I telling you all this? A couple of reasons.

First, there’s usually something positive to be taken out of a bad round. Positive thinking is always good. You don’t have to ignore the bad, but dwelling on it doesn’t do much good. I’m doing that here, and I hope you do the same.

I can feel some of you thinking that you’d be perfectly happy with a 46 any time and wondering why I keep calling it a bad round. That’s OK, but trust me, once you break each successive barrier, there’s no going back. When you break 100, then 90, then 80, birdie a hole, eagle a hole, get under par at some part of a round, chip in, whatever, there’s simply no going back. If your handicap is a 20, but you manage to shoot a 75 one day, you’ll be chasing that for the rest of your life.

The second reason I’m telling you all this is that I’m perfectly happy with a 46. Right now, after what I’ve been through, a 46 shot the way I did it with some positives and some near-misses, I’ll take it.

Next time I hit the course, I’ll feel different, but right now, I’ll take it.

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