Breaking 90

I hope you've had a good week and managed to find a little time for yourself, whether that was on the golf course, with family, or simply switching off for an hour or two.

Golf has taken over our house this week.

My son has played four times in seven days. I took my daughter to the practice area to hit balls for the first time ever. My wife got out for a bit of practice and I've somehow squeezed in four rounds of my own. One of those ended with my first score under 90 on a Par 72. Another brought a personal-best 37 points in competition and a finish I wasn't expecting.

It reminded me that golf has a habit of giving us more than pars and birdies. Sometimes it gives us confidence. Sometimes perspective. Sometimes it introduces us to people who, only a few months ago, were complete strangers.

It also reminded me that even the things we love need a pause every now and then.

This week is about progress, friendships, and recognising when it's time to slow the swing for a while.

Welcome to Issue 8 of The Scorecard.

The Fairway

The 85 That Almost Wasn't

If someone had told me six months ago that I'd spend four days in a week at the golf club, I'd have laughed. Golf was something I squeezed into when life allowed. Something that happened around work and family but something I was making a little more time for.

Now, somehow, it is becoming part of the family. Last week my son played four times. The confidence he found in his first competition seems to have carried straight into the next week. He wanted to be there. He wanted to practise. He wanted another round. Most importantly, he didn’t mind going out with people he’d never played with before. That, more than any score, feels like a parenting win.

My daughter decided to join in too, heading to the practice area for the first time. I think it was a case of, ‘if you cant beat them, join them’. There were plenty of topped shots, plenty that travelled only a few feet, and plenty of laughter. There was also plenty of blackberry’s consumed after successful shots! My wife joined in with a session as well, beginning her own journey into a game that can be wonderfully addictive and wonderfully frustrating, often within the same swing.

We didn't spend every session together, but across the week golf gave each of us our own moment. My son chasing another round, my daughter hitting balls for the first time, my wife beginning to learn the game, and me fortunate enough to share in all of it. Golf has a funny way of doing that.

I also managed four rounds of my own. The scorecards read 93, 94, 94 and then... 85. I'd never broken 90 before on a Par 72. The strange thing is that the round should have been over before it had really begun. Triple bogey on the first. Quadruple bogey on the second. Seven over par after two holes.

If you'd offered me a score in the low nineties at that point, I'd have taken it without a second thought. Instead, something changed. A birdie on the third settled everything down. The round had eight pars, three bogeys, three doubles. Then, on the tenth, one of those moments that keeps golfers coming back. An eagle. Driver, 5 wood and a 7 foot putt.

By the time we walked off the eighteenth with a par, I’d scored 85. It wasn't a perfect round, far from it, but it was proof that one bad start doesn't have to define everything that follows.

The round itself was made even better by who I shared it with. We played as two dads and two sons. A friendship growing over the last couple of months through junior golf finally became our first round together. Four hours of gentle competition, encouragement, terrible jokes and the sort of conversations that only seem to happen when you're walking between shots.

These are the rounds I'll remember.

The day before I'd also played in a club competition. A personal-best 37 Stableford points was good enough for around 15th out of ninety players. Another little reminder that progress often arrives quietly before suddenly looking obvious, and a little handicap cut (21.2)

Yet, after all that golf, I realised something else. Sometimes the best decision isn't to book another tee time. It's to put the clubs away for a few days. As parents, we're always talking about balance for our children, time away from schoolwork, time away from sport, time to recover before chasing the next achievement.

Perhaps we should listen to our own advice a little more often. The golf will still be there next week. And, if I'm honest, I'm already looking forward to the walk more than the score. So I’m taking a few days off and missing my usual midweek early rounds and having a bit of a rest ready for my first greensomes competition on Saturday.

Well…maybe I’ll find time to just hit a few balls on the range!

Find the ball. Play on.

Your front nine doesn't have to decide your back nine.

I started my best-ever round with a triple bogey followed by a quadruple bogey. Seven over after two holes. Most golfers have one of two reactions at that point. They either start chasing shots they don't have, or they mentally write the round off before it's really begun.

Try a third option. Play the hole you're standing on. Forget the score you've already made. Forget the target you had on the first tee. Focus only on making the best decision for the next shot.

One good hole becomes two. Two become momentum. Momentum becomes a round you never thought was possible. Golf isn't about avoiding bad holes. Every golfer has them. It's about refusing to let one bad hole become six.

Your scorecard only matters after the eighteenth green. Until then, just play the next shot.

Another week, another reminder that golf rarely follows the script.

PGA Tour — Rocket Classic — Michael Thorbjornsen claimed his maiden PGA Tour title with a closing 63 to win by three shots. The former Stanford star has long been tipped as one of America's brightest young talents, but this was the week everything clicked. Starting the final round one behind, he trusted the process, caught fire on the back nine and never looked back. Sometimes a breakthrough doesn't arrive because you've changed your game. It arrives because you've finally believed in it.

LPGA Tour / LET — AIG Women's Open — Shiho Kuwaki won her first major after a dramatic two-hole playoff with Germany's Esther Henseleit at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Henseleit produced one of the moments of the championship by holing a huge birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force extra holes, only for terrible luck to strike in the playoff when her tee shot ricocheted off a marshal's leg into thick gorse. Kuwaki stayed composed, made par and became Japan's second consecutive Women's Open champion. Golf can be wonderfully cruel and wonderfully rewarding within the space of a few minutes.

DP World Tour — Danish Golf Championship — Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen gave the home crowds plenty to cheer about, securing an emotional victory on Danish soil. Winning in front of family, friends and supporters always carries a little extra weight, and the celebrations showed exactly what it meant. Every professional dreams of winning; doing it at home is something else entirely.

PGA Tour Champions — Portugal Invitational — The Champions Tour made history with its first official event on mainland Europe, and it was former Masters and Open champion Zach Johnson who wrote the first chapter. Johnson closed at 19-under to win by two shots over Stewart Cink, while Pádraig Harrington continued his excellent season with another top three finish. The real story, though, was the venue. After decades of senior golf being largely confined to North America, the legends finally crossed into continental Europe, with the Algarve providing a fitting backdrop for a piece of golfing history.

Front 9 Dads — If your child asks you to play, say yes. It doesn't matter whether it's nine holes, the driving range, kicking a football around the park or throwing a tennis ball in the garden. They'll forget most of the score. They won't forget that you made the time.

Back 9 Dads — Celebrate your own progress this week. It doesn't have to be breaking 90 or hitting a personal best. It might simply be doing something a little better than you did last month. We're often brilliant at noticing our children's progress and remarkably poor at recognising our own.

Clubhouse Dads — Rest is productive too. Whether it's golf, work or family life, there's always another thing to do. Give yourself permission to leave the clubs in the boot, put the laptop away or skip the to-do list for an evening. You'll come back fresher, and the next round will still be there waiting.

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If this week's issue resonated, the best thing you can do is forward it to one dad who'd get it. That's how this community grows.

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See you on the fairway

Matt

18 Hole Dads

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