An Open letter to Eli

Spoilers for episode 10, season five. Maybe.

Eli, from the Chasing Scratch podcast, played golf with me a few weeks ago. I’m writing it before he covers the round on the podcast, and if you haven’t caught up to the Season 5 pre Ireland, this will contain some spoilers for Eli’s round. I’ve been thinking about the round a decent amount, so I thought it was worth writing down. Spoilers below.

Eli, I’ve seen you play golf a few times now, and have listened to 5 seasons of headcasing and swing changes. I was excited to get a round in, and appreciate you making it work despite getting a swim competition dropped in your lap. I wish we had gotten to play the Bull, so I could have given you grief about your shot on the 18th hole… instead, we had a magical day together at the University of Kentucky course. 

Through the first 9 holes you played well. A couple mistakes, but nothing huge. You never killed yourself, and you just kept grinding out pars. 2 easy bogeys and 2 good birdies netted you a 36. I think the biggest surprise was how easy you made it look. Never that far out of position, always had a putt for par. Honestly, it was the routine golf needed to become a scratch handicap. 

The one bad shot you hit, the wedge on 1, didn’t kill you. As an aside, it reminded me to hit my wedges with a more open face and just let them fly high. I did not put anything all that close all day, but my one bad wedge shot was me trying to hit the low spinner. Overall, your pitching game was the weakest part of your game, but you did not make any big mistakes with a wedge in hand. 

I watched you cruise through 15 holes. I think 10-15 were all pars. A couple of them required some work with your putter, but they ended up in the hole. You definitely put some pressure on yourself with your lag putting, but you did not have a 3 putt all day. Basically, through 15 holes, you played smart, consistent golf. I didn’t see you do anything amazing or impossible. You passed the eye test of a scratch golfer, and had the scores to back it up. The biggest issue was a lack of familiarity with the golf course. 

Which takes us to 16. A hole you mentioned would haunt your dreams for the rest of the month. We don’t need to dwell on it, but I do think the big issue here was our choice of line. Three of us were in the weeds on the right. There was 60 yards of space to the left. The green was tucked in behind water, and there was no reason to try to make it a 2 shot hole. If I play the course again, I will aim about 40 yards left of where I had aimed.

What I really want to talk about is 17 and 18. It was hot, and we were tired. You had to get home to hop on a call with Mike. There are 100 reasons you could have phoned in the next two holes. The 200 yard par three was reason enough. And while you made an aggressive swing and missed the green, you scrambled your way to a very nice par.

On 18, you pulled the drive into the trees. I didn’t see the shot you were hitting (I was dealing with a swipey miss to the right) but you hit an immaculate punch shot onto the green and made an easy 2 putt for par. I’m not sure you’ve thought much about those two holes, but they have been on my mind since we played them. 

I wonder how you would have done on 17 had you made par on 16. With the pressure on, and a 72 in your sights. Would you have made the same par? Obviously you had the ability to par both those holes, even with mediocre tee shots. Same question for 18. Both required smart play and well struck 2nd shots. You succeeded on both. This to me is “safety first” golf. Not compounding mistakes, and simply putting yourself into position to make par. 

It was awesome to see the confidence and focus remain after 16. Especially in the heat. I hope that confidence carries over to your next round, and you finish with 2 strong pars. Regardless of what number is on your scorecard. Those two holes convinced me you are going to shoot even par or better this year, and I’m looking forward to hearing about you success.

My hope is that you walked away from this round and thought “I played 17 holes of good golf” and you aren’t fixated on the one bad hole. I hope the next time you are even through 16 you remember the back to back scrambling pars you made on 17 and 18. It’s in your grasp, at this point you have to seize it. Good luck!