Par 3 was a surprise hit — but beating Buddz still tops it

Golf lessons work. They really do.

I’ve played golf off and on since I was a teen and hadn’t once taken lessons for fear it would knock the fun out of the game — make it too serious, too difficult.

Well, I got that one wrong, like a nasty slice off the tee.

After five weeks of twice-a-week lessons with Paul Adams as part of the Capital G Golfer in the Making Series, I’m having more fun playing golf than at any point in the past two decades.

Last weekend, in the Bacardi Par 3 Championship, I played my first individual stroke play tournament and finished 29th versus 51 other amateur golfers.

 On the net score — where officials give the worst golfers the biggest breaks — I finished tied for first!  Talk about unexpected outcomes.

My hefty 18-handicap is based on my skill before Golfer in the Making.  That’s because handicap is calculated on a collection of recently-played rounds.

My play historically is a debacle, but my play at the Bacardi was as good as it’s ever been. 

Those two facts conspired to put me at the top of the heap for net scores. 

It’s the first time math has been my ally on the golf course.

The net -6 score (+30 over two rounds) was an exclamation point on five weeks of lessons, practice and new golf gear.  Yet, that wasn’t even the most memorable part.

A week ago Collie Buddz, his sharp tongue and his new coach Scott Roy teamed up in a grudge match against me and Paul Adams. 

We beat them handily.  It was carnage.  Blood everywhere. The individual match play score was 5&4 and the team bout ended 4&3.

Collie Buddz likes to remind people of our lifetime stats though: one-win, one-loss. 

And he’s right.  We played in 2012 and I was a badly anger-managed player with a score that forced out four-letter words.  Collie’s score was a lot better than mine that day. 

So when we squared off last week he must have thought he was getting the same disaster in golf shoes he saw a year ago.

Instead, he got a far better player who had improved five-fold in just five weeks under Paul’s instruction. 

In fact, Collie got a player better than even I had dared imagine. 

Someone who can hit a driver, who can save par from off the green and who can stand up to the trash talk of a superstar lyricist.

For the Golfer in the Making Series it was mission accomplished.  If not for Capital G and Paul Adams at Tucker’s Point, I would still be chewing on four-letter words every time I fill out a scorecard. 

If you missed the Capital G Golfer in the Making Series in the Bermuda Sun see the articles, videos and photos in the golf section of bermudasun.bm