It Has Been a Good Year

The 2018 golf season has come to a close for me. There were good rounds and there were not so good rounds (meaning I'd rather not talk about the latter). All in all, I would have to place this year as the best year I have had on the course.

Why? There are many reasons and they all point to 2018 being a year that will be difficult to beat.

I Played Often

When I had the chance to play 18 holes, I played 18 holes. When I could only get 9 holes in, I played 9 holes. In a Nova Scotia golf season that is, at its best, May 1st to October 31st (184 days) I was able to post a score more than 100 times. This does not include the obligatory corporate scramble events I also enjoy, which average about one per month. I am fairly certain that 2019 will not hold as many rounds of golf for me, but I will try!

My Indexed Dropped

I started 2018 with a goal of getting my Golf Canada Index (handicap factor) below 10, from a starting point above 13. I have struggled to get it below 12 most years so this was an ambitious goal. I flirted with it for a while, falling short by the smallest of margins, reaching 10.2 for a week this summer. I will definitely renew this goal for 2019!

Lowest Career Score

A few years ago I posted a 77, and have never come close since. Then, one day this August I did it again. A 77 tied my career low round and motivated me to go lower still. That did not happen in 2018, that is what 2019 is for!

Hole-in-One

After playing the game of golf avidly for the past 6 years, and very passively for the preceding 12 years, I recorded my first hole-in-one. I was fortunate in that I actually saw it go in (many do not apparently). For those curious is was an 8-iron on the 160-yard (from the blue tees) par 3 eleventh hole at the Truro Golf Club. I may never get another one, but I will surely try!

Golf is Social

One of my favourite aspects of golf is the social element, getting together with the guys (and gals) and catching up over 18 holes (and at the 19th hole of course!). It is the camaraderie that exists between us, the joy for each other's good rounds and the support when things don't go quite right. Be it Men's Nights, Invitational tournaments or Club Championships, the competition is fun but the after-play socializing is special.

So thank you 2018 for a great golf year, I am sure 2019 will do it's best to live up your standards!

Time Flies

It is almost the end of March, 2016. Time flies. Whether you are having fun or not, time flies. It is hard to believe that I have exiled myself from writing for this long, even harder to believe that I am going to start back up again!

I have learned much over my 47 (OK, almost 48) years of life. The best and most important lesson I have learned is that time is a limited and valuable commodity. Cherish it. Revel in it. Do not take it for granted: not one day, one hour, one minute or even one second.

We often feel we have plenty of time to do the things in life we want, to share special moments with our spouses, our children, our siblings, our parents and our friends. Sometimes we are so busy we ignore those we should pay the most attention to. Sometimes we are hurt by others and shut them out of our lives, thinking we can consider forgiving them later. We have time to be angry and upset, we have time to let them know we are hurting.

In reality, we can only HOPE we have plenty of time, we do not actually know how much time we have. We are never really sure when our last conversation with someone will be or when a hug will be someone's last hug. We don't know if the last words we said to someone we care about will be the the last words they hear us say.

This is not meant to be a morose post, I am not a morose person. Let me say that each and every day we should be sure to enjoy it for what it is. To not take it for granted, to revel in it as much as possible and to go out of our way to make those in our lives happy.

Like all of us I have known loss, tragedy and heart break. I have also known joy, compassion and love. I choose to remember and cherish all the good I have experienced in my life. I choose to move on from the loss, tragedy and heart ache. I choose to not hold grudges against those that have hurt me, but to forgive and move forward. I choose to move forward and to not look back.

This is not as easy to do as it is to write. It is because it is difficult that I know it is worth doing. I'm done licking my wounds, I'm done living in the past.

Time flies. Tell your family and friends you love them. Forgive those who have wronged you. Be happy. Smile. Laugh.

FORE!

It's March 1st and I have officially had enough of winter at this point. I recently tried to embrace winter, went skiing and actually enjoyed my time on the hill even if I was a bit rusty after a 25 year hiatus. Still, with February behind me and Daylight Savings Time on my doorstep next weekend it is only natural that my attention has fully shifted to my golf game.

More than any other year I am eager to get out on a course (any course) and hit the little white ball around. I played more golf last year than I ever have before and was able to lower my handicap to 16, which is just a bit higher than my goal was. I played on more courses in Atlantic Canada than I have, some for the first time.

2014 will be my best year ever on the golf course, in fact it will be a great year all round for golf in Atlantic Canada. While my personal goal is to shave at least 5 strokes off my handicap, I also want to experience a few more courses this year.

Northumberland Links in Pugwash NS is truly a gem and it has been a few years since I have experienced the fast greens there, I highly recommend this public course to all golfers as it is one of my favourites. I'd also like to play the friendly course at the Truro Golf Club in 2014, the changes there over the past few years have made the course even more friendly.

No doubt I will play my share of rounds in my home province of New Brunswick. With my membership at Lakeside Golf Club I will see the lions share of my rounds there, but also at Fox Creek in Dieppe and Royal Oaks in Moncton. Consistent play with scores in the 80's will be my goal.

In early July the new course at Ashburn Golf Club in Halifax Nova Scotia will be hosting the first ever Canada Cup and the Nova Scotia Open, a Web.com Tour event. I am already making my plans to be there. Not as a player mind you, as a spectator only.

Yes, Spring is still three weeks away and there is way too much snow on the fairways here in Moncton to actually play the game, but I can see the warmer weather coming. I bet I will even be able to get a cold weather round in this month at a course in Nova Scotia... Stay tuned for updates to the best year for golf in Atlantic Canada, and the year I play the best golf of my life!