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It was one of those rounds of golf that was not all that bad. It just wasn't really good. Everything I hit was hit left with the exception of about three shots. I was scrambling for scores and not getting some of the ones that I thought I would, given my greenside positions. However I got lucky on a couple of holes and actually pitched in to save two pars. It's one of the three shots that I hit to the right that I want to talk about. They were ugly shots and left me scrambling to save bogies. Trouble was that they were shots where I was trying to correct my "left-itis."

The day was a cold one with temperatures in the mid 40s and a fairly stiff wind blowing out of the northeast. I had put my cart cover on the cart so I was protectred while driving the golf cart but not while playing the shots. My right hand was getting cold every time I stepped out of the cart and the sensation of feeling the grip was not what I was hoping it would be. With the cold and my age I was not really comfortable with swinging firmly so I had scaled back my swing speed to protect my cold body from doing something foolish that would pull a muscle. As a result I was swinging easily and hitting it dead left every time. Driver, long irons, short irons; made no difference. Dead left.

On hole three I decided to compensate for my left hits. Number three was a short par four and I was laying left of the fairway with a reasonably simple wedge to the green. I decided to aim right knowing that even if I missed the shot right the bank would catch the ball and feed it back to the green. That's when it happened. As I swung I cut across the ball and actually sliced the ball. It started out right at the bank and just kept cutting right until it came to rest on top of the bank leaving a nasty little downhill chip to a pin cut to the left of the green near the area where the green falls off sharply to a grass bunker.

Suddenly I was in pickle. If I wanted to save par I had to hit a really good shot. One of those "flop-and-trickle-to-the-hole" shots that Phil Mickelson is noted for. That day I didn't feel that shot was part of my arsenal. I decided against trying to be good and just tried to be safe. The grass wasn't that thick between my lie and the green, so I putted the ball down the slope and watched it run onto the green leaving me a long par putt. I two putted for the bogey and felt good about it. Then I remembered the words of the apostle Paul from Romans. Words that touch just such difficult decisions in life as we are often faced with saving a situation.

"For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." Romans 7:15 Sometimes we get stuck in a rut and, instead of trying to clambor out of it, we may be better served just finding the end of it. Sometimes ruts are good for us as we realize our limitations and begin to deal with them. God will bless us as we recognize our weaknesses and learn to live in faith that He will help us through them. "For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10 Strength doesn't come from hitting it straight, but from learning how to deal with it when you don't.

"Word from Scotland" from Sandy Shaw

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