Everyone is getting excited about the third weekend in July – the weekend of The Open Championship and the 24th annual Goodboys Invitational. Who’s excited, you might ask?

Tiger Woods is raring to get back into golf shape following back surgery, so he’s playing next week.

The annual rite of Goodboys chatter and “pigeon sheet” wagering has begun in earnest, and Goodboys left and right are playing rounds and posting their scores on MyScorecard.com.

…and that includes yours truly, who played today in blistering-hot conditions at Stonecreek Golf Club with the sole intent of identifying what final tweaks are needed in these last few weeks to ensure I’m ready for Goodboys weekend. Specifically, the goal was to play smart, take trouble out of play, and avoid “the big number”. For today, how I’m scoring wasn’t as important as the on-course shot decisions I was making on a hole-by-hole basis. If I listen to the better angels of my nature, I’ll avoid risky and low-percentage shots and choose the kind of shots that enable me to make bogey (double-bogey at worst) and avoid the big numbers that have plagued my game so far this year.

So how did I do? Shot a 50 + 51 = 101 and feel that that was just about right. I came out a little rusty as far as my distance control was concerned, but my irons were rock-solid all day. My short game was not good, however – I was leaving myself too many long putts and didn’t make anything inside of eight feet. 36 putts is simply not going to get the job done – I need to chip the ball closer and start making putts. From here on out I’ll be going back to my old putting style and see if that helps.

The big improvement today was the virtual elimination of “the big number” – only one triple-bogey on a par 3 where I pulled 4-hybrid even though those better angels of my nature were screaming at me to hit 6-iron. Had I listened to them I would have broken 100, but the fact I didn’t was a lesson to be learned. I didn’t have as many holes at bogey or less as in recent rounds, but the chances were certainly there. Still, it was nice to see no snowmen on my card for a change. Too many 6s for my taste, but that will come as I work a little harder on my short game.

What’s most satisfying is that all the work I’ve done at the range is starting to pay off, to the point where my swing is finally back to where it was prior to my last lesson with Alex Black. As I’ve said previously, it’s not Alkex’s fault – what he was saying wasn’t wrong, it just turned out to be a “bridge too far” considering what my abilities (or lack thereof) are at this time.

In the next four weeks, I’ll be working on my putting and my tee game (driver/3-wood) more than anything else. I’ll play one more time out here before Goodboys week, and then once back in Massachusetts I’ll immerse myself in New England golf so my game is spit-polished shining by the time Goodboys Invitational weekend arrives.

Today was a nice departure from all the Tiki bar deck work; come Saturday I’ll be back to cutting lumber and shifting sand.