The Eagle has Landed!

On Sunday I had the opportuinity to play a round of golf at Thistle Golf Club in Sunset Beach, NC.  Lately, I do not get out on the golf course, so I was looking forward to the chance to play a round.  It had been many years since I had played at Thistle.  If you have not played there, I highly recommend it.  Great looking clubhouse and great course conditions. 

My day did not start out the best right off of the first tee on the MacKay course.  This is a par 4 with water down the left.  I hit my drive right and my second shot had the ball about a foot above my feet.  When you have this scenario, you are going to hit a hook on the shot.  It didn't help that I aided the hook by pulling it and as Bill Murray said in Caddyshack, it went right into "the lumber yard" (water for those who may be wondering what the lumber yard reference is).   Before you know it, a nice 7 was added to the card.  Nice way to start a round with a triple bogey.  I followed that up with a bogey on the next.  It was time to regroup and I started to get it back together and pared a few holes.

We came to the 7th hole which is a dogleg left par 5.  I hit a good drive down the corner on the left.  Played a 200-yard layup shot and had 110 to the hole.  For me that is an in-between yardage for  PW or SW.  I decided to playe a choked-down PW.  I put a good swing on the shot and it was tracking right at the flag.

The ball hit 6-inches from the hole, popped up and dropped staight in for an eagle 3! 

It was awesome to be able to see the ball drop into the hole and not where the bottom of the flag was blocked from a hill. 

In this first picture you can see how close the ball landed to the hole as I am repairing the pitch mark.

In this picture I am picking the ball out of the hole.

I proceeded to follow-up this eagle with a birdie on the next hole.  So, I made up for the 3 shots I lost on the first hole with this eagle and birdie.

Just goes to show that you always need to continue "digging".  Even when you have a bad hole, keep a positive attitude and put it behind you.  It is just one hole and you have plenty of chances to make it up.