Shaganappi Valley 9

On Sunday, I played my first round of golf since August 2005. I had been to the driving range once earlier this year and was surprised to see how straight I could hit the ball. I had been turning my wrist like a baseball swing which meant some big slices but I've been thinking about this flaw and my stroke seems much better. Shaganappi Valley 9 is a par 33, nine hole, public course with no par fives. There is water on three holes but it's mostly wide open with little sand to worry about. The longest hole is the first one at just 313 yards.

After hitting a small bucket on the driving range to warm up, I met up with Rob, Tammy and their friend Chris. The first hole started poorly with me slicing a drive into the trees on the left side. The longish grass prevented me from finding my ball so I had to drop a new one in the fairway. One stroke, one slice, one lost ball, one penalty stroke. My next shot was straight but aimed left and once again fell into the longish grass. Once again, I couldn't find my ball. I didn't have any help looking either as everyone else was down the right side of the fairway. Had I looked longer, I could have found it but I don't like holding up the players behind me. A wedge over the green, a chip on and a one-putt gave me a seven to start. It was looking like a long day.

The second hole started with a poor drive but I crushed a five-wood off the fairway onto the green. The greens were really slow and I was on the opposite side of from the pin so I ended up three-putting but that gave me a five. I've never broken 100 so I try for bogeys on each hole and I just got one.

The fifth hole was another seven. I hit a bad drive and just caught the far edge of the water. One more foot and I would have cleared it and been in the fairway. I had started to play better so I was disappointed to hit the water when so little of it was in play on the left side. I had to hit a second drive which I put long on the right side. I put a nine iron just over the green, chipped on and barely missed my first putt.

The sixth hole was my first par for the day. There was a little water before the hole and the green was 223 yards away so I hit a three-wood just short of the water and to the right. I hit my 56° wedge to the middle of the green and once again barely missed my first putt.

The seventh hole was a 143 yard par three. I hit a good five-iron into the wind and ended up in the sand to the left of the narrow green. A good sand shot got me onto the green and I once again left my first putt on the edge of the cup.

The eighth hole started with a bad drive over the water but I barely cleared it and was in the fairway. From about 170 yards I hit a good four-iron just off the left edge of the green and was able to chip close and one-putt.

The ninth hole was just 131 yards; the shortest of the day. I hit a seven-iron onto the left side of the green and once again just missed my first putt.

In total, I shot 43 which is 10-over for the course. Three pars, four bogeys and two triples is good for me. I'm trying to get to playing bogey golf since one-over on every hole would mean 18-over on a regular course and a score of 90 which would beat my best score by 10. On Sunday, I was only one shot over my goal. Had I continued to play like that over a full 18 on a regular course, maybe I would have finally broken 100. Then again, I remember a few times when I shot 45 on the front and 55 on the back.

Banff Bike Fest

Saturday was the Banff Bike Fest. I was there to compete in the time trial and criterium.

I've been a little tired recently because I haven't been sleeping well with Julie tossing and turning in our bed at night. I also haven't been training as much as possible due to all the rain in Calgary.

My start time for the time trial was 8:14 and, with the hour and a half drive to Banff, this meant packing the family into the car really early in the morning. I did arrive in Banff with enough time for register and get a little warm-up in before going to the start line. I felt okay off the start but I became aware that it wasn't going to be a good day shortly into my ride. My maximum heart rate is about 185 bpm and I can normally do a time trial with my heart rate over 170 bpm the entire way. I can see from my GPS record that I only hit 170 bpm once during my race and my legs felt heavy and tired at just over 150 bpm. The first half of the course has quite a bit of climbing which isn't my strength, especially since I'm still so far overweight. Still, it was a very scenic course running from Banff and going around the Lake Minnewanka road. There were even some big horn sheep on the road around the halfway point.



Things went a little worse but as expected during the criterium. Once again, I couldn't push my heart rate up very high and I struggled. Even with the motivation of trying to hang onto the pack, my heart rate peaked at just 168 bpm. The main pack could do about 55 second laps but alone I could only do 1:05 or 1:10. The course was barely over 600 m so getting lapped wasn't going to take long. I was off the back in a hurry and lapped after only seven laps.

Up next will be the Stampede time trial and road race in Calgary. I hope the weather will co-operate and I'll be able to push a little harder during that one.