I played KAGAMA DKI golf tournament yesterday. Along of my good old friends in Sentul Highland Golf Course. A very familiar course, as I was a member for 5 years before. One of few golf courses I can remember for its every turns.

I actually played decent round of golf yesterday on tournament. Playing on 36 handicap system, the key is to get birdies and avoid triple. I managed to avoid the latter, but the former was hard to come by.

At least there were three good chances where I could post a birdie.

First, on Par 5, with only 60 meters to flag, I fluffed by chip shot. Hit the ground first, and the ball was short of the green, eliminating possibility of a birdie.

Second, on Par 4, arguably easiest hole on the course, hit relatively good drive, which left me about 70 m to the green. This time, I hit it thin, the ball flew to the bunker, and got double bogey as result. Ouch.

The last one was the most probable one. Hit a very good approach shot to a Par 4 hole. The ball landed on the right side of the green, and trickled to the hole. Stopped less than 10 meters for a very makeable birdie putt.

And I missed.

Which cost me a trophy for the tournament.

Because looking at scoreboard at the end of the round, I played well enough, to win at least a place in one of the flights. But that’s golf. The difference between a good and great result could be very marginal.

But what I’m happy with is how my golf game come back good. Feel very confident on my iron shots. My tee shot is rarely going awry.

But one of the best improvements in last round, I finally got the recipe for making those testy 10-footer putts.

Made all of them yesterday. The key was to putt using the big muscles at the back. Avoid hand movement.

The test is you’d be able to rock the putt back and forth like pendulum.

Learned this from a pro many years back. However, somehow keep forgetting on how important it is.

But I still need to work a lot on the short game. Particularly on pitch, chip and bunker shots. This is key for me to lower my handicap this year. Let’s see if I have enough grit and consistency to practice these shots in the remaining months.

But after all, yesterday was a good fun. Playing with my fellow Gemblung Golfers (albeit only two of them), and my old buddy from college years, Pepen – we laughed as much as we swung our golf clubs. It’s also a good reunion, as we met with Pak Mujar and Pak Eko, two Sentul Highland’s Field Manager, who we knew since we were members almost 20 years ago!