Wait, I mean't "Merci", not "Gracias!"

Bonjour! So in my first trip to the Great White North, I flew into Montreal and expected it to feel like the Northern U.S. but maybe hear a little French. Well, when you play a course out in the country 90 minutes Southeast of Montreal, you hear a LOT of French. It wasn't always the case but I was surprised to walk in a couple small restaurants and find that only 1 person spoke English in the establishment. There were a few good laughs when I replied, "gracias", without hesitating to a gentlemen holding the door for me. Apparently when I'm in a place where I know English is not the main language, I automatically switch to my 2nd language, Spanish. Haha  Anyway, as for the golf...

It rained a lot! Surprise, I know. (Note the sarcasm there for my 9 tourney trips in a row with dramatic rain). After 4 days of rain in a row there before I arrived, then a nice dry practice round, it started raining the night before the 1st round and did not stop until after I was done playing. I was actually excited to play in it since I'm used to playing in so much rain now and thought the conditions were to my advantage. However, I unfortunately did a poor job of managing my frustrations during the soaking rain. One thing they did that I had never seen before was grounds maintenance crewmen squeegeeing greens between groups while we were playing. Although finding relief from standing water and casual water was difficult, I kept telling myself to stay patient. After the round, I realized "thinking" and "doing" are two different things. I managed my game decently in the first 9 holes, and actually got up & down for par 6 holes in a row. However, when I finally hit a green in regulation on #12 and then aggressively three putted from not feeling the changing wet speed of the greens outside 5 feet in 7 holes' time, I let my frustration consume me. I would let it go to hit a good tee shot, but then while telling myself to commit to the next shot I actually began to expect the same kind of missed approach shot. I bogied several of the closing holes and left myself somewhat behind the eight-ball heading into the final round. In the 2nd/Final round, I was poised for a comeback in my first 9 holes, making sure I stayed committed to my targets and in the moment on every shot. I sadly fell victim to results-oriented thinking again with 5 holes left in the round, and put too much pressure on myself to make birdies. Yep, you guessed it, I closed with a few bogies that caused me to finish in the bottom of the money list for the tournament.

I really learned a lot from the experience of managing my mental process and emotions in those incredibly soggy rounds. The golf course was a great design that I enjoyed, and I left knowing that I had to make staying patient, and thinking of nothing but committing to my target before every shot, my main focus upon which to improve before the next event. Next time I'm in Quebec, put your betting money on me keeping my emotional energy consistent in how I approach every hole that I play. "Brooke, par is always a good score!!!!"

Learning & excited! But time to go rest... "Je suis fatigué."

Brookie B.

 Practice Round

 

Final Round

How to practice "trashy" pitches after your practice round, knowing it will be soggy the next day....

I'm guessing this place looks a lot different in the Winter! Eskimo-land road signs.

On the way to the course through the country back-roads...Mini llamas/alpacas shaved so it looks like they're wearing UGG Boots! Absolutely hilarious, precious, weird, and epic all together!!! :)