[caption id="attachment_1054" align="alignright" width="300" caption="It doesn&#39;t just go away."]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110419_20.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1054" title="20110419_20" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110419_20-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a>[/caption]

When I went out walking today, I did it with my golf clubs on my back.

At first I thought I was going to regret it. It was hot -- in the 80s -- and humid when I went out a little after 4 p.m. I hadn't been on the links since Sunday, when I played very badly, so I wanted to see if that was just a fluke.

There was one thing I hadn't expected, though. The course was closed Tuesday and Wednesday so the greens could be aerated, and when I went out this afternoon there was still quite a bit of sand on the greens, not to mention all those little holes.

I found out pretty quickly that it was very difficult to putt. Putts were traveling about half as far as they usually did, and even though I was hitting really good shots off the tee and pretty good approach shots, the scores at first weren't so good.

I bogeyed the first three holes and double-bogeyed the fourth after having a shot knocked down by a tree branch. I wasn't scoring well, but I wasn't unhappy because I was playing pretty well.

On five I hit a 250-yard drive, a mediocre approach shot and a really good chip that left me a foot from the hole. Par.

On six I hit my approach shot through trees from 90 yards away and put it eight feet from the hole. Missed the birdie, made the par.

On seven my approach shot from 105 yards landed 15 feet from the hole.  My birdie putt was <em>way</em> short thanks to the sand, but I rolled in a five-footer for par. Three in a row.

On eight -- the par 5 -- I put my second shot within 50 yards and then hit a beautiful chip 11 feet from the hole. Missed the birdie, made the par.

That left me feeling really great, because I usually play the ninth hole very well. Only this time I hit my tee shot almost straight up and left it 40 yards short on a 100-yard hole. I didn't want to leave my chip short, but I hit it 25 feet past the hole. I looked through the sand and somehow curved a perfect putt downhill and right into the cup. Five straight pars and a 41 for nine holes.

The best part of it all is that I didn't take any mulligans or do any shots over.

I really and truly shot a 41.

Cool.