Postscript, USC

I’ve been playing golf more recently.

I don’t want to say I’ve been playing golf a lot recently, because I know people who play golf a lot. What I’m doing isn’t playing a lot of golf. It’s just playing more golf than I usually play.

Being a casual golfer is terrible. Want to hate yourself? Play golf just enough to know what you’re trying to do on the course while still being bad enough that it doesn’t matter.

When you’re a casual golfer, there are stretches where you wonder if you’ll ever hit a good shot again. I don’t even know why I have fairway woods in my bag at this point. Pulling the head cover off my 3 wood might as well be a form of masochism.

I won’t lie – after last week, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Illini might never hit a good shot again. That’s hyperbole, of course, but the point is, the Indiana game was so bad, and the issues were so glaring that I couldn’t do the thing I was advocating for in the Indiana Postscript. I couldn’t bury it and turn the page. I was ready to let Indiana beat me twice.

It’s why I found myself enjoying Saturday’s game more than usual. Yes, it’s easy to enjoy a game that your team leads for most of it, but even in the dogfight moments, I was just so relieved to be watching a competitive team again.