It is amazing how a person can learn to loathe something they once loved. Golf has taken that turn in my life. There was a time 30 years ago where my obsession with the game knew no boundaries and my love for it was deep. As time went on and my game improved the margin for achievement closed and my frustration with my performance on the course widened. In the years between 1991 and 1994 my game found its peek, I was playing to a 4 handicap but could never seem to improve beyond that point. during that time there were probably a dozen or more rounds where I either shot or broke par on moderately difficult courses with my best performance a -2 at my old home course in Kennewick, Washington.
Later on with the boys in middle school the family moved north to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I found a renewed passion for playing but it only lasted a few years. I was able to shoot the occasional even par round and flirt with some mid 70's scores on occasion but the desire to improve had left me. I am not sure it was because of time, loss of interest or competing hobbies, somehow I just lost the spark. As sad as this is to say, I have been at a point for many years now where any score that is not in the 70's has felt like a disappointment and colossal waste of time. There were times where I alternated between vowing to never play again or at best just give up on finding my old glory days. For me, I had come to accept that perhaps my best day on the course were behind me and the back nine of my golf life was destined for mediocrity.