The monthly medal. The very word is enough to fill us with fear. But why does this traditional format of golf evoke so much dread? For many women, it’s the thought of taking double digits or more on a hole, causing their handicap to go up and up. It’s the shame of having to play three off the tee or a provisional ball to complete a hole, one or two bad holes ruining an entire round. It’s the thought that racking up a big score will spoil their playing partners’ games and hold the whole field up.
This situation happened to me playing in a medal recently. A lovely lady in my group (who I won’t name and shame) hit a poor tee shot on the second hole of our round into the gorse. She played a provisional ball, but we subsequently found her first ball in an unplayable spot with nowhere to take a penalty drop (even stroke and distance backwards wasn’t an option), so she was forced to take the walk of shame back to the tee.
