Who Says We Are Competitive?

A few Sundays ago I had  an eye opening experience.  I had a little foreshadowing the Sunday before but then my suspicions were confirmed.  If TJ and I want to stay married, we can't golf together in couples tournaments!  We have no problem playing golf together any other day, we don't snap at each other, have unrealistic expectations or share scornful glares when we play....until our first couples tournament.  Maybe it was just me!  I am sure TJ will read this and say, "What is she talking about?  It wasn't like that!"  "Oh, yes it was...at least for the first nine holes.  How could you miss all my scornful glares?"

After missing about 50 putts, each of us wanted to quit and just get on with the eating and drinking part of the tournament.  Why is it that when one member of the team is doing poorly the other one does worse instead of better?  My theory is that we are just too competitive and when we are competing as a team our collective brain can't take the pressure.  We knew we would never be near the top but we had such high expectations and were disappointed with every missed putt, duffed sand shot or errant drive.  The pace of play did not help our mood.  We are used to playing quickly.  Couples tournaments move at a snail's pace.  As if playing poorly was not bad enough, we got to play poorly for an extra hour! 

Maybe there is a learning curve to these tournaments.  There must be something we still haven't learned.  Finally, on the last nine holes, we settled down and started being nicer to each other and did a little better.  Hmmmm. We need to sign a pre-golf contract before our next round. 

Rules to be included are:

-We won't take this thing too seriously!
-TJ will not hover over Lisa while she is putting and tell her which way the ball is going to break or that it is uphill or downhill or sideways, she can miss the putt without his help.
- Lisa will drive the golf cart wherever TJ telepathically tells her....or maybe we will just have separate carts!
-TJ will use his new clubs and driver and knock the heck out of the ball
-Lisa will pretend to listen to TJ's advice and then proceed to do what usually works for her (just like in real life....)
-We will both start drinking on the second hole!
-We will check our competitive natures at the door....and just have fun!