No one expects to be in mid-season form after just two rounds of golf, but all things considered, I’m feeling pretty good about my game.

My second round of the season was at the same amazing location – Cassadaga Country Club – and with two of the same great guys – CJ and Al – as my first round last week. The results, thankfully, were quite a bit better.

Unfortunately, my start once again ruined any chance of putting together an actual good round. Isn’t that just the worst? You head into a round with a clean slate and high hopes. But in the time it takes to drive a ball into the creek and skull a punch shot, you’re shooting for par from 100 yards away. Ouch. Still, my ‘7’ shaved a stroke off last week’s ‘8’ so…baby steps, I suppose.

No. 2 showed that I can scramble a bit if I need to. CJ, too, actually. We were riding in the same cart, but we played anything but cart golf. I tattooed a drive, but pulled it left. It must have hit a tree because we found it buried under a hellacious pine tree. CJ, meanwhile, dealt with some severe toeing issues early in the round and went way right. I hit an outstanding punch that went just off the back of the green. CJ hit a gorgeous, high wedge shot over the line of trees and plopped it right on the front fringe. Good stuff. My made par putt was the start of a pretty good stretch of scores.

I managed to par No. 3 even after topping my tee shot and rolling it 75 yards. Considering I had an ‘8’ on the scorecard last week on No. 3, I’ll take the four strokes in the right direction. In fact, after three holes, I was already six strokes better than last week. I’d say that’s a little more than baby steps.

No. 4 saw my first three-putt of the year. After reaching the green in regulation, I had high hopes of a third-straight par. Alas, I hit my first putt like the ball was a priceless antique and I was worried I was going to break it. That is to say, I didn’t hit it anywhere near hard enough. That left me with a difficult par putt and – poof! – you’ve got yourself a three-putt.

No. 5 was probably our threesome’s cumulative best hole of the day. Even hitting into the wind, I drove my ball almost to the green. Al hit one just behind mine. CJ toed his again (it was his theme of the day), but saved face with a marvelous wedge up the hill and onto the green. That wasn’t even his best shot of the hole. His ensuing putt was incredible. He played the huge break perfectly. He had to aim way above the hole, the ball broke, came back toward the pin and…lipped out. A tap-in par is all well and good, but he deserved birdie on that one. I had a pretty darn easy look at birdie, but left it just a bit low and also had to settle for a tap-in par. Al was a victim of the false front and had his second shot roll back and him, but still recovered for bogey. None of us are great golfers, so a combined +1 is pretty solid.

The next time I hit a truly excellent shot didn’t come until No. 9 when I bombed my drive over the creek. For what it’s worth, both CJ and Al laid up just about as perfectly as you can. But as soon as I hit mine CJ said “that’s over” and it surely was. That’s a long way to hit a golf ball.

It’s also a beautiful sight from the hillside. The ball just seems to soar forever. It’s one of those moments in which you truly appreciate golf. The sand trap in front of the green swallowed up my approach shot. I was extremely nervous as I really don’t have a lot of experience hitting from the sand. To Cassadaga Country Club’s credit, the sand was in incredible condition. It wasn’t hard or weedy. It was perfect. Since I didn’t have that built-in excuse, I was forced to actually hit a good shot – which I did. In fact, I gave myself an awesome look at birdie, but left it just low again. That would have been an awesome way to end the round, but a fourth par of the day isn’t anything to sneeze at (has anyone actually sneezed at anything before?)

At the end of the day, I only shaved three strokes off my score from last week, but I’m headed in the right direction. CJ definitely is too. We both felt a lot more comfortable with virtually all of our clubs. Al struggled some, but showed enough flashes where it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he puts up a very low round next time out.

I’m thankful to have a group to play with again. The right group is such a huge factor in enjoying the game of golf. The past two weeks I’ve been a happy man even when writing a triple-bogey on the card.

I’m playing in a tournament on Friday, so expect a special entry next week.

Until then, golf is great. Go get some.