First round of the year

On Easter, I got the chance to play for the first time this year. Actually had gone to the range only one other time since November. Mostly dowels, chip into a net, putt on my carpet, chip/pitch a plastic ball in the backyard. Went to play at Blue Ash in Cincy (GREAT public/municipal course) at the insistence and instigation of my wife, who set me up to play with her parents. We had brunch at my house with her family and mine, thus we got to the course late and had to tee off without practice. But on the first tee, I knew what I wanted to do. Verified my grip, hinge action, swinging motion waggle through basic and acquired motions to extension. Stepped up and drove my ball into the fairway Next shot, longer than I normally hit my 6, with an unfamiliar draw, so left me off the green, back left. Chipped to 5 feet, drained the putt for a par First time I've ever parred that hole.

Wish the rest of the round went as well. Going out, felt like I drove the ball well, recovered from missed shots well, just missed some short putts. But on the back nine, the wheels fell off. Mostly all mental errors (three times instead of chipping laterally to the fairway, trying to thread punch shots between a couple trees and hitting the trees ) Final score 92 (at least 3 strokes better than my average, never broken 90) with a 44 out and 48 back.

Moral of story, could have broken 90 if I had been smarter on shot selection, like the trees. Or not trying to drive a green on a short par 4 and leaving myself in among the trees, where I then dented another trunk. (Greenpeace is after me for arbor abuse)

Second moral of the story: practice at home. I doubt that I could have hit the ball better with practice. And with family, work and other chores, there isn't much time left to play, let alone practice.

Congrats! good stuff.
I have a similar story. Dabbled in TGM last year, took one lesson with Ted. Practiced drills over the winter (grip, pressure points). Took 2 more lessons with Ted this year (so far).
Played a few weeks ago, played about normal - didn't execute what I had learned too well, but there were shades of straighter shots, soild compression. Kept practicing, range time.

Played again last week, started out with a 43 on the front - was executing TGM learnings better as the day went on.
Scored a 37 on the back, (my best 9 ever...6 pars, one bird, 2 bogeys) for a total of 80...short course, but I was straight and was hitting greens.
And all in all a very ho-hum day, I was not making any long putts or chip-ins or getting great breaks - just solid hits.

Looking forward to more!

I have to laugh, dude...I'm having somewhat the same problem as you. Since I did so much incubating this winter, I'm getting so much better contact with all my clubs. The problem is, I'm going for shots that I would never have tried before. On holes in the past where I'd normally lay up, I just pull the four wood and smoke it. While I've had two putts for eagle this spring(which I've never had before), some of my misses have just been horrible!