Well, there were no hearty meals in my empty house on Christmas Day so I decided to do what normally makes me as relaxed as possible and spend time of fellowship with 14 of my best friends — driver through putter.

I made my way outdoors to play a three-hole loop at River Ridge Golf Club and at first it was absolutely as pleasant, if not more, as I had anticipated.

The golf course is technically closed on Christmas Day, when the only traffic you’ll find is the occasional family group out on the same mission I was on.

The birds were chirping. It was 55 degrees and I had the course to myself. It was a solo Kodak moment.

That was until I hoofed to the landing pad of my tee shot on the second of the three holes and noticed I had caught up with a large group of golfers. The size of the group didn’t bother me. I had all day, and with one hole to play it’s not like I cared to play through.

I sunk my put on the second hole and wandered over a hill to my final tee of the day only to find a group consisting of seven golfers — four Garner High School golfers, family and friends.

That’s when relaxation took a nose dive.

I’m familiar with the kids, and they are familiar with me. I’ve watched them play at the course since they were very young and learning the game. So it was good to be able to see them on the holiday and tell them, “Merry Christmas.”

But in all that excitement I lost complete sight of the reason there were seven golfers waiting on the next tee of a wide open golf course.

They were waiting on me to play through, and when that thought finally sank in, for the first time in a long time, I felt pressured on a tee box — like Tom Watson, British Open, six-foot putt pressure. When these kids were learning the game I was in my prime. As golf course role models go, kids their age would have looked up to kids my age. We’re about 10 years apart.

I rarely find time to play golf anymore — much less practice — and I felt like I was in the hot seat. I was being asked to demonstrate what 20 years of experience has left me with – all in just one shot.

Important to note, the third and final hole of my loop is the only one that lends itself to the use of a driver.

So I did what I think 90 percent of all amateurs would do. I stuck to the “go big or go home” rule book and tried to smoke a tall, 300-yard fade over trees and an out-of-bounds line.

In fact, I tried twice after the first one was well over cut and likely left neighborhood children thinking Santa was on their roof a day late. After my second attempt proved a mirror image of the first, I put my tail between my legs and spared myself – and my audience – further agony.

I was reminded of an important lesson that day. When you play golf your focus must remain on the golf ball — not on who is around, what you want them to see or any other choke enablers that present themselves.

The next time I end up in that situation I will try to hands-down insist I don’t want to play through or ask if I can join them for one hole of Christmas golf. But there’s likely an equal chance I try to hit the home run over the corner again.