So Friday's round was interesting. I thought I hit the ball well but didn't score well. And to a point that's true. But I had only 9 or 10 GIR. I missed several GIR chances when I overclubed and flew the greens. Did that on a three holes. Lost a couple drives off the tee that cost sme a few strokes. Came up short with my wedges a few times. So it was nothing the whole round I did wrong, just aa little thing here and there and I missed 4 good chances at birdies which would have reduced some of those other things. Not making the putts stands out the most because I did hit a lot of good iron shots into the greens. I guess that's why you have to take advantage of those chances when you have them, to counter act those poor shots that lead to bogeys.
Played our links style course, very little breeze, literally felt some on one hole and that was it, so it played easier. Got off to a hot start, 2 pars on first 2 holes. Scorecard wound up in trash so I am not totally sure of my stats, but I shot 43/43 and I think 33 putts. The funny thing was I told myself I wanted to shoot 85 today, I almost did it. It is really strange how so many times I can talk myself in to a score. Maybe I shouldn't push my luck, but...makes me wonder.
Played all but one par 3 well, I know I had a birdie on one and 2 pars for the others. Still not hitting irons well, but able to recover. Played a ProV1x the whole round (I had found it yesterday and threw it in the bag). No question I lost some yards off the driver because of the higher compression, but man does that ball spin nicely off the wedges. I had one short chip that totally checked for me, couldn't do that with the balls I usually play. I guess if I play a shorter course the loss of distance off the tee can be overcome.
Long holiday weekend coming up, hope the weather cooperates.
Well, we're hitting that time of year where courses let the greens get shaggy due to the heat. And as the temps rise so do my scores...Played today, drove the ball pretty well and hit wedges good. Struggled on greens. Shot 40/41 with 2 birdies on Par 5s. putts was the problem. Left many first putts short and then missed the second. Couple wayward tee shots but mostly it was the speed of the greens that got me. Have to find something that works for me in these conditions since that's likely to happen more now that it's getting to be 90 degrees
Played 9 today with my home course for our golf league... had a few bad breaks on bounces but overall shot well. Shot 39 (par 35) with 1 birdie on a tough Par 3 over water from about 210. Hit 4H to about 6 ft and made the putt. Can't remember the last time I birdied that hole. That was double-ly nice because it was right after I had a double bogey which I had to make a 10 footer to keep it at double. In the end, 1 birdie, 1 dbl, 4 pars and 3 bogies. Putted well, 14 putts. But didn't drive the ball especially well. But have continued to hit irons pretty well. Taking tomorrow off and then playing Friday and Saturday, courses I've never played before, so no telling how I'll score.
forgot to mention, on one of my rounds recently (par 5) my 2nd shot with my 4W hit the 150 pole in the middle of the fairway and ricocheted laterally. So I lost distance. My penalty for hitting the ball too straight down the middle! Actually not the first time I've hit one of those poles, either.
Terrible round. Started out OK, 4 pars on a tight hilly course that wasn't very long. But near the end of the front 9, I started losing it. Lost a couple balls, hit just a number of poor tee shots on my way to a 40/44 84 finish. 1 birdie on the day. Greens slowed down as the day went on it seemed and that didn't help us. Mainly it was tee shots getting me in trouble and having to recover. Been keeping notes on my last few rounds..this should give me plenty of stuff to work on at the range.
Played our links style course, the wind was up a little today 10-15 mph. We had some rain Thurs/Fri so it had softened up nicely and the greens were great. 43/43, 4 GIR, 7 pars (missed a birdie putt by 2", made the golfers sin of leaving birdie putt short), 30 putts. Obviously blew some shots...one ball lost in the fescue but did some great scrambling, hit some good wedge shots in close (hence the lower number of putts). Couple of "thread the needle" shots onto greens with my 4w, which were very satisfying. Still not trusting my irons, did hit a bunch at the range on Thurs, and did well, but not able to fully trust on the course yet.
Parking my old SW for now and breaking out one of my prior ones. Last few rounds I've been hitting a few bad wedges from what should be that attack distance. I'm sure it's not the club but it me, but I think for a while, i'm going to give one my old SWs a shot in the bag. Took all to the range yesterday (2 58 degree and 1 56 degree) and all did well, no stand out on about 50 balls hit. The Cleveland RTG 588 has a nice weight to it. The Cleveland CG14 has nice bite to it on the greens and the TM was pretty solid in general. So we'll see. Trying the Cleveland's this afternoon at the range to see if either is easier to hit half shots and such.
Went through my last few rounds trying to see where I cost myself the most. Mostly it was poor quality tee shots, over clubbing/flying past the pins and poor decisions. And putting - not making ones I had the chance to make. So will start working on those issues one by one and see if I can get my game a little shored up before 2 events I have coming up in Late July/Early August.
Scott, could be difference in "grinds" on the wedges...I'm assuming you have same bounce on all of them? My husband just traded in his LW for one with a lower bounce after he used mine (with the lower bounce) and found that it gave him more ability to hit off tight lies instead of just fluffy ones. Of course, much of it is probably in his head, but that's another matter.
Sunday proved how you can screw up a score if one part of your game isn't up to snuff. Greens were slow and I kept leaving putts short, wound up with 37 putts (compare to prior day with 30 putts), lost one ball into the water (kind of took a risky shot and can't feel too bad, it was a mistake) and wound up with 95. So, count number of putts over my "normal" which would be +4, plus water ball, and the round could have been right around 90, which is where I should be. Did hit some cool recovery shots, had the always fun one where you stand in the bunker to hit your ball above on the grassy lip (like tee ball), twice...
Well went back to one of the older wedges and like the feel of it. hit some good shots with it this week. But no i can't seem to control my tee shots. Ha this game is something. Just can't put it all together right now. Heading to the range this weekend to work on it.
Played amatch Wed and shot 80 but should have shot better if not for screwy tee shots. One OB. Two topped. ugh. Good thing other aspects of my game were on.
Finally had a good round, almost a great one. Shot 36/38 for a 2 over 74. Missed probably 6 makeable birdie putts and made the one that wasn't as easy. But I tried to play smarter and leave full shots and was hitting my irons well but also keeping my drives in play. Still need to work on my tee shots so I can trust it but today was a good day. 1 birdie, 3 bogeys and 14 pars...yawn...I wish I had more rounds like that. ha
Played the parkland style course Sat. Wish I had a "ho hum" round like Scott's! Mine was 43/46 for an 89. 4 GIR, 4 par, 1 birdie, 34 putts. i kept missing makeable putts, probably 6 putts in the 2-3 foot range. I think I had the ball a touch too far back since I was leaving them right...not getting putterface square at impact possibly. Did not accomplish goal of determining distance of new 4h vs old 3h since the couple of times I hit it, didn't hit it well enough to truly gauge. Played the same ball all day, no OOB or water.
Wedge was dialed in, I had great distance control. Driver was behaving, was able to keep them all in the fairways.
Generally speaking, my rounds this year have not been worth reporting. Such has been the state of my play. Yesterday was a real head scratcher for sure!
I was playing my usual weekly game with my buddy on our usual track. It was extremely windy, so I thought better of using a driver that I've been spraying around lately and instead opted for 3W off the tee. That part of the game was fine. I had no trouble getting the ball from the tee to the vicinity of the green without issue, but from that point on was another story. I duffed and skulled and chili dipped my way through several chips and 3 putted as though I was collecting trading stamps. That resulted in a 54 on the front side; my worst nine on that course in years. I grabbed a sandwich and a drink at the turn and proceeded to get up and down for my first par on the day on the tenth hole. I chipped like a pro and recorded only 13 putts on the back nine for a tidy 43 that included 3 penalty strokes for errant tee balls. I had one GIR all day long, yet managed 3 pars. It was the strangest round -- a tale of two sides -- that I can ever recall playing. It was as though there were two different players out there.
Scomac, you had the opposite experience of someone we played with a couple of years ago. He was having a good round and ate a sandwich at the turn, and promptly fell apart. He blamed the sandwich. Being that it was a sausage sandwich, I'd agree.
Hubby and I played hooky late afternoon, went out at 3pm. Were paired with two hotshots (one dude dressed all Ricky Fowler like and played from the tips) and after a couple of holes they excused themselves to jump ahead. There was a hole open in front of us, but part of the problem was my DH was having a particularly bad day (multiple flubbed tee shots) and they had enough of him. Although he didn't pick up on that. He's lucky that I'm married to him, I don't want to play with him at times!
I had a decent front 9, 43, couple of pars, bogeyed every hole on back 9 for 45 = 88. No three putts at least, but I only 1-putted once. We had rain and the greens were a little slower than usual so left them short. Driver behaving nicely, going straight. May have determined 4h length very close to old 3h, but further testing needed to confirm conclusively.
Nice Aimee. Funny how your hubby didn't sense what was going o
I took off today and played. Started off well, shot was even par through 7 and then went bogey-dbl on 8 and 9, for a 39. Shot 41 on the back, losing several tee shots left. Also didn't make any putts. Have my member/guest tourney coming up in a week so I need to get that tee ball in shape.
Best shot of the day was hole #7, a reachable par 5. I drove the ball well hitting a draw around the corner and then laced a 7I to about 20 feet for an eagle putt. left it just short (painfully slow greens today) but made the birdie.
played Saturday with a work acquaintance of hubby's that we had played with once before (not a good time) and another guy from their industry...so Michael was looking at it as informal networking since he actually thinks he may be able to do business with the second guy. Guy #1 was unpleasant to play with because he's a whiner and complainer (a sad sack) and doesn't play much, plays with 15 year old "blade" type irons and woods so old they look like hybrids...and says the new technology is "cheating" and won't buy new clubs. He lost at least a half dozen balls. On the front 9.
Anyhow...back to me (haha). You know how I've said before that when I have a bad front 9 I mentally kick my own butt and set a target for the back 9...and often hit it on the nose? So I had a bad front 9 (49, one par, one lost ball) and was fed up with letting Mr. Negativity affect me. So I told myself to pull it together on the back 9, shooting 41 would be good. I had par on holes 10, 11,12, 13...and barely missed par on 14-15. Screwed up 17-18 and wound up with a 43. Didn't hit my "target" but it does make me wonder if I can concentrate and put the "power of positive thinking" into action earlier in a round. They always talk about the power of the mental side of golf, I'm starting to think that if I can get myself more focused...
Good come back Aimee. Yeah, keep us posted if you can stay focused. I have that problem too. I've got a 2 day member guest tournament Sat/Sunday and I'm busy trying to create a game plan of where I can be aggressive and where I can't. We'll see if I can stay focused and how that plan works.
it's probably why so many of us hit the ball great at the range and not on the course, on the range you are totally focused on the swing and execution. If we can bring that mind set to the course...
PLayed 3 times in the last week, one more coming tomorrow in Day 2 of our Member/Guest event.
First to rounds were at beach courses while on vacation...one muni and one nice course, both essentially cart path only from the rain that's been coming through. Didn't play wel either day. No reason not to score well on the muni, basically it is what you see. biggest issue is the not knowing the course well and knowing if I can hit driver or not, etc. Show very poor tee shorts there and shot mid-80s. Shot 83 at the nicer course but still struggling off the tee.
Shot 77 today in round 1 of our member/guest. new this round would be the toughest because it's tighter than the other course. Anyway, our 2 man team held it together to shoot Par, 4 strokes back of the lead waiting on tomorrow's round to see if we can make a run...
Played Friday afternoon and I couldn't make myself focus to play wel. In fact as starting the round I was quite aware that I felt sort of unfocused and couldn't change it. Like a little too much adrenaline. Oh well, wound up shooting 89-90. One thing that I have realized is my ability to recover/scramble is better, so even playing not so great I can post a respectable score.
Our course "Club Championship" is this weekend and I am not playing for probably the first time in 5 years. Feeling that my overall game is not in a great place, knowing that the added pressure wouldn't have been a good thing.
Aimee, I've had that sort of feeling a lot recently. Like I was standing over the ball and felt distracted by what was going on around me instead of focusing on the shot at hand. Need to figure out how to turn off the outside distractions and focus on my game.
Played in our member/guest this weekend. Me and a buddy of mine (2 handicap) were playing in the first flight...Shot even par day one after missing more than a few birdie putts. Were 4 shots out of first so I felt pretty good. I felt like I played well which was good because my buddy's game does NOT fit the course we played the first day. He hits a draw and that course is ALL fade shots. Anyway Day 2, my game disappeared...Felt like I couldn't remember how to swing...Blocked shots all over the place and couldn't hit irons very well. The course for Day 2 has 96 bunkers and I felt like I found most of them on the front 9. Did start to put somethings together on the back 9 and shot 1 over par. Scrambled a bunch but did hit some good shots.
We wound up shooting 1under Par, thrid best of the day in our flight, but still 2 strokes out of the money. Man, looking back i can see so many places we could have picked up 2, 3 or more shots...Oh well
Have a 3 day event coming up Friday, so I spent time today at the range working on my swing and mainly with the driver(s). While on vacation I bought a demo's Ping Answer driver for $100 at one of the PGA Superstores..apparently Ping sold them a bunch of demo's and they just cut the price. The store across the street had a used one for $299 of what me and my dad paid $100 for.
Anyway, I seem to hit a fade with it which is good since I need a fade tee shot on most holes for the 3 day event. So we'll see how it goes...
Day 1 got rained out of our county tournament. Day 2 was at the home course, and I shot 80 with a triple and 2 dbls. Made a bunch of par's a birdie and a couple bogeys.
The triple was stupid. in a greenside bunker in 2, and didn't hit a great bunker shot. Got out but short of the green, then ran my first putt way past and then 3 putted from 6 ft. AUGH!!!
Then settled down until a poor tee shot on #12 and a penalty for hitting a tee shot in the water on 16. But otherwise, other than those 3 holes I played ok.
I'm in the C flight of the CHampoionship flight, with scores ranging from 78-80...so I guess I'm 2 shots out of the lead! ha. We'll see what I can do today. The top 4 places pay $$$ so I have a little work to do.
So great weather today playing a course I should be able t score well on and ones that's completing some renovation and it's looking nice, but will probably be private again so might be the last time I play for awhile :(
Anyway, started my second round of the tournament (final one too) and played the back first. Tried to be loose and focused and ... never felt either...Hit a good tee shot on our first hole and hit pin high only to see the ball check and go 15 yards from the pin. Managed to make par and again on #2. Actually scrambled well through the first 4 holes, at 1over but on the last five was 5 over...basically forgetting how to hit the damn ball. Had a couple beers on the back and got loosened up a little better, piped one drive just under 300 yards up hill. Managed to get through the first 5 holes at 1over not hitting the ball well, and then got into a groove (after the first beer) and shot 3 under on the last 4 holes to wind up with 76. So 80-76 in the 2 day event which is ok, but could have been much better.
Got to find a way to get loose earlier, other than by drinking sooner in the round :) Hated how I played at the start but was glad I brought it around on the second 9.
Swing juice, that's what they call it!
We kept close watch on the weather and took a 12pm tee time since it looked like we'd be safe. Sky was scary at one point on the back 9, it was cloudy all afternoon but no rain and temp stayed in low 70's which was a godsend since the humidity was high. Lots of squishy spots on the fairways, water in some bunkers, but course was playable. I shot 93, and actually didn't play that poorly, just had four 7's mixed with the birdie and 3 pars and the remainder of the bogeys and double bogeys. Can't keep it in the 80's with that many 7's. 34 putts, two 3 putts. Easy to see where I dropped shots. Hit one outstanding shot on a par 5 I hit 4h to pin about 130 yds away and landed about 15-18" away from the hole, so I made birdie.
Very satisfying. I hit my irons pretty well, one bad one with 6i but more from the soggy lie and not taking a good swing because of conditions. Lots of shots come up short with the high humidity and soggy turf slowing club heads, but felt good about my directional control. Making progress.
Played our parkland style course, perfect weather and conditions. I got off to a shaky start on front 9, I had a feeling I would play well but was foiled by hitting in to the rough a couple of times which was thick, dense, and lush...which meant that I just couldn't advance the ball because of club getting caught. Hit into the pond on hole #9, so front 9 had a 49 with one par and 17 putts (lipped out 2 putts). Back 9 did better, shot 43 with a par and a birdie, 13 putts. The low number of putts sounds good, but I was missing greens and wound up wedging in close to the hole to one putt range. I had one shot roll to 6" of the hole and one actually hit the stick but didn't go in. So I played pretty decently, had my two lip outs gone in and the wedge shot gone in instead of bouncing out, would have been an 89.
The birdie was pretty spectacular/satisfying for me. Hole #17 is a par 4 which is 300 yds from red, it basically doglegs right around Lake Mercer. Second shot unless you really hug left side of fairway will be over the water onto a small, elevated green. I usually play the "chicken" route and hit a layup on my second shot to play for bogey. I hit a good drive but it was in the middle of the fairway, I decided to go for it with my 4h, I had 130 to the green. I hit that hybrid as perfectly as I could and it went like a laser towards the pin. Landed softly, rolled a couple of feet, and I had about 6 feet for birdie...made that putt.
Well it's been about a week since i played last due to weather and travel. I'm up in the pacific northwest on a road trip from Seattle to maybe Eugene Oregon and maybe over to Portland before heading back up to Seattle Sunday. Other than being in Seattle Sunday night for my return flight, have no plans to be anywhere at any time. It's been awesome to just drive around and to see the northwest coastline. Seeing some awesome little towns on the coast and getting some great photos. Saw a whale in a small bay yesterday.
So once I get back and get caught up on work, I'll hopefully have some good weather to hit the links.
played Saturday, first day of our "stay cation". Our home course. Conditions were really good, it was a little wet (leftover dew). I didn't play well, lost 2 balls into the water on hole #17 (didn't play the safe/chicken shot since last week I made the hero shot I was stupid). Missed an easy putt short, had a lip out, had probably 3 others miss by 1/2". Had to deal with the sight of a young deer's muzzle in one of the sand traps. That's right, some animal tore it apart and dropped just that part in the greenside bunker.
Wound up with a 96, can't say I deserved a lower score. Only bright spots were some nifty short wedge shots (of which I had several, since I kept missing greens). Getting plenty of practice with those lobs out of the greenside rough.
Looking forward to getting back on the course sometime in the next week. Finally home from my 'road trip' through Washington and Oregon. Man, never imagined such beautiful landscapes as I saw out there. Just beautiful. We never really knew where we'd wind up and I'm glad, because we would have missed a little town called Yachats (pronounced Ya - Hots). Beautiful and incredible landscapes of the Pacific ocean. Got many great photos, hope to get some online soon to share!
Rounds 1 and 2 of staycation on Mon-Tues. Monday's round at Lakewood Country Club, which was kind of interesting as it was originally opened in 1896. The greens were typical of early 1900 courses, small to medium sized with interesting humps and such. Pace of play wasn't great, it wasn't a long course and it took 4:30 to play with a power cart, could have been 4:00 easily, no thick woods to lose balls or anything, pretty open and straight forward. Back 9 more interesting, some doglegs and visual changes. Shot 93, 4 pars on back 9, 33 putts. Lost one ball in a fescue/wildflower waste area on a par 3.
Today's round we went back to a course I played as a beginning golfer and had always liked, hadn't been there in over 10 years. Golden Pheasant Golf Club, it was chockablock with Seniors and I think our round was 4:45 with power cart. Anyhow, fairly short for me, 5089 from forward tees, rating 72.6/slope 123. Shot my career low round 78 and it kind of feels like getting a hole in one with nobody seeing it, but I guess I still had to make the putts (31) and pars (10) plus 1 birdie on #18!
FYI, the courses I usually play are 5200-5300 from forward tees.
Posted my score, and the course rating on the GHIN site was much lower from the forward tees, which actually made sense vs. what they had on the card, it seemed more in line with the (lack of) difficulty, 68 something rating and slope under 120, it was 114-115. I am playing a much harder course today, so back to reality.
So Friday's round was interesting. I thought I hit the ball well but didn't score well. And to a point that's true. But I had only 9 or 10 GIR. I missed several GIR chances when I overclubed and flew the greens. Did that on a three holes. Lost a couple drives off the tee that cost sme a few strokes. Came up short with my wedges a few times. So it was nothing the whole round I did wrong, just aa little thing here and there and I missed 4 good chances at birdies which would have reduced some of those other things. Not making the putts stands out the most because I did hit a lot of good iron shots into the greens. I guess that's why you have to take advantage of those chances when you have them, to counter act those poor shots that lead to bogeys.
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Played our links style course, very little breeze, literally felt some on one hole and that was it, so it played easier. Got off to a hot start, 2 pars on first 2 holes. Scorecard wound up in trash so I am not totally sure of my stats, but I shot 43/43 and I think 33 putts. The funny thing was I told myself I wanted to shoot 85 today, I almost did it. It is really strange how so many times I can talk myself in to a score. Maybe I shouldn't push my luck, but...makes me wonder.
Played all but one par 3 well, I know I had a birdie on one and 2 pars for the others. Still not hitting irons well, but able to recover. Played a ProV1x the whole round (I had found it yesterday and threw it in the bag). No question I lost some yards off the driver because of the higher compression, but man does that ball spin nicely off the wedges. I had one short chip that totally checked for me, couldn't do that with the balls I usually play. I guess if I play a shorter course the loss of distance off the tee can be overcome.
Long holiday weekend coming up, hope the weather cooperates.
It's not how...it's how many
Well, we're hitting that time of year where courses let the greens get shaggy due to the heat. And as the temps rise so do my scores...Played today, drove the ball pretty well and hit wedges good. Struggled on greens. Shot 40/41 with 2 birdies on Par 5s. putts was the problem. Left many first putts short and then missed the second. Couple wayward tee shots but mostly it was the speed of the greens that got me. Have to find something that works for me in these conditions since that's likely to happen more now that it's getting to be 90 degrees
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Played 9 today with my home course for our golf league... had a few bad breaks on bounces but overall shot well. Shot 39 (par 35) with 1 birdie on a tough Par 3 over water from about 210. Hit 4H to about 6 ft and made the putt. Can't remember the last time I birdied that hole. That was double-ly nice because it was right after I had a double bogey which I had to make a 10 footer to keep it at double. In the end, 1 birdie, 1 dbl, 4 pars and 3 bogies. Putted well, 14 putts. But didn't drive the ball especially well. But have continued to hit irons pretty well. Taking tomorrow off and then playing Friday and Saturday, courses I've never played before, so no telling how I'll score.
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forgot to mention, on one of my rounds recently (par 5) my 2nd shot with my 4W hit the 150 pole in the middle of the fairway and ricocheted laterally. So I lost distance. My penalty for hitting the ball too straight down the middle! Actually not the first time I've hit one of those poles, either.
It's not how...it's how many
Terrible round. Started out OK, 4 pars on a tight hilly course that wasn't very long. But near the end of the front 9, I started losing it. Lost a couple balls, hit just a number of poor tee shots on my way to a 40/44 84 finish. 1 birdie on the day. Greens slowed down as the day went on it seemed and that didn't help us. Mainly it was tee shots getting me in trouble and having to recover. Been keeping notes on my last few rounds..this should give me plenty of stuff to work on at the range.
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Played our links style course, the wind was up a little today 10-15 mph. We had some rain Thurs/Fri so it had softened up nicely and the greens were great. 43/43, 4 GIR, 7 pars (missed a birdie putt by 2", made the golfers sin of leaving birdie putt short), 30 putts. Obviously blew some shots...one ball lost in the fescue but did some great scrambling, hit some good wedge shots in close (hence the lower number of putts). Couple of "thread the needle" shots onto greens with my 4w, which were very satisfying. Still not trusting my irons, did hit a bunch at the range on Thurs, and did well, but not able to fully trust on the course yet.
It's not how...it's how many
Parking my old SW for now and breaking out one of my prior ones. Last few rounds I've been hitting a few bad wedges from what should be that attack distance. I'm sure it's not the club but it me, but I think for a while, i'm going to give one my old SWs a shot in the bag. Took all to the range yesterday (2 58 degree and 1 56 degree) and all did well, no stand out on about 50 balls hit. The Cleveland RTG 588 has a nice weight to it. The Cleveland CG14 has nice bite to it on the greens and the TM was pretty solid in general. So we'll see. Trying the Cleveland's this afternoon at the range to see if either is easier to hit half shots and such.
Went through my last few rounds trying to see where I cost myself the most. Mostly it was poor quality tee shots, over clubbing/flying past the pins and poor decisions. And putting - not making ones I had the chance to make. So will start working on those issues one by one and see if I can get my game a little shored up before 2 events I have coming up in Late July/Early August.
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Scott, could be difference in "grinds" on the wedges...I'm assuming you have same bounce on all of them? My husband just traded in his LW for one with a lower bounce after he used mine (with the lower bounce) and found that it gave him more ability to hit off tight lies instead of just fluffy ones. Of course, much of it is probably in his head, but that's another matter.
Sunday proved how you can screw up a score if one part of your game isn't up to snuff. Greens were slow and I kept leaving putts short, wound up with 37 putts (compare to prior day with 30 putts), lost one ball into the water (kind of took a risky shot and can't feel too bad, it was a mistake) and wound up with 95. So, count number of putts over my "normal" which would be +4, plus water ball, and the round could have been right around 90, which is where I should be. Did hit some cool recovery shots, had the always fun one where you stand in the bunker to hit your ball above on the grassy lip (like tee ball), twice...
It's not how...it's how many
Well went back to one of the older wedges and like the feel of it. hit some good shots with it this week. But no i can't seem to control my tee shots. Ha this game is something. Just can't put it all together right now. Heading to the range this weekend to work on it.
Played amatch Wed and shot 80 but should have shot better if not for screwy tee shots. One OB. Two topped. ugh. Good thing other aspects of my game were on.
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Finally had a good round, almost a great one. Shot 36/38 for a 2 over 74. Missed probably 6 makeable birdie putts and made the one that wasn't as easy. But I tried to play smarter and leave full shots and was hitting my irons well but also keeping my drives in play. Still need to work on my tee shots so I can trust it but today was a good day. 1 birdie, 3 bogeys and 14 pars...yawn...I wish I had more rounds like that. ha
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Played the parkland style course Sat. Wish I had a "ho hum" round like Scott's! Mine was 43/46 for an 89. 4 GIR, 4 par, 1 birdie, 34 putts. i kept missing makeable putts, probably 6 putts in the 2-3 foot range. I think I had the ball a touch too far back since I was leaving them right...not getting putterface square at impact possibly. Did not accomplish goal of determining distance of new 4h vs old 3h since the couple of times I hit it, didn't hit it well enough to truly gauge. Played the same ball all day, no OOB or water.
Wedge was dialed in, I had great distance control. Driver was behaving, was able to keep them all in the fairways.
It's not how...it's how many
Generally speaking, my rounds this year have not been worth reporting. Such has been the state of my play. Yesterday was a real head scratcher for sure!
I was playing my usual weekly game with my buddy on our usual track. It was extremely windy, so I thought better of using a driver that I've been spraying around lately and instead opted for 3W off the tee. That part of the game was fine. I had no trouble getting the ball from the tee to the vicinity of the green without issue, but from that point on was another story. I duffed and skulled and chili dipped my way through several chips and 3 putted as though I was collecting trading stamps. That resulted in a 54 on the front side; my worst nine on that course in years. I grabbed a sandwich and a drink at the turn and proceeded to get up and down for my first par on the day on the tenth hole. I chipped like a pro and recorded only 13 putts on the back nine for a tidy 43 that included 3 penalty strokes for errant tee balls. I had one GIR all day long, yet managed 3 pars. It was the strangest round -- a tale of two sides -- that I can ever recall playing. It was as though there were two different players out there.
Scomac, you had the opposite experience of someone we played with a couple of years ago. He was having a good round and ate a sandwich at the turn, and promptly fell apart. He blamed the sandwich. Being that it was a sausage sandwich, I'd agree.
Hubby and I played hooky late afternoon, went out at 3pm. Were paired with two hotshots (one dude dressed all Ricky Fowler like and played from the tips) and after a couple of holes they excused themselves to jump ahead. There was a hole open in front of us, but part of the problem was my DH was having a particularly bad day (multiple flubbed tee shots) and they had enough of him. Although he didn't pick up on that. He's lucky that I'm married to him, I don't want to play with him at times!
I had a decent front 9, 43, couple of pars, bogeyed every hole on back 9 for 45 = 88. No three putts at least, but I only 1-putted once. We had rain and the greens were a little slower than usual so left them short. Driver behaving nicely, going straight. May have determined 4h length very close to old 3h, but further testing needed to confirm conclusively.
It's not how...it's how many
Nice Aimee. Funny how your hubby didn't sense what was going o
I took off today and played. Started off well, shot was even par through 7 and then went bogey-dbl on 8 and 9, for a 39. Shot 41 on the back, losing several tee shots left. Also didn't make any putts. Have my member/guest tourney coming up in a week so I need to get that tee ball in shape.
Best shot of the day was hole #7, a reachable par 5. I drove the ball well hitting a draw around the corner and then laced a 7I to about 20 feet for an eagle putt. left it just short (painfully slow greens today) but made the birdie.
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played Saturday with a work acquaintance of hubby's that we had played with once before (not a good time) and another guy from their industry...so Michael was looking at it as informal networking since he actually thinks he may be able to do business with the second guy. Guy #1 was unpleasant to play with because he's a whiner and complainer (a sad sack) and doesn't play much, plays with 15 year old "blade" type irons and woods so old they look like hybrids...and says the new technology is "cheating" and won't buy new clubs. He lost at least a half dozen balls. On the front 9.
Anyhow...back to me (haha). You know how I've said before that when I have a bad front 9 I mentally kick my own butt and set a target for the back 9...and often hit it on the nose? So I had a bad front 9 (49, one par, one lost ball) and was fed up with letting Mr. Negativity affect me. So I told myself to pull it together on the back 9, shooting 41 would be good. I had par on holes 10, 11,12, 13...and barely missed par on 14-15. Screwed up 17-18 and wound up with a 43. Didn't hit my "target" but it does make me wonder if I can concentrate and put the "power of positive thinking" into action earlier in a round. They always talk about the power of the mental side of golf, I'm starting to think that if I can get myself more focused...
It's not how...it's how many
Good come back Aimee. Yeah, keep us posted if you can stay focused. I have that problem too. I've got a 2 day member guest tournament Sat/Sunday and I'm busy trying to create a game plan of where I can be aggressive and where I can't. We'll see if I can stay focused and how that plan works.
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it's probably why so many of us hit the ball great at the range and not on the course, on the range you are totally focused on the swing and execution. If we can bring that mind set to the course...
It's not how...it's how many
PLayed 3 times in the last week, one more coming tomorrow in Day 2 of our Member/Guest event.
First to rounds were at beach courses while on vacation...one muni and one nice course, both essentially cart path only from the rain that's been coming through. Didn't play wel either day. No reason not to score well on the muni, basically it is what you see. biggest issue is the not knowing the course well and knowing if I can hit driver or not, etc. Show very poor tee shorts there and shot mid-80s. Shot 83 at the nicer course but still struggling off the tee.
Shot 77 today in round 1 of our member/guest. new this round would be the toughest because it's tighter than the other course. Anyway, our 2 man team held it together to shoot Par, 4 strokes back of the lead waiting on tomorrow's round to see if we can make a run...
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Played Friday afternoon and I couldn't make myself focus to play wel. In fact as starting the round I was quite aware that I felt sort of unfocused and couldn't change it. Like a little too much adrenaline. Oh well, wound up shooting 89-90. One thing that I have realized is my ability to recover/scramble is better, so even playing not so great I can post a respectable score.
Our course "Club Championship" is this weekend and I am not playing for probably the first time in 5 years. Feeling that my overall game is not in a great place, knowing that the added pressure wouldn't have been a good thing.
It's not how...it's how many
Aimee, I've had that sort of feeling a lot recently. Like I was standing over the ball and felt distracted by what was going on around me instead of focusing on the shot at hand. Need to figure out how to turn off the outside distractions and focus on my game.
Played in our member/guest this weekend. Me and a buddy of mine (2 handicap) were playing in the first flight...Shot even par day one after missing more than a few birdie putts. Were 4 shots out of first so I felt pretty good. I felt like I played well which was good because my buddy's game does NOT fit the course we played the first day. He hits a draw and that course is ALL fade shots. Anyway Day 2, my game disappeared...Felt like I couldn't remember how to swing...Blocked shots all over the place and couldn't hit irons very well. The course for Day 2 has 96 bunkers and I felt like I found most of them on the front 9. Did start to put somethings together on the back 9 and shot 1 over par. Scrambled a bunch but did hit some good shots.
We wound up shooting 1under Par, thrid best of the day in our flight, but still 2 strokes out of the money. Man, looking back i can see so many places we could have picked up 2, 3 or more shots...Oh well
Have a 3 day event coming up Friday, so I spent time today at the range working on my swing and mainly with the driver(s). While on vacation I bought a demo's Ping Answer driver for $100 at one of the PGA Superstores..apparently Ping sold them a bunch of demo's and they just cut the price. The store across the street had a used one for $299 of what me and my dad paid $100 for.
Anyway, I seem to hit a fade with it which is good since I need a fade tee shot on most holes for the 3 day event. So we'll see how it goes...
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Day 1 got rained out of our county tournament. Day 2 was at the home course, and I shot 80 with a triple and 2 dbls. Made a bunch of par's a birdie and a couple bogeys.
The triple was stupid. in a greenside bunker in 2, and didn't hit a great bunker shot. Got out but short of the green, then ran my first putt way past and then 3 putted from 6 ft. AUGH!!!
Then settled down until a poor tee shot on #12 and a penalty for hitting a tee shot in the water on 16. But otherwise, other than those 3 holes I played ok.
I'm in the C flight of the CHampoionship flight, with scores ranging from 78-80...so I guess I'm 2 shots out of the lead! ha. We'll see what I can do today. The top 4 places pay $$$ so I have a little work to do.
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AUGH!!!! I hate this game!!!!!
OK, that's out of my system.
So great weather today playing a course I should be able t score well on and ones that's completing some renovation and it's looking nice, but will probably be private again so might be the last time I play for awhile :(
Anyway, started my second round of the tournament (final one too) and played the back first. Tried to be loose and focused and ... never felt either...Hit a good tee shot on our first hole and hit pin high only to see the ball check and go 15 yards from the pin. Managed to make par and again on #2. Actually scrambled well through the first 4 holes, at 1over but on the last five was 5 over...basically forgetting how to hit the damn ball. Had a couple beers on the back and got loosened up a little better, piped one drive just under 300 yards up hill. Managed to get through the first 5 holes at 1over not hitting the ball well, and then got into a groove (after the first beer) and shot 3 under on the last 4 holes to wind up with 76. So 80-76 in the 2 day event which is ok, but could have been much better.
Got to find a way to get loose earlier, other than by drinking sooner in the round :) Hated how I played at the start but was glad I brought it around on the second 9.
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Swing juice, that's what they call it!
We kept close watch on the weather and took a 12pm tee time since it looked like we'd be safe. Sky was scary at one point on the back 9, it was cloudy all afternoon but no rain and temp stayed in low 70's which was a godsend since the humidity was high. Lots of squishy spots on the fairways, water in some bunkers, but course was playable. I shot 93, and actually didn't play that poorly, just had four 7's mixed with the birdie and 3 pars and the remainder of the bogeys and double bogeys. Can't keep it in the 80's with that many 7's. 34 putts, two 3 putts. Easy to see where I dropped shots. Hit one outstanding shot on a par 5 I hit 4h to pin about 130 yds away and landed about 15-18" away from the hole, so I made birdie.
Very satisfying. I hit my irons pretty well, one bad one with 6i but more from the soggy lie and not taking a good swing because of conditions. Lots of shots come up short with the high humidity and soggy turf slowing club heads, but felt good about my directional control. Making progress.
It's not how...it's how many
Played our parkland style course, perfect weather and conditions. I got off to a shaky start on front 9, I had a feeling I would play well but was foiled by hitting in to the rough a couple of times which was thick, dense, and lush...which meant that I just couldn't advance the ball because of club getting caught. Hit into the pond on hole #9, so front 9 had a 49 with one par and 17 putts (lipped out 2 putts). Back 9 did better, shot 43 with a par and a birdie, 13 putts. The low number of putts sounds good, but I was missing greens and wound up wedging in close to the hole to one putt range. I had one shot roll to 6" of the hole and one actually hit the stick but didn't go in. So I played pretty decently, had my two lip outs gone in and the wedge shot gone in instead of bouncing out, would have been an 89.
The birdie was pretty spectacular/satisfying for me. Hole #17 is a par 4 which is 300 yds from red, it basically doglegs right around Lake Mercer. Second shot unless you really hug left side of fairway will be over the water onto a small, elevated green. I usually play the "chicken" route and hit a layup on my second shot to play for bogey. I hit a good drive but it was in the middle of the fairway, I decided to go for it with my 4h, I had 130 to the green. I hit that hybrid as perfectly as I could and it went like a laser towards the pin. Landed softly, rolled a couple of feet, and I had about 6 feet for birdie...made that putt.
It's not how...it's how many
Well it's been about a week since i played last due to weather and travel. I'm up in the pacific northwest on a road trip from Seattle to maybe Eugene Oregon and maybe over to Portland before heading back up to Seattle Sunday. Other than being in Seattle Sunday night for my return flight, have no plans to be anywhere at any time. It's been awesome to just drive around and to see the northwest coastline. Seeing some awesome little towns on the coast and getting some great photos. Saw a whale in a small bay yesterday.
So once I get back and get caught up on work, I'll hopefully have some good weather to hit the links.
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played Saturday, first day of our "stay cation". Our home course. Conditions were really good, it was a little wet (leftover dew). I didn't play well, lost 2 balls into the water on hole #17 (didn't play the safe/chicken shot since last week I made the hero shot I was stupid). Missed an easy putt short, had a lip out, had probably 3 others miss by 1/2". Had to deal with the sight of a young deer's muzzle in one of the sand traps. That's right, some animal tore it apart and dropped just that part in the greenside bunker.
Wound up with a 96, can't say I deserved a lower score. Only bright spots were some nifty short wedge shots (of which I had several, since I kept missing greens). Getting plenty of practice with those lobs out of the greenside rough.
It's not how...it's how many
Looking forward to getting back on the course sometime in the next week. Finally home from my 'road trip' through Washington and Oregon. Man, never imagined such beautiful landscapes as I saw out there. Just beautiful. We never really knew where we'd wind up and I'm glad, because we would have missed a little town called Yachats (pronounced Ya - Hots). Beautiful and incredible landscapes of the Pacific ocean. Got many great photos, hope to get some online soon to share!
Golf is a game that can only be played...
GolfGearReview.com Administrator
Rounds 1 and 2 of staycation on Mon-Tues. Monday's round at Lakewood Country Club, which was kind of interesting as it was originally opened in 1896. The greens were typical of early 1900 courses, small to medium sized with interesting humps and such. Pace of play wasn't great, it wasn't a long course and it took 4:30 to play with a power cart, could have been 4:00 easily, no thick woods to lose balls or anything, pretty open and straight forward. Back 9 more interesting, some doglegs and visual changes. Shot 93, 4 pars on back 9, 33 putts. Lost one ball in a fescue/wildflower waste area on a par 3.
Today's round we went back to a course I played as a beginning golfer and had always liked, hadn't been there in over 10 years. Golden Pheasant Golf Club, it was chockablock with Seniors and I think our round was 4:45 with power cart. Anyhow, fairly short for me, 5089 from forward tees, rating 72.6/slope 123. Shot my career low round 78 and it kind of feels like getting a hole in one with nobody seeing it, but I guess I still had to make the putts (31) and pars (10) plus 1 birdie on #18!
FYI, the courses I usually play are 5200-5300 from forward tees.
It's not how...it's how many
Posted my score, and the course rating on the GHIN site was much lower from the forward tees, which actually made sense vs. what they had on the card, it seemed more in line with the (lack of) difficulty, 68 something rating and slope under 120, it was 114-115. I am playing a much harder course today, so back to reality.
It's not how...it's how many