JerryB

There's a thread floating around somewhere regarding goals at the beginning of the season and I'm too lazy to look for it, but I'm fairly certain I didn't hit any of my goals. Just started playing a couple years ago and unlike from year one to year two, my progress in year three was not linear. Objectively I know this, but it still hurt this year. I began the year with a handicap of 18 and I'm currently at 20.4. Swing was a mess; everything was hooked badly. Finally trending in the right direction just in time to shut it down for the year. Broke 90 a few times but was far more likely to shoot over 100 and had an abysmal +51 one round. But I did play several new courses this year and gained a few new golf partners. That makes it worthwhile.

Owen and I played a scramble out at Silver Ridge for the local high school golf team with our friends Mark and Paul. It was a good time. Paul's game had abandoned him to the point that this was only his second time out this year. His driver was still not great but the rest of his game was pretty decent. Great to see him out there playing again and I really hope he comes back all the way next year. Teamwork was the name of the game today, and not necessarily in a good way. We had a number of shots where there was only one good option, and a few times that good option wasn't the best of choices, either. On a good note, we all contributed fairly equally; everyone sank at least a couple of putts and the shots tee-to-green were split up pretty evenly. The bad note is that our approach shots were rarely close which left us with few good scoring chances. We went -5 with six birdies and a bogey. Food was good, a bunch of money was raised for the kids, and we all had a good time.

Yesterday's shot of the day was an approach from about 120 yards out. Was on the downslope just in front of a creek that cuts across the fairway. Lined up about 45° to the right of the green with the ball about thigh high and took a baseball swing. It drew nicely and wound up about ten feet from the flag.

Played Settlers Hill in Batavia yesterday with Owen and our friend Tim. None of us had been there before but we'll definitely be back. A lot of the course is perched up a bit so you get some nice views. Lots of undulations and some really pretty holes. They had shut down for about a year and a half and made some alterations so my Shot Scope watch wasn't too helpful. Hole 1 is now hole 18. Fairways and greens were beat up a little because of the lack of rain this year. I was pretty awful with my long clubs today. If I wasn't topping it I pushed it right. Had it somewhat worked out by the end of the round, but the penalties really killed me today. Shame because I was actually putting really well for once. Tim had similar driver issues but not nearly as bad and wasn't putting well but he put together a decent round and almost had an ace. Owen played great; a few birdies including two back to back. He was on pace to finally break 80 until he added up his score before the last couple holes.

@cnosil @Kenny B @Vegan_Golfer_PNW Appreciate the offers/advice, fellas! The first hurdle is the "practice" part. Thinking maybe going the yardstick route and breaking it up; 2-3-4-x times a day for 5-10 minutes a pop until I have something consistent. Its the commitment part that's difficult. In-season I'd rather just be out playing, and off-season other hobbies hit the forefront.

C'mon man, this isn't about me, this is about trying to make @fixyurdivot feel better! But yeah, and I've mentioned this before...putting probably legitimately costs me a good ten strokes per round. Some focused putting practice this offseason will do me a world of good.

Some good advice in here. Definitely need to refine my chipping game, which currently stands at "close your eyes and hope for the best." Of course I'm joking...but not as much as you might think.

This line still cracks me up way more than it probably should, when Lisa questions what the chorus meant:

I'm still not terribly consistent, so I always think any change in performance comes from me and not from the equipment. To avoid the risk of selection paralysis I didn't dive too deep into the results and am mostly hanging on to the quote "There's no such thing as a bad ball." This way I can pick a ball at a price point I'm comfortable with and live with the results.

This question is why I went with the weekday pass rather than the unlimited one. The plan was to go elsewhere most weekends. Turned out to be a nearly 50/50 split instead. I've come to really enjoy the familiarity and therefore comfort of my local course. For me there's also a time factor: a five minute drive to this one versus 25+ minutes to any other course

If you're looking to feel better, I'm your guy!! I average more than 2 putts per GIR. I do have seven birdies and an eagle this year so clearly golf is way more luck than skill, lol.

As Owen and I started with hand-me-downs that we've since upgraded and I've added thrift store finds, I've accumulated a few too many clubs according to my wife. Not at home, but off the top of my head: An early 2000s Titleist driver PXG 0211 3 wood Tour Edge 3 wood thats a couple seasons old but for the life of me I can't remember the model. Taylormade R7 3 wood in a 5 wood shaft Dunlop 3 and 5 woods Tour Edge Bazooka 7 wood Old 11 and 15 woods whose brand escapes me at the moment. Titleist 909H 21° hybrid Grand Hawk 3H and 4H Wilson Capitol and McGregor Regency 2 irons Nike Slingshot 4 iron Old Wilson Staff blades 2i-SW Cobra AMP 5i-PW Some really beat up Srixon 4i-PW Sure Strike 45° and 55° wedges Pinemeadow Pre 52° 56° and 60° wedge set TaylorMade Sim A wedge Titleist SM7 50° and 54° wedges Titleist SM8 60° wedge C3i 65° wedge Cleveland Huntington Beach putter a couple other really cheap knockoff putters a few various kids/ladies clubs Wow, its one thing to see them at the house but it hits a little harder when I write it all down. On the plus side we've been able to piece a few sets together for outings or friends to borrow when they took up an interest, which was the main reason we've held on to most everything. We had some great friends that handed down some clubs to us when we started and now we're able to do the same.

I bought the weekday pass (M-TH) at my local course for $378. We put in more than 60 nine hole rounds this year which are usually $16, so roughly $1000. I'm actually happy to have calculated this as I'd been thinking about going with the unlimited pass next year at $740. Now it looks like it'll be a no-brainer to pull the trigger!

At that price point, I'd be thrilled with the chance to win a box of balls. A couple of boxes of ProV1s would definitely brighten some days.

Owen and I played a scramble hosted by the local Knights of Columbus chapter at River Heights on Saturday. We played with our friends Timmy and Evan, who both just took up the game this year. Took a couple of shots from Timmy, who was also actually a pretty good putter if you gave him the line. Poor Evan was sending everything to the right all day and I could tell he was frustrated. I've been there (often) and we tried hard to keep his spirits up. We wound up taking most of my tee shots and I bailed us out with a solid second shot on a par five, but I just couldn't find a green to save my life, and Owen had to do most of that heavy lifting. We just couldn't get close enough to give ourselves good birdie looks. Owen and I had come in with some (slightly exaggerated) high hopes and wound up walking away disappointed, although we shouldn't have been. We had two bogies on the day; the second wasn't unexpected but the first was a shocker. Even with that, we still managed to shoot -3 on the day.

Owen and I played the front nine at River Heights today. Since its our last weekday morning round together for the foreseeable future, we decided to do a best ball scramble to see how we do. We were both a little off today compared to our usual standards but we managed to get around the front nine and post +2. At least one of us always had a good usable drive but neither of us were hitting approach shots very well. Once again I'm suddenly not rotating but rather almost throwing the club at the ball, resulting in pulls and hooks. Our putting was decent enough; while we never really hit a long one, it never killed us, either. A little bummed we ran out of time to also get the back nine in, but it was a good morning.

I picked up a pair of Adidas golf shoes over the winter with BOA and I love them. I'm a doofus and never learned to tie my shoes beyond the most basic knot, and somehow over the past five years or so I've had increasing problems with my laces coming undone. So far with nearly a full season under my belt I'm really thrilled with how the new shoes have held up. I kept my old pair with laces just in case the BOA fails but if I stumble across another really good deal on another BOA pair, I'll likely jump on it. First couple of rounds with the BOA needed some trial and error to get them just right, but now they're basically slip-ons.

Date 09/06/2023 Course Name Marengo Ridge Gross Score 102 Course Handicap 21 Gross Strokes over/under par 30 Net Score to Par 9 Net Score 81 Net Birdies or better 2 Longest Drive 301 VCT Match Play Score

My only par of the day came on hole seven at Marengo Ridge. I have a tendency to err towards stupidity and that was the case here as well. The dogleg is around the 240-250 yard mark. What I should have done was hit 3W or even 4H off the tee. What I did instead was grip down an inch or two on my driver and swing a little easier. What happened was I've never hit a ball dead center on the face until today, and I wound up overshooting the fairway and finding myself with another decision: Be smart and punch it back to the fairway, or go for the hero shot? Friends, I went for the hero shot. With my back foot on the gravel cart path, I took my 3 wood and took aim. The trees right in front of me wouldn't allow me to go over, but the branches were about six or seven feet from the ground. Just past those trees and right in my way was a small hill that was about five feet high. I had a small window between tree trunks and hit a punch shot that clipped the top of the hill and launched. It landed about a hundred yards away and just kept rolling, nearly holing out in the process. Then, more stupidity. I totally wussed on the putt, hitting it a little more than halfway. But, y'know, I tapped in for par!

Owen and I played a little hooky and went out to Marengo Ridge up in Marengo. Beautiful day. We saw two groups and a single on the front nine, and no golfers on the back nine. We both played pretty consistently; I think Owen shot 89 and bogeyed nearly every hole. I had a run of six double bogeys to start the back nine on my way to a 102. It was a little bit of everything: eight 3 putts and six lost balls were the big culprits. Also had distance control issues where early on I was long on a few approaches and then as I tired I started coming up short again and again. I did have a couple of really good punchouts/stingers that aren't usually a part of my game. We're supposed to play 18 at our home course tomorrow but might cut it to nine. Then we've got an outing this Saturday and an outing next Sunday and possibly one or two more on the docket before the season ends. I may not be playing all that great, but I'm a pretty good scramble partner!!

I haven't made any purchases yet, but was starting to think about what to get for next season. I've never played them too much beyond found balls, but I like that the Vice Pro and Pro Soft were pretty highly thought of. These are pretty readily available and at a decent price at my local Walmart and I think will be my go-to "crap, I'm almost out of balls!" choice going forward. I'd stocked up on OnCore Elixirs last winter when they had a pretty good BOGO (or maybe B2G1, I forget) sale and I was pretty happy with how they played. They were mentioned a few times in the article and when I can get them at a discount I'm content. Probably going to keep an eye out and go that route again for next year. But I think the thing that really hit home for me was the Key Findings line: There's No Such Thing as a Bad Golf Ball. I'm not good enough to take advantage of minute differences, so as long as I find something that hits that sweet spot between value (for me) and performance (for me), I'm golden.

And here I am skipping that $200 round and booking four $50 rounds instead! I've honestly never come close to even spending three figures on a round. I can't fathom what I'm missing out on and I'm almost afraid to ask.

Hole of the round on Sunday was the short par three at Ledges. After a brutal second hole where our best score was double bogey, all four of us (two decent, one average, one beginner) landed the green with our tee shots. It was a really good feeling and a real rarity that all four in any group that I play with can pull that off. I just missed the birdie putt. Hole of the round on Monday was the final hole at Silver Ridge. After going triple, double, triple on the previous three holes, I was ready to get the heck out of there! Owen and I both hit big drives, chipped on, and two putted for pars. I don't think I was quite as close as the screenshot says, but I'm still kicking myself for missing my line on this birdie putt! Shot of the day today was my second shot on the short par three seventh at River Heights. My tee shot was pulled a touch and caught up in the wind, leaving me just short of the green (at least I missed the bunker!). Pulled my lob wedge and hit my spot, where it trickled down and stopped just short of the hole for a tap in par save. Short wedge game has been pretty rough for me lately so this one felt really good.

Played some golf this weekend but was otherwise too busy to be able to post. Hopefully this won't go too long. On Sunday Owen and I were joined by our friend Evan and Mark to play The Ledges Golf Club up in Roscoe, right near the Wisconsin border. One of three courses maintained by the Winnebago County Forest Preserve, and Mark's home course when he was a young lad. Really nice course and a fantastic value. We're definitely going to try to get back up to play the other two courses as soon as we can, and I want to return to this one as I need to do better. Lots of little rolling hills and some really great views. Long round; we were all bunched up on the front nine and waited on every shot. It was hot on Saturday and most of the groups peeled off at the turn, but we somehow continued playing at the same super slow pace although nobody was in front of us anymore. By the end we were all beat and ready for it to end. Because of all the waiting, I did some ball searching and wound up going home with more than a dozen more balls than when I started! Tee game was dicey again; balls are tailing or flat out going right. Finally put the new bigger grip on my putter so that took some getting used to. I shot 49/47 for a +24 96, actually beating Mark by a few strokes who was uncharacteristically way off his game. Owen played roughly to his usual standard and Evan struggled but also said he would go back in an instant. On Monday Owen and I went out to Silver Ridge Golf Club out in Oregon, IL. Another instance where we were waiting on every shot. If we hadn't travelled almost an hour to get there, we might have bailed after nine. Just another hot day and sitting in the sun waiting for your turn is just energy-sapping. Another instance where everything was iffy but nothing really clicked for any extended time. Six doubles and three triples. Had two good looks at birdie but settled for tap in pars. Went 50/51 for a +29 101. Earlier today Owen and I finally got our chance to play the front nine at River Heights from the tips. As I'd mentioned when we played the back nine last week, the added distance generally isn't a huge factor at this course, but it does make things interesting on a few holes. Today was windy and seemed to be in our faces for most of the holes, no matter which way we were facing. It was an issue on hole five where a little river cuts across the fairway. From the tips it requires about 235 or so to clear it but with the wind in our face we elected to lay up. On my second shot I topped my 3 wood and hit a stinger that had some crazy front spin. I couldn't tell if it cleared the river or not but we couldn't find the ball. I dropped on the other side and moved on. After finishing the hole with a double bogey, we came across my original ball, some 240 yards from the original spot and way ahead of where I thought it might have been. I shot a +11 47 and Owen went +9 45. I scored about what I usually do here while Owen was within a couple of his normal scores. It was an interesting experience. Its good to know that distance isn't necessarily a concern. My issues stem mostly from shot dispersion with all clubs and putting. On a sadder note, Owen took a new position at the company we work at which will change his hours from afternoons to days; meaning today was the last of our usual morning nine hole rounds before work. We're moving things around to play a couple more rounds this week, but starting next Monday I'll be on solo rounds going forward. Which means Monday I'll get an ace that nobody will believe, lol.