jaxbeachpackerfan

Yep--here's today's temps, yesterday's were the same. We played Amelia National near the Georgia border.

Whoa, this is getting ridiculous!!! Last 8 rounds, going back from today. 83-98-86-98-90-84-98-87. 11 to 15 shots difference round to round, days apart. I'm going through lessons and incorporating new swing plane concepts, but I've never had a period of this much variance between what are really good rounds for me and really bad. Today, a very cold (Florida standards) and very windy day. 46 deg, with a 15/20 mph wind gusting to 30 according to the phone app. Rev, Foz and Rookie, imagine our round but 30 deg colder. Bogied first 8 holes, scrambling a bit, swings sorta there, sorta not. All of a sudden, every iron into the green is hitting the green. Next 9 holes, 6 pars, birdie and two bogies. Doubled the last hole 'cause I counted the score and realized a par would give me a career best 37 for a nine (or maybe because it was a really difficult hole, dead into the wind). Ended up with a 44/39=83. Last Friday, beautiful day, no wind, shot 98. Driver off, irons off, putting off. FW woods and hybrid were great both rounds. What gives, I ask myself?

Back to comfortable familiarity of the home course today. Shot 86 with NO three putts (contrast that to our Tampa MGS outing last Friday with SIX three putts). I hear the other participants all played better the next time out as well. Again, it's got to be that Tour level pressure of playing with fellow MGSrs!

It's just that you (and the rest of us) succumbed to that Tour level pressure of playing with fellow MGS'rs. As I recall, the MGS fellows out at the Loft Up event described some pretty high scores as well.

Last three rounds: 87, 98 and yesterday's 84. Joys of a high handicapper (up to 18 now). Not lovin' the days that they double cut the over seeded rye grass greens. No friction whatsoever, the ball does not stop. Putted well I felt, but four 3 putt greens, and on all but one of them, the first putt was hit exactly the way I wanted to.

Brilliant idea!!! I'll let you know how that works out! Might be an expensive day in the clubhouse afterwards...

Back 9 today--5-4-5-5-5-5-5-5-5. Last song heard on the car radio before the round resounded with "5 o'clock somewhere". Power of suggestion???

Actually, I won. But---we did the two man best ball blind draw (two threesomes) and my draw shot 102. But all three of his pars came on 3 of my 4 double bogey holes. So best score combined with worst score won the day. We had our second above 90 day today (91), but nice breeze and humidity was mild, so very comfortable. Tee'd off at 10:15. Glad your golf is going good! Almost had a hole in one on 5. 9 iron hit three inches in front of the pin, hit the pin and ended up 4 inches behind the pin. Won't comment on the rest of the round. Valley today.

Thanks, we'll see how it carries over to tomorrow. Spent the weekend in Wisconsin, hotter than here, but not as bad as what they said they've been through lately. Never once this summer have our daily activities been impacted by too hot or too humid weather. Been Great! 10:15 tee time tomorrow, don't anticipate anything different. Warm, but nice breezes, basically comfortable. Florida in July, come experience it!!!!!

Played the Stadium course at Sawgrass for the second time in a week using the member special while the Valley course is being aerated. Last week was an absolutely miserable 97, although I parred three of the four par 5s. Today, a week later, with no practice due to a trip and an elbow issue, I started out the same, with four double bogies in the first 6 holes with light rain. Then, all of a sudden, I remembered how to play golf, 3 over par over the last 11 holes, netting an 85. Birdied 17 with the Sunday pin placement with a shot hitting the ideal spot on top of the slope near the pot bunker. Six inch tap in, looked like it almost was a hole in one, although you can't see that from the tee. Another mild coastal Florida day, never got above 85 degrees. Feeling good.

Ha! In keeping with the tradition (Bernie didn't play), I had my worst round of the year on Tuesday and was the big winner!

Hang in there, you'll learn to love them. I'm willing to bet you're almost adapted, if not already.

Last week, I shot my best score for the year with an 83 (my course handicap is 17). JC, one of my regular playing partners and a 16 handicap, shot an 84 and Eagle12, a fellow forum member, shot an 80, I believe. Pretty good scores for the group. JC followed up that round with an 80 on Tuesday, a career best for him, and I had my 6th consecutive round in the 80s. Yesterday, the next time both of us played, JC had a 96 and I had an ugly 92. Woe the inconsistencies of the higher handicappers. I couldn't hit a decent iron to save my life and JC couldn't keep his driver in play. How do things disintegrate so quickly?? Conditions were beautiful by the way.

After 5 bad rounds in a row, finally had a decent round (for me), a 44/41 85 on the TPC Valley Course. Typical to my streaky play of late, I was only 4 over par on the 12 beginning and finishing holes (no birdies), but 9 over par on the middle 6 holes. But the big, big thing today was that I went back to my old putter, an Odyssey Whitehot blade type putter that's about 8 years old, ditching the Odyssey two ball that had been causing me fits for the last 6 months. 27 Putts, versus my usual 32 to 36 putts!. Several 10 to 20 footers MADE, which have been so rare of late, and NO short putts missed, which have been so common of late. Took me 2 holes to adjust to the different weight (our practice greens are still either closed or being rebuilt--4 weeks now of no putting practice). Ten 1 putts and only one 3 putt (one of the early adjustment holes). Still can't conquer hole 6 (the Valley Course's evil reverse twin of the Stadium's 18). Near as I can figure, I've double bogied the hole 11 out of the last 12 times I've played it. It's a dog leg right, with water all the way down the right (it really is the opposite of Stadium 18). Usually I pull the drive hard left into the really high mounds, leaving an extreme uphill/downhill sidehill shot out of deep rough from 180 plus with the water still right. Results are predictable, even layups from those lies are problematic. Today, trying ever so hard not to pull left, I creamed it, but with a slight fade that almost hit a hazard stake and took a cruel bounce right into the water. Next shot, bad, pushed right into water. Walked 10 yards up, dropped again, stuck an 8 iron to 3 feet and one-putted for my ......6. Oh well, I've tried every strategy to play the hole, but it just sets up bad for me off the tee.

Yesterday--another high/low round 42/50 with the low score on the hard nine. Finished double, double, double, triple to absolutely ruin a good day. Felt like giving up the game for several hours after that--the old big left off the tee that I've been working so hard to eliminate rose up and bit me again and again. One under par on those same 4 holes last Friday, 9 over par yesterday. Had a good lesson and range session today, however. See how it carries over to the course tomorrow.

Score improved by one from Wednesday's 89 to an 88. But same deal -47/41- big discrepancy between the nines. I'm beginning to see a pattern here--about the fifth round this year with big swings. Tee Shot troll got me again in the middle round. After 6 out of 7 truly horrible over the top drives from hole 6 through 15, managed to hit three great drives in the fairway to finish par-birdie-par. The 41 included three double bogeys, so I was one under par on the remaining 6 holes w/two birdies. The start of the round (1st 5 holes) had 3/3 fairways hit, 4 GIRs, but three 3 putts! Lessons have been great for the irons, only hit one bad iron all day, and most were very good. Not so good with the woods and utilities. Have to work some more with those, something is causing me to get out of sync and jump over the top. Knock out the 4 water balls and three 3 putts, and I'm on my way to much better scoring!

Played yesterday at the TPC Valley, shot a 42-47--89. Two triples on 12 and 13 where the Tee Shot troll reached out and grabbed me out of nowhere (two of the worst drives of the year, one right and guess what? The next one left). Other than those holes and two badly missed four footers for pars, played well for me. Long putting was outstanding. In the full game, trying to incorporate keeping my hip turn compact and not sliding back (the takeaway from my last lesson) with the feel of the y drill from the tour tempo book. I'd say it worked wonderfully for me on six out of 14 drives, three out of six fairway wood/utility shots, four out of 7 full irons, and five out of seven 3/4 to full wedges, so just over 55% of full shots. Way better percentage than is my norm, so I'm encouraged. Had another Golf Tec lesson this am, and we did in fact end up working on the y drill concepts and tips to help prevent the wrist collapse at impact, which is one of my natural faults that probably happened on the 45% of full shots yesterday where I didn't successfully incorporate the feel I'm working for. The video analysis also confirms that I'm still a significant distance away from the optimal positions, even when I do a swing that feels like I'm getting it. Those swings are noticeably better than when I started this process, but still a ways to go. Arms are still too far ahead of my hip rotation. Play again tomorrow am. May try for a brief range session this aft to work on some drills, back permitting. BTW, for all those spring-starved northerners wondering when it will arrive, I won't mention that yesterday was low 80's, slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. Three hour and 20 minute round, pretty good for the Valley. Another FYI--RP --I've got the Tour Tempo stuff. I'm only using the short game tour tones right now. With trying to rework the swing and stance with the golf lessons, trying to overlay working with the tempo tones was too much overload. I'm going to wait until I'm a bit more comfortable with what I'm doing. The book is very helpful, however.

I think it was one of your birdie holes. I didn't mention the "nailing" 'cause that was only 3 of the 11 drives. 6 of the drives belonged in the dumpster as you should recall.

Congrats on your new associate! Tee Ball was definitely the problem yesterday. Go in streaks with it, has been an issue the last couple of weeks. And what you say is true, if you're off the fairway, with the mounding, rough and water so close to the fairways, its almost an automatic stroke penalty to be in the rough. Valley Course is narrow, however, narrower than the Stadium on average. I could go with the 3 wood, do hit it much more consistently than the driver and with good distance. But like someone just said on the thread that went to war, I want to challenge myself to try and get good and more consistent with the driver. In a competitive round, maybe I'd back off. It was beautiful yesterday after a damp and cool start. Was near 80 when we finished.

I can attest, Eagle was making everything yesterday! I didn't do nearly as well, shooting 89 (Eagle, you had me for one too many on the front nine) and yesterday's story was inconsistency between holes rather than the dramatically different nines. Two birdies, 4 pars, 5 doubles and a triple. Five water balls and one in the hazard. Was trying to incorporate the takeaway from last week's lesson, not shifting my hips back and instead trying to post on the right leg. Worked great on eight iron on down, stuck a couple to within 3 feet for the birdies. But after three or four good drives, that swing thought totally screwed up the driver such that after #8, I only had one good drive and all the water balls (was pushing the ball--I think I was hanging back on the right leg I was trying to post on, and then of course, trying to correct that, a couple of snap hooks as I overcorrected coming through). Another lesson tomorrow and maybe a range session this afternoon. 33 putts for me.

I hear you, but I'm not a single digit guy, but rather a 16 handicap recently down from a 17. I've posted mostly about my high/low rounds, in part as a forced self-analysis as to why and how I can be so inconsistent in my scoring, both in round and between rounds.

Guess not many people besides me are playing yet! Played yesterday and things were a little more normal. Had a 40-45 round on the Valley. In contrast to last Friday's 13 over par over the first five holes, I was two over par after 5 (nines were reversed, but still a huge difference). Feels a lot better to be working on a good round than to be trying to avert a supreme embarrassment. Starting out good has its own challenges to me, however. Walking off 8 with another par, my mind betrayed me. I started counting score (shame, shame on me!) and thinking a par on the 9th will give me a 39! For me, shooting in the thirties is rare and the thought of it unfortunately gets me out of my comfort zone. Sure enough, 9th tee, heel a drive into the rough barely at the start of the fairway. I did manage to salvage a bogey, but only with an awesome shot with my new Rbz Stage 2 hybrid. Then, of course, I start adding up 40/40 or so, thinking this could be really good, so don't blow it! Of course, I blow it, On 10, guided the driver into a short pop-up, tried to salvage it with another awesome hybrid, but cooked it out of bounds. Fortunate to drop another and follow with a good hybrid, chip and one putt for a double bogey. Ok, great round is gone, I could now relax. But couldn't quite get things back and limped home with all bogeys and one par the rest of the way. Still, 85 is second best round of the year. I charted the round last night (haven't done that in years). 34 putts, six fairways hit, six greens in regulation. The aforementioned OB, but no other penalty strokes (unlike the 6 or so in the prior round). I looked at the 13 over par and tried to determine where those 13 strokes came from (no birdies to adjust for). I used the criteria of looking at the stroke on the hole that was most responsible for the bogey. For example, if I drove into trouble, hit a so-so recovery shot, chipped poorly on the green, but still two putted for bogey, the drive would be the stroke that was most responsible for the bogey. Using that criteria, I lost 6 shots with the tee shots (driver and one five wood on a lay-up hole), 2 shots with poor mid-irons on par threes, the aforementioned OB with the hybrid, one shot with a missed pitch (hit the 65 yd shot well, but misjudged the distance as it went only 50 yes) (also chunked a 70 yard pitch after my awesome 260 tee shot with my Rbz 3+ Tour Spoon on the other layup hole, but I managed to chip and putt for a par, so no lost stroke to account for), two chunked chips and one lost stroke due to putting (I felt I putted poorly, especially on the back nine, but only had one 3 putt). 13 lost shots, pretty well spread around, so I get to work on everything!!!

Three weeks ago, I posted about a 49-38 round I had. Friday, I had a 51-41. What's going on here? If anything, I usually start out better than I finish, 'cause bad back often tightens up. But unlike the prior Jekyll & Hyde round, I really didn't play all that bad. But I had the worst not hitting all that bad start I can remember--13 over par the first 5 holes, 2 over par the last 5. First hole (10th tee start), hit a solid drive but just pushed it a bit--hit in the fringe, bounced forward but onto the steep downslope to the water that lines the entire right side and just dribbles into the water (even with that, was the longest drive of the group). So had to drop on the sideslope in the bermuda rough (the slope is about 4 club lengths, so you automatically have a steep sidehill shot if you dunk it). Aimed left to account for the fade tendency from the side slope, but hit it too well I guess and it only faded a bit so ended up in the green side bunker, plugged. Didn't execute well, left it in the bunker. Blasted out and two putted for 7. Next hole, 195 par three, water all the way right and in front of half the green. Aimed left side of the green, hit it well but pulled it about 7-8 yards, pin high rough. But short-sided and pin is right behind a Pete Dye mound on the left side of the green. Delicate little flop shot that I didn't execute, got to try it again. Hit the next one good to 10 feet, lipped out the putt for a double 5. Next hole, the drive was my only truly bad full shot of the day, pull hook into the water left. Same deal as the first hole, drop onto the steep side slope. Aimed right, hit it real solid and it starts just right of the green, but this shot followed the side slope rules and did a huge sweeping draw that by the time it hit ground was heading straight left, down the downslope and just trickled into the water. Sideslope pitch shot to about 20 feet, 2 putt for another triple 7. Next hole, dogleg left with water left. Ripped the drive, long down the left side of the fairway, but oops, bounces forward into the omnipresent sideslope that is adjacent to the waterhazards on this course and just trickles into the water. Notice something yet? Four water balls, but only one lost ball. Drop on the side slope (again the longest drive of the group). Aim right, hit it solid, but again the side slope draw--where? Another water ball. Frustrated, just dropped another ball, replayed the shot. Got this one on the green, two putt for another triple 7. Next hole, par three, pushed the iron pin high, short sided, another delicate pitch which again I was too delicate, chip, lipped out 10 footer for another double 5. Five holes, three triples, two doubles, 13 over. Next hole, ripped the drive, wedge to 15 feet, misread the putt, but two putt for par (did win the hole to tie the 6 hole nassau for my poor partner). After one more mishap with the drive on the next hole, where it again trickled just into the water left (did recover to bogey the hole), I decided to retire the ball that had found the water the last 5 times, but never by much. Last 11 holes, 6 over par (pretty good for me). Didn't change a thing, except the ball. At least it was bad/good, not good/bad, which makes you feel a little better about the round and golf in general!!

I seem to remember a Lee Trevino instructional clip many, many years ago that said take your putter (but it was a blade putter, to be sure) and hit as hard as you can just below and behind the ball and hopefully it will pop in the air.