Siamese Moose

I wish you were here, Doug! Would have been great to see you.

Multiple times

You lost that bet. It takes me a while to adjust to southern turf.

Today's Friday group at Legacy, from the left, Brother Dave (Dave Widncamp), Jwc5149 (Jeff Campbell), Hoyoymac (Jordan Evans), and me, SiameseMoose (Rob Westendorf)

Today's optional Friday round at Legacy, first tee, left to right, Brother Dave (Dave Widncamp), Jwc5149 (Jeff Campbell), Hoyoymac (Jordan Evans), SiameseMoose (Rob Westendorf).

I have packed up, will be loading the car momentarily, and leaving shortly thereafter. I'll be driving about halfway there today, and get there in the morning. Four of us (Jwc5149, Hoyoymac, Brather Dave) have a bonus round tomorrow at Legacy. Hey, if I'm going to drive that far, and I've got the time, I'm going to play all that I can!

I struggle with the pitching wedge in my set. My other wedges are steel shafted and much heavier. The PW is graphite, and just feels like a twig, and I've been all over the place with it, especially poor with distance control. In the past month I've stopped playing it as a "wedge", and considered it a "10 iron." That mindset has changed the way I swing it, and I've been much better. Today I used it for 5 approach shots, all went the correct distance, and got two birdies. Hole 3 was 132 yard par three, and my putt was only about 40".

There are many guys here qualified to give you help - I'm not one of them! However, as a sufferer of lifting up, my instructor told me I was dropping my head on the backswing, which meant I responded by raising on the downswing. If I consciously think about raising my head on the backswing, it will feel like I'm dropping it into the shot, though my video shows I stay pretty even that way, despite the feeling that I'm raising then dropping. Good luck!

With as much as we're playing in a short time on my poor back, I expect to be moving up a set of tees as we go!

Date 06/06/2023 Course Name Twin Run Gross Score 81 Course Handicap 5 Gross Strokes over/under par 9 Net Score to Par 4 Net Score 76 Net Birdies or better 3 Longest Drive 247 Blew a respectable round with a few tired shots coming in that cost me breaking 80. I don't know how I'm going to fare at this weekend's trip, might hit my limit of ibuprofen.

Date 05/31/2023 Course Name Glenview Gross Score 81 Course Handicap 4 Gross Strokes over/under par 9 Net Score to Par 5 Net Score 77 Net Birdies or better 4 Longest Drive 297 The good, the bad, and the ugly. With four penalties (ugly) I still managed just net 5 over. Reached two par 5s in two that I've never reached before (good), but only birdied one of them (bad). My long drive (297) was downhill, downwind, and a massive cart path bounce. To be fair, it was on the perfect line to cut the corner. It's not like I hit it wildly offline and got lucky.

I had a real up and down round today, with some very ugly shots, but a number of good ones. The one I'll remember is a par 3, I tugged my approach and was a little past the pin in the left rough. I had a great lie. It was slightly downhill, slightly left to right, and 42 feet, but I set up to it just knowing everything was right for a good shot. I can't be so arrogant as to say I was expecting to make it, but I was certain of an up and down. Having it go in was a nice bonus.

I can't tolerate contacts. For years I was able to use my progressives without problem, but as I've aged I can't any more. I have some prescription cycling glasses I use for golf now. If I need to read I just push them up a bit. However, they're a little too dark for twilight golf, so i also got a cheap pair of single vision glasses that stay in the bag. Unfortunately, "cheap" also means they're not the most comfortable.

Apparently, red neck murders are very difficult to solve. There's no dental records, and all of the DNA is the same.

Ongoing testing: I am getting along quite well with the Quad Tour! While the tackiness is great (and the thing most commented on by others), the shape is what's rocking my world. However, I'm still recovering from an ill advised super long putt drill (the Harmon "fringe to fringe" drill) that messed up my feel for distance. After doing it I was first blowing everything on the course well past, then I got tentative and started leaving everything well short. I'm really surprised and bummed at how long it's taking me to get over this. I hope to get out this afternoon, and if I can't get on the course I'll at least spend some time on the practice green.

Your regulars match mine. If that trend continues, I recommend you try New Riff, both the bourbon and the rye.

Date 05/23/2023 Course Name Boone Links Gross Score 84 Course Handicap 7 Gross Strokes over/under par 12 Net Score to Par 5 Net Score 77 Net Birdies or better 1 Longest Drive 253 Played my league yesterday, and then we played some additional holes after, and today I was dragging myself around the course. I'm a little concerned about how tired I'm getting on the course lately. Back 9 was awful.

#14 at Indian Ridge (Oxford, OH) is a downhill, dogleg left par 5. I can't carry the bunkers off the tee that guard the corner, but hit a perfect drive that skirted them and was still able to catch the downhill bounce for another 20 yards. Now I had 200 to the front edge, but off a downhill lie with 180 to carry a creek. Over the hazard but short of the green is not a good option, and the pin was way back, so just reaching the green was not a good play either. I know that back position is in a place where the green doesn't hold shots well, so I punched a 9 to the far right edge of the fairway to improve the angle so the green might hold. Hit an easy gap wedge that only released about 15', to 5' below the hole. Easy putt for birdie. My partner actually commented, "That was four perfect shots!" (It was easy for him to say that, as he also birdied.)

I've played in an evening league, currently play in an afternoon league, and often play on a different day in the morning with guys from both leagues. They have commented on how much better I am outside the leagues, but I think it's the morning time rather than in or out of the leagues.

Date 05/17/2023 Course Name Indian Ridge Gross Score 80 Course Handicap 4 Gross Strokes over/under par 8 Net Score to Par 4 Net Score 76 Net Birdies or better 3 Longest Drive 244 My long drive was 244, but I almost feel like I should instead list the pure 5W I hit downwind that rolled off the back at 262! My chipping game has not been even average for me. That cost me a few strokes that would have made my score more indicative of how I played. It was my best ball striking of the year.

Last night was league play, so I asked for opinions on the Quad Tour grip from the guys there. The comments include: Nice feel, I like it better than my SuperStroke (to be fair, his SuperStroke was ancient, and overdue for replacement!) Great shape I love the tackiness, but it's too small I love the tackiness, but it's too big Lots of people wanted to know if it came in different sizes, great disappointment to hear it didn't "You want me to grab your putter?" My review is focued on the Quad Tour, but when they learned I have all three there were multiple requests to see the other grips. Next week... I went early to spend some extra time on the practice green. I was focused on distance control on long and very long putts. I would be very hard pressed to say I noticed any difference from my prior Lamkin. I think the most likely difference will be accuracy on makeable putts, which will be my focus going forward. Hitting so many very long putts before my round meant that on the course I was blowing too many putts long. Note to self: Before a round of real play just focus on my normal warm up, and leave the focused testing to pure test sessions.

I've been chosen four times, and I have neither Twitter no IG

I previously mentioned I hit 50° and 54° wedges bent strong, but I realized I left something out. My set-matching PW is cavity back, the wedges are not. With my swing, cavity backs go farther and higher, but with less spin. I had a spell with the CBX wedges, and was not happy. (The fact that so many are very happy with them says you need to test.) For those of you thinking about trying other makes, nobody has mentioned the TM milled grind series. Don't sleep on these! More than half the staff at my range uses them. (But avoid the MG2. There's a reason TM replaced it very quickly.)

I started with a 45° PW, and 50°, 54°, and 58°. I had a nearly 20 yard gap between the PW and 50°. I had the 50° and 54° bent stronger to narrow that gap to about 12 yards. (I worked with my instructor and a Trackman to get the yardage right.) I left the 58° untouched as I don't often use it for full shots, and when I do it goes farther than expected for it's loft anyway.

You can buy adaptors that fit a Garmin port onto a standard USB-C cord. I keep one in my bag. They're cheap!