Jmikecpa

Played a scramble that I sponsored through my company today and it was just a joy. First off I was forced to take someone that is just not at the level of a player that normally would make the cut with some of the guys I have in the office, but being the nice guy that I am I did not really care. Second was that one of the guys in the foursome bailed on my at 7 AM this morning since he decided that he did not want to drive the 40 minutes to the course. Third was that one of the guys that was playing showed up over an hour late which is a mortal sin for me when it comes to commitments. Needless to say by the time that I hit the course I had steam coming out of my ears which I somehow channelled into my game. Had to play five holes as a twosome until our third arrived so I played two balls and made three birdies and two pars while my partner hit two tee balls dead right into a house, shanked a 5 iron into a parking lot and in general made me think that I could probably play four balls as a single and make the day a bit easier on me. Six holes in I got some relief and at least had one other player that was capable of getting off the tee box ( and I am not talking about with driver, literally just off the tee box would have been a plus). We went on to make 7 birdies and an eagle to finish at 60 and win by three shots. I won the long drive and was extremely happy with how the Alpha performed for its first round in the bag. Tournament season is winding down for me and I am playing a partners event this weekend and the NY Rangers Golf Classic on Tuesday then calling it a season.

Regardless of skill level milestones in this game that people reach are always a great accomplishment that should be applauded. Well done and congrats on a very nice round sir.

Played a scramble yesterday for work to glad hand some politicians at the Tuxedo Club in upstate NY and can not say enough good things about the course. Great conditions and a nice layout that has some great risk reward holes. Took three other guys that I work with and the highest index in the group was a 5.1....needless to say we won it going away with a 59. Saw a first in a scramble that a team actually failed to break 90 which amazed me. The only thing that was a bit of BS was the long drive hole where two caddies and the Asst. Pro watched me hit my tee ball and all three said that in their years at the club they had never seen a ball where mine was on the hole. The pro even said it was about 35 yards past the longest he had ever seen and it "somehow" did not hold up.

Played Saturday morning with my regular group after not sleeping for two days due to work travel and shot a respectable 74. Played well tee to green and putted like an absolute dog which I chalked up to lack of sleep. Went with my son on Sunday to roll some putts and realized that it was not lack of sleep that I was just blocking every putt so I took some video of my stroke and sent it to my instructor back in Philly. His advice was to change putters (I like where his head is at) to a heal shafted blade that would rotate a bit more and that should solve it. Played a scramble for work on Monday and putted lights out with the change in flagstick. Drove the ball great all day and won one of the long drive holes and lost the second since I literally ran out of fairway off the tee. Team shot -15 and won by two for an overall good day out.

After all that I had going on this week my wife urged me to play golf this weekend to get some time away from the new pool that Mother Nature installed for me. (and who knew all it took was 4 feet of water in the basement to get told to play some golf!). Went out with some of the guys in my normal Saturday morning game and birdied 1, 3 and 6.....only to play my way back to even par after 9 holes. Tee ball on the par 4 9th landed in the middle of the green and bounced over leading to a double after some short game adventures and a 3 putt. Stayed even on the back with a few birds and some bogeys with some pretty good play. Decided on 18 to try and cut my driver off the water up the left and well that did not work so well and hit a pull hook right into the middle of it. Got up and down for bogey and shot 73....which initially I thought was 74 but my math was off and wrote down bogey on a hole that I made a par on. Nice day out and at least got me out of bailing water for a few hours.

I would have at least hit the new wife a few times before the annulment......can't say the same for the Hammer.

Enough that when it showed up at my door I had no idea that I had even ordered it........the Mrs. had to remind me.

I'm game. I'm game.

I decided to take this to the range with me yesterday and hit it for the fun of it. I have to say that the attention that it draws is pretty amazing......then again I am the only idiot on the range screaming "POW" on every drive so that may have had something to do with it.

Heard Pavlet say the same thing at a clinic at my club. It was actually a pretty good exchange between him and the member that asked about Jack Hamm.

Played in my normal group yesterday and shot one over 73 with three doubles. Did a great job of turning 69 into 73 in a three hole stretch; one of the doubles was on the easiest hole on the darn course. Lots to work on at the range today.

Screams dead left!!! The head is about 4 degrees closed.

Heck no, I have never even hit the thing. Proof that too many beers and an ipad with the eBay app is not a good thing. I will post some pictures of it at address when I get home tonight.

Remember it.....I own one!

Played a four man scramble today with only three people and still managed to win with -14 for a 58. Played at Eisenhower GC and have been told it is somewhere that I had to play. Really was not impressed with the layout or the conditions so I consider this the only round I will play here until next year at this time. Hit the driver very well and putted lights out for the first 12 holes until the magic ran out. Correction: We lost by two when a group of 18 handicaps "posted" 56. Amazing how high handicap players become scratch when paired together?

Hit it last night on the range with the Trackman setup and was surprised that the numbers were actually better than my RazrFit Xtreme. Spin numbers were around 1850 with a 15.6 average launch angle on average. The ball seems to just fly off the face and stay in the air forever....so it will be in my bag for the tournament I am playing this afternoon.

I am just brutal on drivers and when I buy anything composite I usually just have to resolve myself to the fact that it will last a year at best. I picked up the Optiforce on a whim and have yet to hit it outside of the simulator, but can say that I liked the spin numbers with it in the few swings I made with it. Hopefully it works out and gets me through the end of the year.

Played my worst round of the year on Saturday morning with an 80. For the life of me could not find a fairway off the tee regardless of the club that I hit and having 15 footers to save par on every other hole was just bad news. To make matters worse I cracked the face of my driver with my tee ball on 17 and now in the market for a new driver if my backup does not work out for me. Here is to hoping that the FT Optiforce plays as well as advertised.

After a week plus away from the game I got out yesterday morning. Drove it well, hit the irons we'll and could not buy a putt. Ended with 73 after two over on the front and one under on the back. With how well I hit it the round could have easily been 68 if a few putts fell.

The casualties included a new SLDR S driver (guy claims he bought it the night before to replace a broken R1), Nike Covert Driver and some old Ping Eye 2s from the guy riding with me. Needless to say I am sticking with my normal group from now on during the weekend and if they don't play then I don't play.

Was able to get out and play on Saturday morning at a course about 45 minutes from my house with an early tee time. Decided to ride since I was not sure how my back was going to hold up and that turned out to be the least of my problems. Got paired with three guys that I did not know and by the fifth tee all three had snapped clubs after bad shots....the guy riding with me took the prize with five broken clubs in 18 holes. Could possibly be one of the worst times I have ever had on the course in the last decade and after about 8 holes I just wanted to be done and head home; even considered just unstrapping my bag and walking off. If I had been able to play the last few weeks I think I would have done just that. From the golf side I hit is pretty well and the back held up decent. Ended with a 75 for the day and made an all world par the par 4 15th. Tried hitting a cut up and over the trees and hit a tree 50 yards off the tee, two four irons later I was 122 out and hit wedge to a foot for a tap in for par. The guy riding with me made quad from the fairway and that was the hole his putter met its demise.

Played in a scramble today at the Cedarbrook Club on the North Shore of Long Island. Not the longest of golf courses, but the layout uses the elevation changes really well to make the shorter holes play longer than the number on the card. Had a really nice day out with three nice gentlemen and it did not hurt that we shot -10 62 to win by four shots. I put a new set of irons in the bag on Friday and after my second round with them they are exactly what I was looking for.

Played at Plainfield CC in New Jersey today, site for next year's Barclays, in a private outing hosted by one of my banking contacts. Very nice track and very challenging with rough that just swallows the ball. The format was best ball of the foursome with one member of the foursome playing the tips on every hole...I got nominated to play the course from the tips for the round. Managed to scrape out an 81 with three doubles all caused by the rough. I had two lies that my caddy laughed and told me to hit it hard and hope it goes ten yards back into the fairway. As an added bonus I got a few minutes with Phil Mickelson after he finished his practice round.

Played very early Sunday morning in a sustained 25 MPH wind that seemed to be always in my face. Was one over par heading to nine and hit what I thought was a great tee ball that got caught in the wind and knocked it out of the sky.....went 195 yards. Had 210 to the front dead into the wind and managed to hit 3 wood 165 yard and then a nine iron on....add the three jack for a double. On the back we gave up on stroke play and ended up playing match play of partners which was just a lot more enjoyable. Highlight of the day was hitting a Bubba hook off the tee that rode the wind and bent about 90 yards into the middle of the fairway. At some point this year I will get a round without wind and rain.....hoping that day is Tuesday when I am out playing at Plainfield CC in Jersey.

I like it so much that I picked up the matching three wood with a Matrix Black Tie over the weekend at Golfsmith for under $100 new. Even my wife would not let me pass up that deal.