A thread about Kirke

[GolfSpy MPR]

On 8/4/2021 at 12:53 PM, Getoffmylawn said:

I noticed on IG you picked up a new set of US Kids sticks for Kirke, nice!  

I also noticed you went Tour Series versus the Ultralights.  No doubt Kirke is clearly advanced and qualifies for the Tour Series line, but I've been shopping for my 7-year old's next set (he's almost into that 51-54" set) and the premium seems kind of steep to me given that he's going to keep on growing, probably quicker than I think too!  I felt bad this morning when my boy told me the coach at his camp said he needs a sand wedge, his current Ultralight 5-club set stops at PW.

Mind sharing your thoughts on the clubs you selected for him and why?

Great question.

So first: I totally agree with your steep evaluation. The list price on the TS series set for Kirke was $580. That's not a trivial amount of money. And I'll be frank: it isn't money I think I would spend outright on a set for Kirke right now. On a cash basis, I'm still a big fan of Diamond Tour's products.

But for this, I gathered up a bunch of clubs in my basement that were gathering dust and traded them. That made it a lot easier to justify the expenditure.

Right now, the set we got is the 54+, which is too tall for Kirke. It's really obvious in the wedges; he's either choking down multiple inches or the toe of the club is way off the ground at address.

If I weren't trading clubs in, I don't think we would have gone with this set, just for price reasons. I seriously do not expect that the irons will evidence any performance benefits over the DTG junior clubs. I have higher hopes that the driver will offer higher performance. In addition, DTG's wedges are of the same design as their irons; they are not "specialty" wedge shaped. Given that Kirke loves manipulating wedge shots, I really wanted to put a true wedge head in his hands.

I'll definitely keep this thread updated with our thoughts on the clubs as he plays them next season. He put the driver in play right away for his round of DCP this week, but that will be the next post in this thread.

[GolfSpy MPR]

Drive, Chip, and Putt Sub-Regional: SentryWorld (Stevens Point, WI) | August 5

We begin this event with two changes: a new driver and a new (old) putter.

As per my last post, I picked up a new set of clubs for Kirke for next season. They're the US Kids TS series clubs, but they are a size up from what he should be playing. But of course, he had to give the new driver a try, so we took it to the course Wednesday to see how it worked for him:

The reality is that, while it is too big, it wasn't hurting him at all, and on the shots where he really connected, he was launching it high and far. So he decided to put it in the bag for DCP.

Then, while he was practicing on Wednesday, he grabbed his old Cobra blade putter. Not sure what provoked him to do so, as he'd been putting with an old cut down Odyssey White Hot 7 all season. But he decided that the blade felt really comfortable in his hands again.

This causes daddy-caddie heartburn. Of course it's an irrational decision to swap putters the day before DCP. But I also have zero desire to introduce doubt into his head. So into the bag went the Cobra.

We were rolling in the van (with the whole family) at 6:00am; it's a 2.5 hour drive to Stevens Point, and Kirke was scheduled to begin his event just after 9:15.

Upon arrival, Kirke warmed up a bit, and then it was showtime. Here are his nine shots:

A couple of observations:

• As a pastor and public speaker, I'm insanely jealous of the starter's voice.
• Kirke goes all out on his third drive.
• As usual, he's completely no-nonsense. Every shot is fast.

As his event was unfolding, it seemed to me that he was putting up a good result. He didn't hit any obviously bad shots. So it was off to the scorer's table to turn in his card and wait.

There were 18 boys in Kirke's age group: the top two advance to the Regional round at Medinah Country Club(!). When Kirke's shots were totaled, he scored an even 100 points (find out how DCP is scored here). That gave him a commanding lead over the kids whose scores were already on the board. But there were still a lot of kids yet to finish, so the waiting began.

As the scores kept going up, no one was near Kirke's score. I was watching my fitness band, and my heartrate just kept climbing. Indeed, for a while, Kirke had not only the highest overall score, but the highest score in all three skills.

Eventually, one kid put up a higher chipping score, and then another a higher putting score. With two boys left to report, Kirke still had the highest score on the board. Both the remaining scores would have to beat him to keep him from advancing. Here is the moment that the second-to-last score went up:

So after the winners were announced, Kirke got a picture with the leaderboard (and the organizer offered to let us take the leaderboard as a memento, which was awesome!):

Here's the final results: https://www.drivechipandputt.com/2022/sub-regional-qualifier/sentryworld

So it's on to Medinah! I've already had Kirke reading a little history of the course, including Tiger's two PGA wins there. I want him to have a sense of the stage on which he has the privilege of playing. The next round will be a major challenge: there will be 14 boys there (top 2 at each of 7 Sub-Regionals), and only the winner advances to Augusta. I've already been looking up the results for the others who qualified, and they've all put up really big scores. Kirke's got his work cut out for him.

But it'll continue to be fun, whatever the result.

[ejgaudette]

7 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Drive, Chip, and Putt Sub-Regional: SentryWorld (Stevens Point, WI) | August 5

We begin this event with two changes: a new driver and a new (old) putter.

As per my last post, I picked up a new set of clubs for Kirke for next season. They're the US Kids TS series clubs, but they are a size up from what he should be playing. But of course, he had to give the new driver a try, so we took it to the course Wednesday to see how it worked for him:

The reality is that, while it is too big, it wasn't hurting him at all, and on the shots where he really connected, he was launching it high and far. So he decided to put it in the bag for DCP.

Then, while he was practicing on Wednesday, he grabbed his old Cobra blade putter. Not sure what provoked him to do so, as he'd been putting with an old cut down Odyssey White Hot 7 all season. But he decided that the blade felt really comfortable in his hands again.

This causes daddy-caddie heartburn. Of course it's an irrational decision to swap putters the day before DCP. But I also have zero desire to introduce doubt into his head. So into the bag went the Cobra.

We were rolling in the van (with the whole family) at 6:00am; it's a 2.5 hour drive to Stevens Point, and Kirke was scheduled to begin his event just after 9:15.

Upon arrival, Kirke warmed up a bit, and then it was showtime. Here are his nine shots:

A couple of observations:

• As a pastor and public speaker, I'm insanely jealous of the starter's voice.
• Kirke goes all out on his third drive.
• As usual, he's completely no-nonsense. Every shot is fast.

As his event was unfolding, it seemed to me that he was putting up a good result. He didn't hit any obviously bad shots. So it was off to the scorer's table to turn in his card and wait.

There were 18 boys in Kirke's age group: the top two advance to the Regional round at Medinah Country Club(!). When Kirke's shots were totaled, he scored an even 100 points (find out how DCP is scored here). That gave him a commanding lead over the kids whose scores were already on the board. But there were still a lot of kids yet to finish, so the waiting began.

As the scores kept going up, no one was near Kirke's score. I was watching my fitness band, and my heartrate just kept climbing. Indeed, for a while, Kirke had not only the highest overall score, but the highest score in all three skills.

Eventually, one kid put up a higher chipping score, and then another a higher putting score. With two boys left to report, Kirke still had the highest score on the board. Both the remaining scores would have to beat him to keep him from advancing. Here is the moment that the second-to-last score went up:

So after the winners were announced, Kirke got a picture with the leaderboard (and the organizer offered to let us take the leaderboard as a momento, which was awesome!):

Congrats Kirke on the big win and here is to another big day at Medina!

[sirchunksalot]

Congratulations Kirke! That's a big win and it's awesome y'all are getting to go to Medinah. I wish you nothing but the best of luck going forward and most importantly, have fun!

[tommc23]

That’s awesome I hope he has another good showing but no matter what this is an awesome experience for him and yourself!

[Nolan220]

This is great ! Congrats good luck next round but like you said it will be fun whatever the result 

[Rickp]

Good luck @ Medinah

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Incredible, good luck Kirke and fam!

[Shapotomous]

Huge Congrats to Kirke!!!

[DMDoran]

Excellent! Way to go Kirke!

[Shankster]

“Kirke Tracker” engage!

This is pretty cool to follow along with.

[Golfspy_CG2]

I'm late in congratulating Kirke.  That's absolutely fantastic.  Can't wait to see take his group in Madinah. 

[HeathS16]

Congrats Kirke! That’s very exciting! 

[GolfSpy MPR]

Tomorrow morning is likely Kirke's last tournament of this season. He'll be playing the UPGA Junior Tour Championship in Gladstone, MI.

Gladstone is a three hour drive from here, and (unfortunately) it's just across the time zone line. That means we'll be rolling out around 4am. I'd certainly love to see him cap off his season (five events so far, five wins) with another win. In any case, we're looking to enjoy the day. After his round (and lunch), we're going to play a round together at the course hosting the event.

[Rickp]

2 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Tomorrow morning is likely Kirke's last tournament of this season. He'll be playing the UPGA Junior Tour Championship in Gladstone, MI.

Gladstone is a three hour drive from here, and (unfortunately) it's just across the time zone line. That means we'll be rolling out around 4am. I'd certainly love to see him cap off his season (five events so far, five wins) with another win. In any case, we're looking to enjoy the day. After his round (and lunch), we're going to play a round together at the course hosting the event.

Good luck and enjoy both rounds

[GolfSpy MPR]

UPGA Junior Tour Championship

So, um, that didn't go as expected.

I found out Sunday night that Kirke's tee time was going to be around 10:15; that gave us some extra sleeping in time. I mean, not much extra time: I got up at 5:00am and we were on the road at 5:30.

The drive was uneventful. We got to the course and Kirke started chipping and putting. Everything was normal. Then we went over to the range to hit the small bucket provided by the course. His contact was...bad. At first, I thought nothing of it; we'd just been in the car for three hours. But he wasn't snapping back right away to hit crisp shots.

We got to the first tee. He was playing with two other boys (that was his entire age division). He had met them at previous events. As usual, they were bigger than him.

He proceeded to top his opening drive, rolling it about 40 yards. Then he topped his FW. He hit a decent third shot to get close to the green, but dumped his fourth in a bunker. He splashed out short on the fringe, but then rolled in a 25+' putt to keep things from getting worse.

I was honestly unnerved already. He was tied with both of the other boys, but something was amiss. It wasn't some big swing issue: he just wasn't making contact on the center of the face.

That hole set the tone for the entire round. On the second hole, his drive faded. Topped his second. Then a sweet 85 yard shot to about 12'—followed by a three-putt. On the fourth hole, he hit this shot, which I think summarizes the round:

Full shank, dumped directly into a bunker. If there was a bright side of the round, he played the four shots he hit into bunkers quite well.

By about the sixth hole, Kirke was in a deep hole, about 5 strokes back.

Here's the biggest plus: he really managed his attitude well. He didn't have a single outburst of temper. He kept up the joking and conversation with his playing partners. I was proud of him, because I know that was hard for him to do.

When the round ended, Kirke finished in the middle of his group:

He shot a 50 for the round. I believe it was the first time in years that I saw him play nine holes of golf without having a single score of par or better. It was just a struggle.

But golf is like that sometimes because life is like that sometimes. Maybe he was just off. Maybe he grew a 1/2" the night before the tournament and couldn't figure out where the clubhead was.

So he finishes his first season of tournament play having won 5 of the 6 events that he entered. And he got a good lesson in grinding out a round when the A game isn't there, which is something he (and all of us) need.

[Shapotomous]

Good job by Kirke keeping a good attitude during the round when he doesn't have his 'A' game!  We all have those frustrating days.... more often than not for me. 

By the way.....that video of what you called a s---k doesn't meet the threshold for me....that is simply a miss to the right!  Mine are much uglier, faster & further right with no elevation and a loud anguished cry of pain immediately after impact adding to the effect.   

[GolfSpy MPR]

5 minutes ago, Shapotomous said:

Good job by Kirke keeping a good attitude during the round when he doesn't have his 'A' game!  We all have those frustrating days.... more often than not for me. 

By the way.....that video of what you called a s---k doesn't meet the threshold for me....that is simply a miss to the right!  Mine are much uglier, faster & further right with no elevation and a loud anguished cry of pain immediately after impact adding to the effect.   

I appreciate your defense of Kirke here. But the reality is that this was the kind of shank that was so shanky that I'm not even sure he hit any part of the face. If Kirke had had a shaft in his hands with no head, just a weighted hosel, I think the shot would have been exactly the same:

[GolfSpy MPR]

Couple of updates:

First, Kirke has regained his ability to hit golf balls. So that's good.

As evidence of this, yesterday Kirke and I played as a team in a two-man par 3 scramble at our course. The holes were all set up within the normal course. The longest hole was about 130 yards. There were two really short holes, at 30 and 40 yards or so. The 30 yard shot was particularly insidious: the shot was blind over a hill, and the pin was tucked just barely past the hill.

Kirke and I had a blast playing together. We started with just the two of us. After parring the first, I hit a LW to the second green and Kirke poured in our first birdie from just over 12 feet. For the most part, Kirke putts second when we scramble. When he sees the line, he's a really amazing putter.

We parred the next five holes, some because we just didn't hit our tee shots close enough, and a couple of times because we needed to scramble for our par. Here's Kirke's tee shot on 3 that was right on line but just barely caught the front of the green:

When we got to 8, there was a sixsome on the green and a foursome waiting to tee off. Ugh. So we joined with the second foursome. Kirke loves to play in front of an audience, and hit a nifty 60 yard shot to about five feet. I made the birdie putt.

After a testy par (and our longest par putt) on 9 (another tough position for a 50 yard shot), we passed the first sixsome at the turn when they stopped for drinks. We parred 10, and then things got fun.

The 11th was a 115 yard setup, with the tees under a tree branch. It required the adults to hit a punch-and-run, but it's Kirke's stock hybrid shot . So he hit a perfect hybrid that scared the hole and finished inside 3 feet. Another birdie, and we're 3 under.

We also birdied 12 and 13. On both holes, Kirke hit good shots, but I got inside his ball and we rolled in the putts. Ordinary par on 14. Hole 15 was that blind 30 yarder I mentioned. Kirke hit his on the green but miles from the hole. I tried a spectacularly unsuccessful flop shot that was just chunked. But I cozied the long putt to about six inches, so we escaped with another par.

I birdied 16 to get us to -6, and then we finished with a couple of scrambling pars on 17 (135 yards) and 18 (120 yards). We had a blast!

Today, I heard from the course manager that our score (with tiebreaks) won the par 3 contest! So that was cool. We entered just because it was going to be fun. Winning the whole thing with my son is icing on the cake.

Second Update: DCP at Medinah

The Regional round of DCP is now just a week and a half away. We'll roll out early next Friday morning. We got an email from DCP that Medinah will be open for practice on Friday night, so we're certainly planning to take advantage of that. Also, the tee times have been posted here: https://www.drivechipandputt.com/2022/regional-qualifier/medinah-country-club

I believe that page updates in pretty close to real time once each player turns in his score. So if you want to follow along, you should be able to see the results there. As I mentioned before, there are 14 boys in Kirke's age division. Only the winner advances to Augusta. At this stage, every one of these boys is skilled and could advance; the winner (as cliché as it is) is just going to be the one who hits the best nine shots that day.

We're definitely going to take in and enjoy the experience as much as possible. Hoping to play 18 on Friday when we arrive in Chicago, then head to Medinah for practice. Kirke's on the tee at 1:00pm Saturday; by 2:00 we'll know the results, and we'll all load back up in the minivan headed north to be back for Sunday services.

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

4 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Couple of updates:

First, Kirke has regained his ability to hit golf balls. So that's good.

As evidence of this, yesterday Kirke and I played as a team in a two-man par 3 scramble at our course. The holes were all set up within the normal course. The longest hole was about 130 yards. There were two really short holes, at 30 and 40 yards or so. The 30 yard shot was particularly insidious: the shot was blind over a hill, and the pin was tucked just barely past the hill.

Kirke and I had a blast playing together. We started with just the two of us. After parring the first, I hit a LW to the second green and Kirke poured in our first birdie from just over 12 feet. For the most part, Kirke putts second when we scramble. When he sees the line, he's a really amazing putter.

We parred the next five holes, some because we just didn't hit our tee shots close enough, and a couple of times because we needed to scramble for our par. Here's Kirke's tee shot on 3 that was right on line but just barely caught the front of the green:

When we got to 8, there was a sixsome on the green and a foursome waiting to tee off. Ugh. So we joined with the second foursome. Kirke loves to play in front of an audience, and hit a nifty 60 yard shot to about five feet. I made the birdie putt.

After a testy par (and our longest par putt) on 9 (another tough position for a 50 yard shot), we passed the first sixsome at the turn when they stopped for drinks. We parred 10, and then things got fun.

The 11th was a 115 yard setup, with the tees under a tree branch. It required the adults to hit a punch-and-run, but it's Kirke's stock hybrid shot . So he hit a perfect hybrid that scared the hole and finished inside 3 feet. Another birdie, and we're 3 under.

We also birdied 12 and 13. On both holes, Kirke hit good shots, but I got inside his ball and we rolled in the putts. Ordinary par on 14. Hole 15 was that blind 30 yarder I mentioned. Kirke hit his on the green but miles from the hole. I tried a spectacularly unsuccessful flop shot that was just chunked. But I cozied the long putt to about six inches, so we escaped with another par.

I birdied 16 to get us to -6, and then we finished with a couple of scrambling pars on 17 (135 yards) and 18 (120 yards). We had a blast!

Today, I heard from the course manager that our score (with tiebreaks) won the par 3 contest! So that was cool. We entered just because it was going to be fun. Winning the whole thing with my son is icing on the cake.

Second Update: DCP at Medinah

The Regional round of DCP is now just a week and a half away. We'll roll out early next Friday morning. We got an email from DCP that Medinah will be open for practice on Friday night, so we're certainly planning to take advantage of that. Also, the tee times have been posted here: https://www.drivechipandputt.com/2022/regional-qualifier/medinah-country-club

I believe that page updates in pretty close to real time once each player turns in his score. So if you want to follow along, you should be able to see the results there. As I mentioned before, there are 14 boys in Kirke's age division. Only the winner advances to Augusta. At this stage, every one of these boys is skilled and could advance; the winner (as cliché as it is) is just going to be the one who hits the best nine shots that day.

We're definitely going to take in and enjoy the experience as much as possible. Hoping to play 18 on Friday when we arrive in Chicago, then head to Medinah for practice. Kirke's on the tee at 1:00pm Saturday; by 2:00 we'll know the results, and we'll all load back up in the minivan headed north to be back for Sunday services.

That finish! I wish I had that type of balance still! Great way to keep the head on Kirke (and Dad) he took the struggle like a champ and recouped.

[GolfSpy MPR]

12 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

That finish! I wish I had that type of balance still!

I'll take his finish, but given what I'm working on in my own swing...

 

 

[sirchunksalot]

58 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

I'll take his finish, but given what I'm working on in my own swing...

 

 

If you get it and have extra, send one my way. 

Best of luck at Medinah! I think it'll be a great experience for both you and Kirke and I am looking forward to reading about your experience. Have fun!

[Shankster]

Glad he cured the hosel shot.

 

Just tell him to leave those nasty shots to “Uncle Shankster”… figuratively speaking.

[GolfSpy MPR]

One quick Kirke swing for today:

And my two favorite current comps for his swing:

His backswing is more "swaying" and less tightly coiled than Bubba's, but I suspect some of that will come with added strength.

[GolfSpy MPR]

Kirke came with me to the church today. He's getting in some foam ball practice. This move is absolutely bonkers:

 

 

[Rickp]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Kirke came with me to the church today. He's getting in some foam ball practice. This move is absolutely bonkers:

 

He’s definitely gotten bigger over the winter.

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

I put on the golf channel and the putt chip drive nationals are on. How far did Kirke make it?

[GolfSpy MPR]

On 4/3/2022 at 9:10 AM, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

I put on the golf channel and the putt chip drive nationals are on. How far did Kirke make it?

Kirke got to Medinah last year, which is the Regional level (Local >> Sub-Regional >> Regional). At Medinah, he didn't hit bad shots, but other than holing his 6-foot putt, he simply didn't really hit any good ones (for him). He ended up finishing 9th of the 14 boys in his age group: https://www.drivechipandputt.com/2022/regional-qualifier/medinah-country-club

Looking forward to the year ahead for DCP. Kirke's "little" brother is 7 and so is eligible to compete for the first time. Christopher is my moose; although he's only 7, he absolutely dwarfs his older brother:

He's not quite so smooth as Kirke with a club, nor is he as driven to compete. But he enjoys the game and his driver swing speed is almost exactly where Kirke's is. If he makes solid contact, he might advance a round or two in the youngest age group just on driver distance alone.

EDIT: Here's Christopher's swing. He popped this one up, but the brute force is his move is pretty apparent:

[GolfSpy MPR]

Not been keeping this thread current, but wanted to check in here to say that, for the second straight year, Kirke has made it through the Local and Sub-regional rounds of Drive, Chip, and Putt and will be headed to Medinah Country Club for the Regionals!

Quick recap of the day: the Sub-regional round for us in at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. That's a 2.5-hour drive due south. Since Christopher's event began just after 9:00am, that meant we had to get everyone ready to roll out just before 6:00am:

Speaking of Christopher: I've mentioned him in previous posts. He's my little moose; only 7 years old now, he outweighs Kirke by 25lbs and is the biggest kid in his age group at most things we've brought him to. This year, he entered DCP for the first time, and he surpassed Kirke in one way: he advanced to the second round on his first attempt. At the Local round, neither boy put up a great number, but both did enough to win their age groups, and Kirke only beat Christopher by a single point.

We got to SentryWorld in time for Christopher to get his practice in. After some chipping and putting, which went well, Christopher went to range to hit balls. Unfortunately, he was hitting a bunch of low hooks; although I tried a couple of instructions to calm that down, they persisted into the competition. He sent his first tee ball OB left, then straightened the next two out. But he didn't get any of his chips particularly close. His putting was a bright spot, finishing mid-pack there, but overall, he ended up 13/18 on the day.

I'm encouraged for him. Making it to the second round in his first year was a nice accomplishment. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does in the same age group next year with another year of growth (gulp!) and development:

Kirke's tee time was about an one and a half after Christopher's. He showed his usual solid touch on and around the green, and had really nice control of his driver on the range. He's not (in general) going to outdrive most of the guys in his age group, but when he's on, he's going to be solid in distance and never going to miss the grid. That's a solid recipe for banking points at DCP.

Kirke was the second to start in Boys 10-11. He did exactly what he need to do in drive: 3 balls, all between 120-140 yards, all in the fairway, for 23 points. (For comparison: one boy in his age group scored 27, but that was one 150 yard drive, one 220 yard drive(!), and one that got zero points for missing the grid.)

Chipping was Kirke's best event of the day. His worst shot with within 6' and his best with within 2' of the cup. That was good for 45 points. On putting, he lipped in the 6' putt, left the 15' putt inside 4', but the 30' putt came up well short of the target. Oddly, both boys missed the 30' putt short, with their ball stopping on a downslope that carried a lot of balls well past the target. It seemed like a really difficult putt. Of the 18 boys in Kirke's age bracket, only 3 got it on the target circle at all, and only one boy got it inside 4'.

That gave Kirke 99 points, one less point that he got one this round one year ago in the younger age group.

It's a reasonably good score, but I wasn't convinced it would be enough. I told Kirke, based on history, to expect to finish as an alternate. Then the waiting began; there were still 16 other boys who had to finish and turn in their scores. Unlike last year, when they'd write the scores on the poster when each card was turned in, this year they were posting the live scores online. So here's me, hitting refresh over and over again with my darling little girl hanging on my back:

As we got nearer and nearer to Kirke's age group being done, still no one had topped his score. The top two from Sub-regionals move on to Regionals, so Kirke would still advance if one of the remaining boys beat him. But no one did. For the second straight year, he scored high enough to win his age group and move on to the Regional round at Medinah!

I'm proud of both of my boys. I think Christopher had a nice start to his DCP "career," and I'm obviously excited for Kirke to have another crack at Medinah. For those who don't know, if he wins there, he would advance to Augusta for the finals next spring.

On the drive home, I asked him how much he wants to get to Augusta. I've got some plans and drills so that he can be as sharp as possible for that event.

[tony@CIC]

Congrats to him and by the way a great looking family!