Summer Par 3 League

[archieadams]

I've been looking around for a while and only recently joined/starting posting, but I wanted to document something cool that I've started up for the summer.

We have a Par 3 course here in the Greenville, SC area called Cross Winds. I've formed a league that will be playing the Par 3 course over the next 6 weeks, culminating in a handicap tournament on the last night. This will be the first league that I have played in at all so I'm really excited to start the journey. I plan on posting updates after each round as well as potentially any progress I'm making on my game in search of trying to win this league!

 

About Me

I started golfing my senior year of high school (2007), but I've gone through spells of playing relatively frequently to other times of going 8 or 9 months without getting a round in. My hope with this league is to start playing more frequently and hopefully have that propel me to playing better golf. Since the start of the year I've been playing about once a month and have been essentially playing bogey golf. Based on my swing speed (115-120 with the driver) and athletic background (all-state in basketball, almost there in baseball), I think I could play to a high single digit handicap with more consistent play/practice. As far as playing at this course, I've played 4 rounds there so far this year and have shot in the 68-75 range each round.

About the Course

Cross Winds is Par 3 course that has a really cool setup, containing holes designed by 18 different architects (Course History). The shortest hole is 84 yards and the longest is only 180, so it puts a heavy emphasis on your short game, as most Par 3's do. I won't carry anything more than a 7 iron with me to play rounds here. The course is lit and allows play until 10:30 PM each night.

About the Tournament

Right now we have between 15-20 guys that will be playing. We have guys that are low single figure handicaps and some that have only started picking up the game and would be in the 35-40 range if they had a true handicap. Starting next Tuesday, July 9th, we will be playing for 5 straight weeks to build a handicap for each guy specifically for the course. We will be teeing off at 7 PM each Tuesday. After the 5 weeks, final handicaps will be assigned and the following week we will be playing a handicap tournament to crown the champion for our league. 

 

If there are any Spies in the Greenville area that want to join in, please let me know and I can get you more details. 

[archieadams]

Alright, so me and a buddy went and got in a practice round today at the Par 3. Ended up shooting a 73 including 2 birdies but 3 triples and a penalty for a ball in the hazard.

The two major things that are holding back my game are consistent contact with my full shots and finding a good rhythm/stroke with my putter. Of my 18 tee shots, only 10 of them were struck well. The other 8 where either fat or topped. I've been working recently on gripping down on my clubs a little to give myself more control, but it is still a work in progress. I only hit 33% of GIR so I've got to do a better job of making solid contact. On the shots I did make good contract on, I felt like my ball flight is much improved and I seem to have eliminated the big banana slice that occasionally reared its ugly head.

As far as the putting goes, I had 34 total putts, including 1 chip in, 3 one putts, 11 two putts (4 misses inside 8 feet), and 3 three putts. This is actually an improvement for me as I've switched putters to a Nike Method MC-3i for my last 5 or so rounds. I feel like I'm hitting the ball better and holing more putts (was averaging closer to 40 per round before the switch) but my misses are still consistently inconsistent. One hole I'll push the ball and then the next will be a toe hit that ends up 8-10 feet short. 

I did chip in for birdie on one hole and felt like my chipping in general was pretty good and I gave myself quite a few opportunities to get up and down for par but couldn't convert enough of them.

 

[PlaidJacket]

Most interesting to me is the course. I'm glad you provided a link. Locally we're in the process of renovating and old abandoned driving range/practice facility where we'll be adding up to 6 par-3 holes. We'll also construct a new clubhouse and office for our First Tee chapter. I've made an inquiry to the course and hope to hear back from them.

You're lucky to have such a facility like that in your backyard. It opens up lots of possibilities for golf. Good luck with your league.

[archieadams]

13 hours ago, PlaidJacket said:

Most interesting to me is the course. I'm glad you provided a link. Locally we're in the process of renovating and old abandoned driving range/practice facility where we'll be adding up to 6 par-3 holes. We'll also construct a new clubhouse and office for our First Tee chapter. I've made an inquiry to the course and hope to hear back from them.

You're lucky to have such a facility like that in your backyard. It opens up lots of possibilities for golf. Good luck with your league.

Yeah its really nice to have it close to work on the short game. Hopefully they can give y'all some good feedback and direction for your facility.

[archieadams]

Went out an played a final warm up round this evening. We teed off right at 8 and got the first 9 holes in before it got dark on us. I played my best round so far finishing up with a 31/33 for a total of 64. Overall I was pretty happy with how I played and saw some real improvements from last time out. If those can carry over to actual league play, I'll be quite pleased.

My tee shots were much better, with only one being a true miss hit, and even it was only about 20 yards short and not a complete duff. I hit exactly 50% of my greens and only had 5 holes where I was more than 5 yards off the edge (one of which I pulled the wrong club after it was dark . I only had one ball that really had much slice to it and overall the ball flight was really consistent.

My putting stroke also felt better tonight. I had 4 one putts, 10 two putts, and 4 three putts, but 3 of those 4 came after it was dark and it was much harder to see the break and judge speed. There were at least 3-4 putts that I made while it was still daylight that I missed after it got dark.

I did struggle a little more with chip shots around the green than I had recently. It poured yesterday so a lot of the greens were really wet and I couldn't get a good feel for the roll out from my wedges. That's something that I'll definitely need to consider going forward with the way we get summer storms here that could leave the course wet when we play.

If I can continue to make progress on consistency in my swing, I really think that I can find some rounds in the 50's before the end of my league.

[archieadams]

First night of the competition is in the books. We had perfect weather after some strong downpours yesterday and a forecast for the same today but not a drop fell. We had 9 guys play today and several others that will be playing later this week due to a scheduling conflict here in the first week. Low score posted was a 66 and high was a 98. As I mentioned in the intro we have players of all ability and experience, so doing these first few weeks to build handicaps is really important for everybody. I shot a 67 and tied for the 2nd best round.

I've been really happy with my ball striking the last few rounds I've played and that didn't change tonight. I chunked my tee shot on the shortest hole on the course because it was playing about 65 yards today and that's about 70% of a 60* and I have never really figured out that shot. I topped one ball late in the round but I tried to muscle up on one instead of dialing back with an extra club. Other than that I got off the tee really well and didn't have a single ball more than 5 yards off the green. I still need to tighten it up a little bit since I only hit 8/18 but all the others were really close with the exception of those two.

My shot of the day can be found here, but I almost dunked a hole in one.

My chipping around the green was pretty good, I'm improving my feel on my bump and run shot with my 52* and left 2 balls within 3 feet with it. My putting on the other hand was ice cold. I had 39 total putts including 6! three putts. My game golf app has me losing 8.99 strokes putting for my round. I actually felt like I was coming up with the correct read a lot of the time and has making solid contact for the most part, but my distance control was not good.

Looking forward to next week, my goals are as follows:

• Hit >50% of GIR (PB so far is exactly 50%)
• <2 Three putts (PB so far is 3 three putts)
• 4 biridies (PB so far is 2 birdies)

[archieadams]

Week two is in the books and it was not a pretty one at all. We played the back 9 first and I shot a 35/41 for a 76. I only hit one of my three goals and wasn't even close on the other two.

Goal 1: Hit >50% of GIR (PB so far is exactly 50%)

This was a spectacular failure. For whatever reason, I could not make solid contact all round off the tee. I only hit 3 balls well, 2 of which ended up on the green for a solid 11% GIR. After striking the ball much better the last few weeks, some old demons haunted me this round. I started off just a little fat, which then turned into complete chunks, and then for the last 4 holes I switched to skulling the ball, including this beautiful 180 yard 52* skull on 9.

Goal #2: <2 Three putts (PB so far is 3 three putts)

This was the only goal that I hit for the round. I was demoing a new putter and it felt much better in my hands than my current gamer. I had 4 one putts, 12 two putts, and 0 three putts. However, I did have a couple holes where I checked out and had 2 four putts, both of which included one putt from the fringe. Overall I was very happy with my putting, it was the only thing that saved me from shooting in the 80s. 

Goal #3: 4 biridies (PB so far is 2 birdies)

Going along with goal #1, its hard to make birdies if you miss so many greens. I only converted one of my two GIRs, the other I left about 3 inches short of the hole and tapped in for par. 

All in all it was a pretty tough round but I feel like I battled through and had a much better mental approach even though I wasn't hitting the ball worth anything. I've had rounds like that turn into really big numbers in a hurry out on a full course. Heading into next week, I'm keeping the two goals that I missed this week while focusing in on total putting.

Goals for Week 3:

• >50% GIR
• 4 birdies
• =<34 total putts

[golfertrb]

Good stuff here Archie - man do i remember when I started - it was rough! Keep at it and you will be amazed at how good you can get! Thanks for sharing your progress and I will be following along :)


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[archieadams]

11 hours ago, golfertrb said:

Good stuff here Archie - man do i remember when I started - it was rough! Keep at it and you will be amazed at how good you can get! Thanks for sharing your progress and I will be following along


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Thanks for the encouraging words, I really appreciate it.

[JohnSmalls]

Welcome to the forum!  There are a few of us sprinkled about in SC.  Crosswinds is a great and fun little par 3 track.  @20xUnited and I played there a while back for a round of night golf.  @MGoBlue100 is close to you as well.  We will have to see if we can get back up your way.

[archieadams]

On 7/19/2019 at 11:17 AM, JohnSmalls said:

Welcome to the forum!  There are a few of us sprinkled about in SC.  Crosswinds is a great and fun little par 3 track.  @20xUnited and I played there a while back for a round of night golf.  @MGoBlue100 is close to you as well.  We will have to see if we can get back up your way.

For sure, any time y'all get up this way I'd love to get a round in. What part of the state are y'all from?

[archieadams]

Life's been busy and I just realized I never posted my Week 3 update, so here we go.

I shot a 72 which was a slight improvement from last round but I was still really struggling with my irons and full wedge shots. I only hit 4/18 greens for 22%, well short of my goal of >50%. I've been fighting against my natural swing for a while now trying to "fix it" but its just not working. I feel really stiff and robotic in the changes and don't feel like those adjustments work for me. I'm going to try this week to just step up and hit the ball and see where we're at. 

This was my worst round in terms of birdies, as I didn't find a single one the entire round. However, I did have my best putting round with just 33 putts which met my goal of no more than 34 for the round (and only 1 three putt). With reducing the number of putts, I limited myself to three doubles and no crazy big numbers.

One of the things I noticed over the last couple weeks is that my chipping is improving, but I still have too many that I am leaving outside of 10 feet. I'm working on making better decision as to whether to play a bump and run verses a more lofted shot in certain situations, and I'd like to get both shots down since this course and many around the area have some drastic elevation changes that call for both types.

Week 4 Goals

• 50% GIR (sticking with this until I get there)
• 33 or less putts
• No more than 3 chips left outside 10 feet

In other news about the league, we did have a guy make an ace on hole #18 this week which plays between 95-100 yards. We've had 14 guys post scores so far, with the best sitting at a 6 handicap and the worst at a 45. I'm sitting right at an 18 which is tied for 7th but looking to improve that over the next couple weeks.

 

[JohnSmalls]

On 7/21/2019 at 10:09 PM, archieadams said:

For sure, any time y'all get up this way I'd love to get a round in. What part of the state are y'all from?

I am in the upstate, just over the border from Charlotte, NC.  The other two guys are around an hour west or less from you.

[archieadams]

Week 4 gave us a scare with thunderstorms rolling through the area most of the afternoon. Those cleared out but we did play the opening 9 holes in the rain. As a result I didn't track my shots as usual, but shot another 76. I'm still struggling with my irons/full wedges. I went to the range Sunday and hit a small bucket of balls and was striking the ball fairly well, so I don't really know what's going on when I get to the course. This is the longest period of struggles I've had like this, so I don't really know where to go from here.

I think with my focus on trying to control my swing more, I've sacrificed some swing speed but also am not doing a good job of accelerating the club through contact. Even the few shots I'm making solid contact on are traveling 10-15% shorter than I'm used to. This week I'm going to go back to swinging hard and we'll see how it goes.

We've got one more week of qualifying before the tournament, so I really need to get this sorted out pretty quickly.

[archieadams]

Tuesday was a much better ball striking day, though I still struggled more than I would like. With the help of one of my buddies, I think we finally figured out the issue. I'm getting too steep with my attack angle which is resulting in my digging into the ground, even when I'm making solid contact with the ball.

I did hit 7/18 greens but the putter was ice cold. I didn't track so I could focus on my ball striking, but I had at least 3 four putts and a few 3 putts. I shot a 73 that easily could have been closer to the mid 60's I shot the first couple weeks. We have the championship coming up next Tuesday and I'm squarely in the middle of the pack as far as handicaps are concerned. I really need to put everything together for one round to have a chance to win.

I'm planning on getting out to the range at some point this weekend to work on shallowing out my swing just a little, so if anybody has any tips or drills that might help I'm all ears!

[Grit Golf]

I played in a Sunday morning league at a "pitch and putt" where most holes were 35 yards out. It took 90 minutes to play 18. The greens there are tiny and on a hot day you either have to open a long wedge or die your pitch into the fringe fronting the hole.

Our course/practice facility didn't have a par designation(?), Par 3 seemed too high and par 2 too low. Par 2.5 seemed to match up to our handicaps. It was devilishly difficult to not card a 4 or 5 once per round, but my short game got alot better that summer.

The course is called "windmill golf center" in Macedonia Ohio. Same town Jason Day's wife is from. He played the short course at windmill while he was world #1 and holds the course record at 28 strokes attested by the owner. That's 8 aces and 10 up and downs from within 60 yards hitting from crab grass. I was extremely happy if I could break 50 there.

Are you bringing the par 3 league back?

Edited June 3, 2020 by Grit Golf