Official 2020 MGS Hard Rock Challenge

[RoverRick 1,545]

Dang, that is quite a job change.  Did you get a job at a golf course? 

No. The management part of my job has been “in addition to” other things. Now it is just management, but that is because after we expanded in Texas, I get Phone calls and texts about every 2-3 hours 24 hours a day 6 days a week. So sleep is an issue.

So just because I get to go to the course, doesn’t mean I will not be interrupted, or even get to play.

Today, I went to the course at 11 this morning and was on the range when the phone rang. I never made it on the course and didn’t get this resolved until 8 pm. I also packed a bag because I may learn this is not quite a resolved as I thought, and may have to leave the house at 2 am and be out until Saturday night. Or I may sleep through the night and play 27 holes tomorrow. (Playing the odds, I packed a bag for a trip, I didn’t put my clubs in the car.)

I plan on playing the HRC for 9 holes tomorrow.


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[tchat07 1,100]

First HRC day complete I shot a 42 on the front nine at a local course I had never played. Not sure how to do the calculations from here I am a 8.5 handicap. Came super close to taking the coveted long drive spot but both shots were about 3 to 5 feet through the fairway.

For me that's the story of my life with long drive, I have hit some "hit nasty bombs" but they always end up less than 5 feet outside the fairway haha. I followed[mention=54754]hardcorelooper[/mention] and went with a Titleist Velocity (not a sweet orange one though) and alas lost it on hole 15 on the back nine.

 

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[HardcoreLooper 5,108]

8 hours ago, tchat07 said:

First HRC day complete I shot a 38 on the front nine at a local course I had never played. Not sure how to do the calculations from here I am a 8.5 handicap. Came super close to taking the coveted long drive spot but both shots were about 3 to 5 feet through the fairway.

For me that's the story of my life with long drive, I have hit some "hit nasty bombs" but they always end up less than 5 feet outside the fairway haha. I followed[mention=54754]hardcorelooper[/mention] and went with a Titleist Velocity (not a sweet orange one though) and alas lost it on hole 15 on the back nine.

 

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Nice round!  Which tees did you play?

[tchat07 1,100]

Nice round!  Which tees did you play?

Thanks I played from the blue

 

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[TCUFrog 426]

I bought my wife some Chaos golf balls (She likes the colorful golf balls...). I'm going to have to steal a few balls from her bag. Will kneel to the golf gods before teeing off, asking them to protect my forearms and reduce the shanks.

[JohnSmalls 5,954]

12 hours ago, tchat07 said:

Not sure how to do the calculations from here I am a 8.5 handicap.

Nice going!  All I need are score, handicap, slope and course rating--excel handles the rest! 

[JohnSmalls 5,954]

Scoring is now live!  (And there is a new leader in the house)

[JohnSmalls 5,954]

Currently in the middle of a round for the challenge.   And I may just have to replace my Bridgestones with nitros.  
 

Said no man ever. 

[sirchunksalot 8,765]

3 minutes ago, JohnSmalls said:

Currently in the middle of a round for the challenge.   And I may just have to replace my Bridgestones with nitros.  
 

Said no man ever. 

You almost had me for a second. That's the beauty of working on a Saturday and being sleep deprived. I planned on playing today, if we had gotten off at 3:15, but they worked us an extra hour. Hopefully the rain will hold off tomorrow and I can get some golf in. 

[JohnSmalls 5,954]

1 hour ago, sirchunksalot said:

You almost had me for a second. That's the beauty of working on a Saturday and being sleep deprived. I planned on playing today, if we had gotten off at 3:15, but they worked us an extra hour. Hopefully the rain will hold off tomorrow and I can get some golf in. 

I’m dreaming of hitting a real ball again. I’ve played a menagerie of rocks this past week and one thing is for certain, Top Flites are about a club shorter than my gamers.  
 

for the rain. Hope you can get out and enjoy some fresh air

[HardcoreLooper 5,108]

On 7/8/2020 at 11:11 PM, fixyurdivot said:

So this is over already and I haven't even launched a rock .

Not in the least.  My round didn't hold up at all.  Get out there and launch 'em.

[fixyurdivot 8,519]

17 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

Not in the least.  My round didn't hold up at all.  Get out there and launch 'em.

Will do... just as soon as I can find some time.  The HRC coincides with the seasons best hatches. 

[sirchunksalot 8,765]

I played my second round in the Hard Rock Challenge today. I brought out the modern clubs and played a Nitro ball. Let's just say I'm going to have a hard time defending my Hard Rock crown playing the way I did today.

 

Shot a lovely +20 56 hitting both a single fairway and green. Couple that with 23 putts and 5 3 putts, it doesn't lead to great scoring. My driver was off terribly and my short game was atrocious. I hit three shots into the high grass that led to some short punch outs that cost me, too. Ok, that's enough with the negativity of my round today. My iron game was the most solid I've ever had, I only thinned two shots and didn't chunk a single one. It was glorious! It wasn't the most accurate, but to not hit a chunky 6 iron 30 yards was an anomaly. 

I finally figured out driver on 7 realizing I needed to weaken my grip and my last two drives were relatively solid. Also, about those Nitro's, my first drive of the day sent a shockwave up my arm that resonated in my elbow. It was the worst feeling golf shot I've felt in recent memory. 

[HardcoreLooper 5,108]

On 7/12/2020 at 5:59 PM, sirchunksalot said:

I played my second round in the Hard Rock Challenge today. I brought out the modern clubs and played a Nitro ball. Let's just say I'm going to have a hard time defending my Hard Rock crown playing the way I did today.

 

Shot a lovely +20 56 hitting both a single fairway and green. Couple that with 23 putts and 5 3 putts, it doesn't lead to great scoring. My driver was off terribly and my short game was atrocious. I hit three shots into the high grass that led to some short punch outs that cost me, too. Ok, that's enough with the negativity of my round today. My iron game was the most solid I've ever had, I only thinned two shots and didn't chunk a single one. It was glorious! It wasn't the most accurate, but to not hit a chunky 6 iron 30 yards was an anomaly. 

I finally figured out driver on 7 realizing I needed to weaken my grip and my last two drives were relatively solid. Also, about those Nitro's, my first drive of the day sent a shockwave up my arm that resonated in my elbow. It was the worst feeling golf shot I've felt in recent memory. 

Hang in there Chunks!  We've all been there.

[fixyurdivot 8,519]

On 7/12/2020 at 3:59 PM, sirchunksalot said:

I played my second round in the Hard Rock Challenge today. I brought out the modern clubs and played a Nitro ball. Let's just say I'm going to have a hard time defending my Hard Rock crown playing the way I did today.

 

Shot a lovely +20 56 hitting both a single fairway and green. Couple that with 23 putts and 5 3 putts, it doesn't lead to great scoring. My driver was off terribly and my short game was atrocious. I hit three shots into the high grass that led to some short punch outs that cost me, too. Ok, that's enough with the negativity of my round today. My iron game was the most solid I've ever had, I only thinned two shots and didn't chunk a single one. It was glorious! It wasn't the most accurate, but to not hit a chunky 6 iron 30 yards was an anomaly. 

I finally figured out driver on 7 realizing I needed to weaken my grip and my last two drives were relatively solid. Also, about those Nitro's, my first drive of the day sent a shockwave up my arm that resonated in my elbow. It was the worst feeling golf shot I've felt in recent memory. 

Karma (or payback).... your regulars are sending you a not so subtle message .

[MaxEntropy 6,517]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

All in one, nine hole round.

Stay tuned for the full details tomorrow.

[StrawberryShortCake 616]

Well that was..... Let's say interesting. These balls even off forged clubs felt like absolute dog crap. This is my best effort playing these awful awful balls. I'm not sure how anyone can actually game these things. Good luck guys I'm not playing another round with these granite spheres. 

[MaxEntropy 6,517]

My ball of choice for my round was a Top Flite XL Straight - I assume that is a low spin variant of an already low spin ball. When I got to the course, I putted for a while so I could get used to the sound and feel of putting a billiard ball. Even with the soft face of my Stroke Lab putter, the sound was not at all muted - it sounded like a ball bearing bouncing off a steel plate, which was gross.

Then I practiced chipping - I knew I was not going to be able to stop the ball so I needed to "recalibrate" my brain on where I should land these things.

I played poorly the first few holes. I wish I could blame the ball, but alas, it was me. The first hole was a high weak flare to the right. Fortunately, it was far enough to the right that I almost had a shot, but I had to aim to the right side of the green (too bad I can't draw the ball, at least not on purpose). A chip and a 2-putt later, I walked off with bogey. The second hole was garbage. I topped my tee shot, followed by a 3W off the cart path, a chip that rolled into a pond (aside: I can't believe I made the effort to retrieve a Top Flite from a pond, but I did). Chip and 2-putt for a triple. The next two holes were not much better. Tee shot on #3 hit a tree, started coming back at me, and trickled on the cart path for a net 95 yard 7 iron. I was +7 after 4 holes. On the 5th hole, I finally hit a decent tee shot (8 iron to a par 3). Who says it's not possible the stop a Top Flite?

In reality, I doubt it actually backed up, rather bounced back as a result of a steep decent angle and softness of the green.

The next hole is a par 5 (see important scoring details below). Finally hit a good drive. Hit a 6 iron up the hill for an easy 2-putt birdie.

The next hole is also a par 5, which I parred. Hole #8 is usually a bit of a struggle for me - there are no bail-out areas. You either hit the fairway or you are staring down a bogey (or worse). I ended up in the middle of the fairway with ~120 to the pin. You can't see the pin because the tee shot ends up down in a valley, but I always pick my target as I am walking down the hill. I knew I started the ball on a good line. Here is where the second shot stopped.

Yeah, I missed a 3 foot birdie putt.  (Another aside: we all determined there must be a guy or guys in a league in front of us who drag their feet and/or weigh 400 lbs. as every green was really bumpy around the hole.)

To summarize, I ended up shooting my league handicap (+8) by finishing the last 4 holes at even par. I could not make any putts, though. I 2-putted every single green even though I had plenty of realistic chances to 1-putt. I think the sound/feel of putting this ball was so offensive, I never really felt like I could be aggressive and, with the bumpy greens, the ball wobbled a lot. On the first green, everyone saw my ball kick hard left off some bump on my short par putt.

I honestly believe I could score just fine if I chose to play garbage balls on a regular basis, but I just could not get used to the feel of hitting a stone with every club. The sound is another issue entirely. Totally offensive off every club, even a putter with a very soft face.

SCORING ISSUE: The screen cap of the par 5 6th above - you'll notice I had a 6 iron into the green. Our league has a lot of retirees and we voted last year to play just that hole from the senior tees because playing the whites on that hole was totally demoralizing for the older, shorter guys (lots of 8's and 9's was pretty normal) and it was effecting the pace of play. As it is, there are a couple guys that are extremely happy to bogey that hole. It is a pretty big advantage for the longer guys, but presumably our handicaps take care of that. The normal white tees are about 60-80 yards back beyond where the cart path is leading (Arccos has no idea where the actual tee is, but since it tags location when you hit, it doesn't really matter, just don't try to preview with caddie). All this is to say the rating/slope for this course (68.9/119) are likely not accurate as a result of our league adjustment. Since I am not in the running to win, it's not a big deal, but just so everyone is aware. In the future, I'll have to make sure I do the HRC on the back 9 to avoid the issue, even though the back 9 hates me.

Summary:

Fox Den Golf Course (68.8/119), front 9: par 35
My Score: 43
League Handicap: 8
Long Drive: 267

[Kenny B 23,225]

I'm not doing the 2020 Hard Rock Challenge this year... did it last time.  I don't like the feel of a hard ball off any club.

I play with a friend of mine; a 77-year old Marine Lt. Col.  He only plays Pinnacles.  Yesterday he shot 77.  Last month he shot 73.  Straight off the tee, straight off the fairway, and he can get up and down from anywhere.  Yes, you can learn to play well with any ball.

[JohnSmalls 5,954]

Looking good fellas!  @StrawberryShortCake I feel your pain.  I said that after my first round this month and have unfortunately played 3 more rounds. What tees did you play?  @MaxEntropy  I've played 5 different rocks this month (2 of which were old Top Flite XLs) and the one glaring result was that the sound and feel of an XL is single handedly the most unique of any golf ball made.  The sound is like nails on a chalkboard.  I am fairly sure that they dimpled billiard balls.