How'd you play?

[Kenny B]

I tried to make tee times for this last weekend last Tuesday, but I forgot that my club had a two-day Member/Guest and on Saturday there were two other "party" tournaments.  One of the couples that we usually play with had a 9:06 tee time both days but they had to go to Seattle, so they gave it to us.  So, we were the group behind the Member/Guest and the group in front of the first "party" tournament.  Hello 5 hour round, and I almost got hit by golf balls 4 times; twice while waiting on the 2nd tee, one from the 1st tee and one from the 3rd tee.  Shot a lousy 84 with no birdies; my wife had 3 birdies and shot 86.

We decided to give up the 9:06 tee time on Sunday thinking we would wait until the Member/Guest was done.  As we drove to the parking lot, we could see the the last group of the Member/Guest players on #13.  Let's see... they teed off at 8:58 and it's 1pm and they are on #13... hmmm?  Teed off at 1:46 playing with 2 guys walking.  The group in front of us all played from the Blue tees, including a woman; all of them should have played from the Red tees.  I was -1 through the first 4 holes.  I had a career long drive on #3, the #1 HCP hole, of 252 yards, but managed only a par.  On the par 3 #4 playing 148y, I hit a 9i for a tap-in birdie.  Nothing but pars and bogeys to finish out a front nine 41.  Well... that took 2 hours and 45 minutes.  The two walkers were only playing nine holes, so we bagged it too.  Slow play on a beautiful sunny 82º day at a muni!!!!

[StrokerAce]

Yesterday I crossed a barrier of sorts.... after many trials and tribulations I managed shoot a round in the 70's ... 79 to be exact. (had been stuck on 80, 81, 82 for what seemed like forever)

It was a fall-like day in New England.... low 50's on/off drizzle and I bought a tee time from golfnow earlier in the week when the weather looked halfway decent.  Figured a day playing golf in light rain is better than not... so I went. (it was only 20.49 so I figured even if I got in a few holes it'd be worth it)

Nobody in the parking lot; tee time came with a cart; short warm up and I was off by myself around 10am.
After I finished my first 18 around 12:45 there was still nobody in front of me so I kept right on going.   

Played 36 consecutive holes in about 5 and 1/2 hours.  Only caught folks twice but they let me play through.
Played whites first time and then the blues and ended 40/39 both times.
Course was soggy but not sopping wet; greens were aerated a few days ago and still had a lot of sand.  In some ways that helped, esp on long putts but on the flip side the putts didn't break how you read them.

 

A few things that helped me break the proverbial "80 ceiling".... 
- I started using the Grint app on my phone to enter my scores instead of the scorecard; this helps me mentally as I don't add things up and start overthinking it.  I let the app tell me my final score and just play the holes and try to score the best on each individual hole vs. I have to birdie/par this one...

- I read an article by Adam Young and in it he does a good job of pointing out that the range is where you practice and the course is where you play (duh!), but what he was getting at is that there is a time-and-place for thinking about all your body positions and all that stuff and on the course you just need to execute.  So this time I really tried to just focus on hitting the ball to the target and play "dirty golf" (what he calls it when you don't really worry about how you 'look' but instead focus on doing the task)

- persistence/practice/keeping the ball in play/chipping; I can't overestimate the importance of practicing chipping - especially with different clubs... saved me several times.

 

So, Max Homa and I both had something in common on Sunday, we both had breakthroughs of a sort, only his bank account is a lot bigger than mine today.   

I stole this from a podcast he did in the past describing how he kept plugging away at it...My advice if this is something you're working on - keep going, keep fighting the good fight, believe it or not you're making progress and it will happen...don't stop...ever.

[Wedgie]

Yesterday I crossed a barrier of sorts.... after many trials and tribulations I managed shoot a round in the 70's ... 79 to be exact. (had been stuck on 80, 81, 82 for what seemed like forever)
It was a fall-like day in New England.... low 50's on/off drizzle and I bought a tee time from golfnow earlier in the week when the weather looked halfway decent.  Figured a day playing golf in light rain is better than not... so I went. (it was only 20.49 so I figured even if I got in a few holes it'd be worth it)
Nobody in the parking lot; tee time came with a cart; short warm up and I was off by myself around 10am.
After I finished my first 18 around 12:45 there was still nobody in front of me so I kept right on going.   

Played 36 consecutive holes in about 5 and 1/2 hours.  Only caught folks twice but they let me play through.
Played whites first time and then the blues and ended 40/39 both times.
Course was soggy but not sopping wet; greens were aerated a few days ago and still had a lot of sand.  In some ways that helped, esp on long putts but on the flip side the putts didn't break how you read them.
 
A few things that helped me break the proverbial "80 ceiling".... 
- I started using the Grint app on my phone to enter my scores instead of the scorecard; this helps me mentally as I don't add things up and start overthinking it.  I let the app tell me my final score and just play the holes and try to score the best on each individual hole vs. I have to birdie/par this one...
- I read an article by Adam Young and in it he does a good job of pointing out that the range is where you practice and the course is where you play (duh!), but what he was getting at is that there is a time-and-place for thinking about all your body positions and all that stuff and on the course you just need to execute.  So this time I really tried to just focus on hitting the ball to the target and play "dirty golf" (what he calls it when you don't really worry about how you 'look' but instead focus on doing the task)
- persistence/practice/keeping the ball in play/chipping; I can't overestimate the importance of practicing chipping - especially with different clubs... saved me several times.
 
So, Max Homa and I both had something in common on Sunday, we both had breakthroughs of a sort, only his bank account is a lot bigger than mine today.   
I stole this from a podcast he did in the past describing how he kept plugging away at it...My advice if this is something you're working on - keep going, keep fighting the good fight, believe it or not you're making progress and it will happen...don't stop...ever.

Congrats Stroker! But dude why would you drive down your handicap? I’m joking, keep it up!


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[ole gray]

28 minutes ago, GolfSpy Stroker said:

Yesterday I crossed a barrier of sorts.... after many trials and tribulations I managed shoot a round in the 70's ... 79 to be exact. (had been stuck on 80, 81, 82 for what seemed like forever)

It was a fall-like day in New England.... low 50's on/off drizzle and I bought a tee time from golfnow earlier in the week when the weather looked halfway decent.  Figured a day playing golf in light rain is better than not... so I went. (it was only 20.49 so I figured even if I got in a few holes it'd be worth it)

Nobody in the parking lot; tee time came with a cart; short warm up and I was off by myself around 10am.
After I finished my first 18 around 12:45 there was still nobody in front of me so I kept right on going.   

Played 36 consecutive holes in about 5 and 1/2 hours.  Only caught folks twice but they let me play through.
Played whites first time and then the blues and ended 40/39 both times.
Course was soggy but not sopping wet; greens were aerated a few days ago and still had a lot of sand.  In some ways that helped, esp on long putts but on the flip side the putts didn't break how you read them.

 

A few things that helped me break the proverbial "80 ceiling".... 
- I started using the Grint app on my phone to enter my scores instead of the scorecard; this helps me mentally as I don't add things up and start overthinking it.  I let the app tell me my final score and just play the holes and try to score the best on each individual hole vs. I have to birdie/par this one...

- I read an article by Adam Young and in it he does a good job of pointing out that the range is where you practice and the course is where you play (duh!), but what he was getting at is that there is a time-and-place for thinking about all your body positions and all that stuff and on the course you just need to execute.  So this time I really tried to just focus on hitting the ball to the target and play "dirty golf" (what he calls it when you don't really worry about how you 'look' but instead focus on doing the task)

- persistence/practice/keeping the ball in play/chipping; I can't overestimate the importance of practicing chipping - especially with different clubs... saved me several times.

 

So, Max Homa and I both had something in common on Sunday, we both had breakthroughs of a sort, only his bank account is a lot bigger than mine today.   

I stole this from a podcast he did in the past describing how he kept plugging away at it...My advice if this is something you're working on - keep going, keep fighting the good fight, believe it or not you're making progress and it will happen...don't stop...ever.

 

Well done partner and keep doing what ya doing.  Play golf and have fun with no thinking allowed .....    Good looking course  you shot that 79 on looks like you have to be using some course management to bag a low score.   I need to check into that grint handicap app you mentioned.  

[00sportsman]

Played a very short, miserable little exec with trouble everywhere and a ton of wind.  Had the most remarkably inconsistent round I think I could possibly imagine.  2 birdies, 7 pars and 9 double (or worse), with 8 penalties.  That's right, not a single bogey.  Everything was either really good or really crappy.

I did, however, find out two very important things:  I need to work on making sure I finish toward the target with my irons, and I absolutely have to find something between a 5 iron and driver that I can hit off the tee.  Teeing off on 240 yard par 4's is a complete nightmare.

[artful_golfer]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy Stroker said:

 

I love it when you guys post photos of a hole or two. Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

[StrokerAce]

1 minute ago, artful_golfer said:

I love it when you guys post photos of a hole or two. Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

this was about a 140 yard approach shot on a par 4.  

Short is dead - in the junk
Short left is dead - in the bunker w/impossible up and down
Long is dead as it rolls of the back and the cart path is back there so it goes into the woods.
Right is dead as there is a giant granite rock there and path is just out of the picture on the right with more woods.
There is a little bailout short right at about 100 yards or you can aim for the green.
The green is decent sized so you don't have to hit a perfect shot but standing in the fairway it does look intimidating....
To make it even worse, the second time I played this hole there was a group standing on the green (a 3some) and asked me if I wanted to play through - I said 'sure'... so they're standing on the green and watching me hit this approach shot..... (GULP).... I landed it about 20 feet right of the pin, took my 2 putt and was pleased.

[artful_golfer]

51 minutes ago, GolfSpy Stroker said:

this was about a 140 yard approach shot on a par 4.  

Short is dead - in the junk
Short left is dead - in the bunker w/impossible up and down
Long is dead as it rolls of the back and the cart path is back there so it goes into the woods.
Right is dead as there is a giant granite rock there and path is just out of the picture on the right with more woods.
There is a little bailout short right at about 100 yards or you can aim for the green.
The green is decent sized so you don't have to hit a perfect shot but standing in the fairway it does look intimidating....
To make it even worse, the second time I played this hole there was a group standing on the green (a 3some) and asked me if I wanted to play through - I said 'sure'... so they're standing on the green and watching me hit this approach shot..... (GULP).... I landed it about 20 feet right of the pin, took my 2 putt and was pleased.

I did look at it and thought it was beautiful but quite intimidating. Fun challenge. My guess there are tons of lost balls in the junk that no one even considers looking for.

[fozcycle]

Hope you can get that “finger” grip pressure straightened out.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Thanks Rick, a couple days with hot paraffin wax treatments really helped. Back to “normal” with pain levels down to a 2.


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy
Cobra Connect Bag: Cobra F8 Driver(10.5*) 3-4W(14.5*) & 5-6W(18.5*)w/Mitsubishi Tensei ck Blue Regular; Cobra F8 3 Hybrid, 5 Hybrid & 6-PW, Gw(49*) SW(54*) LW(58*) all w/UST Mamiya Recoil 460 ES regular shafts. Lamkin Cobra Connect grips with Arccoss tracking sensors. Putter: Evnroll ER6 33”. Bag: Cobra Ultralite Cart Bag(Peacoat/Silver).

[fozcycle]

Saturday, I played well, shooting a 39/44:83. Got into some trouble on the back but managed to get out of it with Bogeys. Only had 2 Doubles. My longest drive was 242, hitting only 4/14 Fairways, with 6/18 GIRs and only 1-3 putt. 30 total putts.


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[Sluggo42]

Shot a full round this morning in exactly 2 hours, and shot well,  37/37, 74.

had my first, at least that I can think of , 100% fairways hit. But only 55% of GIR. 30 putts. I think at that speed, I’m not even thinking, everything is just auto pilot.

[edingc]

2 hours ago, Sluggo42 said:

Shot a full round this morning in exactly 2 hours, and shot well,  37/37, 74.

had my first, at least that I can think of , 100% fairways hit. But only 55% of GIR. 30 putts. I think at that speed, I’m not even thinking, everything is just auto pilot.

Riding I assume? I played by myself this morning, walking nine, and it took me 90 minutes!

Very nice round.

[edingc]

Shot a 44 (+8) this morning before heading to work. Round featured a little of everything, good/bad drives, good/bad irons, good/bad wedges and good/bad putting. 

I was the first person out at 7:15 AM, beating the owner and maintenance crew, and it was awesome having the course to myself.

Double-bogeyed both par 5s which really hurt my score. I also three-putted from 15 feet on No. 5. That sucked.

The par 3s on this course get me, and I bogeyed both. They should be simple (they're straight with greens only perched up a bit), but they both play into the wind and one was playing about 196 yards today. Too much for my 4-iron. 

Highlight of my round was a birdie on No. 4 after a smashed drive to a tight fairway. More on that in the Epic Flash review thread.

Mindset is tough. A year ago I would have been ecstatic to post a 44, but now it just feels like an average or even below average round. Oh well. Still early in the season and lots to work on.

[chisag]

... Trying to figure why I came back to Chicago from Phoenix?  After playing basically everyday I just spent 3 days in the car and this is the forecast for the next 4 days:

 

TONIGHT   MAY 7	Rain	--44°	90%	ENE 16 mph	73%
WED   MAY 8	Rain/Thunder	69°60°	90%	E 15 mph	75%
THU   MAY 9	Thunderstorms	65°43°	80%	WSW 15 mph	77%
FRI   MAY 10	AM Clouds/PM Sun	59°41°	10%	NNW 11 mph	56%

Edited May 7, 2019 by chisag

[Sluggo42]

Geez Chisag, that would be enough to make me seriously question the move...

thats looking brutal...

[Sluggo42]

43 minutes ago, edingc said:

Riding I assume? I played by myself this morning, walking nine, and it took me 90 minutes!

Very nice round.

Yes riding- they have fast carts too!

[Wedgie]

... Trying to figure why I came back to Chicago from Phoenix?  After playing basically everyday I just spent 3 days in the car and this is the forecast for the next 4 days:

 

TONIGHT   MAY 7	Rain	--44°	90%	ENE 16 mph	73%
WED   MAY 8	Rain/Thunder	69°60°	90%	E 15 mph	75%
THU   MAY 9	Thunderstorms	65°43°	80%	WSW 15 mph	77%
FRI   MAY 10	AM Clouds/PM Sun	59°41°	10%	NNW 11 mph	56%

Try fighting the rain and two school aged kids in the house. One in baseball and one in softball. Games are rained out when it rains so I can’t play and make up games when it’s not raining so I can’t play.


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[chisag]

9 minutes ago, Wedgie said:

Try fighting the rain and two school aged kids in the house. One in baseball and one in softball. Games are rained out when it rains so I can’t play and make up games when it’s not raining so I can’t play.

 

 

... I have already done my time.    Coached my sons baseball team from 2nd grade thru his senior year so I had to be at every practice too. But I wouldn't trade that time for any golf. Still have some of my players wish my a happy birthday 10 years later. It will be over before you know it so enjoy this time with them! 

Edited May 7, 2019 by chisag

[MaxEntropy]

It's nights like tonight that make me question my sanity in loving this game. I was feeling confident going into our league - I had been hitting my irons well and Mr_Theoo pointed something out the helped me off the tee on Sunday. 

This game kicked me teeth tonight. Chipping and putting saved my a$$ and I still ended up +13. Ugh. 

[Brian A]

This year has been extremely frustrating, while I know part of it is due to I was focused on training for my half marathon last weekend and only playing 1 or 2 times per week. I can't get off the tee box, its not my typical slice either, its every which way possible now, slice, hook, almost a 45 degree straight left shot, fat, thin etc. Had one of my worst rounds last night and I can't even begin to diagnose whats wrong

[Jmikecpa]

Went out after work and played four holes...only 4 holes. We have had a lot of rain and I asked in the pro shop if the course was saturated or even playable. Told a little wet but not too bad. Played one par 3 and 3 par 4’s. On each of the par 4s I lost my tee shot plugged in the fairway. Decided this was getting expensive and frustrating and walked off. On a good note I was 3/3 in fairways hit so I have that going for me.


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[null]

Played 9 this afternoon. Started off a little shakey and was 2 over after 3, but played the last 6 at -1 with 2 birdies for a 37 

[chisag]

1 minute ago, jlukes said:

Played 9 this afternoon. Started off a little shakey and was 2 over after 3, but played the last 6 at -1 with 2 birdies for a 37 

 

... Sounds very encouraging after a big change. How is the new swing working on the course? 

[Kenny B]

On 5/6/2019 at 9:48 AM, GolfSpy Stroker said:

Yesterday I crossed a barrier of sorts.... after many trials and tribulations I managed shoot a round in the 70's ... 79 to be exact. (had been stuck on 80, 81, 82 for what seemed like forever)

It was a fall-like day in New England.... low 50's on/off drizzle and I bought a tee time from golfnow earlier in the week when the weather looked halfway decent.  Figured a day playing golf in light rain is better than not... so I went. (it was only 20.49 so I figured even if I got in a few holes it'd be worth it)

Nobody in the parking lot; tee time came with a cart; short warm up and I was off by myself around 10am.
After I finished my first 18 around 12:45 there was still nobody in front of me so I kept right on going.   

Played 36 consecutive holes in about 5 and 1/2 hours.  Only caught folks twice but they let me play through.
Played whites first time and then the blues and ended 40/39 both times.
Course was soggy but not sopping wet; greens were aerated a few days ago and still had a lot of sand.  In some ways that helped, esp on long putts but on the flip side the putts didn't break how you read them.

 

A few things that helped me break the proverbial "80 ceiling".... 
- I started using the Grint app on my phone to enter my scores instead of the scorecard; this helps me mentally as I don't add things up and start overthinking it.  I let the app tell me my final score and just play the holes and try to score the best on each individual hole vs. I have to birdie/par this one...

- I read an article by Adam Young and in it he does a good job of pointing out that the range is where you practice and the course is where you play (duh!), but what he was getting at is that there is a time-and-place for thinking about all your body positions and all that stuff and on the course you just need to execute.  So this time I really tried to just focus on hitting the ball to the target and play "dirty golf" (what he calls it when you don't really worry about how you 'look' but instead focus on doing the task)

- persistence/practice/keeping the ball in play/chipping; I can't overestimate the importance of practicing chipping - especially with different clubs... saved me several times.

 

So, Max Homa and I both had something in common on Sunday, we both had breakthroughs of a sort, only his bank account is a lot bigger than mine today.   

I stole this from a podcast he did in the past describing how he kept plugging away at it...My advice if this is something you're working on - keep going, keep fighting the good fight, believe it or not you're making progress and it will happen...don't stop...ever.

Congratulations!!  Not that you've done it, it will be easier next time.  

I like the idea of using The Grint app.  I use The Grint but never used the app because my phone would die before the end of a round.  But I got a new iPhone a few months ago, so maybe I'll try it this weekend.

[null]

8 hours ago, chisag said:

 

... Sounds very encouraging after a big change. How is the new swing working on the course? 

Its really coming together. I'd say I'm making the new move about 70% of the time. Stoll find myself sliding, but I have the knowledge now to self diagnose. 

[fozcycle]

Tuesday I decided to take a break from the Arccos and just play, so I bagged my Hogan Ptx’s and Tkt Wedges with my Cobra Woods. 41/46:87. Not too bad, because I know where I made a couple Course management errors that ended up costing me some strokes.


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[cnosil]

Golf is such a funny game.   League match tonight and overall I played pretty well.   Got to the course early and working on my pitching and chipping and it went fantastic.  Distance control was good and all the shots were solid.    First hole I pulled my drive a bit and flew the green with my wedge chipped back and 2 putted for a bogey.  Lots of pars and my only issue was that my tee shots were drifting right. Fortunately the course was pretty open so my shots were recoverable.  Final hole was a disaster,  big slice into the brush,  dropped, topped my next into the brush, dropped,  hit the green, and a simple two putt for a triple bogey 7.  

The big miss with my driver has crept into my game the past few weeks and I need to figure out the fix.

[DiscipleofPenick]

5 over thru 13 then the rain hit. Very windy but finally a dry day. Irons and putter working drives not so much, but building towards.... something

Take Dead Aim

[Sluggo42]

A nice 1 over, 71 today, but, from the white tees. Nice warm overcast day...

[Big money]

Course was completely soaked this AM and we played lift clean and place. Shot a 48 for 9 holes which isn’t all that bad for me. Just an average round of nothing happening. But I did keep the ball in play all round long. Just swinging my swing is making the tee to green game much more manageable. Really feel a super good round this season if I get the whole game working