How'd you play?

[MaxEntropy]

Got out with @DiscipleofPenick for an early round today at a new (to me) course. Used to be private, but now public. After a few years of being in disrepair, it is getting better. I really like the layout - tons of variety (wide open, narrow, target holes, etc.). Of course it doesn't hurt that I broke 80 for the second time ever (39/40 for a 79). Driver wasn't great, although it didn't get me into too much trouble, approach about normal but I felt like it was better than Arccos gives me credit for. Short game and putting were insane - 23 putts total with 13 1-putts, but chipping did the heavy lifting to get me in a position to make those putts. I chalk it up to the amount of practice I've been doing for the Sub70 wedge test. It also helps that I had back-to-back birdies on 2 and 3 (a par 5 and a par 3). Only one double thanks yanking a hybrid into the woods on a par 3. Tale of the tape:

[ParFore74x]

Started out rough on the front 9 this morning but pulled a bit of it back in line on the back 9. Had five doubles and one par on the front for a 49, with that par being on number 9. I was actually contemplating calling the round done after doubling 6-8 but, that par convinced me that I could turn it around on the back so to the 10th it was. Hit the fairway with my tee shot, hit the GIR, 2 putts for the par. On to 11 and it was the same fairway hit, GIR, 2 putts for par. The 12th is a par 3 which was GIR and 2 putts for par. Three GIR and four pars in a row, happy that I continued on at this point. Threw a double in on 13 and then had bogey on 14-18 to finish the back with a 43 for a 92 total. Definitely better than what I was envisioning after the 8th but not exactly  what I was expecting when I got started this morning.

[Kenny B]

This weekend was rough!!  Saturday saw my worst round since I moved up to the White tees last year... 89.  I was cruising along at even par through the first 5 holes, then went 17 over on the next 13 holes.  WTF??  I felt embarrassed to be displaying the MGS Forum logo Jones Bag.  

Then today I thought it was going to be more of the same with a +6 front nine score of 43, but did par the two hardest holes.  Turned things around on the back nine; bogeyed #10 and #12 with the rest pars for a decent 37 and a round of 80.  I made a few nice par saving putts including a sandy, but I also missed many easy birdie attempts.  I need to spend this week on wedges and putting.

[Kenny B]

On 7/15/2023 at 7:46 AM, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Shot a 45 today on my second weekly nine and that was with an opening hole quad where I just wasn’t mentally focused. 4 GIRs today. Putting was much better after calibrating my speed before the round. Had 1 3 putt that I just underread the break on a 6’ and had to tap in left after the beautiful 7w drive below.

Almost chipped in for par on 15.

My swing with 7i on down is really taking in the feels from my coach. Driver was hit and miss today. Also hoseled a wedge on 18 that I should have easily gotten on the green from 60 yards out. It was odd. 

Much better!!

[DiscipleofPenick]

4 hours ago, MaxEntropy said:

Got out with @DiscipleofPenick for an early round today at a new (to me) course. Used to be private, but now public. After a few years of being in disrepair, it is getting better. I really like the layout - tons of variety (wide open, narrow, target holes, etc.). Of course it doesn't hurt that I broke 80 for the second time ever (39/40 for a 79). Driver wasn't great, although it didn't get me into too much trouble, approach about normal but I felt like it was better than Arccos gives me credit for. Short game and putting were insane - 23 putts total with 13 1-putts, but chipping did the heavy lifting to get me in a position to make those putts. I chalk it up to the amount of practice I've been doing for the Sub70 wedge test. It also helps that I had back-to-back birdies on 2 and 3 (a par 5 and a par 3). Only one double thanks yanking a hybrid into the woods on a par 3. Tale of the tape:

I also had a pretty solid day shooting 40-40 with 2 birdies of my own. I had a bad bogey streak from holes 8 through 14 so I played the other 11 holes in +1. It was close to being an A game day, but I can live with a B+. The course is Tanglewood on Cleveland's east side suburbs. They also hosted PGA events back in the 70s and 80s.

[MaxEntropy]

3 minutes ago, DiscipleofPenick said:

I also had a pretty solid day shooting 40-40 with 2 birdies of my own. I had a bad bogey streak from holes 8 through 14 so I played the other 11 holes in +1. It was close to being an A game day, but I can live with a B+. The course is Tanglewood on Cleveland's east side suburbs. They also hosted PGA events back in the 70s and 80s.

I forgot I birdied 10 too - three birdies is a record for me.

[skraeling]

Finally broke 90 on a late stormy day.

[GolfSpy_BEN]

37/36 +2 73

I played well today. As a part of the Cobra Challenge, this week was irons only. Using my Callaway Apex MB 18 5-PW, Evnroll ER7v, and a 21° Callaway X-Forged Utility Iron I proceeded to play my low round of the season and frankly, my life. It was awesome! 

As the course isn't overly long, it relies on overgrown heather on either side of most of the par 4s and 5s, as well as doglegs and strategically placed trees, pins, etc. to challenge the golfer. Where I've gotten myself in trouble in the past is tee shots that run into the heather or through the fairways. Using the utility iron on almost every tee meant that I was 200-220 and straight off of every one of those tees. Another aspect of the round that made me nervous going in, was the need to use the PW for everything inside of 135 yards. Although, I guess I shouldn't have been, as it seemed instinct from when I was a kid kicked in. By that, when I was a kid I learned how to hit a variety of shots with a PW out of necessity, as I didn't have a GW, SW, or LW. 

What an absolute peach of a round and a day! My earnest wish for all golfers is to have this type of day, at least once. 

[JerryB]

Owen and I got a round in at River Heights today.  It was interesting.  The entire front nine was backed up so we were waiting on every hole.  But there was nobody behind us.  Finally saw a group on 14 as we were teeing off on 18.  So all the space allowed us to hang around on the greens and get in some extra putting practice as we waited, which was nice.

Definitely a tale of two nines for me.  Struggled to make consistent contact and lost several balls, putting was inconsistent (two 3-putts and four 1-putts).  But no blowup holes: two bogeys and seven doubles.

I stepped it up on the back, though.  Had three pars, four bogeys, a double and a triple.  Ball striking came around and I also had several missed opportunities for better scores.

I faded a bit at the end which has been a noticable trend lately but otherwise I'm pretty happy with how I was able to keep cool and turn it around after a rough start.  Owen didn't tell me his score but he had several pars and I suspect was around 85.  I went 52/45 97 (+25).

[MattF]

48/42 90 from the blues again at Windmill Lakes.

Front 9 was a bit of a disaster including a 9 on the #4 par 5. Got my head out of my arse on the back and started par, par then bogied the rest.

[MaxEntropy]

OK, maybe soon I'll stop talking about the round yesterday....

I just noticed this morning the personal bests listed in Arccos

[Kdawg]

I did my first 4 person best ball tournament this last weekend. My team came in 6th not too bad. Lots of good shots and bad shots as a team. Luckily we only had one hole where we all had a bad tee shot. 

[Rosey31]

So here is a classic example of why some of us have a love hate relationship with this game. Friday I went out for a few holes before our standard quota game and shot 2 under. Nice easy just totally relaxed. Then on the same 9 for the quota I shot 6 over.  Looks like more mental work for me.

[BallsLeon]

On 7/14/2023 at 8:41 AM, BallsLeon said:

Last night I played 9 at the same course (Falcon Valley) that I played Sunday. My hope was to build on that first outing and make some improvements, but that didn't quite work out as expected haha. Had my yearly vision checkup beforehand, and they decided my eyes needed to be dilated for the exam .  So that made things pretty interesting, definitely relied more on feel .

While I did not intend to participate in the "irons only" challenge, after the 3rd bad swing with my 5 wood I stuck to teeing off with my 6 iron for the rest of the round. Hit all the fairways after that. My GIR% remained the same as the previous round, but I had 4 more putts for a total of 20 (up from 16).  Ended up shooting 53 (up from previous 52).

Also, on hole 4 I had the best chip shot I've had yet! I wish it had been for par or birdie, but it was still awesome. My approach shot went long past the green, and rolled up a slope in the rough. I took my sand wedge, and just tried to chip it out into the middle of the green. It dropped and just got on the perfect line to the hole. Didn't get any pictures in the moment, but mocked it up on maps:

Came back yesterday to do my second 9, and shot 50.

Cleaned up my putting some, back down to 18, but still had a 3 putt in there. Feel like I'm playing a cleaner game than usual, but I'm struggling for distance on my first two shots. I've benched my driver and 5w, so I'm teeing off with the 5h (150-170yd) and then a follow up shot with 5h or one of my irons. Teeing off has been pretty good, but I am usually flubbing my second shot (especially out of rough).
 

[Rick Bouchard]

Played Brookwoods Golf Course, close to Richmond, Va. on Saturday. Greens are full of fungi, and some are more than 50% gone. I don't recommend playing here any time soon. I shot 84 with 4 3-putts. Pulled a muscle on my right side and sitting out of a captains' choice tourney today for United Way, sux! 

[warrenator8]

Played well this morning in a quick nine holes. The driver was back to where I like it (slight fade) and my short game and putter were excellent for me. But the best part of the round was that my back felt good and did not feel stiff and pained at all this morning. Here's hoping it stays like that as we move forward!

[Sluggo42]

shot pretty well again, with a 73. Had another darned double. I felt like I let a few get away today but still happy. I like the word "Plateau", and for some reason, I feel like I might be on the cusp of a new one myself.

A lot of the credit has to go to my speed swing training for the last 7 weeks, as Im getting a lot of 250-290 drives, and also picking up a club with irons, thereby having almost 3 clubs less for my approach shots. 

Also my little Skilz putting mat. its only 7 feet long, but Im making more putts on the real grass so its working too.

I guess the main point of todays post is that hard work can pay off. As well as playing 4-5 times a week. That helps too...

[yungkory]

6 hours ago, MaxEntropy said:

OK, maybe soon I'll stop talking about the round yesterday....

I just noticed this morning the personal bests listed in Arccos

23 putts?! ho lee shet

[JerryB]

I know I say this every few weeks or so, but I'm back, baby!!  

Owen and I played the front nine at River Heights this morning.  I've made a few changes to...well, everything lately.  My most recent tweak has been to add a little forward shaft lean when I set up, which seems to help me make better contact.  As is my usual custom though, as my irons, hybrids, and woods heated up, my driver and wedges got very inconsistent.  It be what it be, I guess.

Had a couple of drives where I just squibbed the ball forwards but managed to get some good recovery shots to put me back on track.  Three of my missed fairways were less than a foot offline.  On a par three, I played my tee shot to draw and it went straight, then on the other par three I played it straight and it drew on me.  But both of those were otherwise good shots, and that's encouraging.  Played the smart shot on a few occasions, and that was also encouraging.

I made Owen work for it today.  Not that we bet or anything, but for both stroke play and match play purposes, we were tied going into the final hole.  He beat me by one.  I had five bogeys, two doubles and two pars for a (+9) 45 and I felt pretty good about the vast majority of it.

[cksurfdude]

On 7/16/2023 at 7:49 PM, skraeling said:

Finally broke 90 on a late stormy day.

CONGRATS!!!! 

[Jim Shaw]

kindof a crazy weather day today and a crazy golf day.

Wind was gusty 15-30 km and it was a bit cooler, my jacket was on and off as I went in and out of the shade of the trees.

I got off to a poor start, 3 over after 6 holes, righted the ship with an up and down on the 7th and finished one under the rest of the way to shoot 74.

I feel good about settling down and shooting a decent number and I believe the difference was getting more solid with my lower body over the putts so I wasnt' blown around.

Should be windy tomorrow so will try a little wider stance on the greens again and see how that works.

[MaxEntropy]

5 hours ago, yungkory said:

23 putts?! ho lee shet

The crazy thing was just last Tuesday in league the putter felt completely foreign in my hands. I was clueless. Went straight to the practice green after the round grasping for anything. Golf, man.

[Tarheelvolvo]

Forgot to post this rd from two weeks ago! Played at Hells Point south of VA beach - very close to Sandbridge, for those familiar with area. 
 

Course was partially underwater thanks to a huge dose of rain the week before, but still mostly playable, minus a few water bunkers and soggy low spots. 
 

ended up with a 91 and finished strong with a couple birdies! The 6:48am tee time combined with zero range time before made for tough start, but got it back in track after the turn. 

[MattF]

16 hours ago, yungkory said:

ho lee shet

Cousin? 

[Sluggo42]

Apparently it’s Opposite Day, as I shot a smoking front 9, then punted the poooch on the back-

and worse, I lost two balls! Egads! This would have been the 3rd full round with the same 3 balls. And each lost ball was based on a poor decision to “ go for it!”

just those 2 caused both doubles on the back, and had I just accepted my fate and played a safe , but not spectacular shot, I’d probably have saved at least two strokes.

so moral of the story, play smarter, unless you absolutely have to go for the gusto…

[GVetter]

Played Indian Canyon in Spokane today and finally broke 100. Played well, kept everything near the fairways. Only hit two OB. Need to work on consistency with the short game. 

[Kenny B]

2 hours ago, GVetter said:

Played Indian Canyon in Spokane today and finally broke 100. Played well, kept everything near the fairways. Only hit two OB. Need to work on consistency with the short game. 

My wife grew up in Spokane and Indian Canyon was her nemesis.  She says that she hit every tree on the #9 fairway, but back then the nines were switched.  We've played it many times over the past 20 years, and she has gotten revenge.  Bing Crosby played there as a kid.

[skraeling]

So tonight was a weird one ladies and gents.

I lost a skin on a par 3... to a hole in one from the group behind me.  I cant even be mad at that lol.

I also shot a personal best.  By a LARGE margin.

Finished the back 9 at my course during league 1 over.  Par 35, shot a 36.

Ive NEVER been that low.  I cant even process what happened. 

Got the 8i a bit thin and pulled it left.

Was in kind of a bad position so used my 5i to punch out low from under the trees.

The 6... was honestly not even all my fault I guess?  Ball was laying on top of something rock f****** hard and bladed my chip with the 56* across the green. 

Felt like I hit a rock or tree root. 

 

 

So not only did I break 90 for the first time on sunday... I ALMOST hit even today. 

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by skraeling

[Tarheelvolvo]

Last week played down near Wilmington, NC at Olde Point. Decent enough course, some exciting holes, especially 10-14, otherwise a fairly straightforward outing. 
 

Only real complaint was the greens. They were shaggy and bumpy - cart guy said they hadn’t been cut recently due to rain, but the issues I saw were not rain induced…

 

decent enough Front 9, but after the turn I got too relaxed and blew up big time, especially on 16. Reigned it in to finish strong, but what could have been a mid-80’s round turned into another 90…

 

[MaxEntropy]

I had another good round in league last night. Driver continues to be somewhat iffy, but didn't get me into too much trouble. I scrambled like a mad man to end up with 6 pars and 3 bogies. The best hole for me was actually an bogey - it could have been a disaster. I toe-hooked my drive through some trees, but mostly had a shot to get near the green. I could not go at the green due to more trees, but intended to lay up just short as there is bunker on the right side of the green that had to be my target. I topped my 4H , leaving me about 100 to the middle of the green. I then pushed my gap wedge a bit and got a terrible kick off the right side of the green. A decent chip left me about a 6 footer for bogey, which I made. It's not often you talk about a great bogey save, but this was one, in my mind. After that hole was 5 straight pars.

It was a really fun and competitive round. I work with my opponent and like playing against him. I was giving him 1 stroke (which was wasted since he beat me without the stroke on the hardest hole). We had a few occasions where he would hit a great approach and I would one-up him by dropping one inside him, then he would do it to me. It was fun to watch and be a part of. Ultimately we tied on strokes and I beat him 5-4 on holes. I ended up with low gross for the night and tied with my opponent for low net of 32.

The bad news with all this is my league handicap dropped to a 5 after last night. Obviously the numbers don't lie, but I don't feel like that is accurate. Either that or I don't want it to be accurate. GIVE ME MORE STROKES, MAN!