How'd you play?

[Shapotomous]

I think I had my best ball striking round of the year yesterday.  The front 9 I hit 7/7 fairways and hit 9/9 greens.  The disclaimer on the 9/9 is that two of those greens the ball hit them but then ran just over into heavy rough and I couldn't get up & down to a back pin with the green running away.  But those approach shots were pured and right over the flag.  The back 9 I missed two fairways by about 2 yards each and was only in light rough so no impact to the 2nd shots.  I missed two greens by coming up short by over adjusting to those long approach shots on the front.  The only frustrating part of the game was the putter was cold and my speed was way off leading to three 3 putts. 

So the final count was 6 bogeys, 4 birds and 8 pars for +2 total.

My swing is in a pretty good groove right now.  I shouldn't be surprised because I have been getting in a lot of backyard wedge swings the last two weeks since starting the Edison wedge testing.  For me practicing those 3/4 swings a lot helps groove my full swing tempo for all the other clubs resulting in better contact.

[MaxEntropy]

I did manage to get another league 9 in last night. It was 43 degrees with a decent breeze and a very soft course when we tee'd off, so a little brisk. Other than the first hole, driver was very good. Putter was also very good as I made a couple lengthy putts. Irons were very meh and short game was average. Ended up with 6 bogies and 3 pars. Given the conditions, I will gladly take that score for the last round of the year. It started snowing about 3 hours after we finished and we have an inch or 2 on the ground right now.

[MulliganMac]

We made it, gang. It's November 1.

This is the time of year when my game goes from several days of practice and play every week to just playing a few times a month. In Virginia, we can play year-round minus a few weeks of snow in January and February. I'll play a few rounds with temperatures in the teens every winter. 

My results this year were a mixed bag. The lowest round was 75. Since the pandemic, I was able to stay low single digits but the handicap this year was steadily at a 6. It may be a bit of aging. Plus, the home course lost its greens in September due to poor chem management. They fried the greens one week and spent the rest of the summer trying to recover. To be honest, not being able to putt consistently on the bad greens probably helped keep the scores up. 

I'm looking at only one equipment change this winter. I'm switching wedges from Ping Glide 4.0 to Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore. I love the Pings. I'm not mad at them. I just want to buy something new for the bag.  I'd love to go black satin but will probably go tour satin because I'll get pissed when the black finish wears. 

For those of us who have off seasons, what do you enjoy about them and what do you hate about them? 

I like this time of year. It allows me to step away from the grind of trying to lower the handicap to spending more time in the gym trying to slow the aging process. I hate wearing extra clothes. Fortunately, a bit of cold gear and walking the round keeps me warmer than my partners who are in the covered carts with cart heaters. 

Enjoy winter golf, all. 

[MaxEntropy]

17 minutes ago, MulliganMac said:

For those of us who have off seasons, what do you enjoy about them and what do you hate about them? 

By this time of year, I am usually ready for a little break, if for no other reason than to clear my mind. Sometimes I am guilty of having too many thoughts going through my head that will usually reset with a little break. In about a month I will be ready to go again and be looking forward to spring. I hate that I have no way to do anything other than putting practice. Our garage and basement have too little head room for full swings with any club, so it is not unusual for me to not touch a club until the weather breaks in the spring.

[EnderinAZ]

I had a fine round today that played a bit slower. The snow birds are flocking back and clogging up the course. Not that I mind, a lot of the guys returning are my friends, but..... During the summer here in Mesa a threesome can blast around the course in just over three hours and we were at 4.5 hours as a foursome today. I digress. Shot a 77 on a par 73 with one birdie. We are in the middle of the second week after overseeding and still on cart path only. My partner for the days two ball game was fine through the front but the walking wore him down and his game went into the toilet the last 5 holes or so. We missed the money by a couple of strokes. I walk and had the ball flying where I wanted it to go today, and that made it a real fun day to play!

[Paul Hedrick]

Previously I had posted that I had a very UGLY game due to lack of play.  Since that time I've been hitting it twice a week, attempting to 'play the course', and paying attention to club selection, and my game has improved a lot.   My game yesterday was the best score I have ever had, and there is still a smile on my face this morning.  True, the course was just about the easiest course around here, but I will take it.  I made PAR!!  First time ever!

[Josh Parker]

10 minutes ago, Paul Hedrick said:

Previously I had posted that I had a very UGLY game due to lack of play.  Since that time I've been hitting it twice a week, attempting to 'play the course', and paying attention to club selection, and my game has improved a lot.   My game yesterday was the best score I have ever had, and there is still a smile on my face this morning.  True, the course was just about the easiest course around here, but I will take it.  I made PAR!!  First time ever!

Congrats!

[cnosil]

2 hours ago, Paul Hedrick said:

Previously I had posted that I had a very UGLY game due to lack of play.  Since that time I've been hitting it twice a week, attempting to 'play the course', and paying attention to club selection, and my game has improved a lot.   My game yesterday was the best score I have ever had, and there is still a smile on my face this morning.  True, the course was just about the easiest course around here, but I will take it.  I made PAR!!  First time ever!

Congrats on the personal best.  Shooting even par is an accomplishment no matter the difficulty level of the course. 

[Kenny B]

3 hours ago, Paul Hedrick said:

Previously I had posted that I had a very UGLY game due to lack of play.  Since that time I've been hitting it twice a week, attempting to 'play the course', and paying attention to club selection, and my game has improved a lot.   My game yesterday was the best score I have ever had, and there is still a smile on my face this morning.  True, the course was just about the easiest course around here, but I will take it.  I made PAR!!  First time ever!

Congratulations!!  A great achievement!  Do it again.

[rkj427]

5 hours ago, Paul Hedrick said:

Previously I had posted that I had a very UGLY game due to lack of play.  Since that time I've been hitting it twice a week, attempting to 'play the course', and paying attention to club selection, and my game has improved a lot.   My game yesterday was the best score I have ever had, and there is still a smile on my face this morning.  True, the course was just about the easiest course around here, but I will take it.  I made PAR!!  First time ever!

Congrats. @Paul Hedrick, great to hear that your extra efforts paid huge rewards.

[Josh Parker]

Played this afternoon and front nine was great!  Shot a 1 over and it was a dang 3 putt on a par 3 that I was 40ft out. 

The back 9 was slightly different. Shot 6 over with a double.  Finished 7 over for the day but should have been much better. I lipped out 5 birdie putts!

Best shot of the day was the par 4 13th.  Chunk 3 wood, 6 iron over the hill to 125 out.  Holed 3rd shot! 

[cksurfdude]

Could've played better....

Headed out with a friend on one of the Bethpage State Park courses .. not the Black (no no no) .. the Red. A few pics below of walking up to and around the 1st hole.

Beautiful crisp Fall day, with only a light breeze. Our playing partners were great guys, and one was visiting from Ireland - a regular at Ballybunion! The rare time he hit a shot offline I teased him: don't worry .. it's just not windy and rainy enough for you

So started off with a string of doubles and finally mixed in a few bogeys and one nice par on a tricky Par 3. 

Driver was working pretty nicely today, but otoh struggled with most of my second shots... Wedges and putter were mostly good (so I got that goin for me).

Unfortunately the round was going kinda sloooow .. sun was going down, temp was dropping and my buddy had to get to a business / marketing meeting (he runs his own business) ... so we quit after the 13th (hole overview layout below) and drove off the course (a little bit of an adventure in itself!).

Anyway despite a few disappointments with some of my shots I'm actually still reasonably encouraged .. in general .. with the way my game is developing.

 

[Blaine Dye]

Went and played yesterday when i got off work was a little chilly but we made it happen ended with a +8 still learning to trust my club up in the colder weather but i was still able to play and had a blast 

[ParFore74x]

Not bad, not bad. Played 18 this morning, first round in about five weeks so expectations were low. Started out rusty with bogey, bogey, par but things went south on five and six with a triple and a double. No biggie, right? Missed the green on the par 3 9th but pulled off a chip in for birdie and I was smiling as I made the turn.

Back nine went better with pars on 11,12, and 13. Double on 17 was the only hole that I was disappointed with. Finished the round with a 44/44, 88 with 31 putts. Approach shots were my biggest weakness today, forcing a few chips with most of those being decent so I’ll take it. 

[Big moose]

Shot 44 with a triple bogey. It was 54 and sunny but windy as hell. Lost 2 balls in the leaves and we don't take strokes for that we look for a couple minutes then just drop a ball down. I had 115 yards to the green wind in my face so I hit 7 iron and still came up short so I am not going to complain about a 44. Supposed to nice Monday and Tuesday but after that not so nice. Play well everyone. 

[Josh Parker]

Played this morning and took my son hoping he would start enjoying it and brought his putter so he could putt in the greens.  He had more fun playing caddie and filling divots.  But he had a great time and I enjoyed spending time together. 

Shot 6 over with some silly mistakes.  I hit the flagstick and thought I was going to eagle the hole but it ended up about 15ft away. 

I feel like my game is getting closer and closer to that break thru but need to minimize risk. 

[Dweed]

Might have been my last round for the season. Windy, 25mph gusts at 48* and cloudy. But man, despite the less than favorable conditions it was a hell of a round for me anyways. If it is my last, what a good one to end the season with and dream about for the start of a new one. Hit 6 out of 7 fairways. My GIR were 6 out of 9 and the misses were 3 feet or less on the fringe. Had 16 putts. Shot a 36. One of my better rounds this year. Starting to get a better feel for the @GolfSub70 Sub70 004 mallet putter. No 3 putts today.

[taylorjonasher]

Played 9 today after work at Hunters Ridge in Marion, IA. Weather was fantastic, and my driver stripe show on the range did not carry over. Driver was a liability today, with my draw/hook that is normally present inexplicably replaced with a strong fade today - I was dead straight on the range. 5 penalty strokes today killed what would have been a decent day. Short game bailed me out, and the distance control with the putter was legit - no three putts on the day with only one 6' putt missed. Hoping to put together one more solid outing this year where I can have all parts of my game serviceable before the weather completely turns. Finished with a 49 - one of the highest 9's I've had this year, but honestly my short game and putting have me feeling so good I don't really care!

[rkj427]

Played at noon today, with temperature of 50 degrees and very windy, 15 - 25 mph as another front moved in this afternoon.

Course had more people than I expected to see, but it was clear sailing with no waiting until we made the turn. Then we were behind a foursome riding in 3 different carts, and it appeared they played best ball as teams, from all the balls they initially played. 

There were a lot less leaves on both the course and the trees, and we actually saw them blowing the leaves from the fairways as the day went along with lawn equipment.

Hit 11 of 14 fairways, with a couple of dreaded hooks OB leading to a couple double bogies on the back 9.

Hit 13 of 18 greens, and again, wind factored into some of those missed.

Had 2 natural birdies, hit a 5 iron from 150 into the wind to about 4 feet, and a 9 iron from 135 with wind behind me to about 3 feet, and made both putts.

33 putts today, and with them not cutting the greens before we played, I am happy with that total as my distance and lines were fairly good.

Supposed to be similar temperature and less wind on Sunday, and we have another round scheduled at another course then.

 

 

[Jim Shaw]

Hello everyone...

Played in what we call at Olympic View "the battle of the elements" really it is iron man, the tees are placed at the very back of the holes and pin placements are very difficult.

Anyway it is a 4 man scramble, and our team won, -13, tied with 2 other teams at -13 but we won on a count back. 

Nice way to end the the tournament season, some good shots and especially some good putts were made, and some good laughs... 

[Josh Parker]

7 hours ago, Jim Shaw said:

Hello everyone...

Played in what we call at Olympic View "the battle of the elements" really it is iron man, the tees are placed at the very back of the holes and pin placements are very difficult.

Anyway it is a 4 man scramble, and our team won, -13, tied with 2 other teams at -13 but we won on a count back. 

Nice way to end the the tournament season, some good shots and especially some good putts were made, and some good laughs... 

Congrats on the win!  Sounds like a fun and challenging tourney!

[Josh Parker]

Got to play 9 this afternoon before needed to head home to pick kiddos up and work on the ribs.  Wife is still ou5 showing some big homes so daddy duty it is.  I ended up shooting 2 over.  Driver is starting to get sorted out and had several good drives. 

 

[Sluggo42]

I’ve concluded that my daily tee time costs me a few strokes.

we are the first off everyday, right at sunup. So we have cold (So calif cold anyways) wet fairways always, always dodging ground crew, and usually not a very good warm up. I’m usually 3-5 over on front, and back is usually 0-3 as it’s drying out and warming up etc…

that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it…

[Kenny B]

28 minutes ago, Sluggo42 said:

I’ve concluded that my daily tee time costs me a few strokes.

we are the first off everyday, right at sunup. So we have cold (So calif cold anyways) wet fairways always, always dodging ground crew, and usually not a very good warm up. I’m usually 3-5 over on front, and back is usually 0-3 as it’s drying out and warming up etc…

that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it…

Can't argue with it.  During the summer after irrigation system running all night, our course is very wet even at our usual 7:30 tee time.  Costs me ~15 yards off the tee that I can't afford to lose.  Gets better by Hole #5 or 6.  The rough is especially brutal when wet, and the crew doesn't mow until Mondays.

[ParFore74x]

2 hours ago, Sluggo42 said:

I’ve concluded that my daily tee time costs me a few strokes.

we are the first off everyday, right at sunup. So we have cold (So calif cold anyways) wet fairways always, always dodging ground crew, and usually not a very good warm up. I’m usually 3-5 over on front, and back is usually 0-3 as it’s drying out and warming up etc…

that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it…

Sounds like valid reasoning to me.

[fixyurdivot]

5 bidies .  Three on the front and two on the back yielding a 37/40 at Cimarron.  I think I may have had this many birdies in a round once before at Mesa Del Sol in Yuma, but it's either a PB or tied PB.  Either way, pretty fun making that many circles on the card. Unfortunately, two DB's worked their way onto the card as well .

[Jmikecpa]

As my time in VA winds down trying to play as much golf as possible before I head back north for the winter. Played Royal New Kent the last two days and yesterday was a smooth 70 off the black tees. We had a frost delay and it was 28* when I hit my first tee shot of the day. Quickly warmed up and I did not get to hit driver all that much the rest of the round. Played today off the back tees and somehow another 70 but not as smooth. I somehow forgot how to hit an iron and had to have my short game and putting bail me out all day. Odd for me to say but if I ever change my putter out please have my mental state evaluated. I had five good looks at birdie today and made 4 of them and also made a surprise bomb on 9. Next week is filled with more golf with Stonehouse mid week and Tobacco Road on Friday. 

[Shlax]

Very last round of the season today.

Finished the season with a clean 81(+9) which is my course handicap.

43(+7) & 38(+2) for 81(+9)

2/7 & 2/7 for 4/14 FIR

2/9 & 6/9 for 8/18 GIR

18 & 17 for 35 putts

2 & 0 for 2 penalty strokes

[MaxEntropy]

Got out with @MattF and @DiscipleofPenick for the last planned round of the year at Windmill Lakes. I finally figure out what I have been doing with my irons the last few months and hit them better than I have in a long time. All but 1 or 2 were very solid. The problem with that was I was long on quite a few greens. Driver was mostly well behaved, short game was pretty gross, but given all the leaves on the greens, I didn't really care. Ended up with a +14 84, which I will gladly take at this course. 

[cksurfdude]

Played very nicely .. the first 7 of 9 holes...

Hit good enough tee shots, careful second layup shots to get in front of the green, mostly good wedge shots to decent proximity to the flag and almost good enough first putts for five "easy" bogeys and two "easy" pars

But then...

But then I dunno I just kinda got tired of waiting around on every shot (two couples in two carts in front of us were always together, back and forth across the fairways, back and forth, and only hitting one shot at a time, ...) and guess I sorta mentally checked out and lost focus...

So first 7 holes in +5 (yea) and last 2 holes in .. gasp .. +6 (boo)...

That's golf.

Work. In. Progress!