MGS VCT Season 3 - Stableford Open Week 1

[rkj427]

Date	10/08/2024
Course Name	Stony Creek Metropark Golf Course
Gross Score	77
Course Rating	71.4
Course Slope	123
Gross Strokes over/under par	5
Birdies or better	4
Longest Drive	252
Stableford Round?	Yes

Played this morning with regular foursome and played reasonably well for the cooler temperatures. Actually, used more club than usual due to being low 50's at the start, to low 60's at the end of the round.

Only missed fairways were due to going though doglegs, or too much draw with a 3 wood. Greens were punched a couple weeks ago, and were in much better shape than expected, not too many bumps or bounces.

Some pictures of the fall colors also enclosed, although some trees are already bare.

 

[tw1ns]

Date	10/09/2024
Course Name	Highland Park Golf Course
Gross Score	73
Course Rating	70.1
Course Slope	119
Gross Strokes over/under par	1
Birdies or better	3
Longest Drive	235
Stableford Round?	Yes

Let me tell you about the tale of two 9's.   Been a little chilly at sunrise these past few days....34, 38 and today it was finally 51.  So I decided to go out and get a round in......couldn't hit a fairway to save my life on the front or a green.  Hosel rocketed my tee shot on 3, which is an odd hole....two greens, side by side, and I put it on the right side of the right green having to get to the left green....which is plays a little longer and is flatter...bogeyed that hole....1 over going into 7.  Greenskeeper guy comes rolling up, chatting, sprinklers going off on the tee box, so I have to time my tee shot as to not get wet.  178 to the pin, bounce it off the back of the green down a hill....dead.  Doubled.  Limp in with a 40 on the front.  Deciding if I want to continue or not, I head to the back.   What a difference - fairways are dry as a bone, and getting more roll out of my driver....hit every GIR.  3 birds and a missed 8 footer on 17.  Had a nice punch shot from 131 on 16 with my 6 iron with a portable sprinkler ON the green....cleared the hose and had about 25 feet - see below.  33 on the back for a nice 73.  

[Josh Parker]

Date	10/09/2024
Course Name	The Club at Rebecca Creek
Gross Score	77
Course Rating	69
Course Slope	119
Gross Strokes over/under par	5
Birdies or better	2
Longest Drive	365
Stableford Round?

I will post this round for now but have 3 more rounds this week to work on scoring.

This course was much rougher than I thought and the fairways were dusty and nothing but dirt and some weeds.  Hitting the ball was a challenge and took me 7 holes to get the hang of it.  I was 6 over in 7 holes and then managed to shoot a 1 under for the remaining holes with the only bogey coming on 18 with a ball hit straight down the middle but must have rolled through the next hole and OB.  

I'll post the pic of scorecard from my phone in a few.  

[Skibum]

Date	10/08/2024
Course Name	Branson Hills Golf Club
Gross Score	80
Course Rating	70.2
Course Slope	130
Gross Strokes over/under par	8
Birdies or better	2
Longest Drive	230
Stableford Round?	Yes

Pretty good round.  It was just consistent. Missed a lot of putts, but that is nothing new. I played the silver tees  

[frazzman80]

2 hours ago, Josh Parker said:

Date	10/09/2024
Course Name	The Club at Rebecca Creek
Gross Score	77
Course Rating	69
Course Slope	119
Gross Strokes over/under par	5
Birdies or better	2
Longest Drive	365
Stableford Round?

I will post this round for now but have 3 more rounds this week to work on scoring.

This course was much rougher than I thought and the fairways were dusty and nothing but dirt and some weeds.  Hitting the ball was a challenge and took me 7 holes to get the hang of it.  I was 6 over in 7 holes and then managed to shoot a 1 under for the remaining holes with the only bogey coming on 18 with a ball hit straight down the middle but must have rolled through the next hole and OB.  

I'll post the pic of scorecard from my phone in a few.  

I am sorry you had to play there...is it still beyond terrible condition? I went a few months ago with the family on a TeeOff deal and it was absolutely awful condition. I mean, we still had fun, and on a few holes the ball went forever due to the rock hard no grass fairways, so that was a bonus. But, it was impossible to stop a ball on the "green".

 

Edited October 9 by frazzman80

[Josh Parker]

3 minutes ago, frazzman80 said:

I am sorry you had to play there...is it still beyond terrible condition? I went a few months ago with the family on a TeeOff deal and it was absolutely awful condition. We had fun and on a few holes the ball went forever due to the rock hard no grass fairways. It was also impossible to stop a ball on the green.

I didn't know that one existed. I thought it was the one off 281 honestly. (River Crossing)

 

Edited October 9 by Josh Parker

[frazzman80]

9 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

I didn't know that one existed. I thought it was the one off 281 honestly. (River Crossing)

 

I've never played River Crossing...its still private as far as I know.

I played in an STJPGA event at Rebecca Creek when I was like 12 (a few decades ago) and it was "turn right at the giant golf ball". It was rough over 30 years ago and it was still very rough a few months ago. The giant golf ball was still there off 281! The horrible drought hasn't helped any of the courses, but that's one I wouldn't pay to play at again.

Between you and I, I can't believe it is still open. I can think of 4 or 5 courses that have closed in the past 10 years and ALL of them were better than Rebecca Creek.

Edited October 9 by frazzman80

[Josh Parker]

17 minutes ago, frazzman80 said:

I've never played River Crossing...its still private as far as I know.

I played in an STJPGA event at Rebecca Creek when I was like 12 (a few decades ago) and it was "turn right at the giant golf ball". It was rough over 30 years ago and it was still very rough a few months ago. The giant golf ball was still there off 281! The horrible drought hasn't helped any of the courses, but that's one I wouldn't pay to play at again.

Between you and I, I can't believe it is still open. I can think of 4 or 5 courses that have closed in the past 10 years and ALL of them were better than Rebecca Creek.

I give them credit though. They were handwatering greens and they were firm but stopped. 

[Rico_de_Gallo]

Date	10/10/2024
Course Name	Olmos Basin
Gross Score	80
Course Rating	69.4
Course Slope	125
Gross Strokes over/under par	8
Birdies or better	8
Longest Drive	270
Stableford Round?	Yes

Story Time

Did not plan on playing golf today, but some times things work out ... kinda

There I am about to take the kids to school when the car seems to be a bit off, walk around to the back tire to find this beauty completely flat... what a start to the day

So I get to start the day changing a tire, get the kids to school (on time too by the way), then make an appointment at 1:30 online (car was due for other maintenance, so might as well do it now). I call the place at 9:00, find out there is a 9:30 ...great lets go 

Naturally, let's see if there is a tee time now that I'm gonna be with out a car for the day .... 10:20.... gonna be tight, but pull the trigger. 

Get the car dropped off, paperwork done, waiting for my uber while carrying my bag on me.... get to the course on time and straight to the 1st tee (Bonus ... somehow got a buddy to join me on basically a 30 minute heads up) completely cold ... not even a single practice putt .... Let's go

1st tee ... driver in hand ..... and sliced it right ... uh oh maybe this was gonna be a bad idea to come out today .... NOPE. 

7 iron over the trees and stopped about 3' from the hole .... birdie to start the day.... lets go

What happens over the next 9 holes is borderline hilarious ... scoring all 5s on holes 2 - 10

2 doubles on par 3s, pars on the par 5s, rode the bogey train on the 4s

Bright side, easiest score tally I've ever had to add up on the front 9. ha

Back 9 things turned around ... (after another 5 of course, cause why not)

Hit 7/9 GIRs along with 2 more birdies for a new PR on birdies in a round and finished what was the SLOWEST ROUND EVER (literally 4 hours and 50 minutes) with a solid 37 on the back 

If you would have told me I was gonna have 3 birdies, I figured it was gonna be a really good day putting ... nope. While putting is typically my strength ... not today. Speed was fine, but over-read lots of breaks (probably first time that has happened for me ), so some lag putts left some long 2nd putts that didn't drop ... 4 3-putts in the round and 6 that either lipped out or stopped on the edge.

Instead, everything else was fantastic. This was the best performance off the tee for me of the year and one of best days of approach play I've had in a while. 

10 GIRs, and 5 of those birdie attempts were inside 6ft .... weird to say putting let me down when I had 3 birdies, but putts rolled over edges and didn't drop

Such is golf ... really happy on the day with stats

Also happy I was able to turn a crummy flat tire start of a day into a golf outing with a buddy and post a good score

 

 

 

I know it will get calculated by the incredible folks here that do so much for the community, but with the assumed 12 VTC index ... my course handicap on the day was 11. My guestimate on my Stapleford score is 39

Score card posted below

 

 

 

[Glenmore5]

Date	10/10/2024
Course Name	Glenmore Heritage
Gross Score	84
Course Rating	72
Course Slope	139
Gross Strokes over/under par	12
Birdies or better	4
Longest Drive
Stableford Round?	Yes

Pretty good day allowing for the wipes..

1 scr bird and 3 nett birds..

Card encl

[Northern Monkey]

On 10/8/2024 at 8:30 PM, Javs said:

Great round! Question: how do you know how many points you pulled if you don’t know your VCT handicap? Or do you know it as honestly I don’t know mine. 

Do you know your VCT handicap? 

I worked out my stableford points using my England Golf handicap. I know it will be different from my VCT handicap but posted it for comparison

[GolfSpy_APH]

Date	10/10/2024
Course Name	Otelfingen - Gelb
Gross Score	81
Course Rating	71.3
Course Slope	134
Gross Strokes over/under par	9
Birdies or better	2
Longest Drive	0
Stableford Round?	Yes

This was both a good, but disappointing round. I played solid, but not spectacularly. 

I hit okay drives all day and made some changes in course management which ended up burning me and causing a bogey on 10 and double on 8. Those are normally less than driver holes, but due to a strong head wind I took driver and both ended up in the rough. 

The double on 17 was just a horrible swing and some fatigue setting in. Eitherway, not a terrible round with a couple birdies and left me excited for my next round. 

[Javs]

5 hours ago, Northern Monkey said:

I worked out my stableford points using my England Golf handicap. I know it will be different from my VCT handicap but posted it for comparison

That makes sense. I was just wondering if I missed something. However, Ben already updated our handicaps. He is always all over it!

[Javs]

10 hours ago, Rico_de_Gallo said:

Date	10/10/2024
Course Name	Olmos Basin
Gross Score	80
Course Rating	69.4
Course Slope	125
Gross Strokes over/under par	8
Birdies or better	8
Longest Drive	270
Stableford Round?	Yes

Story Time

Did not plan on playing golf today, but some times things work out ... kinda

There I am about to take the kids to school when the car seems to be a bit off, walk around to the back tire to find this beauty completely flat... what a start to the day

So I get to start the day changing a tire, get the kids to school (on time too by the way), then make an appointment at 1:30 online (car was due for other maintenance, so might as well do it now). I call the place at 9:00, find out there is a 9:30 ...great lets go 

Naturally, let's see if there is a tee time now that I'm gonna be with out a car for the day .... 10:20.... gonna be tight, but pull the trigger. 

Get the car dropped off, paperwork done, waiting for my uber while carrying my bag on me.... get to the course on time and straight to the 1st tee (Bonus ... somehow got a buddy to join me on basically a 30 minute heads up) completely cold ... not even a single practice putt .... Let's go

1st tee ... driver in hand ..... and sliced it right ... uh oh maybe this was gonna be a bad idea to come out today .... NOPE. 

7 iron over the trees and stopped about 3' from the hole .... birdie to start the day.... lets go

What happens over the next 9 holes is borderline hilarious ... scoring all 5s on holes 2 - 10

2 doubles on par 3s, pars on the par 5s, rode the bogey train on the 4s

Bright side, easiest score tally I've ever had to add up on the front 9. ha

Back 9 things turned around ... (after another 5 of course, cause why not)

Hit 7/9 GIRs along with 2 more birdies for a new PR on birdies in a round and finished what was the SLOWEST ROUND EVER (literally 4 hours and 50 minutes) with a solid 37 on the back 

If you would have told me I was gonna have 3 birdies, I figured it was gonna be a really good day putting ... nope. While putting is typically my strength ... not today. Speed was fine, but over-read lots of breaks (probably first time that has happened for me ), so some lag putts left some long 2nd putts that didn't drop ... 4 3-putts in the round and 6 that either lipped out or stopped on the edge.

Instead, everything else was fantastic. This was the best performance off the tee for me of the year and one of best days of approach play I've had in a while. 

10 GIRs, and 5 of those birdie attempts were inside 6ft .... weird to say putting let me down when I had 3 birdies, but putts rolled over edges and didn't drop

Such is golf ... really happy on the day with stats

Also happy I was able to turn a crummy flat tire start of a day into a golf outing with a buddy and post a good score

 

 

 

I know it will get calculated by the incredible folks here that do so much for the community, but with the assumed 12 VTC index ... my course handicap on the day was 11. My guestimate on my Stapleford score is 39

Score card posted below

 

 

 

I feel your pain with the flat tire. I had one last week. So, had to purchase new tires. 

[Rico_de_Gallo]

8 minutes ago, Javs said:

I feel your pain with the flat tire. I had one last week. So, had to purchase new tires. 

Ouch there .... never a fun situation to deal with nor the bill

[Javs]

9 minutes ago, Rico_de_Gallo said:

Ouch there .... never a fun situation to deal with nor the bill

Yes Sir!

[GolfSpy SAM]

Date	10/10/2024
Course Name	Pelham Bay Golf Course
Gross Score	86
Course Rating	69.6
Course Slope	120
Gross Strokes over/under par	15
Birdies or better	3
Longest Drive	255
Stableford Round?	Yes

Gotta love playing as the first tee time on a brisk fall day. Absolutely perfect. Downside was the rented clubs  

All told, just a spectacular day in nature with a great friend, got a birdie, and parred the two hardest holes, so felt pretty ok with the result as a whole, even if it was slightly worse than my average lately. 

Hard to be mad playing on a day like this. See below for my "What's in the bag - Rented edition"

(First fairway, about 6:50 am)

(First ever eagle!!)

[Golf2Much]

Date	10/10/2024
Course Name	Key West Golf Club
Gross Score	81
Course Rating	67.7
Course Slope	124
Gross Strokes over/under par	11
Birdies or better	4
Longest Drive	178
Stableford Round?	Yes

A day after getting brushed with tropical storms winds from Melvin, we were out playing golf.  We had a little breeze (15-20 mph or so) but no rain.   In fact, even though it was cart path only today, it was drier than it was on Tuesday before Melvin hit.  We were more fortunate than many of the Florida communities hit by Melvin, so for that I'm grateful!

Overall, today was a good round.

I hit all but one fairway today.  The one miss was by two feet.   The distance with the new Titleist GT3 driver is about the same distance than my Ping G430 Max HL with wet conditions and very little roll.  I can't wait for it to dry out (it's rained before every round with it so far, so it's tough to truly judge). 

One difference today was that I really hit the new Titleist GT2 fairway woods very well today.   It wasn't so much distance (they are comparable or maybe slightly longer than my previous Callaway gamers) that made the difference today.  It was that every fairway shot was solid and went where it was intended.  I wrote at my test introduction that it would take and impressive fairway wood performance to knock out my delofted Callaway Heavenwood.  The Titleist GT2 4 wood is well on it's way!

Greens in regulation were one below my recent average.  Part of this is getting reacquainted with my Ping G30 irons.   I decided this week to give the Callaway Paradym X irons a rest.  So far, I'm thinking it might be a while before they get paroled from the shed.  

My short game was hot and cold.  Hot in that I have five up and downs for par and six up and downs for bogey (some with some really nice putts).  I did putt one off the fringe on the par 3 eighth hole for birdie.  The cold was two or three chips, pitches that were just short (1-2 feet) from being perfect, hit the false front and yielded a two putt.  The soft conditions didn't help there!  

Though my strokes gained from putting didn't show it, I was really pleased with it today, Only 24 putts (including the 0 putts on hole 8 mentioned above).  For some reason, I felt really good standing over my putts today and made several within 10 to 18 feet that normally would have been two putts.  We had a new guy in the men's league today.  After I made about six putts within 12 feet, he asked me what type of putter I had?  It was a LAB Golf DF2.1, but hey, maybe, just maybe it's the Indian, not the arrow!?  

[Cfhandyman]

Date	10/08/2024
Course Name	Mount Nemo GC
Gross Score	71
Course Rating	69.5
Course Slope	123
Gross Strokes over/under par	0
Birdies or better	4
Longest Drive	257
Stableford Round?	Yes

Played Mount Nemo (formerly Indian Wells) located on the edge of the Niagara escarpment.  Beautiful fall day.   Very scenic, tight, tree lined course.  I do love these types of courses and rose to the occasion.  Overall, even par with 4 birdies and 30 putt round.

 

[Cfhandyman]

On 10/7/2024 at 9:18 PM, Javs said:

Date	10/08/2024
Course Name	Sun City Golf Club White Wing
Gross Score	67
Course Rating	67.2
Course Slope	118
Gross Strokes over/under par	-5
Birdies or better	8
Longest Drive	321
Stableford Round?	Yes

Ok today was a great day overall. We played the Blue/Green combo tees. I shot 67. Had 6 birdies and an eagle! Offset by 3 bogeys. I got greedy on the three holes I bogeyed. Hit 6 fairways, 13 greens and had 29 putts. Awesome day and the new PXG Irons continue to be the best irons I have played! Here is my card:

Great round.  Well done.  Glad to hear the new irons are working so well.

[Josh Parker]

Date	10/11/2024
Course Name	Lago Vista Golf Course
Gross Score	74
Course Rating	70.3
Course Slope	132
Gross Strokes over/under par	2
Birdies or better	6
Longest Drive	298
Stableford Round?	Yes

Good round with a few mess up holes. Loving the way these irons and new grips are performing. 

Hole 17 - 140yds out 

[EMacK1961]

Date	10/08/2024
Course Name	Baja Country Club
Gross Score	90
Course Rating	64.7
Course Slope	107
Gross Strokes over/under par	18
Birdies or better	4
Longest Drive	0
Stableford Round?

Beat my partner by 1 which is as good as a hundred

[Javs]

3 hours ago, Cfhandyman said:

Great round.  Well done.  Glad to hear the new irons are working so well.

Thank you Sir!

[EMacK1961]

Date	10/10/2024
Course Name	Baja Country Club
Gross Score	83
Course Rating	64.7
Course Slope	117
Gross Strokes over/under par	11
Birdies or better	9
Longest Drive	263
Stableford Round?

[trojangolfer94]

Date	10/09/2024
Course Name	Counrty Club of The North
Gross Score	81
Course Rating	71
Course Slope	134
Gross Strokes over/under par	9
Birdies or better	1
Longest Drive	0
Stableford Round?	Yes

Two doubles and a triple killed it.  All of them from tee shots OB or in a hazard!  Hit 9 of the last 10 fairways and hit 9 greens.

[Javs]

22 hours ago, Cfhandyman said:

Date	10/08/2024
Course Name	Mount Nemo GC
Gross Score	71
Course Rating	69.5
Course Slope	123
Gross Strokes over/under par	0
Birdies or better	4
Longest Drive	257
Stableford Round?	Yes

Played Mount Nemo (formerly Indian Wells) located on the edge of the Niagara escarpment.  Beautiful fall day.   Very scenic, tight, tree lined course.  I do love these types of courses and rose to the occasion.  Overall, even par with 4 birdies and 30 putt round.

 

Outstanding playing and great pictures! What a beautiful golf course!

[Placasse61]

Date	10/11/2024
Course Name	Point Sebago GC
Gross Score	91
Course Rating	69.3
Course Slope	123
Gross Strokes over/under par	19
Birdies or better	8
Longest Drive	241
Stableford Round?	Yes

An absolutely beautiful fall day for golf! Played green tees but 18 birdies does not list geen tees, so I chose white on the app. Played well but had 6 penalties and only 29 putts almost automatic under 12'.

[GolfSpy_BEN]

Date	10/11/2024
Course Name	Vineyard Golf Course
Gross Score	79
Course Rating	70
Course Slope	134
Gross Strokes over/under par	8
Birdies or better	0
Longest Drive	285
Stableford Round?	Yes

As the only round I’m likely to get in this week, my chances of moving on to the next round aren’t great. 30 putts was a bright spot for today, and a handful of decent shots. Otherwise…  

[Golf2Much]

As we approach the weekend, I just wanted to give people a quick update on where we stand.  Currently, we have 15 of the 33 Year End MGC Stapleford Championship registered players who have submitted scores.  That's a little less than we've seen in other MGS special tournaments in the past, but that's not too critical.  We still have the weekend to get those rounds in.

I leave early Monday afternoon for a trip out to Pheonix, Flagstaff and finishing up in Las Vegas where we've got tickets to see The Eagles in the Sphere and Earth, Wind and Fire the next night.  It should be a great time.  We'll be returning the following Monday on the red eye getting back home about 6 pm. 

I have two favors to ask.  First, if you can get your scores posted for week 1 before the 9 am cut off time, I'd appreciate it.  That should give me enough time to run all the last scores through the spreadsheet and post the list of who moves forward into week 2.  Second, as soon as I get home, I'll attack the week two scores.  It might not be until later Monday night before I can get all the scores loaded and I can reveal the top 10 moving forward to the final round.  

So, if everyone gets their scores in before the established 9 am (Eastern Time) Monday cutoff and the following Monday being a bit more patient on getting the top 10 results for week 3 I would appreciate it!

So good luck everyone.  There have been some super rounds so far and I expect more to come!

[Cfhandyman]

4 hours ago, Golf2Much said:

As we approach the weekend, I just wanted to give people a quick update on where we stand.  Currently, we have 15 of the 33 Year End MGC Stapleford Championship registered players who have submitted scores.  That's a little less than we've seen in other MGS special tournaments in the past, but that's not too critical.  We still have the weekend to get those rounds in.

I leave early Monday afternoon for a trip out to Pheonix, Flagstaff and finishing up in Las Vegas where we've got tickets to see The Eagles in the Sphere and Earth, Wind and Fire the next night.  It should be a great time.  We'll be returning the following Monday on the red eye getting back home about 6 pm. 

I have two favors to ask.  First, if you can get your scores posted for week 1 before the 9 am cut off time, I'd appreciate it.  That should give me enough time to run all the last scores through the spreadsheet and post the list of who moves forward into week 2.  Second, as soon as I get home, I'll attack the week two scores.  It might not be until later Monday night before I can get all the scores loaded and I can reveal the top 10 moving forward to the final round.  

So, if everyone gets their scores in before the established 9 am (Eastern Time) Monday cutoff and the following Monday being a bit more patient on getting the top 10 results for week 3 I would appreciate it!

So good luck everyone.  There have been some super rounds so far and I expect more to come!

A sincere thank you for all your help and work behind the scenes. Enjoy your trip and the concerts.  We get the results when we get the results.

6 hours ago, Javs said:

Outstanding playing and great pictures! What a beautiful golf course!

Thank you for the kind words. I’m fortunate in that I have a good choice of golf courses to play.