First time touching a ball this season and first round of the year yesterday at: http://www.winnetkagolfclub.com/

Course was very wet, played lift, clean and place. Greens were in surprisingly good condition this early in the year.

39-43 - 82

15 putts on the front, 14 on the back. I left almost every putt over 15 feet short. Had many putts from the fringe or just in front of the green. Need to work on iron consistency and ball striking in general, but overall very pleased with my first round of the season.

Played my first 9 of the new season (and first golf after the surgery to remove a growth the size of a small orange on my left elbow). Didn't do too bad. Shot 54 on the back nine. Drove the green for the first time on the par4 11th over the water (and won $5 from my buddy doing so) but the arm was feeling bad by the 15th so I dropped a ton of shots coming back home. Greens were in hideous shape sadly but at least everything was dry.

I just booked a series of lessons with the local pro starting at the end of the month so I hope to have plenty of time to get my arm back to full strength.

From British Columbia, playing in Phoenix for the winter... 2 more weeks .

not bad, I've played Winnetka twice and I really like the course.

38 (par 37). Nice seventy degree evening, no bugs, no wind, just perfect. Two bogeys, one birdie.

I'm sure this is the kiss of death, but for early season I'm pretty darned happy with how I'm playing. Re-reading the Utley short game book has made a big difference in how I'm approaching chipping and it's paying off. One of my bogeys was due to a chip that was just plain too hard, but that's lack of practice not terrible form. Putting was very solid again - it would be incredible if I could stop listing putting as a huge weakness.

I do need to re-learn how to hit a fade and I can always work on hitting better shots, but for mid April this is good stuff.

In four rounds this year I've rattled the flag 3 times from the fairway, none went in. Finally converted the birdie today @ Fox Bend in Oswego, IL - one of 3 I had (Including on 17 & 18). But still only scored an 82. Swing still has a lot of rust on it from the winter layoff.

i shot 75 today, was out in 35 and came back in a demoralising 40 which tilted the f*ck of out me.

44-49-93

First round of the season, played soooo bad in basically every way. Glad I had so many areas to improve.

Playing in a 2 man scramble event this weekend. We shot 71 today, 3 birdies, 2 bogeys. Difficult conditions - cold and windy. There weren't a lot of real low scores out there.

Ball striking was at about a D-plus level, but it was a top 5 round all times in terms of putting. I never roll the ball that good. Made a 40 foot bomb on our second hole, another one from 15 feet and a bunch of clutch par putts.

Played my first round of the year today, and you can bet i'll be playing at least once a week from now on, dammit.

Aliante Golf Course in Las Vegas...nice enough course, well-taken care of but kinda boring and flat. I shot an 83 with my new Taylormade r9s, and that was with being three shots over on the last two holes.

I really like the clubs so far...my irons are a good ten yards longer than I'm used to...hitting a 145 yd. 9 iron is new to me. I'm really liking the lob wedge, it hs a nice feel to it and I didn't miss-hit it once...

the 19 degree hybrid is going to take some getting used to...I used it from 217 from the pin on one hole and sailed the green! then I miss-hit it another time. The clubs are so forgiving, though, that even my misses were going straight and long enough.

The course should play in the 70s for any 12 handicapper or less a lot of the time, it's not difficult. I hadn't played since last summer and I came very close to breaking 80 with new clubs! Damn lost ball on the 17th and then a 3-putt on the 18th blew that possibility out of the water.

Still, I made all pars or bogeys except for 2 double bogeys. Never really came close to a birdie except when I lipped out a chip on the back nine.

I'm excited about being back into golf. Going to walk The Las Vegas Golf Club tomorrow.

Ugh. Managed a 72 in the 2 man scramble today but no thanks to me. One of the worst days I've had in a while. Everything sucked big time.

Played Angus Glen - South Course today, hacked my way around to a 91. I am a ball-driving machine right now, but I just couldn't hit an iron squarely. Absolutely nutted about 7 or 8 really good drives today, wasn't afraid of a single-tee shot.

The South Course is on golf-digest's top 100 outside of America lists and it definitely deserved to be there. A beatiful Parkland style golf course with lots of elevation changes and interesting driving holes, very nice.

Played Lewis Estates here in Edmonton on friday and managed to spring a leak on 15 with my driver and limp home making triple, double, double, bogey and finish with an 89. Was not pleased with my game off the box but my short game and putting was solid.

(Still managed to get the dough though, which is a nice consolation to melting down in the home stretch.)

Shot an 84 today in spite of a 39 on the back and 3 birdies. Ugh. I was all over the damn course today with a triple bogey and 3 doubles.

I blame half of it on myself and the other half on getting used to the increased distance of my new clubs. I'm just not used to hitting a 7 iron over 170 yds. and my sand wedge over 125. Hell, I hit a 5 iron 201 yds to the green on a flat par 5. It's awesome but just a bit confusing.

I did manage to get up and down from the sand for a birdie on the final par 5 of the day, that was fun.

Shot 39 on the back nine today (par-35). Started out +2 through the first 3, but then made birdie-par-par for a nice recovery. Ended up bogeying the last three holes, though. I couldn't get up-and-down on the 16th, and hit the ball a mile away from the hole on the 17th green so I obviously three putted. Then I tried to man up on a lob wedge on the 18th but hit it fat and came up short and couldn't get up-and-down again.

All-in-all I suppose I'm pleased, it's a nice nine to build on.

We'll call this my season so far.

All rounds played at the same course. 6972 yards - 73.1 CR - 134 slope. Par 72.


71
75
72
73
76
73
76

Those are not in order chronologically, but the 71 was the first round of the year (wtf?!).

Overall pretty happy with whats been going on - working on getting some consistency in my game. Many of the scores could have been lower, but just couldn't get it all to come together the day of (Long game good, putting bad -or- Long game stunk, drained a ton of 20 footers for par).

Every day my swing feels better, and getting more confidence as I go. Today was a round of 73 - with my putting being terrible for the front, and solid on the back. Gamed a new putter for the first time in 12 years - really liking the feel once I got used to it a bit. With luck it will earn a permanent place in the bag.

Starting coming around today in my sixth round of the season.

36-41-77. This was hitting three greens in regulation. Ha!

First hole I drove it into the trees right, punched out and hit an 80 yard wedge to two feet for par. In the middle of the round I got up and down for par on five missed greens in a row: 6,7,8,10,11.

For you short game junkies I used 52, 7-iron, PW, 56, PW.

Just returned from a trip to Phoenix. Shot 88 from the tips on Troon North - Monument. Round was unspectacular playing bogey golf until finishing par, bogey, par, par. Highlight was the 495 yard, par 4 17th. Hit driver, 8-iron to about 10 feet after bombing the drive 330 through the fairway into the rough the crossing desert. The putt lipped out of the high side.

The next day shot 89 from the 2nd tees at the Pinnacle course. My tee time was for 7:30 and I didn't leave the new Casino Arizona until 5:30 to go back to my hotel, shower, change, and head for the course. Played the same, struggled with my short game and the greens. Courses were in great shape.

For comparison, I have been shooting low to mid 80s at home this year on courses at around 6600 yards.

41 (par 35). Holy **** I have completely forgotten how to hit a full shot. I hit zero fairways and 4 greens. Ugly ugly shots. Two completely unnecessary three putts. The only things that were good were a couple of the shots out of trouble and tee shots on the par 3s.

Gorgeous weather today.

Shot 37-39-76.

Starting to feel a smooth full swing again, not a chop at the ball. Ugh.

Hit 8 GIR and shot +5.

A shameful 54 for nine holes.

High points:

Low points : missing a sixty yard wide fairway, 4 putting, or maybe hitting a five wood twenty yards left and twenty forwards.

Also I hate that course I don’t know why I play there summer just started and they have two temporary greens, its rammed and people just wonder on and start on the 4th if they feel like it.

Had an unconscious scrambling round today at Blackberry Oaks in Bristol, IL. 41-36=77. 23 total putts, only 5 GIR's. Though most misses were only a foot or two off the fringe.

Course is overpriced, in the middle of nowhere, and is your standard 60s design, with some goofy holes, and greens that slope in odd ways, 6400 yards from the tips. The 18th hole has a 90 degree left turn in the last 40 yards of the hole, and trees block you out from the fairway, but you can go over them if you are far enough right and long enough down the fairway. Otherwise you're hitting a huge draw or laying up. It would be an interesting course for a scramble, because you could probably go really low on it.

As to my round, the greens were slow and shaggy, so the green flag was waving on all chips and putts, and it paid off. The longest putt I made was on 18 from about 12', which I was pissed about going in, since it was probably my poorest chip of the round that left me that far from the hole, and I thought I blew the chance for 36 on the back. That is, until I read the putt and saw no break, and nailed it. But then again, the longest putt attempt I had the whole round was from about 25', and that was for birdie on the first par 3 (#4). Most of the 1-putts were tap ins, from chips settling next to the hole. This includes the 1 birdie I had on the back (#16).

Today was disappointing. The first three holes are not easy at my course.

I started par-par-par, then proceeded to bogey both four and five(easy holes). Ugh. 80.

Number 15 was playing 155 yards into a breeze today, slightly uphill. I hit a near perfect six iron that landed about 12 feet short and 5 feet right of the flag, released and rolled to about two feet. Nice birdie.

Next time.

had an lol 48 at the company league last night at Waterchase (DFW).

3 triples, 3 pars, 5-one putts.

Currently fighting off a bad case of the shanks; Must. Practice. More. Every shot that's not a greenside wedge has been terrible.

39 (par 35). One very nice birdie, several sloppy bogeys.

Note to self: Hey dummy you can fix 90% of your ball striking problems just by maintaining your ****ing spine angle.