That's awesome, congrats!

Grats! Thanks for the read.

Awesome write-ups, big congrats.

Yeah, he went deep the day after we were paired together. Must have learned something from me. And of course I am an intimidating presence to play with.

Random musings from the week....

After I got the first round under my belt, I struck the ball quite well. Hit 12 of 14 fairways each of the last three days and 45 of 54 greens. Never came close to making anything worse than bogey. I just didn't get the ball in the hole worth a crap, most of it putting.

But felt as though I only playing 27 decent holes the whole week. Entire 2nd round and first nine on the last round. Other than that I threw so many shots away it was stupid. And still made it through.

The town of Primm is really a hole. Went to a supposedly nicer restaurant in one of the casino because their online menu looked really good. Come to find out that was a old menu and they currently weren't serving any of the items I was interested in. Because I didn't have the energy to try anywhere else I had an average burger at best and some iffy fries.

The first morning(Sunday) I hit the McDonald's for breakfast as did a lot of others from the casinos. Ordered through the kiosk and sat down to wait. Exactly 30 minutes later my breakfast was delivered. Seriously?

After than I hit the IHOP for breakfast the next 4 mornings, each and every time the food was good as was the service. Was not joking in the least it was far and away the best restaurant in town. Couple of guys tried the steakhouse and said it was terrible.

So my jaunts to Vegas strictly for food were extremely necessary. The Southpoint was right off 15 and had several restaurants I enjoyed. So I dined there 3 nights in a row and thoroughly enjoyed it all. And no gambling.

Also had some odd sleep adjustments, perhaps due to my body being used to central time. But more likely due to the fact the sunset there was 4:37! Several mornings I was awake by 430, so naturally I was asleep a lot well before 9.

After I got done with the playoff it was already close to dark and the sun had set about the time I got back to the hotel. I had wondered what I would do Friday night with Vegas right there. Figured if I made it through I would head into Vegas to celebrate. Also figured if I did not I would head into Vegas to blow off steam. When I got to the room I laid down on the bed to take stock of everything. And didn't move for 2 hours. I was beat. Physically, mentally, emotionally. I had zero urge to go anywhere for any reason. So for the 5th time during the week I had a great meal downstairs at IHOP!

After dinner I put together my itinerary for final stage. Confirmed one of my golf buddies would caddy for me. Then made airline, hotel, and rental car reservations for the week. Felt much better knowing everything was now set. And then slept. Hard.

Even three months later, I think a lot about that 2nd playoff hole. But not necessarily because I won it there, but because I took every piece of information I had, and determined what the only course of action was. And I don't go for shots like that very often. I am one hell of a wedge player, so if there's ever any question, I lay up and then wedge it stiff. Just like I did during the week. 12 par 5's, laid up on all of them, made 6 birdies and 6 pars.

So maybe that's why I wasn't nervous over the shot, because I knew that was the only play. The only way to win. But am very proud of the fact I put together a tough puzzle under more than a little bit of pressure.

Thanks for the writeup, good stuff. I played an event at Primm Valley a number of years ago (from the amateur tees ldo) and that place would be brutal in wind.

Awesome write-ups, Bo!

I am very familiar with the Primm IHOP. It's quite large.

Good thing you didn't miss the cut or you'd be tempted to end it all by riding that roller coaster across the street. (does that thing still run?)

Really great write up. Looking forward to the next chapter!

Good write up. Good luck going forward.

Fun read Bo thanks

Wait, there's a par 5 you can reach in two?

Time to bump this thread.

When we last left our intrepid senior golfer he was headed off to finals of Q school. He did not play well, or more specifically did not putt well. Missed 17 putts inside 6 feet for the 4 rounds. Was 11 shots off of conditional status which would have exempted me from the pre qualifiers before each event. 19 shots from getting my PGA Tour Champions card for that calendar year.

All in all a great learning experience seeing what kind of talent it takes to crack this egg. I hit the ball better than anybody I played with, and that included several former PGA Tour players. Just pretty crappy at getting the ball in the hole around the greens.

Did a few pre qualifiers in 2019 with no success although I lost out in a playoff at the first one I tried. Went back to Q school that year and simply had physical and mental brain farts and failed to get back to finals.

Then Covid hit in 2020 and pretty much trashed the entire year. Very few qualifiers, scared to travel to the few there were, Q school canceled. Just frustrating as it has been for everybody.

Have been hitting the road quite a bit this year doing the pre qualifiers for the individual events. Playing more than good enough tee to green but was still having physical and mental issues on the greens. Really frustrating hitting 15-16 greens a round and not getting through. More than once this year there's no question I hit the ball better than everybody in the field.

But have found a better way to putt as of late, claw grip with a mallet putter. In a span of 10 days in money games with friends shot 2 separate 62's with 10 birdies on different courses this summer. But in competition still wasn't very good. Lately have put a lot of work in on the mental part of the game simply trying to learn how to slow and calm down on the greens so as to put a good, smooth stroke on the ball.

Today finally had some success as I advanced through the pre qualifier in Jacksonville for the Constellation Furyk and Friends event next week. https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/3076279

Actually hit the ball worse than I have been lately but was able to put good strokes on the greens and saw some go in. Regardless, a good confidence boost.

Looking forward to the Monday qualifier at the same course. Here are the players signed up that were exempt from the pre qualifier. More than a few names are easily recognizable. https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/3116627

They should add in the names from the pre qualifier tomorrow. One good round away from mixing it up with the big and old boys. Baby steps.

Let’s go! Congrats on the solid result getting through the pre-q and glgl Monday.

Nice that’s it’s on the same course; hope you can keep the good vibes going

nice work nit!

go BO go!

Pretty cool, glad you're updating again.

The results https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/3116631

My putter did not cooperate although wasn't really feeling much stress which is a nice improvement. Missed basically every putt I could inside 12 feet. 5 footers for par on 2 and 3 and then a 3 footer for birdie on 4. All just terrible strokes. From there on the good putts I hit lipped out and still missed plenty of shorter ones.

Struck the ball better than in the pre Q, 12 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens. The 2 greens I missed I got up and down. Played it up in the fairway due to recent rain and very soft turf. Half the holes the ball didn't roll a yard from where it landed. So the course played longer than in the pre Q.

4-under got in clean, the good news is I could have shot 4-under in my sleep on that track under those conditions. It's not a matter of lack of ability, just gotta get my mind and emotions under better control. But it's getting better.

The quest continues.

Thanks for the update; glgl in the next one.

Hi bo. Thanks for doing this.

I recently had to make a tough decision to not allow a few people that I was once very close with to have access to my emotions. Long story short if I can deny people I love dearly such access(haven't shed a tear for them since making this decision and I'm no longer fighting a battle in my head every waking hour, which went on for an uncomfortable number of days in a row) then I think you should be able to deny a game such access. But hey we're all fighting different battles that others have only a superficial understanding of.

I remember getting off on the wrong foot with you. Cest la vie.

I also think I remember you responding to one of my animal care posts. Got pets? Please describe. Ty.

Skiing or fishing or camping? Etc.

This is a great thread! I spent some time reading through this after you were nice enough to offer up some advice on my horrible sand game. Lot of great advice/stories in here.

The concept of improvement, and what's possible in golf has always intrigued me. I know it's an impossible question(how good can I get?) but for me, someone who casually took up the game in my early 20s, then basically stopped completely for almost a decade, and now, in my late 30s am picking it back up..... I'm constantly wondering how good I actually can get?

I started 2021 as a 30 handicap, now close to 25. I'm certain I can get better than I am now, but I wonder what's realistically attainable for me. For me, probably 30-50 rounds a year will be the most I can play, and about 1-2 practice sessions/week mixed in. I have a goal of single digit handicap, with no real time frame.. (thankfully you can play this game your whole life!) so hopefully it happens before I die. Haha.

Not really a question I guess, but thanks for offering up some advice on my bunker play and best of luck!

Besides here, what's the best way to track your progress? Not to sound like a stalker, but I dig your story and want to keep in touch with your golf adventures.

Take care,

I'm not sure if you have one already but get Shotscope or Arccos, Once you have enough data you can see where you need to improve. It's actually helped me a ton and threw up some surprises that I didn't really know about my game. I personally use shotscope it isn't perfect but it's pretty decent. I wish I had this kind of data when I first started.

I didn't really phase that correctly, I meant how do I track BOs progress.. haha. Other thank stalking him on this thread, I don't know anything about him so I don't know how to follow his journey..

But you bring up a really good point nonetheless! I currently use The Grint, which is a decent stat tracker(I think) and it has pointed out how lacking my short game is.. For example, my GIR % is above where a typical golfer of my handicap is, but my putts/round is higher.. Which makes perfect sense being as I focus almost entirely on driver and irons.. definitely time to start grinding more on the short game area..

Thanks!

ah my bad should of got that

Yeah I use the grint as well along side shot scope.