already too hot to play here in south GA ...plus my shoulder blade has been having problems so that makes it even tougher to get out.

I just got out to the course for the first time this season on Saturday. I was only going to practice for a while on the range and practice greens, but I got a "practice and play" deal with no tee time. Bucket of balls and holes 1-3 for $12.

Got off the range and felt like my ball-striking was decent. I spent a lot of time on my mid and short irons, and I probably played better for it, but it sure didn't translate directly on the course (my best shots were with driver and putting). It just kept me mentally from feeling like I was just out there trying to crush drivers.

Hole 1 (par 4): 6 (+2). My approach game needs lots of work, but I finished this hole with a solid chip to about 5 feet, then a nice little left-to-right one putt.

Hole 2 (par 3): 4 (+3). About 140, left a 7 iron short left of the mostly flat green. Tried to bump it on the green, leave it right on the edge. Leaves me about a 15 footer that I get within a foot of par, then tap-in for bogey. Still, 3 putts for 2 holes.

Hole 3 (par 3): 3 (+3). Similar to hole 2. This one I actually ran the ball through the green to about 30, 35 feet. Rolled to about 3 or 4 feet, and finished with the first par of the season.

I'll make sure to post next round I play - hopefully by Friday. For 18, I normally have a tough time breaking 100 early in the season, my goal is to break 90 (hopefully consistently) this year. We'll see how that goes. Putting is definitely the best (only) part of my game. The good news is that even though the golf season here in MN is so short, there's a lot of decent courses close to home for me to work on.

shot 102 on a difficult course - been getting low 90s at easier courses. 135 slope ratings. Only hit 2 fairways all day(one was with a 5i) and 40 putts. Did hit one driver on a par 4 450 slightly right and found it about 110 from the hole(probably around 300 total distance). 5GIR which is great but 6 3putts.

I can see myself breaking 90 easily if I avg 35 putts.

118. Even though I managed to sink 2 18-footers and a 23-footer on the first four holes of the back nine and had some really nice lags to within 18 inches from 30+ feet on two other holes on the back.

88 today despite shooting 50 on front (14 over). Wind was easily 20-30 mph, with larger gusts. Shot 38 on back nine (2 over) birdying 3 of last 5...missed 4ft putt on 18 which would have gave me 3 straight birdies, and 4 of last 5. I can drive the ball 280-300 fairly easily without much wind assistance, but on the front I was constantly left with hybrid/4-5 irons to the green, which gives me massive problems. Can't hit my 4-6 irons for **** as they just cut right about 30 yards. Could have been a really bad day...and for that matter could have been a really good day. Shooting my best 9 holes ever on the back, and my worst 9 holes in a long time on front. Current best at this course is (39..+3 on front), and today had my 38 +2 on the back. Now I just need to combine these 2 and have a good day on both the front and back.

edit : 30mph winds also have its benefits (not nearly balancing), like driving 320-330 on a 550 yard par 5.

Shot 100 today.

Played like a monster on the backnine (5 over on back nine)

Sank a 30/35 ft birdie putt on big slopey green! Sickest putt EVER!

Back nine also includes a 7 on a par 3 where i pinged my 6 iron perfect pin high and the wind just slowly took it out of bounds. super narrow par 3.

Oh yeh 160 yard par 3 was like 7 ft of a hole in one! (Big deal for a +100er!)

not cool bye yall

Played like absolute crap yesterday. Was very tempted to throw my clubs into the nearest water hazard. Then, on the 17th hole, I hit a lob wedge from 80 yards to 1 foot.

Guess I'm not quitting.

First official round of the handicap season and I shoot a 81, nice start for me!

Played pretty poorly away from the greens today. Shot 55 on a par 35. Had a single par as a result of an up and down from the bunker. Three bogeys in a row was my best "streak". Six over after the first hole didn't help matters much.

Miserable weekend. Played in an annual 2 man scramble. Saturday was cold and it rained all the way around. Couldn't feel my hands by the time we finished. Shot our worst team score ever. Today was cold and windy which was a big improvement. Made one putt longer than six inches - a three footer. Was otherwise about 0 for 20 from inside eight feet.

Shot 79 today. Birdied 3 of the first 4 holes and ended up shooting an even par 35 on the front which is my personal best on my home course. Made par on ten and eleven and then blew up from there. double on 12, double on 18 to go 35-44=79.

Played in about sustained 30 mph winds at Ruffled Feathers GC here in Chicago. Home course of Depaul.

Neat track, TONS of water, very challenging.

Had some highlights/lowlights and bunted it around for 80 with a Double and a Triple. Not bad given conditions... Struck the ball beautifully so I'm elated.

Only played 3 rounds this year so far. The weather sucks so bad right now. Last round was a week ago and fired a 79. Pretty happy with so little practice this year.

Well, since I've been playing golf lately - mostly as a result of relocating to Southern California - I figured I'd read through here and see what was going on! Basically, I played a decent amount in the summer - without much improvement or work on improvement, pretty much just playing with friends and having fun - and then hadn't swung a club in a while when I came down here. Shot some rounds and ended up anywhere between 91 and 110, the latter of which I hadn't shot anywhere close to in quite some time, partly as a result of playing with a guy who shoots from the back tees and partly because I hit a lot of shots to nowhere, but I've shaken some of the rust off since then.

So, some of last week's rounds:

I played this course with DD and JoeTall somewhere down south a ways that was new to me and, surprisingly given I hadn't been hitting the ball well all month, shot pretty alright! The first tee shot was a bit rough, but I somehow ended up making just enough mid-swing adjustment to still mi**** the ball, but somehow find a way to keep it straight and on target, albeit a good 50 yards short of my normal range. The next hole was a 505 par-5 with a ton of bunkers right and some bad stuff left, and, after bringing the club inside on the downswing, was somehow able to power it enough back out to hit a super hard, low-drawing ball that started right at the bunkers and ended up drawing into the fairway and all the way through for a 300 yard shot. 190 or so to the front of the green, bunkers in front, and I elect to hit a 5-iron that came out a little low, but ended up carrying the sand and running through the green for a nice birdie attempt. Which, I don't convert, but still end up feeling pretty good about what's sure to be an awesome, sunny day. I did mess up a bunch of shots in the middle, but somehow still ended up on 17 with a chance to break 90, which, for me, is a pretty solid accomplishment seeing how I've been seemingly incapable of stringing together enough good shots to get anywhere near it. But, 17 turned out to be a 160-something par-3 that I ended up screwing up my stance on enough to have my club coming in inside the ball with my hands way out front and with the clubface super open. So, after opening up my hips and trying to turn way open and deloft the club, I still end up starting it right at the stick and fading it into a bunker short and right. Boo. Cue tee-shot OB right on 18, bomb and par my second ball, and I'm in with a 94. No complaints.

I still suck at hitting the ball though, something I might want to work on if I truly want to get better at this sick, unforgiving, unbelievable addicting game of golf.

I also managed to pepper in a 97 at Angeles National, a 91 at some muni course in East LA, and a 99 at Industry Hills Babe, all of which were lower than the previous times I'd played all of them. So, that's good I guess. I still can't seem to get a feel for the yardage on these new 47 and 56 wedges I just picked up after finally giving up on the stock wedges that came with my set. Hopefully some day soon though.

Oh, speaking of which.

The 18th hole of Industry Hills, we have 3 skins going into the last hole and it's a par-5 dogleg left. I pull my driver off the tee and it's flirting with OB, so I hit another one. We get up there and it's sitting just off the cart path on the OB side, with nothing on that side but a bunch of pine needles and a hillside, so I take relief in the closest bunch of pine needles and have either a lateral shot out to the fairway, in which case I'll still be a good 300 yards from the green, or gamble for a career shot with the ball well below my feet and shooting over OB and through a gap in the trees lining the left side. And me, being the gambling man I am, obviously take the jeopardous approach, line up a 7-iron, and take a nice smooth swing with the ball in the back of my stance. Now, I'm not sure if my partner saying "OMG" is a good thing or a bad thing, but in this case it turns out my ball carves high and left and ended up flirting with OB again, only to bounce off the cart path and end up getting a favourable roll out to 155 with a trio of trees in my way.

The pin is sitting front and left, with bunkers guarding short and mid left, and my ball sitting well below my feet with a good lie and we have a bit of a wait for the group in front of us, so I have plenty of time to think about my shot. I end up deciding to gamble again, especially since he's lying 80 yards out on the fairway shooting 3, so I line up a big high fade that starts waaaaay OB and hopefully carves out somewhere near or onto the green, since it's either that or push out to the fairway and be a shot behind. So, I line up, hit it, and it comes out right of target but still okay, and it ends up staying up in the air waaay more than I imagined and going somewhere right and probably long. Still, a pretty successful shot, especially when I get up there and discover it's held the green about 60 feet away from the pin.

So, the guy I'm playing with ends up uncharacteristically messing up his wedge shot and finishes with a 6, all while I'm walking up there and surveying the green for my lag putt, which is a uphill/downhill big breaker from right to left with, honestly, little chance of holding the green if I wanna end up below the hole. So, after picking what I think is a decent shot and trying to make sure I get the ball rolling back down the slope from the right spot, I smoke the ball and it ends up coming down the hill way hot. And somehow, after both of us have failed to pull the stick out of the pin - a combination of him being a little tilted I think and not wanting to tend it and me focusing on how I'm gonna play the ball and not on the hole itself - I end up hitting the stick going a bazillion miles per hour and the ball ends up sitting 4 feet away and we both stand there in shock. Now, I'm the type of guy who wants to play by the rules, regardless of how ridiculous it may seem given the situation, since those are the rules and you have to keep score somehow. But he doesn't want me to and I end up finishing the putt and marking down par, scooping the last 3 skins.

So, as we're making the long drive back to the clubhouse, I end up feeling not-so-good about the whole thing, seeing as the ball probably would've gone right over the hole and off the green, either into some heavy rough or maybe even a bunker, and, after I confess, we both agree to replay the hole as the 10th on Ike, the other course at the resort place, another par 5 we've both played before.

Long story short, I find the green with my 3rd shot, he finds the water, and I end up taking it anyways after a good, solid hole. Yay go karma!

Edit:

Just reread all of these and realized they're basically unreadable, ha. I'll try and take more time posting and less time banging on the keyboard for 20 minutes next time.

End up -3 sunday morning....unfortunatly that was the temperature and snow started falling as I was going to tee off..i thought this was spring?
played a quick 9 holes friday before having to leave shot 6 over thanks to hand full of 3 putts but on a airated and sanded greens im not to worried about it

Angeles National:

Beat: Shot 56 on the front and didn't hit a single even remotely decent tee shot.

Brag: Shot 44 on the back and somehow won $800 in the final 3 holes by parring out.

Variance: Replayed with tilting golf buddies and got suckered into giving huge donation lines and lost most of it back in the 7 holes we got in before dark. Plus the marshall came out and demanded $50 each for replay at (wait for it) 6:30. Sick rake.

Sick money grab. $50 for a twilight round? Where the hell were you playing?

Angeles National in San Fernando Valley. It's a pretty fun course, if not more than a little difficult for some one of my skill level (read: very little), but it's interesting and gamblegamble. I think they normally charge $70 for a twilight round during the week, but this was a replay rate or something.

What kind of game do you play? I don't know anyone really that likes to gamble on the course, which sucks. The most people play for is like $2 a hole. Sweet.

when I play with my friends (all poker players, all sucks at golf- just started and playing around 120) we put money on each hole, front and back nine, whole 18, extra money for making a par, chip in from outside the green etc

We were playing 3-way skins and separate 3-hole skins. Usually we play for $10/skin but inevitably somebody ends up getting killed halfway through the round and it ends up getting escalated, until they either end up super buried (me) or getting unstuck all of the way (people who have the good fortune of playing with me). Somehow, though, today it turned out the other way around, which happened to coincide with us betting the most I've ever played for in a game of golf, ever. Sick run hot one time.

When some 2p2'ers and I would play up in Seattle, we'd end up with this ridiculous prop sheet of bonuses and penalties with varying things costing various amounts. Like GIR, par, birdie, eagle, triple bogey, 3-putting, etc. We had an escalating sand penalty this one day starting at $5 and doubling, and I'd hit 5 sand traps already and had a shot around the green over a trap for my possible 6th. I ended up almost electing to hit it back to the fairway 'cause it was gonna cost me $480 or something if I hit it in, which was not cool. I hit it over anyways, but ended up putting it on the far side of the green 'cause I was apparently so determined not to give it any chance of coming up short.

I got the sense at Angeles National they would be super stingy on money-grab situations too. Too bad, its a nice course.

re: props, I posted it in this forum somewhere but I remember a round with some poker friends here in San Diego that started out with a $5 wolf game, and on 18 someone had a $2400 putt.

Lol. I'm drooling those games sound so good. The gambling addict inside of me needs people like you guys to play with.

Shot 83 today. Hit a lot of really good drives and iron shots, if only I could have putted.