45-43-88. No birdies, 3 double bogeys. 69.3/124/6100 yards

Let's see, I made a double on a par 3 where I took three chips. A double on a par 5 where I hit my tee ball into a pond. And a double on a par 5 when I shanked my pitch from 50 yards into a greenside bunker and went from there. Other than that it was bogey, bogey, bogey. I'd hit good shots and then screw up a chip or putt and make bogey. Or I'd hit a bad shot, recover and make bogey.

Not much consistency with the long game. Short game is just bad. Work to be done.

still very early in the year...keep at it.

43-47-90

Was striking it great on the front 9 just missing a bunch of short putts.

Had an out-of-nowhere shank off the tee on the 11th (short par 3), and I was suddenly a mess for the next 4 holes. Had another shank on an approach after a good drive on 13. Pulled it together and managed to par 17&18.

That is one of the most frustrating and scary parts about my game. I can be going along fine and if I have one bad mishit or shank it can torpedo the rest of my round. Guy I was paired with said he felt like he was playing with 2 different players. I just completely lose it on the course mid round, even when the swing feels great beforehand. Need to figure out how to self-correct when it goes haywire.

Played the short nine hole course and shot +5 yesterday. On the second hole par 4, even though I had been hitting 3 wood great off the range, I hit a tremendous shank practice re-hit after not really liking the first one. Getting back to the first one, which I'm playing no matter what, I punched it out really well to rough just off the green.

4th hole par 4 I hit into the right rough and had no clear shot to the green, so I decided to try to fade a pitching wedge with little prior experience at that and pulled it off nicely, but didn't quite quite carry a bunker in front of the green. But I was very impressed by getting a good shot shape from a shot I had hardly any experience with. Probably the highlight. The other noteworthy hole was the 6th where I fluffed (?) a wedge on an extremely short par 3. But then I hit a great pitch to like 10 feet and made the putt to save par, which was quite unexpected.

Re Revots, I used to sometimes shank a shot and literally shank every subsequent shot thereafter, but recently I've been able to get back on track by adding tension to my arms and really slowing down the backswing to make sure I got in a reasonable position, but not necessarily recommending that.

41-43-84. 1 birdie, 4 double bogeys. 70.2/125/6000 yards.

Much, much better ball striking. Focused on one thing, keeping my posture ("spine angle" to the magazines) -- I have a nasty habit of straightening up which induces both inconsistency and a hook.

Earned the two doubles on the front, took two to escape a bunker and put a tee ball in the wrong place on the other. Back nine was a little different, had a single join our group halfway through and things immediately went haywire. I know I need to be better at blocking out distractions but when there are multiple things going on simultaneously it's damn hard.

What does 70.2 and 125 mean?

I'm curious if it is a correct interpretation that your straightening up causes you to have to reach at the ball and come too much from the inside and then hooking it. Does that sound right?

70.2 is the course rating
125 is the slope

They're used in calculating handicaps but in this case they're also helpful as a shorthand way to describe how difficult (or easy) a course is.

You are probably correct in your interpretation of the swing issue. It also results in more contact out on the toe and presumably the gear effect causes a right to left ball flight.

Saturday: 41 + 42 = 83.

I took a lesson on Thursday, and what I learned was one of my issues is the inverse of the discussion above: I was standing too close to the ball, and was also using too much wrist at the start of my backswing, leading to difficulties in both hitting the clubface square and opening up the club face at impact (despite everything in my setup designed to keep the clubface closed). During the lesson I felt like I was ridiculously far away, but looking in a mirror, I really wasn't. It was uncomfortable, but I saw immediate results with my irons, which carried into Saturday. I haven't hit irons that flush since I can remember. Still having driver issues (slicing/pushing), but the dispersion is much less. I would have scored much better, but they had punched and sanded the greens, and I couldn't get the speed down for the life of me.

Sunday: 40. Quick nine before Easter Brunch. One double, one birdie. Greens had changed just enough to screw up anything I had learned about them the day before. But like I told my playing partner, no point in spending too much time learning these, as they're going to be completely different in a week or two.

Easter Brunch: Really solid spread. I'm trying to lose weight and gain some muscle for the golf game, so I'm back on keto. Thankfully, there were a ton of keto-friendly options, including omelets, meats and cheeses, and beef tenderloin. I was a little sad having to ignore the scotch eggs and monte cristos, though.

Oh, one important highlight of the Sunday nine: my wife discovered she actually enjoys riding in the golf cart and playing OFC while I play. Could mean more after-work rounds in my future.

Do the fancy courses punch and sand their greens or use some other maintenance method? It's hard for me to imagine a course of the caliber of Augusta having punched and sanded greens a couple of times a year, all the more so if it was a publicly available course and they didn't warn patrons paying a hefty green fee.

My local course recently had this aeration method done and a couple of times recently I heard playing partners complain that they weren't warned, and of course people just complained about how difficult it was to putt on them in general.

1st round coming up tomorrow morning. 9:12 at a course I posted a 79 at last July after a shoulder separation in March/April.

119/68.8

So it's the perfect difficulty for my first outing.

I busted out the hitting mat a few times in the past week. Hit some full 7-P foam balls and did a bunch of chipping with real balls.

Goal: Break 85.

I've never been a member of a SUPER fancy course, but the courses I've been on all punch. It's annoying, but only for a weekend or two. My last two courses all announced aerification days well ahead of time.

Mine get announced several weeks in advance. We have 36 though so they are done 3 weeks apart, that way we will always have nice greens on at least 1 of the courses.

Turns out the course is a Par 70. I shot an 81, so I reached my goal.

1 year ago, I had an arm in a sling from a freak rollerblading injury while riding with my dog who tripped me. 6 months ago, I couldn't skate on ice due to back issues. So, it felt good to walk 18 and complete it.

I did some variable things today. It was kinda chilly (48 and breezy to start and about 58 and nice to finish). Greens were firm, a little baked out, and wind affected putts (downhill downwind especially).

-Popped up my 1st tee shot.
-Lawn Bowled on a couple of holes.
-Drove a Par 4 and only 2-putted for birdie.
-Hit driver really well.
-Wedge play was quite poor.
-Pretty good speed on greens.
-1 3-Putt
-Sank a 35-footer on the Par 3 17th.
-Bogeyed #4-9 and had a sweet up-and-down to save par on 10 to end the bogey train.

All in all, it was a good experience.

Don’t call it a comeback

Nice work.

been out a few times since last posting. some official rounds and some unofficial rounds:

par 34: (48) (46) (?? didnt add up this 9 because i picked up a few putts to stay out of the way and improve pace of play).

par 70: semi official 94(dropped in right rough after not being able to find tee shot that i never saw fly on a par 4, otherwise it was a pretty clean round)

its been between 40 an 55 degrees here so the ball isn't exactly flying far. im about 2 clubs shorter than i was at the end of last summer.

putting has been really fast as courses trimmed the greens but the grass isnt really growing yet. ive hit some greens from 150 yd + and there have been no ball marks to find because the greens are so hard.

highlights: no birdies yet this year (tha fk) but ive been close a few times. have yet to leave a birdie putt short, which is a moral victory for me after last year when this was a serious issue, but this is likely thanks to the fast greens.

9 hole course highlights: hit a driver pretty straight and far right where i was aiming on a par 5 was my best shot with that club so far; it went about 260 i think which im happy with on a 50 degree day. 9 iron 3rd shot on same hole to 10 feet. sweet 6 iron from right rough over a front bunker from 160 to tight right side pin stopped on the fringe behind the hole(was aiming center green and pushed it about 10 paces right). hit the elusive and well guarded par 3 sixth hole from 182 with a 3 iron draw through the chute between the 2 bunkers to about 10 feet. two perfect tee shots on 9 with 3 wood(driver goes thru dogleg right into left rough so i cut 3 wood to center fairway which found the flat spot at the bottom of the hill about 240 yards away(finished with par after 5 iron found fringe from 155 into the wind).


18 hole course highlights: ripped 3 wood draw around the corner and over the hill about 220 yards from the tee box on 4., it ran down the other side of the hill and went about 285 total yards lol. 2 irons off the tee have been flying great with the exception of a couple fat shots. hit one that i think went about 230 with the wind helping. best shot in recent history though came on 420 yard par 4 . i pulled tee shot into left rough(not long yet but not as nice of a lie as fairway provides) and it only went about 180 yards. so i had a tree between myself and the green, that had a large branch hanging over my line, so i had to hit low draw into the wind. chose 2 iron and figured if i duff it at least it will be in fairway if i get the line right. well i made perfect contact and it made it by the tree before climbing high and curving left toward the green . it stopped just on the front fringe.. it was very satisfying.

i did manage 3 pars in a row on the back 9 on tuesday. but you'll notice that i dont have any short game brags. maybe i hit a decent flop shot or two. also i got up and down for par from greenside bunker on tuesday on a par 4. gotta work on short game for sure though.

Morning 9 between errands. Played with 2 guys that were both really slow walkers and pretty bad at golf. They had a cart which seemed to help a little but this time of year they keep carts on the paths. On the par 4 fifth hole I had already putted out when they were just getting to their balls in the bunker. We had fallen behind the group ahead of us by quite a bit, and since the guys I was with had already told me to go ahead if I wanted to, I went on alone.

Didnt add it up. It wasnt a good score but I did get a birdie and had several ok par chances. The birdie was a 18 foot downhill 7 iron chip from the back rough about 4 feet off the green on the par 5(driver, 5 wood, 5 iron). Duffed the next tee shot, but punched through the trees to 160. decent wind left to right and hurting. Drew a nice 5 iron to 15 feet. Missed par. Put 6 iron to 3 feet on par 4 fifth hole. Missed birdie low. Good pitch to back pin after coming up short on par 3 sixth. Missed par. Had 12 feet for par on par 4 eighth. Didnt sink it.

Putting line control has actually improved, but speed control baffles me.

47-52-99

!*(#&$*&@*(&@)*(@&))*$)

WTF

i repeat, for a weekend hack i can stripe irons with the best of them. just soooooooo many strokes thrown away.

back at it next two days.

i did, somehow, bomb a drive 291. also smoked a 6 iron 217 off tee. slightly elevated tee box but nothing crazy. oh i caught all of it.

i've also decided to try to miss putts. i figure i might actually make some that way.

First 9* back after hand surgery.

* - Because it was our annual par 3 contest.

Scores went: 6-2-4-3-3-4-3-3-4

Had 2 3-putts. Apparently I didn't know my own strength on the first swing.

at least you're playing Scott

Howell Golf Course 50-49-99

Broke 100 on my 2nd of the 5 county courses. I'm feeling so much more comfortable on the golf course. The most unsure/scary part of my game is still my drive after I thought I figured some things out. Today I popped one straight up off the tee with a driver. Literally went straight up in the air and landed 20 yards away OB. Twice today i had to hit 3 from a compromising position not far from the tee and battled to get a triple and quadruple. Take those away and it is a really nice round. 3-putted on the front 9 too much but figured out the greens and made some huge putts as well.

I used my brother in laws old clubs tonight which are way nicer. Highest club was still a 50 but having nice(r) irons made a noticeable difference. Stuck a 7i and 5i on the green from distance and went over a bunker from 20 yards a couple times to land on the green which is a terrifying shot especially without my 56 or a 60. My hybrid is absolute fire. I love hitting it and I'm so consistent with it. I'm not worrying about distance yet but as I hit everything but driver more and more consistently (especially my hybrid) but eventually I'm going to have to figure something out to increase distance. Again that's for next summer maybe not this summer. I want to consistently shoot in the low 90s by the end of this summer.

This game is so fun. I want to play every day.

LFC my bugaboo with driver is popping them up. i popped up first drive of year a few weeks ago. after that i just teed it lower and have not popped one up since.

i am in no way saying that's for anyone else, just funny that it took me so long so make a simple adjustment.

I've literally never done this before and did it once each of the last 2 times out. I feel like when I tee it lower it dramatically increases my slice. Silly golf

The lower you tee it, the more spin you put on the ball, the more you will hook or slice it. Also doesn't go as far.

Makes sense. Which is why I've teed it up. Don't get me wrong I still slice it just not nearly as bad. The two pop-ups were outliers but like I have no idea how I did it lol. Playing same course today. If I can get off the tee I'm confident of going lower than 99