D'oh, stay healthy.

35-46-81

2 birdies, 4 doubles

Just a ****ing disaster once I made the turn.

43-44-87. No birdies, 3 doubles.

My short game is just straight up embarrassing right now.

Home course Gowanda yesterday. 50-46-96.

I absolutely can't putt. Chipping is "getting there" but still not great. And then my partner is chiming in with unsolicited advice after I hit a bad chip.

I literally could not chip two years ago. I have improved a TON. And then he's chirping at how long my swing is on chips. Shut up.

Unsolicited advice on how to deal with it as I play with a few guys who like to make comments on others swings/technique. And as someone who comes in and out of driving it like a 24 handicap when playing to a 10 it can infuriating.

"Yeah I'm working on xxxx (chipping in your case) with my instructor. Trying to keep my mind quiet while I play so no need for any additional thoughts at this time". Usually gets them to knock it off

Saturday: 42-42 = 84.

Started with a triple with compounding errors. Clipped a tree on my drive and couldn't get to green, super flubbed my pitch, picked the wrong club for a bump and run leaving me well short, bad putting....blargh. Finished the front with a lost-ball double, four pars, two bogeys, and a birdie. Backside I started with three pars before going bogey-bogey-bogey-double (with the final bogey and the double on holes where I usually par); snuck a par in before bogeying the last.

Sunday: 40-42 = 82

Started off hot (for me), pars on the first three holes (#2 is a usual par, but ##1 and 3 give me trouble) before bogeying a par 3 (not unusual, it's long with a very tough green) and a bad bogey on an easy par 4. Another bad bogey on #9, an easy-ish par 5. Things were clicking on the back until a triple on #14 when my drive ended up in a bad divot in the middle of the fairway and I ended up in trouble.


Played with "Comments on Everything" guy again. Despite being an 18 handicap, thinks that everyone wants his read on every putt and opinion on every shot, before and after you hit it. Nice guy, truly, but very annoying.....

Played work scramble on a tough hilly course today. Due to circumstances we were a threesome. We shot +1 but bogeyed 2 of first 6 holes where we weren't taking an extra shot. some official told us we should be doing that so we did after that. i mean maybe we could have finished -1? yippie.

After each hole our playing partner would just shoot to the next tee box. There was a mixup and we ended getting to a tee box well after him. We ask if we can hit. Again, hilly course and you often had to drive up to make sure it's clear. he says "yeah i think so." I ask "yes" or "you think so"? He says yes. We drive right into the group in front of us. Idiot.

36-38-74

1 birdie, 3 bogeys

The most boring, but good, round ever. Bogeys were missing the green on 183y par 3, putting from off the green on a hole and blowing it way past, and hitting 3 wood off of a par 5 cause i was gonna lay up, then decide I can't lay up when I'm 240y out and hit it in the water.

Boring rounds are my favorite rounds; a bunch of pars and no doubles (or higher) makes me feel like things are going right.

42 (par 35). 1 birdie, 1 double bogey, 1 quadruple bogey.

I need a lobotomy.

After a really solid par on #1 the wind grabbed my approach on #2 and dumped it into the greenside bunker. It's not a difficult bunker - I'm a few feet from the lip and the lip is only a couple feet so it's not a deep one. There is perfectly good sand in it. I have about 10 or 12 yards to the pin. The green is pretty flat. Nothing challenging.

So of course I blade it, just like I've bladed my last dozen sand shots. This one was particularly impressive because it had lots of height to it, it wasn't a line drive. It was just flushed. I-can't-hit-it-that-good-from-the-fairway flushed. A good fifty yards over the green and now I have a 20 foot evergreen that's kinda in the way. Two poor pitches and three putts later I have a fine quad.

So in my last three rounds I have bladed sand shots into an orchard, a wetland, a pine forest and this one was a couple yards short of a cornfield.

Head case.

74 (+2) which is a full 5 strokes better than I’ve ever shot in my life. I don’t know what got into me today, but it was glorious. Was actually -1 standing on 17 tee and then nerves just took over on the last two holes.

very nice

Very nice congrats

nice work Soul! curious to hear what happened on the last two to go +3

Thanks! I live in the low to mid 80s, so a two hole stretch where I’m +3 is strongly within my range of outcomes.

But yeah, I just got quick in my swing on both tee shots and put myself in rough spots. On 17 I pretty much snap-hooked it left into the really thick stuff and had to take my medicine. Then my 3rd was just a terribly struck 9 iron that missed the green by 15 yards. Nearly made a 20 footer to save bogey, but it wasn’t meant to be. On 18 another snap hook into a fairway bunker, which is generally a doomsday scenario for me. Driver had been automatic all day until it wasn’t.

sounds like you tried to rush the happy ending instead of being patient and letting it come to you (as we all should).
congrats again on the low round, and i look forward to your future posts when shooting in the low 70's becomes a ho-hum thing.
keep grinding

Yeah so filthy congrats!

I hit it great off the tee today and man is the game easier and more enjoyable when you can drive it decent to good.

40-42 82 (9.8 diff) and it felt like as high as I cold have shot. Only one-putt was a tap in for double bogie. 10 fairways, 11 greens, 35 putts. No birdies, 4 bogies 3 doubles

Irons mostly decent. Chipping meh. Putting bad but serviceable. Two putted a few long lag putts but missed from 3 feet twice. Once for birdie and those suck. No 3 putts is also good.

Nice round soul, every once in a while everything just clicks!

38-38-76

15 pars, 2 bogeys, 1 double

Played the tips today at 6614y 73.0/147

Was really comfortable from back there today. Never hit anything more than 3 wood and the longest iron I had into any par 4 was 7. The double was on the 16 handicap hole. Clipped a branch coming off of the tee and lost enough steam to have it drop in the water so I had to drop at the front of the tee markers hitting 3.

Figured out I was strangling my putter something fierce. Loosening it up a lot made a world of difference. Didn't make anything today but I was more confident and burned a lot of edges.

Very cool, congrats. What's your handicap? Sounds like we're in the same range (although I can shoot in the mid-to-upper 80s and it doesn't surprise me). Can't say I feel like I can go "shooting par" low, but definitely feel like magic could strike and 74 or 75 could happen.


Monthly Stag: 39-41 = 80.

Started on hole 8 with an easy par, then shanked my drive 20 yards into the thick stuff on the easy par 5 ninth. Somehow managed to have 8 footer for par, but missed. Another SHANK on the par 3 tenth, then to a trap, ending with a double.

Very much righted the ship after that. I feel really comfortable hitting the ball these days, and my putting, which has always been decent, has improved and helped me shave strokes. I've never had a problem 3-putting, but I've started being more confident in my rides and committing to mid-range putts, and they're falling. Another aspect of my game that's helping me improve is I've finally developed a wind ball. My "stock" drive is usually a little high with a fade bordering on slice, and for the longest time I couldn't do anything but that into the wind, resulting in ballooning, slicing, short shots. It's not a pretty set up, but I've found by moving the ball back slightly rear of center and cocking the shaft forward, I have a very consistent low ball flight that cuts through. Huge on my course, where it is ALWAYS windy.

Feeling confident overall. Ignoring my two "away" rounds, I haven't shot over 84 in my last ten rounds, and I feel like most of my bad holes are course management mistakes I can continue to work on.

Thanks man! Sounds about right. My handicap generally hovers around 9. I can definitely reach the high 80s or low 90s on a tight or unforgiving course. Shot 89 at Victoria National last week and I actually thought I played pretty well that day! Can’t say that I thought yesterday was possible.

41-41-82. 2 birdies, 3 double bogeys.

Other than the consecutive doubles on 9, 10 and 11 (water ball, awful 3 putt, lost ball in a tree) a very satisfactory round. Driver wasn't good, but a very fine iron day and for once my chipping was good with only one awful chip - and that one only cost me a tap in bogey. Putting was even pretty good, though I did have a couple short ones that jumped sideways off the putter.

Only was in one greenside bunker and I got out successfully for a par. Worth celebrating.

37-44-81. 3 birdies, 1 double bogey, 1 triple bogey. 70.4/133/6205 yards - Par 73.

Pilgrim's Run GC in Pierson, MI north of Grand Rapids. One of the best public courses in Michigan. Beautiful course and in great shape other than there were a fair number of unrepaired ball marks on the green. At least it kept me busy while we waited on every shot on the front nine. 5 hour 15 minute round, yeesh.

Still a few loose shots. Bladed my only sand shot of the day, leading to the triple. Hit a couple poor wedges out of thick greenside rough, but also had a number of successful up and downs. Could have added a couple more birdies but overall putting was quite good. Driver wasn't great but I never got into too much trouble.

yikes at a 5+ hour round. heavily wooded and/or thick rough?

39-38-77

13 pars, 5 bogeys

Both, plus some very tough pin placements today. We didn't have too many balls in the forest, only one lost that I can recall.

A usual round on a Saturday morning (from past experience) is probably more like 4:45. It's a big piece of property and even with a cart you do plenty of hiking.

40-40 -80. 1 birdie and 1 eagle.

Shot my best round for at least 13 years today - and only 2 worse than my best gross ever.

The ground was hard so I could get closer to the greens and I was putting really well.

Playing off 19 in a stableford competition I made 46 points. Gross 80, and I have only broken 85 twice in the past ten years - both 84.

Got an exceptional score reduction of 2 because I was 10+ under.

Handicap index moved from 19.0 to 15.6.

Over the moon! Especially as I turned 60 before this season.

Next stop, the handicap thread.