86. Stuck in this zone where neither my ball striking or my putting is good enough to score better. Also, too many ^&* double bogeys when both suck on the same hole.

Once or twice.

Most of my golf around here ends up being at Fairfax National, because the DC tracks are awful and the Montgomery County courses are slow as hell and not worth the price. You can get out for like $40 on the weekend at Fairfax after 2 pm, and it's usually pretty open.

87 (37). Sad. Hit some better (i.e. straighter) drives. Missed a lot of greens. Lousy chipping.

Demo'd a Spider putter. Liked the way it felt, but the length wasn't ideal. Have come to the conclusion that there is something wrong with my eyes, because I have been misreading even really short putts, resulting in misses even when I put a good stroke on the ball.

Frustrating, but that's life.

dude you need to ram the ball in the back of the f*ckin hole.

i understand putting bad sometimes, but you seem to have > 36 putts like every round. If you ram that sucker in the center every time on < 5 foot putts, you will do much better imo. It may not be ideal, but ....

That's because I do have > 36 putts almost every round. Large greens + lousy chipping + shaky putting = lots of putts. I wasn't especially unhappy with today's putting, I just wasn't close to the hole very often to have legit 1 putt attempts. 2 1 putts (both where I was on the fringe so I got it close), 3 3 putts, all from long range. On two of the three I did lag to within four feet and then missed.

On a lighter note, I had the guy I rode with today keep track of putts for me since he was keeping the card. We have the same handicap and pretty similar games. As mentioned above, I shot 87 with 37 putts. He shot 90 with 26 putts.

Oh yeah and I'll try ramming it into the back of the hole on Tuesday (course is closed tomorrow). If my next post is typed in all capital letters that means I'm doing it on my Blackberry on the way to jail after killing someone when I run a two foot downhiller 12 feet past because I missed left or right yet AGAIN...

2008 Rounds
Front-Back-Tot-Putt-Penalty
50-63-113 Primm Valley Resort
53-46-99 Bear's Best
48-56-104 Revere at Anthem Lexington
50-53-103 Wolf Paiute
45-59-104 Lost Canyons Sky
55-62-117 Lost Canyon Shadow
54-54-108 Badlands
50-50-100 Rio Secco
46-53-99 (43) Revere at Anthem Lexington
45-51-96 (37) Paiute Sun Course
38 (19) Durango Hills par 30
50-49-99 (38) Revere at Anthem Lexington
51-50-101 (39) Bears Best
37-32-69 (31) Durango Hills par 58
53-48-101 (36) TPC Las Vegas
52-63-115 (36) TPC Las Vegas
36-39-75 (33) Durango Hills par 58
54-49-103 (41) TPC Las Vegas
53-55-108 (37) Arrowhead
53-45-98 (42) George W. Dunne National
53-51-104 (40) Bears Best
51-48-99 (35) Red Rock Arroyo
50-45-95 (35) Bears Best
50-47-97 (38) The Lakes
56-48-104 (40) Wolf Paiute
51-47-98 (37) Rhodes Ranch
43-49-92 (34) Revere at Anthem Concord
54-54-108 (37) Bears Best
47-42-89 (35) (0) TPC Las Vegas
45-45-90 (34) (4) Wolf Paiute
49-45-94 (33) (5) The Falls
53-52-105 (39) (7) Wolf Paiute
46-47-93 (34) (1) Reflection Bay
50-51-101 (36) (2) Poppy Hills

Started off very slow, quad-double-double-double, then didn't have anything worse than bogey the rest of the way except for a 3-putt double and a spazzy 8 on a straightforward par-3 on the back. Driver has regressed.

clark,

your scores tilt the **** out of me. do you ever practice?

Once in a blue moon, but mostly just in the hour before the round.

I needs me some lessons really, but as a weekend only guy, it's tough to get in a ton of practice. I do feel my trendline is decent (I'm at or near my best "average score last ten rounds" since I started tracking scores a year ago).

I just made two pars over 18 holes, and played overall very well. I am driving consistently longer, but I 3-putt wayyyy too many holes. My putting last 18 was very good, but I've totally lost it lately. Thoughts?

how long are your second putts on avg?

oh, 4 feet? Not great, but my 3-putts have gone way down. My putting has gotten better lately (I think my putting stats show that) but I feel I'm missing a lot of makable like 8-12 footers.

practice lag putting with your eyes closed or while looking at the hole

will do

This helped me a lot (until I angered the golf gods by posting about it on the internet).

My wife and I played with another couple while on vacation one time, and the woman putted like this all the time. She was $$$, too.

I think the guy had ego issues because she would always ask him to read the putt for her and then would pretty much ignore what he said when she hit the putt. Pretty funny.

Club Championship 75-78 and lose by 13. 24/36 greens and made 3 birdies, one of which was a chip in. God this is a humbling game!!!

employee day at work today. shot 58 in a 4man superball with a guy thats played twice before and one of the assistants that has played about 4 times since he started in may. i birdied 3 holes in a row on my own. of course all of the golf staff tied at 58.

gay but i drank all day and ate some awesome barbeque and swam in the pool and drank from the stella keg after golf. it wasnt horrible.

Just back from a trip to Chicago and back to Phoenix.. Left Arizona and drove up to Las Vegas for the first night. Really was bad planning on my part. Should have driven up to Mesquite the first night since I was playing Wolf Creek the next day.

Picked the courses that I was playing by using the Top 100 Public Courses arcording to Golf Digest. Had a rain check froim Wolf Creek that I had to use by Labor Day. The rain check was from last year when the temp was around 115 and humid and the front 9 took about 2.5 hours. Thought I was going to die. I have played Wolf Creeek before and the course was in great shape. Shot a 96.

Stayed in Mesquite that night and drove to Grand Junction, Co to play the Golf Club at Redlands Mesa. According to Golf Digest, this course is ranked 17th in the nation. Really didn't play a bad course on this trip and this was well worth the money. Shot a 95. After the round, I continued driving out to the Colorado - Nebraska border.

The next day I played Quarry Run outside Lincoln Nebraska. The round started out super with being 1 under par after 6 holes, Started with 5 pars and the 6th hole was a 470 yard par 5. Hit a decent drive then put my 2nd shot about 10 feet from the hole and missed the eagle putt. Ended up shooting 90.

Finished up the drive by playing a private country club in West Des Moines. It was a fun round that I played with 2 members. The club was Glen Oaks and it was another case of a course being in excellent condition. Probably due to all the rain in the midwest.

In Chicago on Thursday of the following week I was supposed to play Medinah. I've played courses 1 and 3, but never course 2. Unfortunately due to thunderstorms, ended up spending 2 hours in the bar.

After the almost round at Medinah, I headed down to Merrillville, IN to spend Friday and Saturday at the boats playing Omaha. Nothing really eventful there. Did spend Friday evening at the new Horseshoe poker room playing a pleasant Omaha/8 game. The poker room was very nice.

Sunday, I played the Glen Club in Glenview. According to the scorecard, one of the Golf Magazines ranks them in the top 100. Started out the round with 7-7-6. A 3 putt on the 3rd hole did not help. Final score was 87.

On Tuesday, left work at 3 and played Steeplechase in Mundelein. That was the round where I barely could do anything wrong. Through 12 holes I was 1 over par and ended up shooting 78. This was the 4th time I ever broke 80. A double bogey on 18 prevented a better score.

Wednesday was the start of the trip back to Phoenix. The first day I drove down to Tulsa, OK. The next morning, I played Cherokee Casinos course - Cherokee Hills. Shot a 99 and this was the round from hell. Played as a single and eventually joined up with 2 other singles. In front of us were 2 foursomes. One was 4 women and the other were 4 guys. To say that they were slow was an understatement. Not once did they give us the courtesy of letting us play through. Course was in nice shape but they need to do a better job of course management.

After this round of golf, it was back on the road to Santa Fe, New Mexico. On Friday I played Black Mesa. Golf Digest ranks the course 44. Originally, I was going to play around 2:30 but on the drive there I saw lightning and dark clouds. Decided to drive up to Taos for lunch. Around 5:15 when I was driving back, the skies had lightened up and I decided to try to get in 18 holes. Playing by myself, I ended up playing in about 2 hours and shot an 89. Course was in great shape and the only negative was blind shots.

Saturday I played Pueblo de Cochiti just south of Santa Fe. Course was fun and ended up paired with 3 others. Shot a 92. After the round I drove down to Albuquerque.

Sunday I played Paa Ko Ridge. The course was another great course to play. Shot a 92 and should have done a little bit better.

Any of the course that I played on this trip I would go back to. The most expensive round of golf was $100.

^^^jealous of that.

I have stopped drinking caffeine and it led to a dizzy and terrible 46-39-85.

Then I played again and shot 71...tied for best round ever. Makes perfect sense.

Played a fun round this morning at Riverby Hills in perfect weather conditions.

38-40-78.

Fairways 5/14 but missed a lot by a little.
GIR 9/18. 31 putts(with two three putts).

Highlight: Plugged a 6-iron approach into the greenside bunker on 12. Feathered it out of the beach to less than a foot to keep it at two over par.

Beats: Three putted the first hole for bogey. Tried 5-iron off the tee on 17 and hit one of my clunkers off the toe. Left me with over 225 yards in and I made a lousy double-bogey. <choke> Best I had shot here previously was 77.

36-31 = 67

Monday at Black Bear CC in Delhi, La. in a one day section event.

http://www.blackbear-golf.com/

Very nice new course in the middle of nowhere.
Played the gray tees in the rain all day.
Played it up through the green.
Finished 2nd to a 65

Followed my 78 with a 78! 36-42-78.

6/7 fairways, 5 GIR and 14 putts on the front.
3/7 fairways, 3 GIR and 16 putts on the back.

I hit two sh _ _ _ s on the back nine.

I hit my best drive of the day on a 377 yard par four. I had only 105 yards left and sh _ _ _ ed a pitching wedge.

The next hole I had a 20 yard SW over a bunker to a tight spot and I sh _ _ _ ed it.

Hooha! I think I have peaked.

Bach party in Vegas....

Cascata: 75 - amazing course!
Bear's Best: 36 (only played front, wayyy too hot)

2008 Rounds
Front-Back-Tot-Putt-Penalty
50-63-113 Primm Valley Resort
53-46-99 Bear's Best
48-56-104 Revere at Anthem Lexington
50-53-103 Wolf Paiute
45-59-104 Lost Canyons Sky
55-62-117 Lost Canyon Shadow
54-54-108 Badlands
50-50-100 Rio Secco
46-53-99 (43) Revere at Anthem Lexington
45-51-96 (37) Paiute Sun Course
38 (19) Durango Hills par 30
50-49-99 (38) Revere at Anthem Lexington
51-50-101 (39) Bears Best
37-32-69 (31) Durango Hills par 58
53-48-101 (36) TPC Las Vegas
52-63-115 (36) TPC Las Vegas
36-39-75 (33) Durango Hills par 58
54-49-103 (41) TPC Las Vegas
53-55-108 (37) Arrowhead
53-45-98 (42) George W. Dunne National
53-51-104 (40) Bears Best
51-48-99 (35) Red Rock Arroyo
50-45-95 (35) Bears Best
50-47-97 (38) The Lakes
56-48-104 (40) Wolf Paiute
51-47-98 (37) Rhodes Ranch
43-49-92 (34) Revere at Anthem Concord
54-54-108 (37) Bears Best
47-42-89 (35) (0) TPC Las Vegas
45-45-90 (34) (4) Wolf Paiute
49-45-94 (33) (5) The Falls
53-52-105 (39) (7) Wolf Paiute
46-47-93 (34) (1) Reflection Bay
50-51-101 (36) (2) Poppy Hills
47-46-93 (38) (3) Eagle Vines, Napa


A whopping 23(!) putts on the front nine killed me, including a triple-triple start. Made a triple on 18 after being aggressive for birdie which would've gotten me a tough 89. Driver had 100% regressed to ****, and took me half the roundt o get used to the greens. Beautiful course.

42 (19). Par 37. Kind of a waste of a killer ball striking day. Hit 6/7 fairways (the other one hit in the fairway and bounced into the rough, not in any trouble). Hit 5/9 greens (the other 4 holes I ended up on the fringe or collar, never more than three feet from the surface). Only hit one lousy full shot - half topped a four wood on a short par 5. Ended up 40 yards short instead of on in two, wedged to 8 feet, made birdie, lol'd.

78 at a 69.6/124 easy course. Not the best way to follow up my 71, but much better than a depressing 85 or something.

I made some nice putts and dropped a 35 foot bomb for bogey early on to keep my round somewhat not completely ruined. Had 2 bad 3 putts, but overall very happy with my putting.

Ball striking...meh, I have been better, I have been worse.

Chipping...atrocious. I cost myself at least 6-7 shots by being a very sub par chipper.