What did you shoot today?

[C-Tech]

Played El Conquistador today and carded an 86. I had a couple of blow up holes, but generally just didn't play sharp. My ball striking was off just enough to keep my confidence shaken through the entire round. Instead of imagining what I wanted the ball to do, I was praying it just wouldn't go into trouble. I played 3 iron off the tee on everything under 360 just trying to keep the ball in play. My driver was just out to lunch.

Since I played so poorly, I drove over to Randolph North around 3 and walked 9 just to convince myself my earlier round was a fluke...turns out it wasn't as I didn't play any better at Randolph. I sure wish I knew where my game went, I would send it bus fare back home.

[jshiver15]

I played in my first intramural match the other day. The format is a 4 man team with 2 playing best ball and two playing scramble. I played on the two man best ball leg. We netted a 70 while earning 2 points for the overall and winning the front. We both kind of slipped on the back, making 2 bogies which ended up costing us a perfect 3 points for the entire match, being closed out on #17. Oh well, I had fun.

Couldn't really say the same for the other two on our team, they lost all three points in the scramble.

[Pistol]

No epic battle due to Mr Bogey on vacation at Hilton Head. Started out with a 3 putt on the first hole and hoped that didn't set a bad tone for the day. I wound up shooting a 2 under 70 by hitting all 18 greens and had 34 putts. I don't know if I've ever played a round where I hit all 18 greens. If the putter was working I could have gone real low.

[C-Tech]

Played Tubac Golf Resort today, where "Tin Cup" was filmed. It is a very nice course, they have 3-9's and we played Rancho and Otero. The course was in very good shape. I carded a 90 and I wasn't even upset. We had 35MPH winds and I had never seen the course before. I did actually put one in the water on the "Tin Cup" hole. That pond is about 1/2 the size it looks on the movie, but I still managed to find it. Two hole prior to the "Tin Cup" water hole is the hole where Kevin Costner broke all his clubs over his knee. It was pretty flat but has lots of trees (Mesquite) on it. It runs along the Santa Cruz river and had water running in it down there. The Santa Cruz is one a a very few rivers in the US that run south to north. By the time the Santa Cruz gets 20 miles further north, it is dry.

[RoyalWulff]

Went out on Wed and shot a 44 on the front nine at my local muni. Now if I could just put it together for a full 18 then I would break my season goal of braking into the 80's. I am going out to a front range course tomorrow, so hopefully I can finally put it all together.

[JimSomebody]

97* yesterday in the Men's League annual 4-Club event. Guess I took the wrong 4 clubs (took driver, 7-w, 6-i, PW). Tried putting with driver and 7-w (using long-putter technique); kept pushing them right and leaving them way short, anyway. With 6-i, I was blowing them way by the hole. Finally settled on putting with PW (blade to ball's equator), which was not as disastrous. A silly-season event to conclude this year's league competition.

*Made a 10 on one hole, which ESC will reduce to a 7, so it was only a 94 for posting purposes.

[Wazmankg]

Well I broke out of my 88/89 rut. 43-49/92. My iron approaches are the part of my game I've been most unhappy with now that I have my chipping under control. My iron game used to be my strength before I took a 5-year vacation from the game, but I haven't been able to get back to where I was with them. I used to hit them with a strong down and through move and took a nice divot. I've been more of a "picker" in recent years. I don't know whether it's been due to age or what, but I'm committed to getting back to basics as of the back 9 Friday. It's going to take awhile to ingrain that "hit down on the ball" swing thought, but when I did it was just like the old days. It's a work in progress, but I know it's the answer.

[C-Tech]

Played Torres Blancas today. It is south of Tucson in Green Valley, AZ. Really nice course that they just reopened yesterday after overseeding a few weeks ago. The only complaint I had was the greens were way slow and they had not cut the rough since they overseeded. It was brutal. 4+" of lush bermuda and the ball always seemed to end up nestled down in the roots. Wind was 30+ again today. I shot 86 and was glad to get out with that. I was low man in our foursome.

[essurfer]

It was too beautiful not to play so I braved the crowd at the club (not really that crowded!!) on my way to an 83

[RoyalWulff]

I went yesterday and played Saddleback just north of Denver. I shot a 93, which I was happy with considering the condition of the greens. They had just mowed them and there were still clumps of grass clippings all over the green. Thsi doesn't include all the ball marks left on the greens by other players. It seems I was repairing three ball marks at least on every green. I would have gotten to my goal of shooting into the 80's if I hadn't carded two triple bogies, one on each nine.

[RoyalWulff]

I went out today and played nine before the snow predicted for this weekend and shot a 43. I'm hoping to get in 18 before the snow sticks and see if I can put two nines of 40's together. That would let me make my goal for the year of breaking into the 80's.

[C-Tech]

Played Starr Pass Roadrunner and Coyote nines today with a business associate. Had a horrible start. Roadrunner starts with a 200 yd par 3 followed by a very difficult par 4 with a small fairway between a mountain on one side and a wash on the other. The wash cuts diagonally across the fairway just in front of the green. By the time I got through making a mess of those two, I was 7 over after 2. Finished with a 90 and actually had 2 birdies including a chip in with a lob wedge from 20 ft below the green.

[essurfer]

On my way to play..light rain and warm. Here I go!

[Wazmankg]

Another 89 today (43-46). 37 putts, but I lipped out a few and left a couple right in the mouth. It didn't feel like I putted poorly. Except on the par 3 13th. It's about 150 and I hit a 7-iron. It landed about a foot short of the stick and bounced and rolled about 12' past. I had a downhill right-to-left for bird and I was really grinding over it. I read it from every angle .. the whole deal. I haven't had a bird in a couple of rounds and I really wanted it. I read about 2 balls outside. Well it was more like 2' outside and it fell off the table just past the hole leaving me about 8' coming back, which I missed. Another last hole meltdown cost me a decent round as I hit it first into a fairway trap, then out, my third I pulled into a hazard. I took a triple, my only > bogey score on the card. I hate finishing like that. I was so that I headed back to the tee and played it again... for a routine par, of course.

[Bigvivec]

Monday October 6
Rough one today…my flu kicked back in yesterday and though determined to go to the course, I’ve got a little temperature, dizziness and the typical flu body weakness and aches…in retrospect I should have stayed in bed because I am totally exhausted right now and have a whole working day in front of me…that and I didn’t enjoy myself on the course today…was hoping that I could shake off the flu symptoms after a few holes, but the opposite happened…oh well…finding it hard to even type right now my coordination is so shaky…so I’ll sum up quickly…I couldn’t hit anything today, lost 9 balls OB, water or rough and played my worst round of the year…

One of the cooks just gave me a funny look…I don’t really blame him as I was holding my glass of ice water to my head…going to be a long one today…
3/13 fairways, 4 gir, 35 putts…+27 97.
(1/2 hr later…)
I just went out into the show kitchen of the fine dining restaurant and made a red currant cabernet gastrique (sauce) for the duck while the cooks were on their break…made myself a double espresso and listened to the Hungarian string quartet that plays evenings in the lounge practice with the kitchen to myself…feel much better now…the day is not lost…

[Bigvivec]

Wednesday Oct 8
Still haven’t shaken this bug, but a day off golf helped…tough playing today and I haven’t remembered how to swing really, but didn’t do too bad…didn’t feel like I was “playing” though…
I just totaled my score and it was better than I thought…good chipping is a big part…my putter is still ice cold and actually I went with a different putter today…will do the same tomorrow and keep doing so until I break the bad streak…been bombing the three wood lately and today was no different; best club in the bag…hitting it long enough that I took it on a couple of holes where I would normally play driver and while I was short of where I would put it with the driver, I had 100% confidence that I would put it where it went…nice that the club chose to cooperate with my vision…driver was better today and I have dialed in the power fade which carries further than my draw but stops quicker for a little less total distance…carried one 275 today and it stopped inside of 10 yards, just short of the fairway bunker…I’ll take it though as it kept me out of trouble; the fairways are still running fast…
I played my 56* in place of my 60* today and was pleased with the ball flight…it is a lot more versatile than the 60* and I would prefer it if not for the 14* of bounce…Titleist has a new line of spin milled wedges coming out with what appears to be a very serviceable C-sole grind on them…might have to look into that…I chipped with it for the novelty of it since it had been awhile and stuck all but one for up and downs despite the lower percentage of flying it to the hole…had fun spinning the short shots but don’t plan on making it a habit…oddly, I chunked a 9 iron on the fringe which has been my go-to club for a little while now…not letting one round change my approach though…
Still over thinking irons, but shook free a little towards the end of the round when I stopped fiddling with my grip, shelved the swing thoughts and just let my muscles take over…hitting solid and right at where I am aiming, problem is that with my new fade set up I can’t really be sure where that is…one of these days I’ll make it to the range, but I’ll just muddle along until then…
8/10 fairways, 7 gir, 25 putts…+5…

[Bigvivec]

Friday October 10
Getting a little frustrated here…putting is as sour as you can imagine and I am scared to putt; have no idea where it might end up…irons and wedges are pretty bad…lost the plot here and don’t really know which way is up…bad enough that I was hitting 8 and 9 iron bump and runs for approaches in the 80-110 range, missed three greens from 60-80 yds and was pretty hackish all around with an iron or wedge in hand…saving grace was my chipping and my wood game which is really coming along…on all but one driver, fw or hybrid swing I was spot on…the one that got away did in a vicious manner and wound up netting a double…needless to say, I was in great positions to attack greens all day, a few times even thinking to myself that I couldn’t have walked down and placed the ball for an approach in a better position than where I hit it…my lines were good enough that I could run it in low to the green having taken the trouble around most greens out of play…so it was a great day and a bad day all at the same time…

Was at the range yesterday and hit the first quarter of the bucket (25 balls) like a pro…picking targets and hitting straight, fade then draw to each for surprising distances…I even pulled my 3 iron which has been banished from the course bag and hit a few just how I wanted…I couldn’t miss…troubling thing about it though was I was taking more than a minute between shots mainly because I was fiddling with my grip; just didn’t seem right…with the woods the hands go on and we go straightaway, but irons and wedges I am having issues even though I was crushing it after three regrippings and 5 practice swings:rollup:…

I started to hit some chunky half shots and pitches and everything went south…sorted the pitching and then went back to the rest of the clubs and nothing was feeling right and results were of a lower grade…I think a good part of the reason was ego as I fell into the “How far can I make my ___ club go?” after doing so well at the start…the rest was a loss of attention to tempo, which I threw off when hitting the half shots and I couldn’t regain…couldn’t shake it and left the range with the last shot being a fat digger…carried it over to the course today unfortunately…I have set up consistency issues for sure, and my body is pretty run down, but what it all comes back to is that I can’t stop fiddling with my grip on the wedges and irons…

The used club guy was at the course on the third as usual and had an impressive array today…I tried a burner tp 3 and 5 woods which I found that don’t work for me with the stock r flex shaft, and a steelhead III 5 wood (I’m accepting applications as the 5 wood that I recently got has been blacklisted along with its closed face) that had an ancient graffaloy prolite elite (? I don’t know, just reading the label) x flex shaft in it…normally I shy away from x flex, but after having my three wood set up and checking the cpm’s, I found that it is now an x flex and I hit that club great…anyway, I hit three balls very solidly, all ending up in play in good position, two of which were in perfect position and within a yard of each other even though one was off a tee and the other off the deck…have to think about that one and get over my Callaway prejudice…surprised to find that this shaft has 4.0* of torque…thought I liked low torque shafts, but this one was pretty sharp…

It is nice on the other hand to be tired as heck, hobbling around the course like a cripple, mishitting shots that should be on the easy side and topping irons and still come away only 4 over…


10/11 fairways…7 gir…24 putts…+4

[Wazmankg]

I'm starting to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Another 89 today 44/45. That's 88 or 89 for 7 of my last 8 rounds. 3 penalty strokes and 33 putts. No real blowup holes but I wasn't taking advantage of the opportunities I gave myself with some good chipping and pitching. I left a lot out there. The past few rounds I just couldn't make a putt between 4-8'. I'll just have to get em closer I guess.

[mr_bogey]

No epic battle today, as Pistol headed out to Arizona w/ his folks to look at a big hole in the ground. I should have gone on vacation again myself, because my golf game was certainly on vacation today. I shot a miserable 41/41-82, 10 bogeys and 8 pars, never made more than two consecutive pars. My 12 day layoff was in evidence everywhere, especially around the greens.

[Golfaddict]

I managed to get 13 holes in today after a week of not playing. I shot a 42 on the first nine and finished bogey par bogey par on the last 4. I burned the edges of so many putts today! I think I hit only 2 greens today, but my chipping was pretty good today. I still can't get the feel of my new driver, but it may turn into my new 3 wood.

This is the first time in a while that my swing felt "good". I just don't see how you guys that don't play often have any consistency. If I didn't have the summers off where I can play almost every day for 2 months I would give this game up.