R9 Reshafting

Day 52 (30 Apr 26) - Had planned a solo round, got invited to be part of trio that included a fmr mini tour pro.  Was fun playing back a set of tees and having to stay in my game plan. Both were very engaging and encouraging in the round.  A good day in working through and making smarter shot choices. 

Day 576 - 2026-04-30 Put my playlist on and slowed down a little as things were meh. Mostly got to an exaggerated P6 and hit from there.

I mean, a golfer is trespassing and damaging property. So, golf rules don’t supersede state laws. 😉 Like, if it isn’t marked and is off golf property. The right thing to do is take an unplayable lie or take stroke and distance.  Also, this is a liability for the course. The homeowner could easily say the course is liable for damage done because they knowingly didn't mark their boundaries which allowed golfers to trespass and damage property. 

Interestingly enough, if the course (the Committee in Rules terms) doesn't mark the boundaries, there is nothing out of bounds.  I realize that neighboring homeowners would take a dim view of golfers whacking balls from their backyards, but that's what the Definition of Out of Bounds requires. "All areas outside the boundary edge of the course as defined by the Committee."

I had two events the past two days. Yesterday I was playing a course blind. Hit it solid. Hit 9/14 fairways, 12/18 greens, 34 putts. Many of those putts were the result of balls that were close-ish to the hole when they landed, but wound up a long way away once they'd finished rolling (backwards mainly). Then today, hit 11/13 fairways, 11/18 greens, 37 putts, and shot 80. 8 over par and it wasn't particularly pretty. My big problem today was my pitching. I was inside 100 yards of the hole and off the green on 9 occasions.  1st - drive to about 75 yards, fanned a 58 degree short and right. On the green, but a good 40 feet away and good two putt from there (so took 3) 2nd - laid up to a bunker and it's narrow past it, so had 165 in, missed it right with an 8 iron. Wet rough, chip from about 5 yards off the green and the club snagged. It got on the green, but only temporarily. Overcorrected a bit on the next one and hit it a bit firm and it rolled out to about 35 feet. Putt didn't break and it ran on a bit and I missed the one back (greens were fast and a little bumpy, which didn't help, but doesn't excuse either). (took 5 to get down from close to the green) 4th - had about 95 from the right rough, hit it on the green and two putts (3) 5th - 90 from the fairway, tugged it and it got a firm bounce, chipped on and hit what I thought was a decent chip, but it ran out down the hill and two putts from 20 feet (4) 7th - 65 from the fairway, significant upslope and hit it a bit hard, ran long left against the collar. Tried to blade a PW, but it got under a bit so didn't advance it anything like far enough. Made a good two putt from there (4) 11th - 63 from the fairway, hit a squirrelly pitch on the green and two putts (3) 12th - 75 from the semi-rough, caught it a bit clean and it wound up on the back edge. Putting down a tier and it ran 8 feet past (that was actually a really good putt and couldn't have done any better I don't think) and missed that (4) 13th - 55 from the fairway, overcorrected and hit the big ball before the small ball. Then made a stellar up and down from 25 yards short to an elevated green with a putter (3) 15th - down in three from a greenside bunker (3) That was it. The other 9 holes I hit it on the green from outside 100 yards. So on those 9 occasions, I took 32 shots to get in the hole. 3.56 average. Terrible. Reason I'm posting this in here is to see if anyone has any suggestions for how to work on my contact with pitch shots. I don't have access to a grass range. Only mats and it's easy off a mat. Partly I think my problem is I've hit it off mats so much this winter that I've lost my judgement on where the ball is versus the ground because of the leeway granted. Open to ideas. I also suspect that under pressure I stand a bit closer to it and then get steep and hit down on it and it puts me in a bad place, but I can't seem to get myself to not do that.