Shooting 68 - Career Round - The Journey and What I learned

I should start out with a touch of history...yeah this is a long read...sorry...it's kind fun to re-live my golf history..maybe someone can pickup a few things.

I picked up the game at 20 years old (I'll be 50 on Friday) when my brother gave me a set of clubs, I was terrible. I didn't grow up with my father or brother but they were both long time golf professionals. My father a life member of the PGA, we didn't have much of a relationship as alcohol prevented this and he passed way a little over 20 years ago. He was a legend in South Texas with his teaching, his name is Kelly Monroe.

I did like most of us and got addicted, I was fairly athletic and at the time was playing semi-pro racquetball. All of this took place probably somewhere around 1984. For the first 3-5 years I was just a hack beating the ball around the course and getting some tips from my dad when I'd see him once a year or so and getting my brother to help. A few years passed and I was starting to hit it pretty good, never very far but at some point fairly consistent.

I started helping out at a local golf course in exchange for free golf somewhere around 1991, it wasn't long after that I got fed up with the current job and left it as the golf course offered me a job as an assistant pro. I was probably a 8-9 handicap. I went the next 3 years down the path of learning to teach, mostly spending time watching Hank Haney teach and attending a bunch of his "Teaching The Teacher" seminar's. I could teach much better then I could play. Moved to East Texas for a 1st assistants job and all I needed was my oral interview to get my Class A, never any better then a 4-5 handicap. My goal when heading out on the course was to shoot 79 or better. I opted out of the golf business to by a landscape company and settle down, probably 1994 or so. I'm now a professional photographer..I have been for the last 9 years.

At this time I started getting more free time to play golf and really work on my game, in the golf business there just isn't any time. For the next few years I worked hard on my game, driving up to Dallas to work with a couple guys at Hanks facility in McKinney. I'd hit lots and lots of balls, daily. I joined Eagles Bluff Country Club just south of Tyler got my amateur status back and my handicap was now a 3 or 4. I won the club championship, then moved to Dallas after leaving the landscape business.

I played another 2-3 years with the goal of getting my handicap to a zero, I accomplished this and due to some severe pain from a couple surgeries that kinda went wrong I decided to put the clubs down and learn to play guitar...yeah I suck at that. I shot many rounds at 1 or 2 over and several even par rounds. I can't remember if I actually shot under par, if I did it was no more then 1 under. The pain was just to much. Not really while playing but the side effects of swinging all the time...another stomach surgery and after 6 months of not playing one round later the pain was coming back so I was done...this was probably 2006 or 2007?

It's now October of 2013 and a close friend starts posting about some great scores and having a blast...I had to try it again! I borrowed his back up set, played a scramble and was hooked! I spent some cash on all new equipment and the quest was back on. The first few months I'd have the pain, mostly in the evening and never when I played. It was on a pain scale of 4-5 with occasional 7 or 8 but the spells didn't last as long as they use to. As of today it is very hit and miss so I can fight through it pretty easy, it never bothers me when playing. I should add I play hockey and that keeps me active and actually helps keep things freed up in my stomach, and maintains flexibility a bit, I'm a goalie.

So back to my career round of 68 on Saturday. As you can see with my index it's been getting better. I had a six week hiatus starting first of July due to having some bone spurs removed from my shoulder. The game was coming along but I was still fighting the big miss, a block right. I'll always fight that. Well two weeks ago an old swing thought resurfaced and all of a sudden the irons were crisp, the driver while not perfect all of a sudden the misses were very playable and the good shots were great. Prior to Saturday I had two rounds, one even par and one +1. Top that with changing how I was reading putts and all of a sudden I'm making 3-5 birdies a round instead of 1 maybe 2. I felt good things happening.

So the Wednesday before my (career) round I went through a fitting session because my driver was giving me fits...good shots had a slight fade ( I hate a fade!)  and the shaft just felt rigid. Turns out it was an x-stiff and the SLDR face just wasn't a good fit. The fitter had me go back to my RBZ, add a new shaft and the misses were much better. I've only used the new shaft once and yes the misses were better but I really hit the ball low...it could have just been that day...I've not hit it since and look forward to dialing it in.

So here is what surprised me on my 68 and what I learned.

The day was cool, we had a cold front come into Dallas on Friday night and myself and a few buddies had a 8:20am tee time. It was a bit chili for us Texans, a cool 56 degrees with just a touch of moisture in the air. I had a hard time getting lose on the range...I'm almost 50 remember! It was my first time to hit the new driver..the good shots felt good but I had a hard time hitting the ball high. Everything came off a bit low..but it seemed to on all the clubs. I just figured it was the cool morning and I was pretty stiff, not getting a real good turn. The good thing is a low trajectory is a bit easier to control.

The round started off as usual, the first few holes are pretty easy, I didn't hit any great shots but was making decent contact. I had to get up and down on the 2nd hole a short par 3 but made a decent chip and a nice 5' putt for par. I hit a nice tee shot on 3, even though it had a bit of a fade to it...I hate a fade! I want to turn the ball over! My second shot was a push 7 iron, missed the green by 6 inches..it was very windy..about a club and a half all day...if not 2 clubs when the day ended. I was on the fringe and lagged it up to 2 feet..easy par.

The next hole is where my round started real nice...my second worst tee shot of the day but I found it just on the tree line right and punched a 4 iron to 60 yards and go up and down for a birdie..nice 8' putt. The next hole, very short par 4 I hit a nice drive but left my wedge about 22' short..nice putt straight up the hill for a birdie..The next hole a par 3 I pushed a 9 iron pin high about 25'..nice putt, that's 3 in a row.

I won't review the whole round but as golfers we know we can remember every detail of it...now what is my daughters birthday?

So what I learned was I didn't really have a great ball striking day..I hit it ok, had a couple great shots and a few that were less then stellar. I left some out on the course with not hitting good chips/pitches on a couple par 5's where I could have had a couple more birdies.

I was shocked to learn my career round wouldn't come with ridicolous ball striking and phenomenal putting. The ball striking was solid but not "wow", I've hit it much better. The putting was above average but similar to the last 3 rounds.

Over the years I think I've put to much emphasis on having a "great" golf swing. I've been obsessed with hitting it perfect and this round proved it's about getting it around the course. My short game was very solid, I had a few real nice up and downs and my putting was above average..I attest this to my new approach at reading greens not really a "hot day" putting.

So the moral of the story is you don't need a great golf swing to play really good golf. Just learn to know where you are going to miss it, have a nice short game and play within yourself. Have a few go to shots and manage the round..My only bogie I over thought the hole and played it as if I were afraid...

I'm anxious to see what my next 10 rounds will be...I know it's golf and an 82 is right around the corner!

The 18th hole was comical...I really choked it up...I'll be happy to share the details if any made it this far.

Congratulations on the career round!

It's a good lesson for those that think that a "scratch golfer" is shooting par or better all the time.  Not so

Agree on the scratch golfer thing....I bet when I had my handicap card at a zero there were only 4 rounds at par or better..maybe one of those rounds was -1. The thing is the other 6 were not over a 75.

What was the CR and slope?  What was the actual differential?

70.1, 125, -1.9

All my rounds since coming back are posted here...the good bad and ugly.

http://www.golfhandicapnetwork.com/WebForms/GolferDefaultDXGrid.aspx

If the link doesn't work.

http://www.golfhandicapnetwork.com

Chris Fritchie Texas

That's a good read.  Thanks.

I'm way up around 7 or 8, but this year dropped significantly from like a 12.  Yet I find a lot of things in your post that resonate with me.  It's weird how stories all have such common elements.  Even when the levels are so significantly different (I know that 1 or 2 is several orders different than a 7 or 8).

weird game, golf.

"I know it's golf and an 82 is right around the corner!"  Classic, and I WISH I didn't know what you mean.  But I do.  Sadly, I do.

Those minus differentials are fun.  Few and far between for me though!

I don't pay a lot of attention to the differentials. I'm not a happy camper shooting 75 on a course that is rated 75.1. If I hit it straight, putt and chip well then I'm somewhat content. With that said the Pete Dye course at Stonebridge Ranch is one that has my number. I don't think I've ever broken 80 on it. Shooting even on that course would feel like 2 or 3 under..and the differential would prove likewise.

Excellent read. Congratulations

That I can understand somewhat (when scaled accordingly for my skill level). It just doesn't feel right to play above your normal scores even though you technically played at the same level which you normally do.

I've never seen a round on the tour where they said he shot a -4 but it really was a -2 because of the differential...now with that said...if you play a crazy easy course and you play from the most forward tees...then the round may be a bit skewed...I'd say for a single digit handicapped player playing the championship tees or one up is a legitimate round. If there are black, blue, and white tee's I'll never play the white tee's...it just wouldn't feel right. With that said it's not right to always play a course with every tee being all the way back...they don't setup many courses this way for PGA or USGA events...they use multiple tees so you hit various shots.

Probably because they don't maintain handicaps!

They do often talk about the relative difficulty of one course vs another......

If you're shooting 75 on a course with a CR of 75ish, you're playing at a better level than you normally do.   I'd much rather do that, than shoot 71 on a 69 rated track.

Sorry, I was meaning that a 75 with a CR of 75 would be a decent round for the op (depending on his differential spread, he may have a few of them like) but it just doesn't feel the same, at least to me. I'm still happy about it, but it just feels kind of disappointing to have played well and made more bogies than usual.

I agree...I don't like a bogie on a overly hard course..or an easy course....

Now there are gray lines there...l wouldn't overly celebrate a career round if I felt it was on a course where I was hitting wedges into every hole, reaching all the par 5's in two, etc. With that said...I've shot some 2 or 3 over rounds on a few real hard courses and I'm OK with it but there is still something magical about shooting even par or better...even if the differential doesn't reflect it was a huge accomplishment.

Nice recovery from the bogey on 13.  Bounce back with the birdie on 15.  I'd love to hear a narration of your thoughts on the 18th hole and how you played it knowing how close you were to a great round.  The mental side of things is very fascinating to me, and it would seem you were in the "zone" playing one shot at time.  Well done.

Well since you asked...LOL...yeah I choked big time!

So on 13..it is typically a tough hole for me..it is a dog leg right but the entire length of the hole along the right side is a large creek with heavy trees, plus the fairway is elevated so if you miss the fairway right it slopes hard into the trees/creek which is marked as a lateral hazard. My "big miss" is a block right and I like to play a right to left ball..but aiming down the center actually set's me up for a potential big miss. I decided to play it safe and hit a 3 wood since we had an unusual wind at our back and the tees were up a bit. The three wood is easier for me to turn over.

I hit my worst shot of the day..basically a quacker to the left that never got more then 25' off the ground..it left me about 3 feet from a large rock retaining wall...the only good thing I was standing in a drainage hole that had casual water so I got a drop. I rushed the next shot, a 7 iron from 162 and missed the difficult green left and didn't make the 8' putt for par after a difficult pitch...

Well standing on 18 tee it is a hard dog leg left, water runs down the entire left side.  From the tee box you must decide how much of the water you want to carry. If you aim more left you have more carry, but less club into the green. On this day the wind was out of the left..normally it is out of the right and I aim at the fairway bunker and turn the ball over and I'm all good.

Well on Saturday I was really wanting to shoot under 70, so a part of me was ok with a bogie...

If I hit driver and didn't turn it over the left to right wind would put me in the trees and farther from the hole....I hate a fade...and a left to right wind!

I decided to hit the 3 wood, aim at the 150 turn it over and I'd have a wedge into the green!

I go through my normal routine and get ready to draw the club back...I'm not very good at the Tiger stop and re-set...all of a sudden as I draw the club back my mind goes to 13 tee box and the low quacker I hit left comes to mind! Well...I was lucky to make contact! The ball hit off the toe and headed dead right...so much on the toe I almost missed it! I was really worried about it being in the trees/driving range. I find my ball, it is laying on a medium to bare line and I have 212 into the club and a half wind over a bunker to the flag....guess what club that is....yeah my 3 wood again. I figured I needed a 230 yard shot to get there. I could have laid up with a wedge, and then wedge it to the green..if it were a tournament and a bogie gets me a win that is what I would have done.

Well, I wasn't going to let my head beat me so I'm hitting the 3-wood. Water running the full length of the hole, down the left side and trees and driving range down the right. I knew if I took a real aggressive swing my ball would have a hard time turning over. I pulled it back and caught it flush with a slight fade/push. It was headed about 20' right of the pin and landed a foot short of carrying the bunker. I was ok with that..I knew now I could easily make bogie and shoot 69. I still wanted a par but my "fear factor" was gone. I had a 40'-50' bunk shot..the only thing tough about it was it was a severe uphill lie. I used my 60 degree wedge, I knew I needed to hit it pretty good since it was into the wind. I carried the ball with a nice high trajectory to 7' just under the hole and buried the putt for the par...a crazy par.

That damn thought of 13 could have easily cost me my 68, a double bogie was very easy to make on either 17 or 18. I was pleased with my recovery after the tee shot but we all got a good laugh over the choked tee ball!