Blogs
Our community blogs
-
Latest Entry
Welcome to the Jungle
I wanted to put together a series of golf tips and strategies to help the Average Joe better enjoy this crazy game we all love. A large part of this blog is going to be short tips like "How to Get Rid of Shanks" or "Stop Picking Your Head Up," but occasionally I will write some longer articles as well.
So to kick off this series, here's a tip that helps keep your score down that even I sometimes forget: don't take penalties. Generally speaking, penalties are strokes that inflate your score without helping you score any better. I know it may seem tempting to hit a big drive OOB and get another shot at it, but you're almost always better off just hitting a good shot the first time. The same goes for water hazards - stay out of them, no matter how dirty your ball may have gotten over the course of a round. Chances are, you're not going to be able to retrieve your newly washed ball anyway. Save yourself some extra strokes and wash your ball at the ball washer which many courses have at the tee box. Your scorecard and your wallet with thank you later.
That's my first tip, hopefully of many. Any comments or questions, please leave them below. And if you liked this post, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
- 35
entries - 77
comments - 29817
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Catch Up
FINALLY! I’m finally posting this entry to catch up on what has happened since my last post (November 7 I believe it was). And honestly, not a lot has happened. The rest of the semester was a blur as far as golf goes, and I haven’t played or practiced a ton this winter either. Here are a few highlights:
11/12: My second lowest round on Downback. Wasn’t the greatest start: +6 through five holes. I parred six through eight then bogeyed the ninth to make the turn in 43. My only bad hole on the back nine was a double on the 16th after blocking my drive right, and I shot 40 on the back for 83 total.
11/23: My brother and I finally got to Bryan Park (the Players course). I made the turn in 40, helped tremendously by a birdie on the 420-yard 18th. Then we made the turn to the front. I birdied the second hole after my brother and I hit our drives so far we both had 8 irons to the par 5.
Unfortunately, two very unnecessary doubles in the next three holes derailed me a bit, and I finished with a 42 on the front for 82 total. A solid number but no doubt a bit disappointing.
12/23: This isn’t a round of golf, but it IS something I can add to my resume. The few days prior to the 23rd, we prepped the old carts for departure because on this day, we would have a new fleet arriving.
I got to work at 7AM and we began immediately. The new fleet was parked in a nearby lot and for about three hours that morning, we moved the old fleet out and the new fleet in, and we began to get those carts ready for play. They were first taken onto the golf course on December 28.
I do have a few more rounds than the ones I’ve listed, but none of them are really worth talking about. Here is my plan for the next semester:MONDAY/FRIDAY: I have a huge gap between classes these two days (4hrs on Mon and 5hrs Fri), so that gap is when I will be practicing.
TUESDAY/THURSDAY: I have three classes Tues and Thurs but they are back to back to back and I’m done at 12:15. So, depending on how much schoolwork I have, I will plan to practice for about an hour and a half.
WEDNESDAY: Since I didn’t play in many Monarch Tour events last semester (only played in three), I will make it a goal to play in at least five or six this semester. On the days I’m not playing Monarch Tour, I’ll dedicate that time gap (3-5) to any schoolwork that needs to be done.
Obviously I’ll be working throughout the week as well, but that is one specific time gap that I’ll be devoting strictly to schoolwork.
WEEKENDS: Giving myself two options with weekends as well:
a. Play 18 holes one day, hour and a half to two hour practice session the other day, OR
b. Play nine holes both Saturday and Sunday, with a one hour practice session.
So for the most part, my play days will be limited to weekends and practice days will be during the week. This schedule means playing just once a week and practicing five of the other six days.
This is also a tentative schedule. I’m taking a private voice lessons class (don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this but I’m a music minor) that only meets once a week for half an hour, and I’m also going to try and work in the golf shop there one or two days a week, just for an hour or two at a time to get myself a little bit of extra cash.
So once I figure out when both those things happen and how they will impact my tentative schedule, I will create a final schedule that I’ll put in that week’s post. Starting next week I’m going to begin again with posting once a week on Sundays. It feels good to be posting again!
- 35
-
- 11
entries - 82
comments - 3461
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Recognizing Blessings
It may have been a cold gray day yesterday afternoon, but I enjoyed my nine holes very much.
The quick tour of the front nine with Ralph and Bob sure beats the hell out of watching my beleaguered fantasy football teams, but Sunday was just a bit better than usual. My driver finally cooperated. The normally recalcitrant 1W hit five fairways and narrowly missed a sixth with legitimately solid 250-yard drives. Have no idea where that's been all year, but better late than never. I finished with a 42. Maybe not conventionally impressive but about as well as I've done all year for nine holes.
The pleasantness of the round and the steadily approaching end of the season, got me reflective.
Covid, crowds, closures and crappy golf were so much a part of the spring and early summer. Losing KIttyhawk was hard. Particularly for an introvert like me, the place was the one social outlet I really had. No matter what time, one of Kittyhawk's courses would be available. The range was huge. Sometimes, I'd come just to chip and putt on one of the three big practice greens. The slate of events my old association had for us meant that a hacker like me could always compete in events with people like me and I got to know a lot of those guys. Those are all things that can't be replaced.
None-the-less, I'm thankful for how things eventually turned out.
Mostly, I'm thankful my new friend Ralph was willing to let me join him for his 2 p.m. tee times. Through him I met several other club members and made the business of securing tee times possible on a course that was jam-packed most of the season. Getting to know these guys over the season has been enjoyable enough to take the sting out my struggles hitting the ball.
I'm also very pleased to be a member at a course like Miami Shores where the City of Troy is actually investing in the facilities instead of closing them. Course conditions there had always been fairly decent. To that the city recently added a new driving range and new clubhouse. The range has been so successful that they are building an additional tee area at the far side of the property. Enough were using it that we kept running out of turf. The pro, Kyler Booher, and his staff do an excellent job.
I think I'll try to ramp back up with the handicap next year. Maybe if I get back to some level of decency we'll even give the Club Championship another try.
Either way, I've got a home course to do it at.
- 11
-
Latest Entry
Walked 18 holes. Shot 92.
Just walked 18. The pace was perfect. 4 hours to walk. I was worried I would hold people up, but my group was walking, and so were the people behind us. Really worked out well. Being able to walk is a total game changer. 5 mile walk makes it feel like less of a huge waste of time, LOL. I am of the old school of thought. Proper golfers don't use those silly toy carts. Carrying my bag for 18 started to get uncomfortable on my shoulder, and a bit clumsy, so I will invest in a push cart.
As for the round, it was a good one. I was driving straight most of the day. Possibly the best driver day of my life (I never hit driver during my 20s) I lined the driver up 2-3 inches behind the ball, to catch the ball on the upswing, and I finally got some loft on the drives. They don't go far, but many were straight. Had a few pure irons that felt great, but overall, I am hitting irons thin, and not really taking the right divot.
Shot of the day? I holed out a sand shot. Open stance, back foot, 2" of damp sand. One bounce and plop, into the hole.
Worst hole was +2, so that's good. I feel my misses are getting lucky. Thin iron still stays straight and in fairway. Only hit one trouble shot from under trees today.
-
- 11
entries - 20
comments - 4316
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
New Equipment Update and Tweaks
The starting line-up has changed with the addition of a face balanced TM Spider Tour putter. I ordered it at 33.5" with the tour red body with black, silver, and tour red accents with a black shaft. Three footers don't stand a chance.
Intrigued with the driving iron buzz, I checked out the offerings wanting to be fit into a 2 iron Cobra or Titleist U510. When the dust settled, the Titleist U500 was declared the champion in the 20* lofted 3 iron with the 6.0 Hzrdus Smoke Black. I let go of the process and I hit this thing the best and most consistent. I was consistently carrying this 212-215 with a tight dispersion. The 2 irons being a little longer with a flatter face carried about the same but were just all over the place. This is the same carry as my Adams 2 hybrid, which after many years has been retired and fits perfectly gapped between the 3 wood and 4 iron. The first strike on the course was into a par 5 with 225 to the front edge of the green and I got it to one yard on the fringe. I hit a couple of bullets on some shorter par 4s so we shall see how this goes. Even on some poor strikes, I seem to hit it better than my hybrid and it certainly sets up a lot cleaner.
Other tweaks - I bent the 4 iron one degree strong to 23, 5 iron 1/2 degree to 26.5 (6 iron is at 30 and 4 degrees from there), flattened the SW 1/2 degree to standard and the lob wedge 1 degree to 1/2 down. For reference my 3-Gap are 1/2 up and my SW and LW from a fuller swing hit dead on middle. I was feeling a little heel in the LW and the bunker scrapes were just inside the midpoint. Taking it down a degree puts the center for short game outside of center toward the toe. I could immediately tell a difference in the nip city factor and wished I did this a while ago.
Why that Wear Mark is toward the heel of your Sand Wedge and what to do about it!
A Mark towards the heel of your sand wedge is a sure sign the lie angle on your sand wedge is too upright! Do you "pull" your wedge shots to the left of the pin? Do you struggle in the bunkers? In many cases you can see a wear... - 11
-
- 22
entries - 114
comments - 34634
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Stage 5-1 Time to move forward
Its been a while since I updated, so here goes.
First: Thanks to all that were at the TST Outing in OH this past week. It was fun.
I had allowed myself to let my golf training & weight loss fall behind the last couple of months. Simply got busy with other things and failed to make either a priority. Weight-wise I've added @ 8 lbs but feel I should be able to get that off quickly once I get back on the treadmill (TONIGHT!) and cut back on the hot dogs, pizza and beer that I enjoy a lot during the summer.
As for golf, I do not have a good benchmark but suspect my lack of practice/training/drills has added several strokes to my score. I shot an embarrassing score at Virtues last Sunday. It is posted to GHIN and those in attendance know it but other than that I am not going to mention shooting a 112 (opps, just let it slip). @bkuehn1952 felt I began to rush my putts once I knew I was having a bad score and I need to not let frustration get to me. Still, it was more than putting that caused that score.
I did my arm drill for the first time in quite a while this week and will get a video on Evolver soon and will get re-committed to improving.
As for my foot recovery I am ecstatic. I golfed 45 holes at Garland May 28 & 29 then 36 holes in Ohio June 1 & 2 and then 9 holes June 4th. That is 90 holes in 8 days and no pain in the foot. 😊 That is a far cry from May 2023 at Little Mountain where I could barely finish 9 holes.
On another note, @Hardspoon and @saevel25 are going to coordinate a 2025 TST Outing. I encourage all to attend that if they can as these outings are fantastic fun and a great way to meet other TST Members.
- 22
-
- 3
entries - 3
comments - 3151
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Set-Up from DTL
Not all the way there yet, but a big difference.- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 3
-
Latest Entry
Ruminations Part 2
Day two of the four day tournament. Sunday, April 21, 2024.
As luck would have it, my fellow competitor and cart partner during the qualifier was the 3rd seed, so we would play against each other in the first round. He is a very nice guy and we got along very well. I think that made it easier for both of us to play. It was his first tournament, and he was nervous, but he told me I helped him a lot by explaining rules and keeping the mood light by being the general assclown that I am. And that helped me, too. I didn’t really think about playing golf except for the brief moments I had to, which I devoted my full attention to. He did rake a putt in the qualifier round, but even with that penalty stroke he managed to shoot net 71. I covered our match briefly in the member tournament thread.
My warmup for the day went terribly. I was struggling to hit the ball well on the range at all. It was kind of uncomfortable walking off the range feeling like I didn't know how to swing a golf club. There was nothing I could do about it, so I moved onto the putting green and did my usual thing there.
Trading Blows
I surprised myself with how well I played, especially when I really needed to. He was getting five strokes from me. I hooked my 4i off the first tee and made double, down 1 right from the start. Followed that with a much better 4i off the tee and won #2 with par. On #3 we both missed the green and he pitched it inside of 2', which I gave him. I almost holed my chip and we halved. The 4th was the first par 5 of the day which I won with a 3-putt par. We had matching bogeys on #5 which he won because he got a stroke, then he won #6 with par. The tees were way up and the hole played under 100 yards. I had a little bit of fun on this hole and decided to hit a low runner type of shot which wasn't a bad idea and I actually hit it pretty well, but it just caught the ridge and rolled off the back. I think if I had to do it over I'd still hit the same shot, just more to the right.
Tees were up again on #7 (I think they were having a little bit of fun setting up for the tournament). The pin was front left and I smoked my 4w. One of the other guys in the group asked if we should yell fore for the guys putting on the green. I said no, I'm well right of them. And it turned out I hit the green, but I was also 30 yards right of them so I felt like I was right in not having to yell fore, but maybe that's close enough to warrant it? I still don't know how I feel about it, honestly. I didn't yell fore, nobody got hurt, and nobody seemed mad at me about it, so I think I'm ok. I 2-putted for birdie and won the hole. I pushed my drive on the tough par 4 #8 but found the fairway bunker and hit a great shot out of it just past pin high left of the green. Faced with a hole cut on a hump and everything sloping away from me, I decided to putt my ball out of the rough and I almost holed it. Made par. He made a mental error here as he lagged his 4th shot inside of 2' and I asked him what he was putting for, since he was getting a stroke on the hole. He started to count his strokes, then kind of just haphazardly tried to hole the putt in the middle of counting because he was standing astride someone's line before he gave me an answer and missed it. I felt kind of bad about it because I had asked with the intention of possibly conceding the putt. #9 is the mistake I mentioned in the other topic where I put my second shot in the water trying to go for the green in two, knowing I was giving up a stroke and he had already hit two good shots. He made net birdie anyway and we were AS after trading eight of the first nine holes.
Stick to the Plan
We played Lake for the back 9. It was the course I hadn't played in the two rounds at Neshanic this year so far, so I tried my best to take my game plan and apply it on the fly. We both made par on #10. On #11 I thinned the crap out of my 4i and it didn't clear the ESA. Teed it up again and hit it right where I wanted to hit it the first time (more experience). He didn't hit his tee shot well and then had some trouble hitting out of the rough a couple of times. I realized I wasn't dead on the hole and hit my 110 yard approach inside of 10' and two putted. We halved. On #12, a par 3, I hit a bird. Literally. At least I think I did. I watched the ball come down and disappear behind the mound where it should have hit the green and rolled to the left, instead it took a hard crazy sideways bounce right just as a bird flew off in the opposite direction. There isn't a sprinkler head there or anything. Maybe it didn't hit the bird because I probably would have killed it, but it was a weird bounce all the same. We both made 4. On #13 I smoke my drive and had about 110 left to the pin, accidentally hit the ball out of the sweet spot on my approach and ended up 60' past it. Then I putted that one to tap-in distance. He made net par to halve.
#14 is where his troubles began. I wrote about this hole in the other topic, too. He hooked his drive into the pond and I hit a pretty good drive just left into the rough/fescue. I hit my second into the left fairway bunker and spent some time helping one of the other players in the group look for his ball in the fescue. We found it and he asked me if I knew the yardage from where we were. I looked at my H4 and it had given me the yardage to the next hole, presumably because I had crossed over to it at some point during our search. I switched it back and gave him the number - it was like 150ish. After he hit his shot, I went to my ball farther up and in the bunker. For whatever reason, I didn't use my rangefinder and only briefly glanced at my H4, which gave me a yardage of 150ish. It didn't occur to me at the time that it couldn't have been that number. I don't know if it was the GPS lagging because it was overcast, or it was on the wrong hole, or I simply read it wrong. I pulled a club and hit what I thought was a great shot out of the fairway bunker based on the contact, only to watch it fly the green by a lot. This would not be the last time I pulled the wrong club during this tournament. I almost lost the ball, but fortunately the 4th member of our group found it in the deep stuff. I managed to gather myself and hit a decent shot just onto the green and two putt for bogey to win the hole.
#15 is a simple, short, dogleg right par 4. They removed the pot bunkers hidden behind the hill in the fescue which makes it much more inviting to just hit driver over everything and leave a 50 yard shot into the green. I stuck to the plan and smoked a 6i to the corner in the middle of the fairway. My opponent hit a decent drive past my ball. I pulled my approach shot and hit the green but had about 50' to the hole and he thinned his over the back. He flubbed his chip and was over 30' away and I hit another long putt to tap-in distance and won the hole. #16 is another short dogleg par 4 with water all along the right that was playing up again. I briefly flirted with the idea of going more aggressive but went with 7i off the tee. Neither of us hit good shots and we both ended up in one of the fairway bunkers on the left. I had an 80 yard bunker shot with water to the right and behind the green. I kind of just went with my gut and hit a half swing PW 8' short of the hole. He struggled on the hole, just getting it out of the bunker on his second and I don't remember exactly what he did on his third because as he put it, my bunker shot was "the nail in the coffin." I two-putted to win the match 3&2.
I Can Breathe Again
I breathed a sigh of relief that it was over and then I pulled my tee shot on the par 3 17th into the weeds. The other match was still going on so I told them not to worry about what I was doing, to do their thing and I'll just find my ball and pick it up. I didn't find my ball. We got to #18, Lake #9 which is my favorite hole on the whole course. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard. I hooked it OB off the tee and decided I was done playing golf for the day. Apparently I had reached my limit of focus for golf for the day, or perhaps I really just let it all go once I relaxed, but I knew after hitting two straight misses I hadn't hit all day that I was not capable of playing any more golf. There was another match going on in our group, after all, and I did not want to be a distraction.
My opponent hit what he described as the best hybrid he'd ever hit on #17 to 6' and made par. He followed that up with a well played par net birdie on #18. Apparently the pressure of the match being gone had the opposite effect on him.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
Announcements
-
Member Statistics
-
Blog Statistics
-
Total Blogs33
-
Total Entries482
-
-
Blog Entries
-
-
Posts
-
-
By DaHolla ·
Day 19 - Focus today was speed and footwork. Finished with 100-yard partials. -
.thumb.JPG.640dd6f31fe7f6aef91f879119bae1d9.JPG)
-
By iacas ·
Day 199 - 2025-04-17 Played No. 1 at Pinehurst Resort. It was… meh. -
By WillieT ·
Day 15 (17 Apr 25) - played 18 at a sister course to my home course with my friend whose son is the chief greens keeper at both courses. With the greens super firm and ultra fast it was a day of course management 2.0. Nothing was holding so it was all about playing the rolling release.
-
