Day 251 - 2025-06-08 Got some swings in when a lesson showed up with a back injury. Why they didn't text last night… I don't know. 😛 So I had some time before the next lesson. I'm doing something a bit different now. I'm folding and rolling a little more while keeping the left wrist cup, and then doing a bit less on the downswing.

Day 39 (8 Jun 25) - Threatening t-storms cut short the time in the backyard yard - managed some work with the 7i and hard foam balls, again focused on staying in the setup-swing process.  Only hit about 20 balls - taking time to walk thru each swing before making it.  Reminded me of the commercial TItleist has out about “trusting the process” as the results will follow…seeing a bit of that happening in my drills (results that is). 

The ball is LOST, so it's a pretty bad shot seeing as how the point of the game is to hit YOUR ball from the tee into the hole in as few strokes as possible. Replacing your ball because you can't find it is pretty bad. "We've always cheated and breached the rules, so why now that there is an official rule that supports and allows what we do should we adopt it" is certainly a stupid hill on which to choose death, but so be it. Push for them to adopt the local rule. After all, it's for a ball LOST or OB.

This question has probably been discussed previously but a search didn't reveal anything, so I'll pose it this way. Our league generally plays under the official Rules of Golf but there is a "relaxed" (I'll call it) adjustment made regarding balls that get lost in the rough. We obey all the official rules about balls in penalty areas and when hit Out of Bounds (the approved "Local Rule" - drop in the fairway with a two-stroke penalty). but when a ball is lost in the rough guys have historically just dropped a new ball in the general area of where the ball is thought to be with a one-stroke penalty. This, I know, isn't correct. It's either stroke & distance - (which we don't do because the group behind would throw a fit) or handled just like O.B., drop in the fairway with a two-stroke penalty.  When this was pointed out (by me) there was considerable push-back. Many said if a really lousy shot that happens to go into an area marked with red or yellow stakes or lines is one stroke and a ball in the water is one stroke, why should a bad but not so terrible shot in the rough, but just invisible because it's covered by grass clippings or embedded down in long grass, be two shots? When I pointed out, "Well...that's the rule" some other wag said, "Well the league has been doing it this way for 20 years, because we don't have forecaddies, marshals or TV cameras watching us." Other than this issue we're pretty much spot-on when it comes to the rules but I would really like to know about what other leagues do about this specific issue.    

Its going to be a busy few months for me.  In just a couple of weeks I'll be joining the SandTrap group near Pittsburgh for 2 rounds.  Then in August we'll be in Nova Scotia for a week, including both Cabot courses.  And now we've added another little holiday.  Following my niece's wedding west of Detroit, my wife and I will go up to Forest Dunes for 3 rounds.  I picked that spot because I'm intrigued by The Loop, a Doak design that is played in different directions on alternating days.  One day is the Red, playing counter-clockwise, the next days is the black, going clockwise.  And there's the original course, a Weiskopf design.  All told, 10 new courses to add to my list!