a new golfers journey through the first two months so far.......

[bjwestner]

The first month plus of the season has been up and down.  The weather has been very inconsistent and as a result I've had a very hard time nailing down consistent yardages with my clubs.  Add to that the fact that I am gaining distance and club selection has been difficult.  The greens at my club have become very hard which has also given me some trouble, despite that I have a high ball flight.

The good news is that they are being punched this week.  More good news is that the cold weather is hopefully gone for good.  I've said that before though, so I hope that this is really it.  As a result my handicap is currently at 3.8, trending to 3.7L.  I've gotten to play some other courses in the last few weeks which has been nice. 

I can't say that I've been playing bad, but at points it's frustrating but that's the game of golf I guess.  Yesterday I hit 13 GIR and had 36 putts w/o making a single birdie.  Nothing went in.  It was like there was a lid on the hole.  Oh well, weather is now much warmer and no cold weather anywhere in the forecast.  Hoping it stays that way for a while!

[k-troop]

@bjwestner I came across your thread looking for info on clubgolf, and just have to say -- WOW!  Your dedication to pick up the game of golf and run with it, getting to low single digits in just 3 years is pretty remarkable.  I'm super jealous given that I have played a whopping three rounds of golf since last August.

Do you live near G-burg?  Did you ever join clubgolf?  Still interested in some info on that...I have a membership at S&H but I never go to the Rio location.  I could work some golf practice into my gym time if I start using the Rio location vice the Lakeforest location, and that may be the only chance I have to swing a club until my kids get a little older.

[Rainmaker]

Interesting thread - thanks for posting all that!  I like how you are super focused from day 1 on score related items, stats, etc.  Everything you've done has been to lower your score - and it's obviously paid off. 

I'm the opposite - everything I've done has to improve my swing.  I think I'm getting to where I have a really nice swing . .perhaps capable of single digits.  I'll have to play more than 9 holes a year, though. 

A lot of people fantasize about winning major championships . .I actually fantasize about being a golf swing expert, lol.  If I could be anybody in the golf world that I wanted . .I'd probably be somebody like Butch Harmon.  Except I don't want to teach.  I just want to know everything.   Maybe if you suck up to me, I'll give you a tip. That's how it is in my imagination, lol. 

Anyway  - keep up the awesome work.  I just found your thread and I'll definitely be reading it from now on.

 

[bjwestner]

On 5/17/2016 at 11:23 AM, k-troop said:

@bjwestner I came across your thread looking for info on clubgolf, and just have to say -- WOW!  Your dedication to pick up the game of golf and run with it, getting to low single digits in just 3 years is pretty remarkable.  I'm super jealous given that I have played a whopping three rounds of golf since last August.

Do you live near G-burg?  Did you ever join clubgolf?  Still interested in some info on that...I have a membership at S&H but I never go to the Rio location.  I could work some golf practice into my gym time if I start using the Rio location vice the Lakeforest location, and that may be the only chance I have to swing a club until my kids get a little older.

Thanks for the kind words k-troop.....I live and work in Rockville.  Used to live in Gaithersburg (that's where I went to high school).  I never made it to club golf.  I ended up getting a membership to Olney Golf Park which is where I hit balls during the week.  In the winter time I'm sure that club golf would be better but then again, there are only a limited number of spaces and I'm sure everyone and their brother is in there in the winter time.  I've heard good things about it, but I don't like to wait as sometimes I have only a short period of time so I needed something where I was not going to have to wait for a stall to open up.

[bjwestner]

I figured I'd post an update.....Through 5/22/16 I've been able to play 36 rounds in 2016.  The weather this year has been awful and it's still that way.  Saturday was a complete wash out and yesterday I had to play in the rain.  Doubtful that I'll get to 100 rounds this year.

Handicap is at 3.8 officially and trending the same.  I've been and am still a bit frustrated.  I know that I'm better than what I am scoring and I don't want to make any excuses but I have to think that among other things, the weather has been so awful lately that it has not helped things. 

Fortunately I think we are finally done with the bad weather and it's going to warm up and dry up.  I've heard this many times before though so I'll believe it when I see it.  Still hitting balls 2 to 3 times during the week and playing as much as the weather will allow on the weekends (ideally a round sat and sun mornings).  I had been due for an eagle for so long, I was so close so many times last year but went without one.  I finally got another one on 4/30/16, not at my course but at a nice course close by that I played with a friend.  It was on a par 5 and I holed out from about a hundy.  That makes 3 eagles in total. 

My stats year to date are very similar to last year, which I think is great considering we are only in late May and the weather has been crap.  I am averaging more doubles though and that is really the only difference (besides a 2% drop in bogeys which basically went to an almost the same increase in doubles).  I'm averaging a birdie or better 7% of the time which is a small amount higher while pars are even at 62% of the time.  My putting is down a whole stroke from 32.4 putts to 31.4 putts and my scrambling is up almost 5% to just under 35%.  GIR is down slightly to 57% from 58.4% in 2015. 

[k-troop]

1 hour ago, bjwestner said:

Thanks for the kind words k-troop.....I live and work in Rockville.  Used to live in Gaithersburg (that's where I went to high school).  I never made it to club golf.  I ended up getting a membership to Olney Golf Park which is where I hit balls during the week.  In the winter time I'm sure that club golf would be better but then again, there are only a limited number of spaces and I'm sure everyone and their brother is in there in the winter time.  I've heard good things about it, but I don't like to wait as sometimes I have only a short period of time so I needed something where I was not going to have to wait for a stall to open up.

Olney Park looks great. I've never been a practicer so reluctant to hit up club golf but i think that's what I need to do to keep my game from completely dying. Who knows--I might even get better! Playing 3 times a year now it's almost not even fun. 

Where do you play? 36 rounds so far in this weather is admirable.