The TST Member Tournament Play Thread

[Pretzel]

Second day of the last two day tourney went poorly, with me shooting an 83. I did bounce back in the first day of another two day tourney today, however, posting a 72 which puts me tied for 11th in a field of over 120. It's funny how I can shoot 73 Sunday, 83 on Monday, don't touch a club Tuesday, then shoot 72 on Wednesday. Golf is crazy.

[David in FL]

Second day of the last two day tourney went poorly, with me shooting an 83. I did bounce back in the first day of another two day tourney today, however, posting a 72 which puts me tied for 11th in a field of over 120. It's funny how I can shoot 73 Sunday, 83 on Monday, don't touch a club Tuesday, then shoot 72 on Wednesday. Golf is crazy.

True dat! :beer:

[Pretzel]

Today went decent, but I had to withdraw after a rain delay of overt two hours so I could make my flight this evening. It's kind of sad too since I was lining up my 2 foot par putt on the 18th when they blew the horn. If I made that putt it would have been a 74.

[Big C]

Day 1 of the Club Championship is in the books and it was a good start for me. I shot a 77 (39 front, 38 back) playing off an 8 hcp for a net 69.

My iron play was really solid today, and I hit 10 GIR's on my way to an 9 par, 2 birdie, 7 bogey round.

I caught a bit of good fortune on the par 5 hole 7, when I hit a huge pull off the tee that was clearly headed OB, but found a very friendly tree and dropped harmlessly into the rough. From there, I managed a good recovery and a pretty uneventful par.

I lost confidence in my driver around that time and had two pretty atrocious drives on holes 8 & 15. In both cases, I was able to hit a pair of really good recovery punch outs and save my bogey.

Lipouts on holes 6 and 12 prevented a good round from being really special, but all told, I'm extremely pleased with the results. My game golf link to the round is below. Now I just have to hold it together for two more rounds!

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/cboylan1981/round/395249

[Big C]

Finished day 2 of our club championship. I didn't hit the ball well today but managed to shoot an 82 (net 74) and am currently tied for 2nd. Despite poor ball striking, I kept the blowups to a minimum and made a ton of testy 3 foot bogey putts. Will post a more detailed recap tomorrow - hopefully I'll be sharing good news.

[isukgolf]

Finished day 2 of our club championship. I didn't hit the ball well today but managed to shoot an 82 (net 74) and am currently tied for 2nd. Despite poor ball striking, I kept the blowups to a minimum and made a ton of testy 3 foot bogey putts. Will post a more detailed recap tomorrow - hopefully I'll be sharing good news.

@Big C sounds like you are well within striking distance! Congrats so far.

[Big C]

Thanks Ken!

[Big C]

After a brief delay, here is my recap of the 3rd and final day of our Mens Club Championship. I finished in 3rd place, two shots back of the eventual winner, but let's just say that I empathized with Dustin Johnson on Sunday evening: As well as I was playing, I felt like I should have won. Unfortunately, the weight of tournament golf got to me and I collapsed when a victory was well in my sight.

From the get go, there were really only 5 guys in contention. Our final group consisted of the 36 hole leader at 139 (net), followed by me and a FC at 143, and the last FC at 144. One competitor in the group ahead of us was at 145, but everyone else was at least 12 strokes back.

My round started out really well. I parred the first two holes, while 2 of my FC's had a double bogey, so I picked up a couple of strokes. I bogeyed the 3rd, but almost got it back on the 4th, when my 8 footer for birdie barely slid past the hole. On hole 5 I made a 20 footer for birdie and was back to even, and followed it up with 2 more pars on 6 and 7. At this point, my driver was feeling great, I was hitting the ball very well off the tee and leaving myself easy partial wedges into greens. While I wasn't keeping track exactly, I was also pretty sure I had taken over the lead by that point, as the leader had bogeyed a few more holes and my other FC's were not playing their best game either.

The 8th hole at my home course is my nemesis - it's a 423 strong dogleg left with a 2nd shot that usually plays into the wind. Although it favors a draw, the left side of the fairway is completely bounded by trees and anything that goes too far left in the rough is basically in jail. The first two days, I tried to draw the ball with disastrous results. Each time I ended up deep in the woods and was fortunate to save bogeys. On day 3, I chose 3 Wood instead and made (by far) my worst swing of the day. I hit the top of the club on the toe side and popped the ball in a 45 degree angle right. I hit a tree 30 yards in front of the tee box and dropped straight down. It left me with about 380 yards into the wind, and the truth is, I got a little nervous at that point.

The shot was so out of character for how I had been playing that day, that I should have been able to shake it off and resume my normal game, hopefully saving bogey. Instead, the worst possible outcomes started to creep into my head - shanks OB, fat shots, you name it. In other words, it was a recipe for tentative (losing) golf, not confident golf. 6 strokes later, I tapped in for a triple bogey and followed it up with a double on hole 9. In the span of 30 minutes, I went from thoughts of an even par front and siezing control of the tournament, to a 41 and playing from behind again.

I did my best to re-focus myself on the turn, and played the long par 5 10th well to have a tap in par. ON hole 11, the normally 360 yard par 4, the tee box had been moved 80 yards forward and it was now a 280 yard driveable hole. Of course the lake on the left side of the green was also brought into ploay. I decided that if I was losing the tourament, I wasn't going down without a fight, so I pulled out driver and waited for the green to clear.  The result was a nice high fade that carried about 260 yards and landed 10 yards in front of the green.

Knowing a birde would get me back in contention, I studied the chip intently and proceeded to hit it a groove or two too low on my wedge, coming out hot. As I was mentally kicking myself for turning a birdie hole into a tough par save, my ball miraculously hit the flag and dropped straight down into the cup for an unexpected eagle. My entire group let out a shout of amazement. I was too stunned to really celebrate - I just grabbed my ball out of the hole and laughed in embarrasment. When the leader bogeyed the hole and I picked up 3 shots, I was right back in contention.

Relieved and amazed, I followed that up with a very good 6 iron on the par 3 12th hole. My ball hit and landed 10 feet short of the cup, leaving me an easy uphill look at birdie. One of my FC's said "that's how you back up an eagle," and needless to say I was feeling good again. Unfortunately, I hit a tentative putt and somehow managed to leave my birdie short. Meanwhile, the co-leader (although I didn't know it at the time, I was back in a tie for the lead) made a great 8 footer to save his up and down par and I was unable to pick up more ground.

Holes 13 and 14 are where it all fell apart. I can't say I got any bad breaks. Nor can I say I was exceptionally nervous. I just hit some really bad golf shots at a really bad time. I doubled the 13th, but only lost one stroke to the leader. But I hit a horrible slice on hole 14, my first of the day. Finding in some fairly thick rough, I hit two bad punchout shots, followed by some bad short game work. I won't recount it all here, but the short version is that I took an 8 on very easy par 4.

It was a surreal feeling. As the strokes added up, you feel yourself falling further and further out of contention. When my 6 footer for triple didn't drop, I knew I was out of it completely. From leading the tournament, to out in 2 holes. It's amazing how quickly fortunes can change in golf. I played the last 4 holes in 2 over par, but by that point it didn't matter. The only reason I finished within 2 shots is because the leader triple bogeyed the 18th.

A couple things stood out to me, after playing the first 36 holes with only one double bogey, I had 4 doubles or worse on the final day of the tournament. Obviously, you can't do that. My score on those 4 holes was 11 over par, but on my other 14 holes, I was even.

In the conclusion, I guess I choked, but I really wasn't kicking myself as much as you might suspect. I was proud for coming out of the gate so strong and playing really good golf to start the final day. I guess I will just have to take it as a learning lesson and hope my failure in this tournament can make me stronger down the road.

[jsgolfer]

Just finished our 3-day Member-Guest tournament Ended up winning our flight, however the shoot out was washed out. 1st Match- win 5-4 shot 36 2nd Match- win 7-2 shot 39 3rd match lost 3.5-5.5 shot 41 4th match won 6-3 shot 40 5th match tied 4.5-4.5 was 1 over after 5 and then play was cancelled due to a torrential down pour. We probably should not have played it rained so hard all morning, it was a sloppy mess. Won our flight with 26 pts., second place was 23.5.

[jsgolfer]

Playing in a One-Day Member Guest today at my Home Course.  Hope the weather holds off.

[meenman]

Had our annual 666 tournament yesterday (6 holes scramble, 6 best ball, 6 modified alternate shot)

Played real well until alternate shot (doubled our first hole and bogied the next.) Ended up in a 3 way tie for first with a net 65. Tie breakers went to handicap holes and on the the 4th handicapped hole i had a 4/2 to seal the deal for us.

My first tournament playing with the other Loudmouth wearing joker at the club  so we won best dressed too!

[Big C]

Today was the second round of our men's club match play championship. I played well and my opponent did not play his best. I shot even par through the first 6 holes to take a 4 up lead. On hole 7, I murdered my drive 301 straight down the middle, and had a straightforward 190 yard shot in. I made the fatal mistake of looking toward the finish line (thinking how great it would be to go 5 up in the match) and got my just deserts when I shanked a 6 iron into the woods. From there, it took me 5 shots to get down and I turned what should have been a 5-up lead into a 3-up lead when my opponent's bogey took the hole.

I was proud to shake off my mistake and par the really tough 8th hole and birdie the 9th. I made the turn shooting a 37 with a 5 up lead, and closed out the match on the 13th hole, 6&5.

We played in and I finished with an eagle on 18, to shoot a 37-39 for a 76 overall. Although I was really pleased with my score, I felt like I left a lot of shots out there and am feeling really confident heading into the next match, the semi-final round. Game golf of the round below......

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/cboylan1981/round/592249

[Big C]

Yesterday was the semi finals our match play tournament and I'm pleased to say that I pulled out a win despite a poor ballstriking day, as evidenced by my 4 GIR's all day long. I put myself in a hole early with a string of bogeys and was down 3 after 5 holes. But in match play, I've learned it's best not to worry if you start out slowly or your opponent starts out hot. Don't press, just play your game and try to string together some pars. Eventually, your opponent will make a mistake or two to let you back in the match. And if he doesn't? Well good for him, then he deserved to win anyway. 

I parred 6 and parred 7 to get one hole back. We both caught a lucky break on 8 when a tree saved his tee shot from going OB and my approach shot from going into the water and we halved with a bogey. On 9, he hit a few loose short game shots and eventually conceded my short par putt to bring me back to 1 down at the turn. 

With momentum on my side, I suffered a big setback on 10 with the dreaded "disappearing" ball. I blocked my tee shot right into the rough area between the 10th and 18th fairway. The group coming towards us on 18 played a couple of shots from that area, and I started to get nervous the longer they lingered around. Sure enough, we arrive to the area where my ball should have been and found.... nothing.  At this point, I'm fairly certain that my ball has been adopted by the group on 18, but by this point, they are on the green and I'm walking so I decide it's not worth the effort to sprint over to their green to confront them. So I walk back to re-tee and can't eagle my second ball to match my opponents par. Down 2.

Oh well, nothing you can do about that. I'm actually still in pretty good spirits despite the lost ball and I rattle off wins on the next 4 holes with 3 pars and a bogey. My opponent did not play his best golf during this time, and I was pleased that I played consistent enough to capitalize. We halved 15, and then he made a great birdie on 16 to slice my lead to one. I thought that might give him some confidence down the stretch, but he doubled the par 3 17th and my bogey took the hole and the match, 2 & 1. 

Championship round to be played a month from now in November.

[bkuehn1952]

On ‎8‎/‎16‎/‎2014‎ ‎6‎:‎38‎:‎21‎, David in FL said:

Use this thread as a place where we can gather and talk about our actual tournament rounds.  Plans, aspirations, results, and lessons learned.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  Unlike the "What'd You Shoot Today?" thread, discussion is encouraged as a way for us all to learn from the experiences of others.

My tournament year ended in September.  Like most of us not named Spieth, my results were a mixed bag of decent & marginal play.  Did I learn anything?  Maybe.

It was hammered home a couple times this year that sometimes I need to throw caution to the wind and go for it. I am conservative by nature.  My career has largely been involved in imagining "what's the worst that could happen."  The last event of the year is a good example of my perhaps wrongheaded approach.  I am on the last hole, a long (for this senior) par 4.  I play two nice shots and now look at a 10 foot downhill birdie putt.  A birdie might win a skin on the difficult hole and maybe a 77 (net 69 - we play handicaps) will win the "A" flight.  Of course I cautiously ease the ball down the slope, leaving it a couple inches short.  No skin, no win (someone shot a net 65 anyway but I didn't know that).  In retrospect I should have hit the putt with more authority, accepted it possibly going by the hole by 5 feet and tried to make the comebacker.  As one of the guys in my group said, "You are a good player but you worry too much."

Of course a bogey on the last hole might have booted away a win; that is the problem with not knowing where you are on the leaderboard.  Still, I know that my mental process was more about assuring I didn't have a 5 footer for par and less about making the birdie.  Many of us who sport a 7-12 handicap don't often get birdie chances from 10 feet or less.  We need to take advantage of those situations unless the conditions scream at us "lag it."

I am never going to be a big risk taker.  When asked what my best shot is, I say "hitting a layup."  Still, if I have the same situation next year, I will try harder to make the birdie and be less worried about what the next putt may look like. 

 

[kpaulhus]

This year was a slow start for me. First real winter so coming back after a blazing finish to last year had me playing above my handicap. 

Match play qualifier in April had me shooting 89-90 and thus not qualifying. 

Finished the year in the club championship with a 82-86-86 in some terrible weather netting me 2nd place Net.

 

I plan to work on my game quite a bit this winter and be ready to come firing out the gates in the spring. My goal is to move down into the championship flight and try to place. We will see what the next 6 months has to offer. 

[saevel25]

2 minutes ago, kpaulhus said:

I plan to work on my game quite a bit this winter and be ready to come firing out the gates in the spring. My goal is to move down into the championship flight and try to place. We will see what the next 6 months has to offer. 

Ditto on the working on my game over winter. I am hoping to play in more tournaments next year. 

[kpaulhus]

16 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Ditto on the working on my game over winter. I am hoping to play in more tournaments next year. 

I am actually planning out my calendar so I can participate in the Arkansas USGA state tournaments along with the events at my country club. My goal by the end of next golf season is to be a 3 handicap.

[David in FL]

56 minutes ago, kpaulhus said:

I am actually planning out my calendar so I can participate in the Arkansas USGA state tournaments along with the events at my country club. My goal by the end of next golf season is to be a 3 handicap.

That's a strong goal, to significantly lower your hcp while playing more tournament golf.  Good luck!