RFKFREAK's Journal About Golf Past, Present, and Future

[RFKFREAK]

So, I played what is quite possibly my favorite courses in NY's Capital District.  The reason I like this course is because it's a Par 73 with five Par 5's.  I think there are three reasons why I like to play Par 5's

1. I feel I can drive the ball a sufficient distance to be able to get to some greens in two, or, at least only leave myself a wedge for a third shot;
2. It gives me some room for error in case I hit an errant shot;
3. An 8 or some other big number doesn't look as bad on a Par 5 as it does on a Par 3.

That said, I probably shouldn't be as big of fan of Par 5's as I am.  My scoring average to par for the year is as follows:

• Par 3: +1.58
• Par 4: +1.83
• Par 5: +2.11

On to the round.  I birdied the 18th so I might make this the last round I play this season so as to end the season on a high note.  

The stats:

100 on Par 73

70.7/120 

2/14 FIR (14%)

4/18 GIR (22%)

3 Penalty Strokes

 

31 Putts (1.7/hole)

1 - Zero putt

5 - One putt

10 - Two putts

2 - Three putts

 

1 Birdies

3 Pars

7 Bogeys

3 Double Bogeys

4 More than Double Bogey

 

Tee Shots

Today I found myself being friends again with my driver.  My distance off the tee is a little shorter than I'd like it to be (average around 240) and I think it has to do with the colder weather and my technique regressing from not doing any golf related activities with any consistency lately.  I pretty much played a push for my driver and except for 2 drives (9 where I hit it low, left, and short and 16 which went straight instead of right) it worked.  I definitely feel like my driver is more to what it was before July 2nd.  Even though I'm hitting up on a driver, I find it really interesting that although whereas my driver is a push, when I hit a hybrid whether off a tee of or not, that it overdraws hard left.  

Approach Shots

Dreadful; just dreadful.  I've "forgotten" how to hit the ball first.  It's amazing that I got 4 GIRs.  I was spraying it all over the place and still have the tendency to hit it left.  I'm not surprised by this since, again, I haven't been practicing either at home into my net or at the range.  Sadly, it's dark by the time I get out of work.  Maybe I'll try to over Thanksgiving.   

Short Game

Overall, I was very satisfied with my short game.  I chipped in from a few yards out and also left myself a few close 1-putts.  However, I could not get my pitching distances down which, much like my approach shots, had a lot to do with the contact I was making. 

Putting

Overall, I was very happy with my putting.  I definitely putted better this week than last week or the time I played before that.  Both my putt on the 1st hole (for double bogey) and the 18th hole (for birdie) were from around 5 feet which I was happy to see go down and which I'm not sure would have lately.  Making the putt on the first hole also gave me a lot of confidence in my putting the rest of the round.  Most of my-2 putts were of tap in range and whereas I had two 3-putts, one was on a hole which the greens seemed to run slower than all the others which surprised me.  The 3-putt on 7 was just bad speed control.

I brought my tripod and phone out to the round with thoughts of doing a vlog but I didn't have enough memory on my phone so was only able to grab a few videos which are here.

First swing of the day, Driver.

Hybrid.  I hit multiple ones because they all overdrew/hooked and I thought I lost all of them.  Finally one hit a tree and bounced onto the fairway.  Turned out that I was able to find the first ball so yay, no penalty stroke!

After punching out the ball I found, I left myself this shot which I pulled to the left of the green...

And then chipped from here onto the green...

And made the aforementioned putt.

Second hole off the tee and used driver again

Tee shot on Par 3 fourth hole using a 9 Iron.  Left it short and to the right.

15th hole, Par 3.  Bad swing as I felt like I lost my balance.  I hit it past the flag but on the green.

I'm going to post a few in my swing thread but thought I should put them here, too. 

[RandallT]

Good news: Par Birdie finish!

Bad news: I think it's a two stroke penalty to move the tee marker in that last video 

Great writeup!!!!! Nice vids. Hope you get some good feedback from those. I know what you mean about par 5's, as I look forward to them, but only the ones less than about 520 or so.

Much beyond that, and I swear 540 feels like it might as well be 600. I never seem to get a decent shot at an approach when they get that long, even though theoretically I can hit my drive plus a 200yd second shot to well within 150yd from the green. The math breaks down somewhere, and I'm always outside 200yd for my approach.

[RFKFREAK]

10 hours ago, RandallT said:

Good news: Par Birdie finish!

Bad news: I think it's a two stroke penalty to move the tee marker in that last video 

Great writeup!!!!! Nice vids. Hope you get some good feedback from those. I know what you mean about par 5's, as I look forward to them, but only the ones less than about 520 or so.

Much beyond that, and I swear 540 feels like it might as well be 600. I never seem to get a decent shot at an approach when they get that long, even though theoretically I can hit my drive plus a 200yd second shot to well within 150yd from the green. The math breaks down somewhere, and I'm always outside 200yd for my approach.

Thanks!

I actually did not know moving the tee marker was a penalty.  I played once with a guy who did it and thought it was ok.  I won't be doing that again.  Good thing I'm out of season and can't post this score for my HC! 

Hmm, I kind of view really long Par 5's as a double edge sword because I have to make 3 really good swings with really good contact and that's something that rarely happens.  Yet, when I do make a good score, I'm all sorts of amped by it.  Earlier this season I played this course that has a 600 yard Par 5 and I smacked my drive out there, hit a pure 3W and left myself a chip shot,  I don't recall if I made the first putt or the second and I would have been really thrilled...had my first tee shot not gone OOB. 

So, when I figure out when my season is over I think I'll make a post showing my stats from 2013, my first season playing somewhat consistently, and see how it compares to 2014, and how those compare to this year and make some goals for next year. 

[RFKFREAK]

So, now that the holiday season is over I'm going to go back to eating a disciplined diet and working out.  Therefore, I expect I'll be updating this thread on the regular again.

When I woke up for work this morning I had forgotten that I was no longer going to be the glutton I had been; eating ice cream on the regular, filling myself with chocolate, and pretty much stuffing my face with whatever I felt like.  

I haven't stepped on a scale since October 4th when I weighed 242.  It was up from when I reached my goal last year on May 28th of 225.  My normal routine last year had been to weigh myself before showering but I forgot to do so this morning so, wet hair and all, I stepped on the scale and saw 276.2 staring back at me.  The last time I started my weight loss project, I weighed 277.4, so, seeing as how I'm starting this time a month later, the earliest I see myself getting to 225 would be in June.

This time I'm also looking to add yoga to my routine a couple times a week to increase my flexibility.

Here we go!

[JonMA1]

Good luck @RFKFREAK. Make it happen.

[RFKFREAK]

Today I tried yoga for the first time.  I took the class that was offered at the gym and had an opportunity to speak with the instructor before the class.  I told him I had never done yoga of any kind before and he told me that the way he runs his power yoga class, it's for more advanced people but that he gives beginners different options of more basic moves if the more complicated positions were unrealistic for a beginner to do.

With that, I will say that I built up a decent sweat and I'm somewhat sore at the moment.  I could do without the mental/spiritual side of it but I did feel like it gave me what I'm looking for - a way to do cardio (because I really don't like running on the treadmill) which will also help me increase my flexibility.  For now the jury is still out.  I think I'll try it again but overall, I'm not sure if yoga is for me.

On the plus side, according to this calorie burning calculator http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/activity/calculators/power_yoga I burned 868.27 calories doing 60 minutes of Power Yoga.  Not sure how accurate it is but, if it is, it's pretty good. 

[dkolo]

On January 6, 2016 at 10:57 PM, RFKFREAK said:

Today I tried yoga for the first time.  I took the class that was offered at the gym and had an opportunity to speak with the instructor before the class.  I told him I had never done yoga of any kind before and he told me that the way he runs his power yoga class, it's for more advanced people but that he gives beginners different options of more basic moves if the more complicated positions were unrealistic for a beginner to do.

With that, I will say that I built up a decent sweat and I'm somewhat sore at the moment.  I could do without the mental/spiritual side of it but I did feel like it gave me what I'm looking for - a way to do cardio (because I really don't like running on the treadmill) which will also help me increase my flexibility.  For now the jury is still out.  I think I'll try it again but overall, I'm not sure if yoga is for me.

On the plus side, according to this calorie burning calculator http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/activity/calculators/power_yoga I burned 868.27 calories doing 60 minutes of Power Yoga.  Not sure how accurate it is but, if it is, it's pretty good. 

Congrats dude! That's awesome! And hey, if yoga's good enough for babies, it's good enough for you. 

[RFKFREAK]

On 1/3/2016 at 5:56 PM, RFKFREAK said:

So, now that the holiday season is over I'm going to go back to eating a disciplined diet and working out.  Therefore, I expect I'll be updating this thread on the regular again.

 

So, yeah, this didn't go according to plan. 

However, what has been going to plan has been a being very disciplined in my eating and exercising.

First, with my diet, I've been in a calorie deficit, limiting myself to between 2100-2400 calories.  Instead of one cheat day a week, I've instituted cheat meals (on average, one or two a week) and working my daily diet around those cheats.  I fear I'll have to do this more often in the summer because I love iced cream and I tend of want it in the summer, haha.  For the most part, my macros have been broken down as follows:

• 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight
• 0.6 grams of carbs per pound of body weight
• 0.3 grams of fats per pound of body weight 

I've also been waking up at 5:00AM M-F and going to the gym in the morning before work.  

So far, I've lost roughly 25 pounds.    I'm a little behind schedule from where I was in my plan this time last year, however, last year, I wasn't very dedicated to the gym so, I've probably lost more fat but haven't lost as much weight due to building muscle.  Unfortunately, I have no way to quantify this because the fat percentage reader at my gym is pretty crappy, stating I've only lost 2.4% fat, I have used it on various times at various weights to see what kind of readout it gives me and it further confirmed my suspicions as follows:

• Weight / Body Fat % Reading / Fat Weight / Lean Body Mass
• 271.0 / 33.0 / 89.43 / 181.57
• 269.4 / 32.4 / 87.29 / 182.11
• 266.9 / 32.3 / 86.21 / 180.69
• 264.0 / 32.1 / 84.74 / 179.26
• 258.8 / 31.5 / 81.52 / 177.28
• 251.9 / 30.6 / 77.08 / 174.82

As is illustrated, according to their machine, of the roughly 19 pounds I've lost between the first reading and this last one, 12.35 has been fat and it's saying I've lost 6.75 of muscle which, for as much as I go to the gym, I think is wildly inaccurate.  I bought a caliper to measure my body fat percentage but I'm not proficient with it yet, so, I'm holding off on using it to give me a reading.  As an aside, I went to my old gym the day I weighed 258.8, and their body fat % machine, which I used roughly half an hour before I used my current gym's body fat percentage reader, said my body fat percentage was 27.3, giving me a split of Fat/LBM of 70.65 / 188.15.  Quite a disparity, to say the least.

At this point, I'm losing 2-3 pounds per week, I haven't hit a plateau which could certainly happen, but, if it doesn't, and I continue to lose 2-3 pounds per week, then I'll hit my goal of 225 sometime between, June and July.  This time, however, I'm planning on continuing to go to the gym, maintaining my diet, and continuing this lifestyle change.

On the golf side, as of yet, all this hasn't really helped my golf game  It's only been 4 rounds and I've put up scores of 102, 105, 108, and, 120 which once I put up a 12 on the 5th hole today, I turned it into a practice round.  

Over the off-season, the straight hook and overdraw has creeped back into my swing and today I really focused on trying to fix it.  My initial plan was to hit the range at the course before playing the round, but it isn't open yet, so I made the adjustments on the course.  I've also tried to learn how to hit a fade on command, but I haven't mastered that yet.  I'm planning on taking some video soon and analyzing it to see what changes have to be made.

Overall, I'm very happy that the golf season started early this year and that I've gotten some rounds in!

[RFKFREAK]

Had an interesting day today.

I started off at the gym at 6AM.  Since January I've lost 30 pounds.  Since I've been going to the gym roughly 5 days a week and am have been increasing the weights on my exercises, I've lost more fat than 30 pounds as I've been gaining muscle.

After that, I drove a couple hours away to go to a demo event and got to hit the AP1's, AP2's, 21°, 23° H1's, and my 5W on on a Trackman and got the following results:

		AP1 (7I)		Ap2 (7I)		19 ° 5W		21° H		23° H
Club Speed		87.1		89		99.9		95.8		94.8
Ball Speed		116.5		119		144		140.4		138.3
Launch Angle		19.6		18.5		9.6		9.5		10.1
Spin Rate		2233		4454		3436		3311		5441
Carry		166.1		165		224.3		210.8		192.6
Total		180.3		176.9		244.7		234.6		201.6
Club Path		0.9		-1.4		-1		4.4		-0.5
Attack Angle		-3.8		-2.6		-6.3		-3.3		-4.4
Face Angle		3.6		-2.4		1		-3.8		-0.4
Smash Factor		1.34		1.34		1.44		1.47		1.46

So, whereas I seem to be able to get the ball out there, I'm not very consistent in my strikes with the different clubs.  That said, the Titlist fitter recommended the AP1's and the 23° Hybrid based on the numbers I registered with my 5W.

That said, the numbers for the 23° Hybrid numbers may not be what they might normally be because I was pretty tired.   Which might explain what happened at the course today.

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/RFKFREAK/round/862635

113 wasn't my best showing at a course I had never played before.  The front 9 wasn't as hard as I made it seem to be and although I wish I had shot sub 50 on the back, 51 after a front of 62 is a moral victory. 

[RFKFREAK]

One thing I've noticed in my recent play.

Over the course of the 28 holes I've played I have failed to record a GIR.  This includes the 52 over 9 holes I put up on Thursday when I played after work and the 113 I shot yesterday.  This would probably be the reason why over the course of that time, I had a 25 hole stretch where I failed to record a Par.

At my fitting yesterday the Titlist rep said that he found it difficult to believe I was a 25 HC based on my swing and it got me to thinking that, based solely on anecdotal evidence, my short game is horrendous.  So, I've decided to go back into a few of my rounds and see what kind of distances I'm leaving myself after a chip or a pitch.  IIRC correctly, @RandallT seemed to think that my short game sucked hard, too, but that it wasn't as bad as my full swing (which we all know). 

[RandallT]

To my eye, your recent swings are looking much smoother- much less tension.  I'd think your scores will be getting lower soon with all the progress I think I see.

As for last year, we analyzed 3 rounds. 35 strokes lost to pros. Roughly 23 strokes full swing (10.5 drives, 12.5 approaches) and 12 strokes lost on/around greens (7 short game, 5 putting).

As for your short game, I did find a bit of a weakness: between 20-60yds. Here's your chart:

You average 3.31 from that range, whereas a bogey golfer like me is just under 3 from there. Since we are both getting about 10 opportunities from there per round, that's about 4 strokes better PER ROUND that I shoot from there than you. This is 20-60yds in the rough or in the fairway (bunkers not included).

I get up and down about 20%, you 3% from there.

You hit 6 greens out of 10.7 attempts per round. I hit almost 8 of 9. I think you need to just get the darn ball on the green from your pitches from 20-60yds.

From other ranges of short game, we're not drastically different. Not like this anyway.

[Judah Ben-Hur]

21 hours ago, RFKFREAK said:

Which might explain what happened at the course today.

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/RFKFREAK/round/862635

113 wasn't my best showing at a course I had never played before.  The front 9 wasn't as hard as I made it seem to be and although I wish I had shot sub 50 on the back, 51 after a front of 62 is a moral victory. 

What happened on hole #7 with all the penalty strokes?

[RFKFREAK]

28 minutes ago, RandallT said:

To my eye, your recent swings are looking much smoother- much less tension.  I'd think your scores will be getting lower soon with all the progress I think I see.

As for last year, we analyzed 3 rounds. 35 strokes lost to pros. Roughly 23 strokes full swing (10.5 drives, 12.5 approaches) and 12 strokes lost on/around greens (7 short game, 5 putting).

As for your short game, I did find a bit of a weakness: between 20-60yds. Here's your chart:

You average 3.31 from that range, whereas a bogey golfer like me is just under 3 from there. Since we are both getting about 10 opportunities from there per round, that's about 4 strokes better PER ROUND that I shoot from there than you. This is 20-60yds in the rough or in the fairway (bunkers not included).

I get up and down about 20%, you 3% from there.

You hit 6 greens out of 10.7 attempts per round. I hit almost 8 of 9. I think you need to just get the darn ball on the green from your pitches from 20-60yds.

From other ranges of short game, we're not drastically different. Not like this anyway.

Yeah, anecdotally, I feel like I'm almost always two putting.  However, the 9 holes I played on Thursday, 4 times I had a chip/pitch and then a 1 putt.  It stood out in my mind because it just feels like it never happens.  I'll see what the numbers reveal. 

7 minutes ago, Judah Ben-Hur said:

What happened on hole #7 with all the penalty strokes?

Stroke #1: Driver to fairway

Stroke #2: 3W left into the woods

Stroke #3: Penalty

Stroke #4: 3W left into the woods

Stroke #5: Penalty

Stroke #6: 3W into water hazard

Stroke #7: Penalty

Stroke #8: Mishit 7I

Stroke #9: SW over the Green

Stroke #10: GW chip

Stroke #11: Putt left short.

Stroke #12: Putt tapped in.

 

[colin007]

On 5/1/2016 at 8:40 PM, RFKFREAK said:

		AP1 (7I)		Ap2 (7I)		19 ° 5W		21° H		23° H
Club Speed		87.1		89		99.9		95.8		94.8
Ball Speed		116.5		119		144		140.4		138.3
Launch Angle		19.6		18.5		9.6		9.5		10.1
Spin Rate		2233		4454		3436		3311		5441
Carry		166.1		165		224.3		210.8		192.6
Total		180.3		176.9		244.7		234.6		201.6
Club Path		0.9		-1.4		-1		4.4		-0.5
Attack Angle		-3.8		-2.6		-6.3		-3.3		-4.4
Face Angle		3.6		-2.4		1		-3.8		-0.4
Smash Factor		1.34		1.34		1.44		1.47		1.46

 

 

these numbers are all over the place, did the rep say anything about that?

[RFKFREAK]

5 minutes ago, colin007 said:

 

these numbers are all over the place, did the rep say anything about that?

Said my swing sucked, haha.

I mean, he said for someone who's only been playing a few years I have a nice swing (thanks @iacas, @mvmac, and Evolvr) but indirectly he said it still needs work.

It's not that surprising, though, IMO.

[colin007]

I'm just saying for your angle of attack numbers and face angle numbers to be that drastically different between similar clubs seems weird.

[RFKFREAK]

So, I played an interesting round today:

104 on Par 72 (32 over)
53 on Par 35 on Front (18 over) 
51 on Par 37 on Front (14 over)
 

70.8/122 
2/13 FIR (15%) 
3/18 GIR (17%)

238.20 Avg Drive  
4 Penalty Strokes
11 Bunker Shots (on only 6 holes!)
37 Putts (2.1/hole)

3 - One putt
11 - Two putts
4 - Three putts

0 Birdies 
3 Pars 
6 Bogeys 
4 Double Bogeys 
5 More than Double Bogey.

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/RFKFREAK/round/896031

I took away a lot of good things from this round.  

First, I finished the last 5 holes just 4 over par.  

Second, had I not found the bunker so often, I would have likely shot in the 90's.  On the second hole, I hit into two different bunkers and, it took me 2 tries to get out of the first one.  On 4, I took 3 strokes trying to get out of the bunker and on 5, I added another 2 strokes trying to get out of a bunker.  I'm a horrible bunker player seeing as how I almost never practice it, but in my defense, it rained a lot last night and the bunkers were pretty hard this morning.  That said, sometimes, stuff like this happens.

Third, my driving had been a little suspect of late.  Over my last 63 holes (3 18-hole rounds and 1-9 hole round), I teed off with driver 40 times.  Of those 40, I hit drives of 200 yards or greater only 25 times (62.5%).  Today I hit 10 of my 12 (83.3%) tee shots 200 yards or greater (with one of the two that I didn't going 199 yards because I worked the ball).  Part of this I attribute to trying to get the feeling, even though I probably shouldn't have, of having my shoulders as level as I could at A6 which is what my Evolvr instructor has as my priority piece.  I know I should just play instead of trying to incorporate what I've been practicing, but I tried it once and it seemed to work so I went with it.  That said, still took 3 penalty strokes off the tee over 2 holes.

Fourth, as I mentioned above, I worked the ball - twice!  My stock shot is a draw but on the last hole, a dog right, I decided to try and move the ball from right to left off the tee.  It worked but I overdid it a bit and left myself about 160 uphill to the flag with no view of the green.  I pulled out a 5I, my 180 club, to give myself a better chance of getting there just in case I didn't hit it well.  When I took the shot, I didn't see where the ball went but my buddy told me that it had gone past the flag, about ten yards to the left of it and likely just off the green which it was.   So, I was happy about that (and lamenting not having more confidence in myself and using the appropriate 6I).

A few things that I obviously sucked at:

• 4 penalty strokes, but not all of them off the tee.
• Bunkers are my enemy!
• Putting was very lackluster.  I don't think I made anything over 3 feet.
• I don't hit fairways or greens.  This year, my FW percentage is 25.38% and I'm surprised it's that high.  My GIR percentage this year is 8.77%.  I don't help my GIR percentage when I'm averaging 3.56 penalty strokes per 18 holes and today's 4 didn't help bring that number down. 

[DrvFrShow]

Bunkers.... I'd almost rather play from a sand bunker than from the rough. I hit 4 of them on the front 9 and still ended up with a 45. I'll tell you though, the technique with opening the club face always had me blading the shots, so I decided to simplify the approach. I bought a 64 degree wedge for the added loft. You don't need it. You can use your 60 degree lob wedge. I can even get out of a fairly steep greenside bunker with this method which could border on a shallow pot bunker. The key is hitting 1" behind the ball and making an aggressive follow through. How far the ball goes depends upon the length of your backswing. You don't have to kill the ball. It even works with long greenside bunker shots. So here it is: the no frills bunker shot. Stop blading them.

Also if you're not playing for money, and just playing a friendly round, go ahead and take practice swings in the bunker and hit the sand near the ball. Screw entering the handicap - play a practice round. Do you play in tournaments? No. Practice on the course. It's okay to do that. Just tell the person you're playing with that you're doing that, and it's fine as long as you're not holding up play.

 

Drives: I'm not hitting my driver that well at the moment either, and when I do hit it straight, it's not going that far - about 215 yds tops. If you're averaging 200 - 220 yds with your driver, I'd move up a set of tees. 6300 yds is too long for you. You should be playing from 5600 - 5800. You'll have more fun, too. Don't think it won't be challenging. I'll be you'll still be challenged to break 100.

Putting: I rarely get around the course with under 36 putts.

We're not professionals or top amateurs and we'll never be in that realm. We want to have fun playing the game. 

My home course just painted all the red tees green (5600 yds), and changed the score cards to accommodate a green/white course as well - the hard holes are the green holes, and the easy holes are the white holes - (5800 yds). Red has a stigma of "the ladies tees", but since they painted them green, I've seen guys using them. However, I wish they'd gone with gold because they'd be easier to find.