What'd You Shoot Today?

[jmanbooyaa]

I played 18 today, shot an 88. I only carried 6 clubs. I told my buddy today that I didn’t think on this course it would make much difference between the 13 I normally bring. Since i slung the bag on my back as opposed to using my push cart,  the only difference really was I was a bit tired. I normally shoot 88-96 on this course. 

[Craigers]

My 2nd time out this year and I shot a 53 on the front 9 at my home course. 

[iacas]

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View this round on GAME GOLF

69, blue tees, Whispering Woods (72.0/142).

This results in a -2.4 differential, and since it's my fifth round, will put my handicap index at +2.4 tomorrow. 😛 (I am not a +2.4.) It was previously at +1.7, though, because I had a 0.3 differential from my round at Dormie Club, and after three rounds, you take your best round and subtract 2 to get your handicap index, and after four rounds, you take your worse and subtract 1, so it was +0.7 entering today. Worst case I'll be a +2.1 after my next round because they take the average of your best two (+2.4 and 0.3) and subtract 1.

I hit some putts before the round, but the practice green was bumpier and a bit slower than the greens on the course.

I thought I'd remembered my "feel" but I didn't get off to the best start. I quickly tweaked the feel after a few holes and got back into it.

Since nobody has to read it, and since it'll always be here for me to read… I'm going to write everything out. 🙂

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The course was soft and the wind was out of the west and northwest at 15 MPH or so.

Hole 1 - 426, into the wind
Push-cut two drivers. Found both, played the original ball of course. From 167 to a front-ish pin, tried to cut a 6I around a tree. Nailed a twig and the ball fell down well short of the green. Hit a pitchy/flighted LW to about ten feet behind the hole and buried the par putt.

Hole 2 - 152 (downwind, but so many trees, wind never does anything here really)
8I just a half groove thin, came up just a bit short of where it would have. Overplayed the break by about four inches… so I missed four inches to the right. 🙂 Was a good putt.

Hole 3 - 505, slightly downwind (really only for the second shot)
Hit a pretty good driver. Thinned a 4I to just short of the green, which slopes away 

Hole 4 - 288, into the wind
Good hybrid, ballooned a little into the breeze. My partial wedges are going farther than they should right now so this one went over the back, on a steep downslope. Short-sided, I did well to hit it to 12 feet. Missed the par putt. I hate bogeying these short holes, but I understand why - the wedge stuff is weird with my swing in a slight transition phase right now.

Hole 5 - 282, into the wind
3W up the right-center. Ball plugged about level with the top of the grass. Took my first knee-high drop of 2020! Hit a wedge (softer than I thought I should have to) five feet past the back pin. Great read and a great putt, maybe seven feet (I put down five in GG). I already had this hole in the Birdie Challenge, though.

Hole 6 - 183, into the wind
Sometimes the wind funnels down this hole, sometimes it doesn't. The wind should have been mostly across, but when I hit a 6I, it was clearly into, and the ball was 15 yards short or so. My first putt was about eight feet short, from the front fringe/fairway, but I made the par putt.

Hole 7 - 523, down/across wind
Driver a bit right (just missed the fairway right), hybrid off a down-grain lie out of the rough was pulled just a bit but fine, just in the left rough close to the green. Played a little pitch to the front pin that had to carry to the green and rolled out to 14 feet. Had it landed short it would have stopped in the fairway. Putt had a chance but slid by low. Par.

Hole 8 - 423, down/across wind
Even as I was hitting driver I said "I'm not sure why I'm hitting this club, I should be hitting 3W." Hit it well, just a slight draw. Nicked the edge of the cart path and bounced back to the right, and forward, leaving 70 yards in to a 425-yard hole. GAME GOLF says the drive traveled 354 yards. Wooo! 🙂 Hit a great putt. It straightened out and wiggled right at the end. Would have been good to knock off #8. It's not an easy hole.

Hole 9 - 374, down/across, uphill
Flared a 3W way right (was trying to hit a bigger draw) that was somewhat fortunate to get over some little trees and stay in bounds. But, I paid for that with a ball that was perhaps higher than my "Pro V1s" if you get my drift. I had 168 or so, uphill. Hit a 7I to about 25 feet behind the pin and almost made the slider (already have #9 though). Tapped in for par. I'm often weirdly good about hitting balls well above my feet.

Hole 10 - 451, down/across right
Heeled a driver to the middle of the fairway. Had 176, slightly downwind, and the hole was cut in the front of the green. False front fairway before that. Almost hit 7I, but chose a gripped down soft 6I that was right the whole way… ten or twelve feet right. It was exactly hole high though, and I made the slippery 12-footer in the high side. Whew! Felt great to birdie a tough hole and get #10 out of the way.

Hole 11 -154, slightly downhill but into the wind
Decided to chip a 7I because, like my partial wedges, sometimes the club is coming from a different place and I am not comfortable with partial shots, so this was a good test. I tugged it a titch, and it was long. Middle-left of the green to a front-right pin. Putt broke six feet. Hit it to a foot and tapped in. I'm a good putter. 😉

Hole 12 - 518, into/across wind
Driver a bit right and a bit floaty, which the wind knocked down. Took my second knee-high drop of 2020 when it embedded upon landing. Pulled a hybrid slightly. Chickened out to a left pin by hitting it 25 feet right. Putt stopped six inches short dead in the heart, but I already have #12, so okay.

Hole 13 - 356, down/across
Hybrid up the left side. Ever so slightly thin 9I from 136 to just below the hole. Not the best read, left the whole way. Tapped in the two footer for par.

Hole 14 - 184, back pin, down/across
Hit a slightly soft 6I that never left the flag. I almost said something to Natalie, like "Hey, looks like we're tied!" (She has one ace, I have none), and the ball hit a foot right of the hole and popped backward three inches and sat there. Tapped in for a birdie. Tough hole, all par threes are. Natalie also birdied from 10 or 12 feet. Good get here.

Hole 15 - 536, into/slightly across
REALLY good drive into the wind. This fairway gets tight from these tees with this wind, and missing left or right is bad. Good 3W from a downhill lie to across the gully. I hate wedges to this green: the fairway is soft and slopes toward you, and the green is usually firmer and slopes away from you. I landed near the joint, and the ball barely rolled onto the green, with a back pin. A yard or two farther and I'm probably inside 10'. Anyway, I made the 35-40' putt. BAM. Not an easy birdie despite being a par five.

Hole 16 - 300 yards, across
Heeled the driver, got onto the upslope. The pin was front left, and I tried to go after it, even though being three yards short would have the ball rolling back to my feet (or further!), and chickened out on the downswing and hit it 20 feet past. Bad read - actually I didn't read it - and left it pin-high two feet right of the hole. Tapped in.

Hole 17 - 398, straight into the wind
Decent driver. Straight, not crushed. Maybe a bit high. 136, was really feeling the approach shot. Hit a low cut 9I to a back-right hole that landed just short, hopped up near the hole… and then pulled back to 14 feet. Putt was a bit too soft or low the whole way, but tapped in for par.

Hole 18 - 411, across and then downwind
Was laughing at the horrible thoughts I had standing over the ball on the tee. "You're three under. Whatever you do, don't quack one into the garbage to the left. If you block one out to the right, you can at least make a bogey, and that's not too bad. Okay, you've been standing here waggling for long enough - just hit the damn ball." Was one of my best drives of the day, and completed a day of hitting every fairway on the back nine. Ball was above my feet, 150, front left pin… uphill but slightly downwind… I felt really good about my 8I, but it hung out right the whole way, and was a foot from hitting all nine greens on the back nine, too. Two putted for par.

Some stats:

• According to GAME GOLF, 0.7 strokes gained against scratch with driver, 2.71 with approach, lost 0.92 (somehow?) with short game, and gained 1.06 putting.
• 71-79% fairways (10 or 11), and the only one I missed by more than about three or four yards was the first hole. None missed on the back nine.
• 78% GIR, and except for #1, none missed by more than a few yards as well.
• 1.61 putts per hole (29 total), and 75% scrambling.
• Differential of -2.4, again.
• I annoyed Sculley by talking about how I mis-hit a few drivers on the back nine. He teased me after the third one (on about 17?) because I'd been in basically the middle of every fairway to that point. 😄

Okay, that's enough, even for me.

Edited May 4, 2020 by iacas
fixed the index stuff

[mvmac]

69, 5 birdies, putted well.

[Braivo]

46-47=93 at Carrington GC in Monroe, MI yesterday. 

Two water balls on the Par 5 13th dashed my hopes of breaking 90. 

They allowed carts for the first time yesterday. Still surreal to play with the restrictions. 

[David in FL]

38/43 = 81

Frustrated.  For the 4th round in a row I’m striking the ball well.  Short game is solid.  But I’ve had 3 doubles on the back!  All the result of poor drives.  It’s all in my head, I know.  

I’ll get over it, but damn, it’s annoying.  😑
 

The only good news is that in our normal 4-ball game, I’m still making money, so that eases the pain a bit.  

[Sandy Lie]

A very pedestrian 78 on Pinehurst #4 today.  39 a side. Very windy, seemed like we hit into the wind on every hole.  83rd round of the year.

[SteveH]

45,40 today playing blue/silver combo.  Quite a relief after Friday's disaster. Ball striking was good and only two penalties. 27 putts including  one 3 putt. Two birdies on a couple of the par 5's......because I didn't hit driver off the tee, lol

[Darkfrog]

95 in my first round in 2 months, since the shelter in place was put into effect in CA. Had 10 penalty strokes (5x O.B.) which ruined my score. All of the O.B. penalties we’re bad swings that I hooked off the planet. Aside from that I was satisfied with the round. Definitely had the jitters on the tee, and generally felt out of sync all round. 

[Bonvivant]

Today was amazing and terrible all at the same time. After 7 holes, I was only +3, which for me is unheard of. I was striking all of my irons well, chipping great (holed one for a 3 on the par 3 5th after just barely making it out of a bunker). Come to 8 which is a wicked dogleg left par 5. First ball, in the woods right, definitely lost so I retee. Hit the exact same shot, so now I have to tee up again, hitting 5). Cold top the 3rd attempt, which goes left but doesn't make it too the hazard (probably only 70-100 yards for the stream from the box). Manage to put that one in the hazard right in front of me. At that point, I picked up. I couldn't endure any more of that torture. I put myself down for an expected 12, NDB of 8. With the 12, I shot a 46 on the front.

The back went....ok. I struck the ball well but had a couple of penalties, managed a 46. That makes a 46/46/92, which for me is still quite good, but the asterisk bugs me big time. If only I could have pulled myself out of the moment after that first lost ball, but it's a live and learn experience. I think that the fact that I was only +3 made me put too much pressure on myself. Still happy with my performance overall.

 

[Sandy Lie]

Played #4 again this morning.  Threat of rain but only had a drizzle.  Nice and cool, gentle breeze. Started with 4 straight pars, the finished the front with 5 straight bogeys!  Back 9 started with two birdies, had 1 bogey the rest of the way in. -1 on the back for an overall 76.

[phan52]

46-44-90

I struck the ball better than that but the ball was running out pretty good and too many drives trickled into the rough, which is brutal right now. The resulting double bogeys negated my pars.

[DuckDuckFoose]

Shot a 92 today, once I stuffed the Driver into the bag and never brought it back out I started to shot significantly better.  Only lasted 5 holes with the driver, once I hit one that literally plugged into the ground two inches in front of the tee I benched her for the day. Full swing needs some serious work. 

[NM Golf]

Taking advantage of the open golf courses. I played in Denver Wednesday-Friday and here in ABQ Sunday, Tuesday and today. Finally got the game in shape today after some rather iffy ball striking. In my first round back on Wednesday last week I was god awful, Shot 82, my highest round in several years, I hit it everywhere. Settled down on Thursday and shot 72 with a 33 (-3) on the back. Got a little tired on Friday after walking the previous 2 days and shot 38 for nine holes. Got back into town on Saturday and played Sunday in a big group. Shot 73 after another really terrible ball striking performance. Tuesday played with a college player I know. Shot 71 (-1) and hit it better but still not great. My short game finally came around a little in this round.

Then today, I finally had a good round. Hit 67% of the greens with 3 of the misses being less than a yard off the green and 71% of the fairways. Shot 69 (-3). Still had a stupid 3 putt and missed a couple other shorties, but I can't complain too much, it was a solid round.

[Rkrider99]

Had another crazy round today. Even par through the first 10 holes, then the wheels fell off. 9 over for the last 8 holes. An 81. Why does that happen?? I don't really look at the score until it's over, but you know when you're playing well, and you know when you're not. All the 5' putts that fell in the first 10 holes all lipped out on those last 8 holes. The good chips on the first 10 holes were all chunks on the last 8.

But, I will be back tomorrow to see if I can straighten things out.

[chilepepper]

31 for 9 holes , par 28 exec course. Nice to be back on a course.

[iacas]

@NatalieB and I played a two-person scramble from the golds at Whispering Woods today. We followed a rule that we had to use at least one shot from each of us on every par four or five.

Our shots…

1, 360 - Thin heel cut a 3W to about 120, Natalie hit a wedge or 9I to 25 feet below the hole, we two-putted. E

2, 113 - My chipped PW to about 15 feet right of the hole, my putt. -1

3, 448 - My 3W, her 5W to green side, her chip, and we both made the birdie putt from the back fringe. -2

4, 185 - Her driver to the back edge of the green, my first putt, she cleaned up the birdie. -3

5, 242 - My 3W, my chip from 10 feet short of the green in the rough, had to use her putt so I went first, just stayed high. -3

6, 146 - Her 8I, my first putt, she tapped in. -3

7, 469 - My driver, her 5W from 175, her putt from 12 feet. -5

8, 367 - My 3W (one of the best shots I've ever hit), her PW, both hit great putts that just stayed out. Par. -5

9, 274 - Her driver, her wedge, my putt, tap-in. -5, 31 front nine.

10, 384 - My driver, my lob wedge, she tapped in for birdie. -1

11, 139 - Her 7I, my first putt, I made the three footer. -1

12, 409 - Her driver (I was closer but had a worse angle), my 5I, my first putt, her second putt. -2

13, 292 - My driver, her chip, her putt. -3

14, 138 - Her 8I, my first putt, she tapped in. -3

15, 431 - My driver, my 5I, her chip, two-putted. -3

16, 245 - I hit 3W about 50 yards over the back of the green, so her driver, my lob wedge, and my putt that lipped out on the front side, she tapped in. -3

17, 315 - Her driver (we later found my 3W very close but plugged; we thought it went into the creek), my wedge, my putt. -4

18, 341 - My 3W, my wedge, had to use her putt but I went first and missed anyway, tapped in for par. -4, 32 back nine.

Total: 31 front, 32 back, 63 total. Technically we missed the green on three, but hit all the others. We never played a second shot from the rough, either.

[JGus]

Played Maryland National yesterday, shot an 83 (par 71).  +5 on front, +7 on back.

Was hitting the ball well, but my transition is still impacting swings throughout the round.  I seem to be getting my weight shifted, but need to work on the rotation more, sometimes I just feel my body move forward without any turn, which doesn't end well, but I stayed in play.  Other times I feel the weight stay back on my right side with my driver.  More work to do with my transition.