What'd You Shoot Today?

[WillieT]

Got a chance to play one of our local courses that has fallen on harder times.  They were a premier course in the area several years back, but have had financial issues over the past couple. Because of the condition, it was one of the toughest courses I've ever played.  Only 3 of the greens were truly puttable, the balance were full of bare spots (major sections of pure dirt).  The fairways were playable, but anything in the rough saw the ball go out of sight. The traps seemed to be like playing on bare dirt lies, with grass rapidly filling them in.  So what did I shoot - 102 (54 front/48 back) on a par 71. After the first green, my son and I opted to make it a day to work on varying the clubs used on approaches.  It made the round fun and a better challenge as we would caddy each other on what we saw but leaving the club choice to the golfer. The shape of the greens encouraged pin hunting, thankfully they had most cut toward the center.  Likewise, chips/pitches were in pin hunt mode as you had to "pick" where you wanted to putt.  A different kind of round.  The best part of the day was when we made the turn (started on the back nine) and were preparing to tee off on 1.  The course pro/owner came up to us and began to talk with us. He asked what club my son was using, he said he was working on his 3hybrid. He told him to go ahead and tee off.  After the tee shot he asked if he could try it, of course he drills one down the fairway.  He then proceeds to offer a quick lesson on good swing mechanics.  He next asks me about my driver and if he could hit it.  Its an older SLDR and he promptly carries it down the left side.  Again talking to us about good swing mechanics and form.  In the end, he gives us a free pass to play there again as they are going to be fully repairing the greens over the next month.  So we get a free round anytime and a free lesson.  Maybe the score wasn't as important as just being there today. 

[klineka]

On 9/7/2020 at 8:07 AM, Greg 504 said:

Playing another first time course tomorrow, The Links at Echo Springs in Johnstown. @klineka, ever play here?

15 hours ago, Greg 504 said:

Shot 92 at the Links of Echo Springs today. I felt I was in a pretty good groove and blew up on two holes back to back. Took a triple bogey and a quad. The heat and humidity started getting to me on about the final 5-6 holes and we were cart path only. The course was so wet many of the shots plugged to the numbers with minimal rollout. Can't wait to play this course again under different conditions. 

Yep I've played there quite a few times, actually just was out there 2 weeks ago, it's one of my favorite layouts in the central ohio area, I love that stretch from holes 5-9. 

---

I tried a new course yesterday, Deer Ridge. I really liked it, shot a 76, which I will gladly take considering how poorly I hit some iron shots. I can tell I am getting better though because it was an off day with my approach shots and I still managed to hit 12/18 GIR.

Tee shots were very good, multiple out in the 280-290 range and one that went 325 albeit with at least a 30-40 yard elevation drop from tee box to fairway.

Putting was solid too, was really close to being a great putting day, had 4 birdie putts that end up on the lip or lipped out. I am really liking the aimpoint system and my reads are getting really good now, the only ones I struggle to get right are when its a fairly steep uphill putt, I'm have a hard time reading if there is any break.

 

[Slice of Life]

98 in post monsoon conditions. 

Rough day, putting greens were shag carpet, fairways were garbage, and rough was about 6" tall and THICK. My buddy Christian at a 12 hdcp shot a 108 lol

[dagolfer18]

I played 36 holes today, at two different courses. Round one was at Lake Winds Golf Course. A very short but difficult course, and my dad and I played the blue tees (par 72, 5917 yards).

I step up to the first tee, driver in hand, having not hit a real golf shot in a week and a half, and bust it down the middle and par the first hole. False dawn. Mediocre golf on the rest of the front nine gave me a 48, going into the shorter but slightly tougher back nine. I shot 47 on the back, which included a four-putt and a water ball on the 16th, both doubles, total score 95. Not my best.

Driving home, we were talking about the round, and my dad and I both agreed that despite my week-and-a-half layoff, I could do better than a 95. So after a very quick lunch, I was back on the road to my home course for a second round, and I stepped to the first tee a little after 3:00, less than an hour after we walked off the 18th green at Lake Winds.

I shot a 45 on the front, again parring the difficult first hole. I had another par on the third hole, but doubles on five and six canceled the pars out. I missed two one-footers, meaning my score should’ve been a 43, but I wasn’t disappointed with 45. 

I started my back nine with a birdie after hitting a 50-yard wedge to within one yard of the pin, then I went bogey-bogey-par on the next three. Doubled the 14th after a stupid chip shot that came up short in thick rough, then two-putted from 50 feet on the fifteenth for par. I finished with three fives, which meant a double on the last hole. That gave me 42 on the back, for an 87. A very solid round with no triples or sevens on the card.

Truly a day of grinding, and I feel achy all over, but it feels good.

[RFKFREAK]

Played a course I've only placed twice before and had a really good front 9 and first few holes of the back 9 but 5 of the last 6 holes I score double bogey or worse, including a 10 on the Par 5 17th and 8 on the Par 4 18th to close out the round.  

Score: 100 (47/53)

CR/Slope: 69.7/127; 6142 yards

GIR: 3/18; 17%

FIR: 6/14; 43%

Penalty Strokes: 7

Birdie: 0

Pars: 4

Bogeys: 6

DB: 5

TB: 1

Quad Bogey+: 2

Overall, felt like a good round, absent the horrid finish. 

Driver was very much on point, even though I took penalties on 17 and 18 with it, they were due to mis-alignment rather than poor strikes or face control. 

Irons felt good overall good except the last few holes I caught the hosel on a few times which I didn't correct and must be mindful of. 

Short game felt good overall except a few pitches which I didn't commit to and ended up short with and a chip on the last hole by which point I was dispirited. 

Putting was really good.  Greens were slower than I would find greens to normally be.  No 3 putts, lag putting was really good as I left myself basically tap ins, and made all the 3-5 footers.

So, the round had potential but a few miscues and a breakdown at the end made it a better round that what I've been putting up lately but still a disappointment in my eyes.

[Darkfrog]

Shot a 90 today. This was my first round working with new priority piece from my last lesson, and I had a lot of technical thoughts in my head, which usually doesn't bode well for scoring. I like to play with a basic swing thought and a simple feel.

Started off with quadruple bogey on #1 after losing sight of my tee ball in the last few patches of low, dense fog blowing around the course in the morning. I probably would have found the ball in the right-side rough without the fog (I found 3 other balls, but not mine), but that's rub of the green so +2 penalty strokes. After the first hole, I kind of settled in with 12 GIR/nGIR, but didn't perform well-enough with short game or putting to make the nGIR work in my favor.

Made a mess of two par-5s with double bogeys. These are usually par or better for me.

On the par-3 7th hole I hit a shank, first one on course in probably 6+ months. Had to hit a provisional, which I also shanked. Found both balls about 5 yards apart in the rough on an adjacent hole.

Had a nice shot out of a green side, short side, bunker on a difficult par-3, but missed the 6-foot comeback putt for par.

Also had about 5 feet for birdie on my current nemesis hole, but it lipped out. That would have been nice.

Overall, not good, but not discouraging. The priority piece I am working on is difficult for me (eliminating hip stall), so I accept that it may take longer to see results with this one.

[gaz d]

Shot a 96, net 76 in Day one of the Captains prize last Saturday. Tough pins, meant I sat in 18th place over the week, to the day 2 this Saturday. 
 

I practiced 3 days mid week, clubs cleaned, good breakfast. 
 

Stood on the 1st, on day 2. Tee shot pushed OB with help of a big wind. 
Finished up with a 106 for the day, fast greens, back stick tee’s and tough pins
 

Feeling like after almost 20 years of golf, plenty of practice this week prior to the big round and have learned nothing, put a lot of heart in for the final day to try and place in the prizes. Hopes dashed after the first Drive! 
 

Where to go from here.... think I’ll sell the clubs 

Edited September 13, 2020 by gaz d

[Antneye]

Played an unexpected round this afternoon at Old Sycamore in Mint Hill NC. Score was a not so good 49-49 for a 98 but it was a horrible first 4 and final 4 with a lot of good in between. My scores lived and died with my driver and everything else was mostly good. I have a long way to go to get back to where I was but I'm seeing improvement and feel like I'm getting close. My short game is very dialed in. I just need to get off the tees better. 

[RFKFREAK]

11 hours ago, Antneye said:

Played an unexpected round this afternoon at Old Sycamore in Mint Hill NC. Score was a not so good 49-49 for a 98 but it was a horrible first 4 and final 4 with a lot of good in between. My scores lived and died with my driver and everything else was mostly good. I have a long way to go to get back to where I was but I'm seeing improvement and feel like I'm getting close. My short game is very dialed in. I just need to get off the tees better. 

Getting closer to putting up scores like I do!

(Note, this is not a good thing. 😂)

[Greg 504]

Shot 88 yesterday at Mill Creek even with a double and a triple on two par 5's that I usually par. Have 3 more rounds of golf scheduled before my surgery and subsequent layoff for a bit.

[Antneye]

1 hour ago, RFKFREAK said:

Getting closer to putting up scores like I do!

(Note, this is not a good thing. 😂)

It sucks. I had spent about 8 months between 87-92 and I can't even sniff those numbers right now. 

[RFKFREAK]

2 hours ago, Antneye said:

It sucks. I had spent about 8 months between 87-92 and I can't even sniff those numbers right now. 

I'm just hoping one day to sniff those numbers. 🙁

[dagolfer18]

I had to grind through today’s round. Great start/finish, but the middle twelve is where I had to grind the most. Here’s my scores:

F PAR: 4-4-3-5-4-4-3-4-5—36

Score: 5-4-2-6-7-5-4-5-7—45

 

B PAR: 5-4-3-4-4-4-5-4-3—36—72

Score: 5-7-4-5-5-7-6-4-3—46—91

Got up and down on the second, and stuck a 9I to within ten feet on the third. I hit two poor chip shots on the fifth, three-putted the seventh, and the ninth gave me tree trouble.

The back nine was quite a bit more eventful than the front. I made an up-and-down after a beautiful chip shot on ten, then hit one OB on the eleventh and had to make a 6-footer to save my triple. Nothing much happened, just three two-putt bogeys, until the fifteenth, then it gets very interesting on the last four holes.

The fifteenth was eventful. After a poor tee shot, I hit my hybrid second into the sand, then nailed that over the green, with a large circle of thick stuff right in between my ball and the cup. What’s worse, I was severely shortsided, with a green running away from me, with only three inches between the y’all grass and the green. Ended up dumping my chip into that crap, then got down in three. I swear I could hear the group behind us voicing their frustration as I chunked that chip shot.

The sixteenth wasn’t interesting until I hit my third shot. I had about 70 yards out of thick rough, over a trap. So I took my 54 degree wedge, and hit it inches from where I needed to. Dumped it into the sand. The lip was so low, I decided to chip it out. It landed pin-high, bounced and bit hard, finishing six feet past. My putt stopped half a roll short of dropping for a sandy par.

Hole seventeen produced my favorite moment of the day. One guy I was playing with, who played the blue tees, killed a drive, leaving him just over 100 into the green. I bet the other guy I was playing with, who played the white tees with me, that I could better that shot, having never hit it close to where his ball was. I’d have to take on two fairway bunkers to do that, probably a carry of 230 yards. But I creamed mine as well, and it carried the trap by a good ten yards, stopping ten feet to the right of (and closer to the hole than) his shot. Nothing special from there: we both hit it on the green, both two-putt pars, although I did have to make a four-footer.

The par-3 eighteenth, as you can see above, gave me a par. I hit a 6I left of the green, then chipped with my trusty 54 degree to 18 inches. It was definitely a grind out there today, and an enjoyable one at that!

 

[WillieT]

Revisit to the "home" course yesterday.  The course is in excellent shape - fairways are excellent, greens are the best I've ever seen them and even the bunkers are friendly (though recent rains have rendered them compacted sand).  My scorecard had no birdies, two pars, 9 bogies and only one triple. For me this was the most consistent I've ever played, with no penalty strokes.  The difference was playing smarter by playing smarter golf.  As I don't typically hit long, I rethought how to best get on the green where the initial putt was for par. This strategy resulted in 14 of 18 holes having the initial putt for par with a decent look at the cup.  I attribute this to really understanding that separation value is where its at.  Final score was a 96 (45 on the front, 51 on the back).  By the way, even better than the score was spending the afternoon with the missus (she was hitting pretty well till her shoulder played out), my son (who always matches and usually beats me stroke for stroke) and our 4yr old grandson who had his first chip in for birdie on a par 3 (we let him tee up about 100 yds from the green).  A priceless day...here we are on the 18th green..... 

     

[gjunkie57]

89, 45/44 on a course I struggle to break 100. The driver was working and the putts were falling. 
I have shared, and one of my buddies purchased LSW and we talk about SVs all the way around the course.  One day we’ll get to shot zones. 

[phan52]

42-46-88

Crazy day. Three doubles and a triple, and seven pars, most of which were early. Short game failure led to the doubles and the triple. 

[Greg 504]

Shot 41 last night for a quick 9 and 85 today at Oakhaven in windy conditions. I am happy with that score as the front played much more difficult than the back today.

 

[Lugowskins]

I finally put it all together today, I took the day off work and shot my best rounds ever. Before today my personal best was a 78 with a few 79s mixed in. This morning I went out walked 18 and shot a 5 over 76 then met up with a buddy later on played another 18 and shot a 77. This on one of the windier days I have played in. 

My short game was huge for the 76 I honestly didn't feel like I was hitting the ball that well I didn't have a ton of GIRs but I putted great I think 27 putts is a new low for me as well. The second round was pretty uneventful aside from my second eagle of the year it was just a good job at keeping the mistakes to a minimum.

On my eagle the wind was blowing hard and on the 320 yard par 4 7th it was right at my back and the tees were up so it was playing closer to 305. Well the fairway if you hit it far enough slopes down to the green and I hit a perfect 5 wood that got a big bounce and managed to roll up to about 12 feet. My stroke felt great all day and I was able to hole it.

My big goal for the year was to get to a single digit handicap I'm currently sitting at a 10.6 I think these 2 rounds should finally get me under I'm feeling pretty accomplished.