What'd You Shoot Today?

[Cantankerish]

I did not play at all last week.  My most recent score before today was a hieroglyph from two weeks ago.  Truthfully it was probably 94 or 95, but I did not keep a proper score.  There was alcohol involved.

It rained heavily last night.  So I got us on at beautiful and challenging Osprey Point, the crown jewel of Palm Beach public golf courses.  I can only get a tee time when it rains and people cancel.  I am increasingly suspicious that morning rounds are being given away by politicians for unethical reasons because the "public" tee times are simply never available before 2 PM.

Anyway, the course was a mucky mess with intermittent rain.  I got an 89, kinda good for me. I could not get a putt to drop today. But (to toot my horn a bit) the driving has definitely been switched ON for the past few weeks.  I hit driver on 11 holes today, 8 fairways, no penalty strokes, and they were bombs. I sure hope that I have turned a corner, though probably not.  It will all go to pot again soon enough.  I should not even speak of it publicly or suffer the wrath of the golf gods.  But while this lasts, confidence in the drive opens up some wonderful options when you can hit it much further than the people you are with. The courses are just not long enough.  Have a look at Falcon 4 at Osprey Point:

 

I love smart designs like this. The score card says 315 from the gold tees, but that involves laying up on the dogleg (which you can't really see from the tee box) and pitching onto the green like an intelligent person.  This hole is a trap. You can see the scrub brush barrier.  It's only about 12 or 15 feet high. The green is small and elevated, but the scrub brush hides the elevation.  There is not a lot of room to miss on the left. I have gone for this green twice in the past.  Both times I over-swung and pulled it into the woods. More recently I have simply played it properly.  But with the driver working I felt emboldened today.  Sure enough I found success at last.  My pic is not great here.  The drive came up slightly short of the green, not really 292. It hit the incline and just stopped.  I was close enough to putt though.  Yeah, I three-putted.  Oh well.

[Bonvivant]

38 minutes ago, Cantankerish said:

The drive came up slightly short of the green, not really 292. It hit the incline and just stopped.  I was close enough to putt though.  Yeah, I three-putted.

The only people that are allowed to whine about 3 putt pars are tour pros😉. Just kidding. Glad you got out for a round, and keep that driver in play and going LONG!!!

[Darkfrog]

Made it through 16 holes today at +11 (73). Had 14 GIR/nGIR. I was about 30 yards from the green on a par-5 when I had to quit due to darkness. Just extrapolating my scoring, if I par #17 (considering I was close to GIR already), and bogey #18, that would be an 83, which is an excellent score for me on this course, from the tees I was playing.

My ball striking was good all round, and I only had one horrendous mishit (topped a 3W off the tee on #2, ended up making a 6). The wind was strong and gusty so the ball was doing some weird stuff. On the first hole I flushed my drive, and it only got out 228 yards, then proceeded to hit my hybrid 260 yards just short of the green.  

[Rkrider99]

Since my posting my round on the 21st, I've shot 82 at Forest Lake in Ocoee, FL, and 77, 76 at my home course

[klineka]

Shot a 74 on friday and based on my ballstriking it should have been lower. 

It was my best overall ballstriking performance of my life, 13/18 GIR, andagainst scratch golfers I gained .91 strokes off the tee, .88 strokes on approach shots, and gained 1.88 strokes on short game, which is everything inside 100 yds that isnt on the green. The biggest strength was my wedges, by far the best I've ever hit from like 60-110 yds.

I had 6 birdie looks inside of 10 feet and I made one, which was a 2 foot tap in birdie. add that in with a 3 putt bogey on a par 5 and compared to scratch I lost just over 3 full strokes putting 

Kinda a bittersweet round, felt great to hit it that well, just sucked I couldnt get anything to drop. It still was solid enough to drop the handicap a couple tenths down to a new low of 3.1

[dagolfer18]

I meant to post about this round a few days ago, but here it is! We played my birthday round this past weekend at UNC Finley.

I briefly thought about the gold tees (~6800 yards), but we all ended up playing the blue tees which were about 6200 yards (yes, even my brother played these tees, even against recommendations from me, my mom and my dad to play the white tees), and I shot a 95 (46-49). I’m fairly happy with my front nine, two doubles and one par with 17 putts. The back nine, however, is where my putting went sour.

I had a lot of 50-footers on the huge greens, and I took 23 putts, including a four-putt double on the 11th hole. That was the low point of the round, although I did finish with my only triple bogey of the day. It wasn’t even that hard a hole (straightforward 370-yard par 4). 

Although a bit more penal than my home track, I loved this course, particularly the par-5 17th. This one was just over 500 yards from the blue tees, with split fairways on the second shot. The green was what I thought was the most difficult on the course. It was two-tiered, but the top tier was 18 inches above the low tier. The pin was on the lower tier, and my brother found himself on the upper tier. He three-putted, which is actually pretty fair from where he was. 

This was a fun golf course, particularly the back nine. My favorite stretch was 15-17. I mentioned 17 above. 15 is a longish par 4 with water all down the left side. The 16th is another par 4, this one about 360 from the blue tees. The tee shot is over a huge area of gorse, making for a heck of a view, not to mention intimidating! The approach is all uphill, at least a club.

I also played a twilight nine today. After making triple on the first hole, I played well (with the exception of a double from 90 yards on the sixth hole) on the last eight to shoot 46. My bother came along too. But when we finished the third hole, he hopped over to the sixth tee and played 6-9. He claims to have gone double-birdie-bogey-par after going +4 on the first three, meaning he shot +6 for seven holes. A really solid round from him.

So 27 solid holes of golf in the past few days. I’m pretty happy with where my game is right now. I haven’t been scoring great, but I’m hitting the ball well. I need to work out a few bugs with putting (exactly 100 putts in my last 45 holes), but I’m playing well apart from that.

Edited October 28, 2020 by dagolfer18

[WillieT]

Major milestone yesterday - shot an 89 (44/45) at my home course from the whites (about 6,100').  Was the culmination of a good front and a good back - usually it's good one side or the other.  No triple bogies = wooo hooo!  I've never had a full round where I didn't have at least one.  Funny thing is my drives were somewhat shorter, about 10-15 yds on avg per the Garmin S20.  Also I purposed yesterday to not just hit the next longest club to try to get as close as possible.  For example if I look at the yardage and know I can't be there in one, I begin to break down the distance into club combos.  This played well into my overall strategy to play more mid-irons to really get comfortable with them.  The goal being to have the 2nd shot where I was GIR or nGIR.  Had only 2 GIR (not so good) but 7 nGIR.  Again focusing on Separation Value, thinking course strategy and not being afraid to say - putting for par is good, allowed me to be in focus.  Highlight of the day was the birdie on 12, a par 3 where the ball finished about 4' from the hole.  17 was a close 2nd as my 2nd shot with the 5iron put me about 2yds off the green with an 8i chip and 1 putt for par.  10 & 11 (ranked 3 & 1 respectively) remain my nemesis holes as I still have not parred them all season.  I will get there.  Playing partners were the best ever as my son and grand-son (who is 4) were along.  Nothing like it!  

[Rkrider99]

Not sure if this really counts, but I shot an 87 from the back tees yesterday at my home course. 4 double bogeys, 7 bogeys, and 8 pars.

Why I'm questioning it, is that they are overseeding right now (over the last week or so), and the greens are probably a 1/2" to 3/4" inch high. You literally can't putt the ball to the hole. I think they are going to finally mow them this weekend. Should I even enter these scores in the GHIN system?

[Dunit507]

84 which is just simply not a good day for me.... but I finished with a high 3 wood over a tree to reach a par 5 in 2. Made a birdie so as always when you close strong you look forward to the next round.

in all seriousness tho lol I played awful. 4 GIR on the day. I normally hit 9-12 GIR. Just not a good day. Didn’t drive well. Didn’t do much in terms of ball striking. Chipping and putting were at least not awful but nothing to write home about.

[Carl3]

Mid 80's , but just a practice round by myself. I was thinking that this might be the last day to play in Western NY, but I hear it might hit 60 next weekend. Started out at 37 deg F at NOON!! but it was sunny and felt decent. It peaked at 45 deg F.  

[Rkrider99]

So still dealing with the overseeding, I shot 85, 81, 81, and an 84 today.

Hopefully, they'll start putting the course back to normal next week.

[woodzie264]

played with TST group at Royal New Kent.  my putting was embarrassing, but nice to meet everyone.

91 with 7 extra putts (5 three-putts & a  four-putt) 😖

tee - green ok for me: 11/14 fairways, 8 GIR

putting sucks, I’m a mental case on the greens lately. 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2020 by woodzie264

[Esox]

Greens around here are so danged slow lately that I cant really figure out what to use to putt with. My putters aren't doing it. Today I  missed a 12' putt 4 freaking feet short' We have winds at 30 gusting to 45+, Leaves all over the fairways, putts being blown off line. It is truly really fun to play in with  guys who can flight the ball lower and just accept that  even just a par will be rare, because every other ball you watch hit the fairway is s hiding under a leaf, to be found by another group or the groundskeepers. I quit playing good balls on the drive for that very reason. crazy.

[WillieT]

1 hour ago, woodzie264 said:

played with TST group at Royal New Kent.  my putting was embarrassing, but nice to meet everyone.

91 with 7 extra putts (5 three-putts & a  four-putt) 😖

tee - green ok for me: 11/14 fairways, 8 GIR

putting sucks, I’m a mental case on the greens lately. 

 

 

Man - I hated that I could not make the event.  Would have loved to have met you guys.  Maybe next time.  Bet it was a blast!

 

[JohnDelrio]

Hey I have hit  the 78 mark. It was a pretty nice round.  

[Cantankerish]

Carl3, that is a gorgeous photo.  Did you shoot well?

********************
87 yesterday with lovely weather and good company.  Still hitting the driver great. My approach irons were even pretty dang good yesterday.  I only lost one ball.  But around the green I was just awful.  I lost so many strokes to bad putting.

 

hideous statistics

3 eagle attempts that turned into 2 pars and 1 birdie.

4 birdie attempts inside of 3 feet of which I only made 1.

5 three-putts.

2 times up and down out of who knows how many attempts.

1 putt made from outside 5 feet.

But the one that sums it all up: 2 times I actually picked the ball up from out of the cup out of 18 holes.

Here is a particularly egregious example:

This is the par 4 16th at Southwinds.  It's not a long course. The hole measures about 325 using the dogleg.  This is about as far as I am going to hit the ball with my swing.  Not especially accurate here, but still okay.  (Got it? I am telling you how strong the drive was to fluff my ego before I discuss the disheartening important part.) Little pitch over the sand and putting for birdie. But as you can see, I seriously screwed this hole up.  I am tired of meeting people who are wowed by the distance only to eventually offer advice on the short game.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Cantankerish

[dagolfer18]

I shot an up-and-down 49 today. I didn’t really hit the ball poorly, but I just missed in all the wrong places, with the exception of the sixth hole. Here’s hole-by-hole:

No. 1: 4H in right rough, 5H left of green, decent chip, two putt for bogey.

No. 2: Solid drive, but in right rough. Second shot hit right, couldn’t find it for some reason. Fourth in virtually same spot, poor chip, another chip, two putt for quad.

No. 3: 9I in thick heather right of green (I hit a provisional, but didn’t need it), solid second to fringe, two-putt for bogey.

No. 4: 3W through fairway, 5W to 60 yards out, shanked wedge😡, chip on, two putt for bogey.

No. 5: Pure 3W through fairway again, second short from weird lie, solid shot onto green, three-putt for double.

No. 6: Perfect 3W to center of fairway, GW to two feet, birdie!

No. 7: 9I just short and right, mediocre chip, two-putt for bogey.

No. 8: Solid hybrid to center of fairway, nuked 8I over green and down hill (a bad spot to be because of where the pin was), poor chip, another chip, two-putt for double.

No. 9: 3W to right of fairway, went for it in two and put myself in solid position, but two chunked pitches followed, then a chip on and two-putt for double.

Short game really failed me today, more chipping and pitching than putting. I’m gonna get on the range Thursday (maybe tomorrow as well), then I’m playing Saturday. 

[dagolfer18]

After my crap nine holes yesterday (49), I decided to play nine again today. And I didn’t regret it.

A solid start (with the exception of a three-putt bogey on the fourth hole) left me +4 after four holes, meaning I was on track for around 45. But I hit my tee shot left, then an amazing 3W punch on the fifth hole (from 170 out, had to go under branches) that hit the lip of a bunker and popped out. It finished within a foot of the cup, a kick-in birdie.

Then on the sixth hole, I nailed a drive down the left side, then a gorgeous wedge to six feet. Made that for back-to-back. Then on the par-3 seventh, I hit a choke-down 8I (a shot I’ve gotten quite good at) to twelve feet out. A legitimate chance to make it three in a row. Unfortunately, I misjudged it, and it cost me a three-putt bogey. Finished double-par, meaning I had shot 41. One of my best nine-hole rounds in a long time. Five bogeys, a double, a par and two birdies. I’d say that’s a really solid round!

Ballstriking was definitely better than yesterday. Putting, not quite. Three triple putts, three single putts. 

On Saturday, I’m playing a course that’s more penal than my home course. There, I’ve posted a good score (90) and an okay score (100), so hopefully I can post a solid number there come Saturday!