sjduffers

Once during our associate club's once a month tournament, I made a violent but completely out of sync swing, that injured my left lats and left me unable to keep playing that day (except for chipping and putting, which I did after withdrawing, just to stay around), and for the next month or so. That was a stupid move! I don't know what prompted it, but it did hurt.

Bunker hole out, no question. It was luck and it wasn't even for par, as I recall. Many years before I got my first eagle (a chip-in on a short par 5).

<rant> One course I frequent often (my "home" in the Birdies Challenge) did several things after reopening. Each one may not be bad per se, but the combination is painful, to me and I am sure many others. 1. They no longer renew their pre-paid rounds cards, which was giving a discount, from $32 to $25 to walk after 11:00am on week-days. I was using that. They had to honor whatever was left on the cards, but under the guise of the pro-shop is closed, and we won't touch the cards to limit the virus transmission, they won't renew them. So, mine ran out 2 or 3 weeks after they re-opened in May. Strike 1 2. They raised their mid-day rate (was $32 as I mentioned) to $38, many times more than the typical $2 or $3 they raise the rates by every year. The senior rate is now $33, up from $28, is good all day and starts at age 62. I am just over 61 and don't qualify, yet. Strike 2 3. They pushed the threshold of the mid-day rate from 11:00am to 1:30pm. There are plenty of wide-open tee times between noon and 1:30, so they obviously overdid it. Strike 3 4. I wrote the general manager to complain about all this and that my rate had nearly doubled since before the COVID shutdown, as the walking rate at 11:00 is now $43 (up from $36 regular tee times before the shutdown). My cost went from $25 to $43 in the space of two months. Add that when it gets above 95F, a cart (not shared) is pretty much necessary, and that's another $16. We have had several weeks of 100F weather and more is around the corner... FYI, the guy never bothered responding. Some classy operation! It's too bad because I like the course, the conditions and the staff. You will also note that when "golf was in decline", courses closing and old guys not coming as much, and young ones not partaking in the game in big numbers, guys like me are what kept the lights on and those places running. This is what we get in return. Btw, I only expected him to respond and grandfather me as a senior... because I am at a number of other places. Heck, maybe I'll write him another note and just ask him to do just that. </rant>

Mine is -1 at 33 (par 34, with 3 par 3s and 1 par 5). Quickly went +4 (40) on the back 9, though...

@bkuehn1952, First off, congrats for finishing the composite challenge. That has got to be a really good feeling, knowing that on a miracle day, you could shoot 18 under par (or better), even if it's on a combination of courses and not just a single one. Now, for the kicker, you have no idea how close I came to beat you by a few hours. Yesterday afternoon, I was not even thinking about this when I got onto #14, pushed my drive a bit right, ended on the hillside of a bunker and missed the green (by maybe 3 yards) short and right. A nice semi-high chip to the right of the pin, which checked nicely and started rolling gently to the left towards the hole ended up being right in line with the cup and about 1.5" short! Not even one more f***ing rotation!! 😜 So no luck for me, but I already had holed out a chip for birdie earlier in the round, and generally my chipping was really on point that day, with many tap-ins pars after only getting 2 GIRs for the whole round. Ups and downs they say. That, it was. Again, kudos on your success. Now focus on finishing the home course. 👍

All the brand markings, lines and my own red dots. The key was to get my eyes to look at the white dimples with no distractions. YMMV, of course. Yup! 👍

I don't care what people draw on their balls, lines (sometimes many, many lines) or something else. I do care about the amount of time is takes to prepare for and hit a putt, and very rarely people using a line are quick. They do exist, but they are rare. I used to use a line some years ago and when taking a lesson I casually remarked to the pro that I was lipping out a lot of putts. He had me show him and so I "aligned" the line on the ball to my intended path, and proceeded to lip out the putt (from 15ft or so), we repeated the exercise a few times and he finally told me: "you're lining it up that way! Just use the white part of the ball and use your subconscious brain to do the alignment for you". So, I did. And I have been making many more putts ever since. That aside in the lesson alone has paid huge dividends and lowered my scores measurably.

I went back to look at my stats and in the last 8 years or so, I had managed to birdie every hole (which I wasn't sure of when I said my 50s above), and hole out a par 4, for a total of -19. If I remember correctly, I also had an eagle on one of the par 5s on that course before I started keeping the stats, so that's -20 or 52.

Fun to do, but unless your hole-in-one was on a par 4 (in which case kudos on the albatross!), that makes 4 eagles or 4 strokes less than a birdie for every hole (which is 53 on a par 71 course), for a total of 49. Personally, I am in the mid-50s range as my eagles and one hole-in-one are all on different courses... Congrats on getting in the forties club!

Yes you do. #14 is a tough hole on the 2 of the 3 courses that I am regularly playing as the away courses. I have probably a better chance on one of them though, so watch out!

I am now just one shy of finishing on the away courses. I chipped in on a par 3 (178 yds) on #15, after running just a bit long over the back. Just like the pros do!

Sounds good. I thought maybe you had found a magic bullet as that is a pretty good improvement over a period of 2 years or so. My journey was "a tad" slower, let's say. Congrats!

Excellent! What did you do to make things change that drastically that quickly? Take some lessons, more focused practice, more experience on a few tracks you play a lot?... Inquiring minds want to know!

I just added #6 and #17 to the home course birdie fest. They are both par 5s and I can't believe it took me a dozen rounds to get those. I guess I was putting too much pressure on myself... Btw, this round is also the first time I completed a nine holes side under par (at just one under): until then par had been my best. I couldn't hold it on the back 9, shooting 4 over for a total of 73 (+3, differential of 4.4). Still not bad. 🙂

Added #12 to the composite page. I tried to cut the corner of the dogleg left, but caught the lip of the bunker, which slowed the ball down and left it on the downslope past the bunker, so I had a really low shot that bounced on and settled about 6 feet from the pin and then made the putt. I nearly also added #15, a 175yd par 3, the ball was tracking the flag but came up 15 feet short, and the putt came up 4 inches short. I only need #14 and #15 on the composite sheet: the home course is another story (still 10 holes needed).