Dunit507

9th today I hit a low 5 iron through the green and on to the back fringe. 30 feet or so and dropped the bomb for a bird. First of the year. Only have 18 holes in (pair of 9’s) as I’m coming off a mid April broken toe that set me back for the season. Well it’s a start.

Broke a toe in mid April so it’s like I’m starting the year now. 2nd time back from injury. Played 9 again. I’m not ready for 18 this early in a season. Inconsistent. First 2 holes made 2 putt pars and was feeling good. 3-4 played back into the wind and driver wasn’t hit well. Bogeys. 2 putt par at 5. Up and downs for par at 6-7. Bogey at 8 and finished with a long bomb off the fringe at 9. Played the side 2 over. 12 putts only. I’ll take the putting and short game, but hit a few bad tee balls. Missed some greens I shouldn’t miss. But it’s progress.

Broke a toe in mid April. Really put my 2023 behind. Been 4-5 weeks without playing and decided to give it a try. Was awful on the range. More shanks in a bucket than I’ve hit in 2 years. Had little confidence. Played 9 and it was rough. 10 over with 2 doubles. Made one par, at 6, the worst hole on the course for me and this is the day I par it. The day I shot my -2 a few years back I couldn’t make a damn 4 here, but I make a great up and down on it when I’m having one of the worst 9 hole scores I’ve ever had on this golf course. Golf can be cruel! I guess it wasn’t all bad. It was more of one bad shot per hole, most my approach shots. Was pushing my mid-short irons. I pulled my gap wedge from inside of 100 and missed the green left 2x. Awkward lies in thick rough tho. I didn’t put myself into great scoring position at all. The rough around the greens was grown out some and had to just chop a few out and take my licks. Honestly, as bad as my range session was, coming off that layoff, it wasn’t nearly as bad as anticipated.

I have never kept track or even as much as attempted to. A couple years ago, I got 3 dozen for Xmas and I didn’t buy a box until August. So I would estimate 4-5 dozen a year, on a guess. Also depends on where I’m playing. If I spend more time visiting courses that I don’t know all that well, I’m going to lose more than I will playing at my normal course.

2021 I almost made all 18. 2022 was a wasted season. Going to come back strong in 2023!!!

Haven’t posted or even visited in a while. Western PA weather hasn’t exactly been great. Bought myself a new 52 before heading to the course. Got the Ping Glide Forged Pro. Great wedge! Extremely happy with it so far. Only played 9. Pace of play kind of died. I felt myself tiring from not playing since October, I played the front at 6 over. 3 pars. 6 bogeys. No big numbers. Hit the ball solid off the tee. Irons could use work. Short game was ok. 15 putts. Something to build on. Planning to play A LOT since it appears I won’t have to hear my “wife” or what looks like a soon to be ex wife nagging me every time I want to golf.

We did a scramble on Sunday. We had a pretty solid team. With mulligans and throws we ended up 20 under. 2nd place. The weather was not the best. Didn’t get a warm up at all. Had to hit my first shot of the day, cold, with a 5 iron at a par 3. Not at all the way I wanted to start the day. Did not hit any kind of a solid shot there and continued to struggle to get any kind of feel for the swing. Had a ton of wedges into greens but just couldn’t get a yardage I liked. We were playing a lot of drives from one guy, because he hit the thing a mile, and just felt off. I’m sure the large quantities of beer that I consumed didn’t help with the swing at all either. Still a decent day all things considered… but the rain delay before we played our final hole and having to slush through the last bit of time on the course really did suck!

I had been totally struggling with the game when I picked up the clubs for 2022. I was losing interest in golf for the first time in years. Just couldn’t seem to hit good shots. Playing average rounds high 70’s-low 80’s and never having those days where it felt like I could get any kind of streaks of good shots together. I put my clubs away for almost all summer. Played in early July and hadn’t touched the clubs until 9/20. Went to the range and just focused on the basics. Watch the club hit the ball. I had my best ball striking day in maybe 2 years. Guess all I needed was to step back and get away from the game for a while and then come back with low expectations and a clear head. I don’t think I’ve hit 10 fairways off the tee in over 2 years. 9 GIR after that many days away is not too bad. To have a feel for the greens with several up and downs and only needing 30 putts for the round was above my expectations.

I’m so far behind. I’ve barely played this year. Way too much going on in life and haven’t had the time to play. I did chip in for a bird at 7 yesterday. One of those chips that as soon as it hit the green and started rolling you knew it was dropping. 14 is a par 4 with a steep hill in front of the green. A well struck hybrid will get me near the base of the hill. Absolutely smoked a hybrid. Had a 40ish yard shot straight up the hill. Can’t see the hole, just the flag cut in the front. Nipped a wedge with some spin and I knew when it hit that it was going to be a good look at 3. When I parked the cart at the top of the hill and looked over I could see that it wouldn’t even be necessary to take my putter with me. Just go and pick that ball up. Inside of 6 inches from the hole. Wondering if that ball hit the stick or touched the hole. Regardless a 3 looks good on the card!

Well I haven’t played much. Car problems. Problems with the wife. Job change. It’s been since early July. Hadn’t been playing well and I took time away. Went to the course yesterday and hit the range and swing actually felt went out and hit the green on 1-2 and actually nearly made birdies. Chipped in at 7 for birdie. Shot one over on the front. Made another birdie at 14 and ended up 2 over on the back. Drove the ball as well as I have in 2 years hitting 10 fairways. Got up and down a few times after hitting 9 greens. Somehow had feel for the greens with only 30 putts. Can’t remember the last time I shot a 73. Guess time away was all I needed! Have an outing Sunday. Let’s see how it goes when I add a few beers to the mix!

Kinda fell out of love with golf. Had been struggling and then I injured my thumb to point I couldn’t play if I had wanted. Played an outing on 5/27 and didn’t hit a ball until Wed 7/6. lowered my expectations. Hit the ball better than I really thought I would. Slow start with a +6 through 5 holes. Hit one out of play off the tee at 3 and took a double. Had a flubbed chip on 1. At 6 my swing started coming back. Par at 6-7. 3 putt at 8 but at least had a GIR. 9-10 solid pars. Lost one in water at 11 and made a bogey but bounced back with a par at 12. Terrible double at 13 but par at 15-16. Hit my best drive of the year at 16. Ended up playing the last 12 at 5 over after the bad start. It’s something to build on and 81 was better than I expected after the break.

They wouldn’t do this to the pros… why would you do this to these poor girls!!!

Another day playing golf and another day of absolute misery when it comes to the weather. Outing this morning. We had to take a delay for a literal monsoon a few holes in. Rained off and on the first 14 or so holes. As has become the norm I just can’t get a decent day to play this year. I hit the ball like dog shit. Thank god I wasn’t playing my own ball… I’d have been lucky to break 100. We shot 15 under but didn’t place. I at least had 8-9 beers I guess.

I’m going to say not breaking 80 and a higher chance of doing damage to the arm/shoulder than breaking 80.

It’s become a chore to me to play golf. Can’t remember the last time I was on the course and having fun. It was another miserable wed evening for our league night. Missed the last 2 at work since they had me at another store helping out and just couldn’t accommodate my need for the night off. Well the weather was awesome those days. Last night, as has become the norm, the weather was dreadful. It wasn’t raining. The winds were just as strong as I’ve played in prob 2-3 years tho. Hit a drive on the screws on 12 and I had 200 to the green. I’ve never had to hit more than a 7 iron to that green. Some days a nutted drive leaves me a gap wedge. Nope I’ve got a damn 4 iron. Didn’t hit a green from 10-16. Didn’t make a putt. Didn’t do much of anything but at least pace of play was good. That changed on 17 with 2 groups waiting on the tee and a group on 17 that has no clue. I took double double on 17/18 and left. Hell with it. 2nd straight trip I left before I finished. Losing my desire to play the game on overcrowded course every damn week. Have an outing Friday morning. I get to get drunk at least.

So I booked a time as a single on Friday at the home course. Everyone is working. I wanted to play. I got paired with 3 guys I don’t know but happily joined them since there were a couple 4’s in front of me and as a single behind that your wait will be terrible. off the first tee I hit one just right of the fairway. I stay to the left and help the one guy find his, since he missed into some thick grass left and wanted to set the tone for the day as a member of the group who is willing to help find a ball. The way the game should be played. I had no problems with the group till the 8th. I hit one off right and had a little trouble finding it. I was a little irritated that when I found it the other 3 were already up at the green chipping, walking through the center of the green, not looking back to see if I’m ok back there or ready to hit. First time all day I’ve had a problem. I had not that to anyone all day and left them unable to find one or got way ahead of anyone in the group. I’m about 4 over at this point. Nothing but pars and bogeys. I haven’t exactly been holding anyone up or had any issues. You would think maybe someone would ask hey man you ok? at 9 I hit my drive and stick my 52 to about 6 feet and head on down left to help one of the guys find his drive. I could have just headed up to the green, but again made sure I did the right thing. Actually I was the one who found the missing ball. We turn. I miss right. I’m right in the path of the guys coming down 11. There is a log jam. I can’t find my ball. Once again they are all up and the green chipping, putting nobody says hey you ok back there. Not looking back. Nothing. Parking lot is off of 11. I drove off at this point. Had enough. I shot 4 over on the front, nothing special. We were closing in on 3 hours at this point. It was headed toward a 5.5 hour round. My frustration was mounting and was tired of playing with these guys. Storm came through no more than a half hour after I left. Hope they all got drenched. I was in the car….

Hit 2 comparable shots of the week. On #2 I hit a nut job 4 iron at the par 3. Ball landed a couple feet short right of the pin and skipped back to around 15 ft. Downhill with some bend tho and wasn’t able to get the ball to threaten the hole. Still made a 3. Then at #5 I hit a 6 iron at the par 3. Played it exactly as I had planned. I started it a few feet left of the stick. Faded it in. Landed short and skipped toward the front pin location. Had it around 10 feet but the putt missed high. Still and easy 3. I’ll give honorable mention to my 2nd at 4. Ball above my feet. I was able to hit a 3/4 9 iron that I started a little right of the stick that turned over for me a little bit. Landed about 5 feet right of the stick. Another birdie putt I just didn’t get close to hitting the hole tho.

I’m so sick of western PA weather. It’s now early May and I’ve played 61 holes of golf for 2022. WTF! Missed league last Wed. It was 42 degrees with 15mph winds on a fairly open course that’s on a hill. This week wasn’t all that much better to be honest. During the day it was pretty decent but by time I tee off it’s jacket weather and man I should have worn pants! The golf itself was great either. Hadn’t played in 2 weeks. Got there in time to hit the range. As has become the norm I had my Sunday Tiger swing on the range. Worked up 56, 8, 6, 3w and driver and was nutting everything. Hit 2 drivers dead center of the club face and nuked. Put the driver away and went to putt. I wasn’t wasting anything on the range. Can’t hit a more solid bunch of shots coming off 2 weeks down time. Hit the course and swing goes from Sunday Tiger to what Tiger would have looked like with a compound fracture of the leg. Ok maybe it wasn’t that bad but you get the idea. I didn’t do anything spectacular. Wasn’t awful. It was truly and average 9 holes. 5 pars. 4 bogeys. Couldn’t make a putt to save my life despite giving myself a couple looks. I’ve gotta play more. The weather has to improve for me to do that!

Golf game starting to come around. I’ve now played 52 holes this spring. 3rd league night. Partner couldn’t make it so I was on my own. Shot 5 over gross and 3 over with my 2 strokes. Wasn’t nearly my best but having rounds of 7 and 6 over in my previous outings it’s improvement. Some things to take into account would be that I made a sloppy, 3 putt double at 3. The other 8 holes I played pretty well making 5 pars and 3 bogeys. The other thing that made me feel better would be that although I made zero birdies, I hit 4 birdie putts that either lipped out or were lagged to within tap in range. Could have just as easily made a few. With no partner, I finished 2nd in team scoring and was first place for the individual week. Despite still not having my best stuff, I am still seeing my swing coming back each week.

Now up to just 43 holes played on the season. Was week 2 of our league and it’s still a struggle for me. I avoided the double. Only managed to make 3 pars though. Wound up 6 over. Catching 2 strokes so net 4 over. I should be no worse than even or better weekly and until I am the week is a fail. There are some positives. Ball striking and just my overall comfort level on the course was as good as it’s been all year so far. I kept it in play. I hit a few drives on the screws. I really was quite crisp with my irons. I just need to dial in my wedges some. 3 times I missed the green with a wedge. One of them I got up and down. Right there is 2 strokes plus lost birdie opportunities. 2 of the 3 were all over the pin but hit deep. Can’t miss long to a back pin. I was being aggressive and with a wedge why not. One of those 2 landed an inch from being a slam dunk…. But I was coming from the rough and had no spin. Should have played it shorter, wanted to play it shorter. On the green I hit a couple from the 10-20 foot range that I thought were in. I was about to start walking down the putt at 15 for birdie. Somehow it stayed out. Did have one 3 putt. Had to get up one side of a hill to get it to come back down the other side with a big bend… I ran it about 6 feet by but I thought I hit a decent putt. Just wasn’t really gonna get that close many times. The comebacker should have gone in. Hit another good putt. Feel as though I putted better than the 17 it took to get through the day. Overall feeling better on the course. Partner and I did come in -1 together. Tied for 1st place points for the night and neither of us are playing close to what we will play when we are in form. I’ve been tracking my birdie percentage… it’s down to 4.65% on the year. I am going to need to make a couple next time!

Pretty mad at myself for a miserable 9 holes to kick off the league season this week but 34 holes into my 2022 golf season and did manage to make my 2nd birdie of the year in what was otherwise a bad day. Since I’ve started playing at this course 5 has always been a hole that could be anything from a pw to a 7 iron. They lengthened it for 2022 this season and it was a 5 iron for me. Took an aggressive line, for some reason that I still haven’t figured out. Hit a solid shot right of the flag and dropped a 30 footer. Both birdies this season have come from at least 20 feet so there is a positive at least. Hopefully it’s a sign that my putter is going to be a solid performer this season!

I forgot the best part of this and it won’t let me edit again. We are defending league champs and handicap picks up where we ended last season. I played this great 9 holes of golf and was getting one lousy shot! That was on 2. Partner made a net birdie. My only contribution was the birdie at 5, but partner had a net birdie with a handicap stroke…. So I did nothing! Hey at least next week I should be a 3 or 4 and I should be dangerous with a handful of shots!

Have played 25 holes before today this spring. Weather has been dreadful here. Haven’t hit a ball since March 18 before this evening. So of course our golf league started today. I was dreadful. Didn’t hit many good golf shots. First hole barely hit my drive off the ground. Still had 195 in for my 3rd shot. Hey at least it was a par 5 I guess. Hell I should be happy with bogey. At 2 they are playing a temporary tee. Shortest par 3 I’ve played in a while. Bladed they wedge over the green tho. At 3 I hit the green in reg, but 3 putted. 4 I had ball above my feet on my approach. Aimed right and my 7 iron went dead right 15 yards of the green, short sided. Was a nitemare and a pick up double. At 5, the hole was playing as far as I’ve ever seen it play. Good 5 iron and a bomb of a putt. Birdie. Woo hoo! Excitement short lived tho when I pull hooked my 7 iron approach 20 yards left. At 7 I hit a fat 9 iron short. Then at 8 I dumped a 100 yard approach short right into the trap. 9 I made a 2 putt par…. Better days will come. They always do. Just gotta keep reminding myself that!

First 18 holes of the year and checked off #9. Was tied for my 2nd most birdied hole in 2022. Solid drive leaves me a little flip 56 or 52 into the green so I should make some birdies on the hole. Yesterday had a front pin and 77 to front. Stuck the wedge about 10ft pin high right. Ball was a bit above my feet on the approach so I was expecting the shot to come back to the pin but unfortunately it hung out right. Still happy to make the 3. Only 17 more holes to go!

First round of the season on Friday. Played 7 holes about 2 weeks ago when I paid my yearly fees off and that’s it since the outing in the end of October. pleasantly surprised that my ball striking was right up there with mid season form. I centered up virtually everything I hit from wedge to 5 iron. Miss hit a few drivers but otherwise solid, consistent contact. First 9 holes 6 straight bogeys tho. Was just pushing and pulling and missing greens. I did find it 7-9 getting all 3 greens and went par, par, bird. 5 over front. 10-12 I couldn’t get a drive in play. Could tell the range time then 9 holes was wearing on me. Didn’t really keep a score rest of the way in. I made 2 more pars after and for the most part was just happy to be out. Solid start to the year at least.