rmk

As my wife often tells me, you are only young once, but you can be immature forever ...

Shooting my age was what I thought was an unattainable goal for me because despite playing a lot (scratch) when in HS and College in my adult life (e.g.the past 40+ years), golf was an on/off activity. Some years, I might play 20 rounds and others 0-4. Not conducive to a low index or consistent play but thanks to muscle memory, I was usually able to play well enough to keep my interest. 2 years ago and in anticipation of retirement,I started playing my local municipal course. I had lived less than 2 miles from this very nice muni for 16 years and and only played there 3 times. I joined the men's club and started playing 2-3 times a week, Initial index was 9 and that quickly dropped to 6 in the first few months. New clubs and a bit of practice and I was a solid 6 with a goal of 4-5 index. Two weeks ago while playing a relatively short (6K yds) but very challenging par 70 mountain course with big elevation changes and no flat lies I did it. I had a solid 36 one bogie front nine but on the back it all came together, I hit every green in reg and had makeable birdie putts on each hole. I made 3 of the tougher ones and followed that up with an eagle chipin on the par 5 16th. Missed very makeable birdie putts on 17 and 18 for a 5 under 30 back nine and a 66 (one under my age!). As my son said it's kind of an epic achievement for a life long golfer. BTW, this round dropped my index to 4.3 and so for the time being, net tournaments are out ...

This was a reply to my recent purchase of a set of Ping i210 irons and was going to be a review but it took an interesting turn ... Update: I've been playing the i210's now for a week and have played several rounds on different course layouts and conditions. The i210's have been stellar. I don't know if this is just a honeymoon period or they really are that good. Yesterday I played a very tight par 70 mountain course with big elevation changes and many blind second shots. I was hitting the driver the best I have in years and had many wedges or short irons into the green from the blue tees (approx 6K yds). My best score on this course had been 74 (I'm a six index) and I shot a 5 under 30 (3 consecutive birdies and an eagle) on the back nine with a couple of missed under 10' birdie putts. Combined with a one over 36 on the front I shot 66 which is one less than my age! I haven't shot in the 60's since my college playing days back in the 70's and never went that low then so to say this round came as a surprise is a huge understatement. DId the i210's have anything to do with it? I can say that I love the look feel of them and I was very confident over the ball. The fast pace of play helped (played in 3.5 hours) but it was the best round of my life and suffice to say, the i210's have earned a spot in my bag ...