dagolfer18

My parents are talking about letting me go on a fall break trip for the freshmen in PGM. We would be going to the outer banks in NC to play. Four rounds at The Currituck Club, Nags Head and Sea Scape. I don’t have all the info about the trip but it’s definitely something I’d love to do.

Hey guys! Here’s what happened in week 5 of the semester: Tuesday: I decided to head to the course after lunch so I’d be done in time for my 3:30 class. I pretty much just worked on what I’ve been working on the past few weeks, and I’m looking to get another lesson in the next couple of weeks as well. Wednesday: Two things happened Wednesday: •We worked on chipping in player development, and it went really well. We were given a couple of tips on chipping and pitching, and those alone made my short game more consistent. •My first Monarch Tour of the semester. The format was a two-man modified alternate shot. Pick the best drive then play alternate shot from there. Neither me nor my partner played particularly well, but we made a couple of clutch up and downs for par that limited the damage to a 41. Thursday: The second week of seminar was Thursday. The topic of the day was Dress For Success, and we went in depth on how we should dress in an interview setting. This Thursday we have a few representatives from Augusta coming to talk to us about retail and the possibility of a couple of us getting to work in the Masters our junior or senior year, which would be a great experience! Saturday: Yesterday my brother and I played Hillandale. I battled an uncooperative driver all day. I got away with it on the front and managed to escape the front with a 41, and then I parred the long par 4 tenth. But after that it got messy. I made a completely preventable quad on 11 after blading three consecutive chip shots. I was lucky to hole one from the fringe. Went +1 the next four holes, hitting wayward tee shots on three of them. On 16 I hooked a hybrid OB and did well to save double. On 17 I hit a great tee shot to about 15 feet and then followed that with my only three-putt of the day. Then on 18 I made triple after blocking my tee ball right. I shot 47 on the back for 88, but it was adjusted to an 86. The driver was the only part of my game that was sketchy. Irons were fine, short game was better than usual. So that 88 could’ve easily been much worse. A few things coming up for next week: •Tomorrow afternoon I have a club fitting. I signed up to just do irons for now, will figure out woods later. •As I said, Thursday we have reps from Augusta coming to speak to us. Super excited about that! •Next weekend I’m playing in my second PAT. I feel a lot more confident than I did in the first one, partly because I’ll have a lot more energy and shouldn’t have a problem making it through. My goal is to shoot 175 for the two rounds. So there’s my next week. Stay tuned!

A lot happened this week, as y’all will see! Monday (9/5): My brother and I actually had an afternoon tee time and were planning on playing a quick 9 before I had to leave again, but we unfortunately were rained out. Tuesday (9/6): Didn’t get to the course Tuesday, but I did have my first interview! We had a few pros from the Country Club of Virginia come down and talk to us during class about their facilities and internship opportunities, and everything about them and the opportunities I could have at CCV intrigued me. So I made an interview appointment for that afternoon, and it went well. I came away from the interview feeling good, and I’ll know in a week or two if I got the internship there! Wednesday (9/7): Our first player development class was supposed to be on this day (we were gonna work on putting), but like Monday, we had lightning keep us from doing anything. I was planning on hitting balls after class too, but obviously that didn’t happen either. Thursday (9/8): First PGM seminar was Thursday, and we just talked about cover letters and resumes and how to write them effectively. Apparently for the third week of seminar (9/22), we are having pros from the one and only Augusta National coming to give us a presentation. I’m definitely pumped for that! Friday (9/9): After my last class Friday I decided to go the course and play nine holes. Not getting out much since the PAT definitely showed. I got away with my Mishima on the first few holes and started par-bogey-bogey, but then made a 10 on the fourth hole after losing two balls and it went downhill from there. I used the rest of the round as a practice round and actually stayed on one green for a solid 15 minutes and worked on short game. What was a failing round turned into a productive practice session. Saturday (9/10): Yesterday I played my first real scoring round since the PAT. My dad and brother came to join me at King’s Grant, which is a fun par 71 just down the road, and I played the back tees (6302 yds, 71.0/137). The only part of my game that showed up was my driver. I repeatedly put myself in position to score, but the irons failed me miserably. The overwhelming majority of my misses were off the toe, and I had probably three good iron and hybrid strikes all day. I only hit two greens and couldn’t make a putt. Here’s the scorecard. The quad on 5 was mainly due to a double cross off the tee and a three putt, but everything else was consistent. Honestly, to shoot 87 and hit the ball as poorly as I did was encouraging. I clawed out a decent number after one of my worst ballstriking days in a while, nothing close to my best. Did I get lucky with my misses? Maybe. But it’s still promising. Today (9/11): For the third time this week, I was planning on going to the course, this time to work on just getting back to solid contact with the irons after what happened yesterday. But this time, the course was closed because we had 2 inches of rain yesterday afternoon and in the early portion of the morning today, so day two of golf team tryouts were canceled and the course and practice facilities were closed. So definitely not the most ideal week, but a lot of good things happened that I liked. A few things that are coming up: •This week: The first round of the first major on our tournament circuit, the club championship! All who sign up (myself included) will be put into a matchplay bracket and we will be seeded as follows: •Exempt golf team members •Those who’ve passed the PAT •Those who haven’t passed the PAT. Not sure if there’s a qualifying portion involved, but I’m excited for it to start! •Two weekends from now: The club championship at Hillandale, which I have also signed up for. I was planning on going home that weekend to see my grandparents, and that also happened to be on that weekend, so I figured why not? Might go home next weekend and play a practice round at Hillandale from the back tees (including the back tee boxes on some holes that are almost never used in case the tees are back), but I’ll make that decision as we get closer to the weekend!

Week three is in the books. And I’ll say this: it wasn’t a great week for my golf game. To be honest, I haven’t gotten to the course much. Only went two days, and here’s what happened: Wednesday: I decided to hit some balls after the first Player Development class of the semester. I worked on the stuff I was given in my lesson, but I only stayed on the range for about half an hour, and here’s the main reason why: Despite just coming out of the PAT and what I dubbed a really bad cold, I was still super inconsistent. I was still thinning, topping, and chunking shots more than I was hitting them solid. Wedges were actually fine but everything else was mediocre at best. I honestly should’ve stayed up there longer and worked more. Today: I’m home for Labor Day weekend, and today we had a trip to DriveShack as a late birthday present for my brother. I took it as another opportunity to work on my setup. Surprisingly, I did a lot better than I did on Wednesday. Contact was a lot more solid than Wednesday, which was encouraging. I was picking targets and, for the most part, was sticking to them. My brother and I also had a competitive match on St Andrews, and I shot a 77. Not that that number means a whole lot but I hit the ball really well today. It was a good day. I’d love to get to the course more than I did last week, and hoping to get a club fitting as well in the next two weeks. My brother and I are going out for a quick nine tomorrow afternoon, so stay tuned for that.

Time for my second post! This one will be solely focusing on my PAT from this weekend, because I was sick all week (wasn’t completely cleared until Friday) and wasn’t able to get to the course. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna have the energy to walk 18 on back to back days, but I couldn’t get a doctors note because they said “we’ve already cleared you”, so I didn’t have much of a choice. And I knew going in it wasn’t going to be easy. Sat.: Not much to say about this round. Front nine was consistent but not great: four doubles and five bogeys for a 49. On the back I had a chip in for birdie on 14 that was in the middle of disaster: I made a quad on 13 and a triple on 16, shot a 46 on the back for a 95. I almost ran out of gas on the course, having to sit down multiple times to keep it up. I was happy that I battled, but a tougher challenge was to come. Sun.: Front nine today was a duplicate of yesterday’s. A very consistent but poor 49. Then I doubled 10 and 11 but parred 12 and 13, and I thought despite my very low energy level I could actually put together a decent round. I bogeyed 14 and then played the last four holes at +9. I could go into detail on the last four holes but there’s no need. I shot a 50 on the back for 99. Honestly, given how I was feeling both days I’m happy to just have finished. There was a lot of battling, a bit of pain but I made it. And despite the seemingly poor performance I’m proud I made it through. TOTAL: 95-99—194 This was a shorter post mainly because there wasn’t much to say about this week or the PAT itself. However, one of the guys I played with (we played with the same people both days) shot 80-75 and passed. It was fun to watch! I’m planning to take tomorrow off and get back into the grind Tuesday!

His name was Alex.

Hey guys! As promised, here is my first post documenting my journey to becoming a member of the PGA of America! In this blog I will focus primarily on my golf game, but I will also go a little bit of what we went over in class when I feel it’s appropriate. For example, the Qualifying Level test is scheduled for October 6, and when I get my results I will post here. For this first week and a half or so (Aug 12-21) I will only go through highlights on the golf course. In class it was mainly just introductions. Aug. 13: I played an eight-hole 3v3 scramble with a few guys. Unfortunately we lost but it was great to be back on the course. Aug. 14: I decided to walk 18 holes this day, and I think I already posted it in What’d You Shoot Today. I shot a 91. Won’t get into a lot of detail, but it was just a rough start and I just couldn’t get anything going. At the end of the day, I wasn’t thrilled but being only my second time walking the course I wasn’t exactly upset either. Aug. 16-17: Both these days I walked 9 holes but didn’t keep score. I just hit some practice shots trying to get to know the course before my PAT (more on that below). I probably would’ve shot around bogey golf playing my first ball though. Aug. 18: I finally decided to do some much-needed range work, and I spent about 30 minutes just trying to find some consistency in my swing. After finding nothing I went to one of the pros and scheduled a lesson for 11:00 the next day. Aug. 19: Friday was a big day. In the morning I had the aforementioned lesson, and I found out something. I learned that I am hunched too much over the ball, and that my most common miss (hitting it thin) comes from that swing fault. Over the course of the lesson I put down a few key things about my setup (he didn’t even touch my swing): •Feet slightly more than shoulder width apart. I also lose balance on a decent handful of swings, and this definitely helps with that. •Drop my back foot back slightly. Apparently I’ve always had an open stance, which has led to a lot of slicing the ball. •Ball positioned in the center of my stance. I’ve always had my irons about 1/3 of the way back, and it’s always seemed to work for me. This is a lot better and also leads to more distance. •Push my butt out slightly. He said this would give me more room to swing as opposed to standing straight up. Then that afternoon, we had our Welcome Back Scramble, which was essentially 17 fivesomes (2F, 1So, 1J, 1Se) in a scramble except for the rule that whoever’s shot was used did not hit the next shot. There isn’t much to say about this outing. I predicted the winning score would be -11 (it was actually -9) and that we would shoot -8 (we actually shot -4). I could probably count the number of good shots I hit on one hand. It was a fun day though. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten any golf in yesterday or today, because yesterday I figured I needed a day off after playing/practicing six days in a seven-day stretch. Today I was planning to walk 18 holes first thing, but the course and practice facilities were closed around 8:00 due to weather. Now I’m going to talk about the upcoming PAT. The policy is that unless you’re sick, you’re taking the PAT. The good news is that this one is spread out over two days, so we’re only walking 18 holes each day. My goal in this PAT isn’t super optimistic because it’s my first one, but I honestly want to post something around 170 for the two rounds. I know I’ll be feeling pressure on the first tee but I know the course well enough by now so im feeling pretty good. As for future plans for this blog, I’m planning on posting every Sunday, and for now I’ll set it so it doesn’t actually post until 9PM in case I had something going on and couldn’t write until later in the day. Stay tuned for Week 2! I’m considering making two posts to the blog next Sunday: one for Monday-Friday and one solely dedicated to the PAT.

It honestly depends on how much time you have. The past two summers I had a part-time job working three to four days a week, and I would often get out to the course just as many times, even if it’s just to practice for half an hour. I’m in college now (first PGM blog post Sunday!), and having a maximum of three classes a day this semester I’ve been able to get out to the course every day since I’ve been here except for one. I would say if you’re trying to get better, definitely try to get out there more than once a week unless that’s all you can do.

Played again this morning to try and get out before a lot of people came (no tee times required at the Methodist course). And honestly, not much to say about the round. I can pretty much summarize today’s round by saying this: I had a rough start and couldn’t get anything going. Parred 10 and 11 to start the back nine, but a three-putt for bogey on 12 ruined my momentum. The final numbers were 47-44 for a 91. Not great. I also have a required PAT in two weeks at that course (more about that in my blog post today), so I’ve gotta get working.

Played a six-hole 3v3 scramble with a few of the other guys from the program this afternoon. I lost three balls in the first two holes but hit two great wedge shots and we were -1. Then we made three straight pars and a bogey on the par-3 sixth to finish. We lost by two shots. Needless to say, none of us had our best game today. I probably would’ve been close to 100 if I’d played my own ball. It looks like I’ll be playing a lot of golf, so I’m probably going to start my college golf blog tomorrow and I’ll include some info that I’ve learned in orientation.

A buddy invited me to play 9 at Croasdaile with him yesterday afternoon. From the whites, I shot 41, he shot 44. Through six holes, we were both +2. Then I bogeyed 7 and he made a quad after knocking his drive OB. On the eighth, we both had wedges into the green, and somehow we both walked off with doubles. Then we took very different routes to par on the ninth: Me: Blistered tee shot, 9i just short, nearly chipped in and had a tap in for par. Him: Not a great tee shot, then he hit a 2i out of the rough to six feet from about 220 out. He missed the putt by a hair. Fun day. Going into college (I leave tomorrow) my index is 9.9!

Yesterday was a long day. We helped set up for a fundraiser tournament in the morning, then we played in it. We started on 13, which means we get the toughest stretch out of the way. Our first birdie wasn’t till 17, but after that we got it going. By the time we got to the fifth hole we were -5 then we parred there and birdied the sixth, eighth and ninth holes. -8 with three to go. We birdied 10 and then parred the last two holes to shoot 63. Then after awards my brother and I decided to go out for another nine. I’ll go hole by hole: No. 1: Fairway, green, easy two putt for par. E No. 2: Solid drive but missed the green with my approach. After a lacking chip I had to take bogey. +1 No. 3: I put a 9i safely on the green and made par after leaving some work after my first putt. +1 No. 4: After successfully cutting the corner on the par-5, I hit my second just short, hit a good pitch and made a slippery 5-footer for the birdie. E No. 5: Got away with a bit of a hook off the tee and knocked my approach on the green. Unfortunately I three putted. +1 No. 6: Best drive of the day. On this 300-yard par 4, I left my tee shot 20 yards from the front of the green. I hit another good pitch to about three feet, but this time missed the putt. +1 No. 7: Yet another dart: a 9i to three feet. Yet another missed short putt. +1 No. 8: This was my worst tee shot of the day, an ugly hooking 7i that left me under a tree. I did well to give myself a par putt of about eight feet. Missed that one but wasn’t upset with a bogey after the tee shot. +2 No. 9: I had the opportunity to go for it in two and put it on the front fringe. I hit a decent lag putt, but for the fourth time in nine holes I missed a putt under five feet and settled for par. +2 So a two-over 38 for this nine. Definitely a solid round but as many short putts I missed it could’ve easily been a couple strokes lower. I hit seven greens as well, so one of my better ballstriking days for sure! I leave for school this Friday, so hopefully I can play either tomorrow or Thursday.

Hey guys! Sorry to leave y’all in the dark about the last portion of the golf season, but here I am to catch y’all up! April 19: This was the last non conference match of the season. Honestly I don’t remember much about this one, but I shot a 44 and went +6 in my last four holes. April 25: The conference tournament at Hillandale was on April 25. It was hot on this day, so I went easy on my warm up session and sat in the coach’s cart the last 10 minutes or so until my tee time. I started with a rough bogey, but then birdied the second hole and parred the next three. I was on the bogey train for a while and made the turn with a 40, but I righted the ship again with back to back pars on 12 and 13. I was six over with only five holes to play. I had to scramble for bogey on the easy par-5 14th and then bogeyed 15. Now pars on the last three holes would give me 79. I was fully aware of the match as well, and as a result I pulled my tee shot on 16 into the road and made triple. I scrambled for bogey again on the par-3 17th before once again righting the ship with a par on 18 to finish. 40-43 for 83 at the conference tournament. I easily made regionals and also made All Conference with a couple of shots to spare. All in all it was a good day, and we went out to dinner that night to celebrate a good season! May 2: Regionals!! There’s a lot to say about regionals. This was after a long day on the 30th (tournament in the morning and then prom that night). The day before was our practice round at No. 6 and I took this round to really get to know the course. It’s was a relaxing way to spend the day, not too hot, and by the end of it I was feeling good about the next day. My goal? To just go out there and enjoy it whether I shot 79 or 99. I’d made it this far so I was just happy to be in Pinehurst. We just relaxed at the Mid Pines hotel the rest of the day and had dinner at The Deuce while watching groups come in on No. 2. Then the next day came, and I was ready. Didn’t do too much talking at breakfast because I was thinking about my strategy for the day. I went to the course and had a good warm up session, then went to the tee of the par-5 tenth which is where I would begin. No nerves whatsoever. We got there quite a bit early, and of the eight people that went ahead of me (two threesomes and the other two in my group), six of them hit it OB off the tee. Needless to say, I was now very nervous and took a few deep breaths before I hit. And…pulled OB. I hit the next one in play and walked on. I thought I was fine but after a few more lousy shots I had to settle for a quad to start the day. But after that I settled in. I doubled 11 and bogeyed 12, then on 13 faced a tucked pin against the water hazard on the left. I had already decided in the practice round that I would play right no matter where the pin was. I stuck to that, missed right and then got up and down for par. Then I hit a great shot from a wayward drive on 14 and parred easily and parred 15 and 16 as well. Then I bogeyed 17 and made a great save for double on 18 after another flared drive went OB off the tee. I made the turn in 46 and, despite the first hole, was playing very solid golf under the pressure of regionals. I knew at this point making states was out the window (I would’ve had to shoot 34 on the back), so I walked back to the first tee ready to enjoy my last nine holes of high school golf. Like the previous day, I bogeyed the first hole and doubled the par-5 second. I went bogey-par-bogey on holes 3-5, and I knew, walking to the par-5 sixth, that if I bogeyed in I would shoot 91. But I struggled on that one, hit into a water hazard and was lucky to find it, and made triple. Or so I thought. As I went to tee my ball up on the seventh hole, I realized that something was very wrong. Before, I was playing a Titleist ProV1 with our school’s logo on it. The ball I had teed up was a TopFlite with no such markings. And since I had no other balls in either pocket, I knew what I had done. I was about two seconds from taking the club back, but once I realized that I had played the wrong ball on the last hole I stopped what I was doing, called my coach over and walked him through what had happened. It’s difficult to explain exactly what we did next, but by the time I was able to tee off on the next hole I was in a daze. I couldn’t think straight, and the fact that I had just played the wrong ball rattled me. I went triple-double on 7 and 8, then finally regained my composure on the last hole and made a solid bogey to finish. The next step was to find the rules official, and after we talked with him I was given the wrong ball penalty. After it was all said and done, I had shot 97 at regionals. Not the way I wanted my high school golf career to finish for sure, but I knew I had done the right thing on 7. My parents, my coaches and the rules official all said the same thing after: that they were proud that I had done what they thought few others in the field that day would’ve done. I did it not only because I knew it’s what I should’ve done, but also because if I had done nothing, it would’ve bothered me for who knows how long. In the car ride on the way home, I tried to recover from a long couple of days and slept well that night. When the guys at work asked me about regionals and I told them what happened, all but one of them said I was stupid and something like “I would’ve just played on and not said anything”. That bothered me, but not near as much as I knew it would have if I had done the opposite. So there you have it, the end of my high school golf career! If you have any questions about what happened, don’t hesitate to ask. 🙂 So what’s next? I’m leaving for Methodist on Friday, and I’m planning to wait a week or two, see how much I can play or practice, and start another blog. Not sure what exactly it will cover or how often I’ll post, but I will cover all that in the first post of my new blog. Stay tuned!

After a surprising shift change yesterday (I opened), my brother and I played Croasdaile one last time before I leave for school next Friday. Also played with two juniors that I’ve played with before. I doubled the first hole, but parred the next four in a row including the par-3 fifth where I was about four inches from slam dunking it off the tee. Made a 15-footer to grind out a bogey on six, then finished the front par-double-bogey to go out in 42. Our head pro, who was playing behind us, noticed that we (a foursome) were waiting on a threesome ahead of us on every shot, so he gave us the green light to skip to the nearby 12th hole and then come back to 10 and 11 to finish our round. Off we went! I parred 12, doubled 13 after having to retee, then parred holes 14-18, only missing the green once by mere inches. Then I finished with a bogey on 10 and a par on 11 to make it 42-39 for an 81. Nice to be back in the 80s after two sketchy rounds earlier this week. Driver wasn’t quite up to pace this time (only four fairways hit all day), but I did hit nine greens and gave myself a number of good birdie looks, but couldn’t get anything to fall. Overall a pretty solid day! My plan now is to catch up on my high school season blog after almost the entire summer (conference tournament and regionals) this weekend and start a new one sometime in the near future that will document the beginning of my PGA career! Not sure exactly what it’ll develop into so I’ll wait probably two weeks into the semester and start it then.

Today I had the match with my coworker that we’ve been talking about for six months. We’ve gone from a likely 72-hole competition to just 18. Our format was a $5 Nassau, and we played the tips today, as we’ve both been wanting to do so for a while (7068 yds, 74.1/141) The front nine was an absolute bloodbath. I shot 51, he shot 49, and he was one up on the match. Now down five bucks I needed to turn it around on the back. Here’s what happened: No. 10: I made a disappointing bogey on the short par 5 after a perfect drive, but he three-jacked for double so I won the hole. TIED No. 11: I completely blocked my 6I right almost out of bounds, and it led to a bogey, but he bogeyed as well after missing a short par putt. TIED No. 12: We both made a mess out of this one, and we were both lucky to walk off with one-putt bogeys. TIED No. 13: He doubled after hitting one into the road (probably 50 yards off line), and I double after a duffed chip shot. TIED After halving three straight holes I knew I had to win one to put pressure on him down the home stretch. No. 14: I was in for what was finally a decent bogey (tee shot just short, decent chip and an easy two putt), and he had about eight feet to tie the hole. He missed. 1UP No. 15: I striped a drive and he hit one almost OB. I wedged onto the green and made an easy par, while he yet again scrambled to make bogey. 2UP Now I’m dormie for the back, and I knew a win on any of the last three holes would sweep both the side and the overall. No. 16: Two perfect drives, but he was 25 yards past me. I put mine just short of the green, and he fatted his second from about 170. He would go on to make double, and I managed to get up and down for par and take the win 3&2. And then we both scrambled for par on both 17 and 18 to end it. The final numbers: 51-42 and a 93 for me, and 49-47 and a 96 from him. I’m happy to have turned it around, parring the last four holes in the process, but shooting 51 on the front hurt a lot. The driver, like yesterday, was cooperating. I hit ten fairways with one bad miss (a double cross plus a very unlucky bounce OB), but failed to convert those opportunities, especially on the front nine. Putting, UNLIKE yesterday, was also solid. Everything else was just inconsistent: I had everything from a complete flush with an 8I to a shank (a few of the latter on the same hole led to one of three snowmen on the front). This was definitely one of the closer matches we’ve had, and it will most likely be the last one of the summer because I’m leaving for school a week from Thursday. With work four of the next five days and packing to be done, I’m hoping to get one more round in before I leave!

Took a road trip with a couple of buddies to Royal New Kent today (about a three hour drive for us), and I shot 95 from the black tees (6733 yards, 73.6/149). Apart from a nine on 14 and a smother hook with the driver on 17 I played pretty well. Made a ton of bogeys and a couple of pars, but putting let me down a bit today. I actually hit the ball really well, and out of the eleven other times I pulled out driver, I hit the fairway with all but one of them. I enjoyed the challenge of this course and would love to be back there soon to tackle it again. Also, I have a match with a coworker tomorrow, and I’m feeling pretty good!

I played Occoneechee yesterday from the white tees (68.1/118). I started by going +7 through four holes, with a quad on the quirky par-4 4th doing most of the damage. Then I went +1 on the last four holes on the side, including a birdie on the par-5 5th, to shoot 44 on the front. Then I shot a much more solid 40 on the back, with one birdie, three pars, four bogeys and a double. The birdie was on 17, a reachable par 5 at just over 450 from the whites. I hit a perfect tee shot and left myself 190 in, then hit a hybrid to seven feet. Obviously didn’t make the eagle putt but I had an easy tap in for the birdie. So really a pretty decent round apart from one hole. I was feeling a bit tired after this round though so I’ll take the next couple of days off and start fresh next week!

I’ve only made two eagles, and both were hole outs (one about 60 yards on a par 5 and the other about 140 on a par 4). I’ve hit a par 5 in two a decent number of times (actually just did it yesterday!), but I’ve never been able to convert the eagle putt. Of those times, I think I’ve three jacked it for par all but twice, which is definitely a bit frustrating.

A few rounds to catch up on. 7/23: I got to play Croasdaile again with a buddy and one of the best junior golfers in the club. I shot an 88 with not one, but TWO quadruple bogeys on par 5s. One after some bunker trouble, and one after a third shot that ended up so bad I would rather it have ended up in the creek that runs through the entire hole. Other than that, I played well. The highlight of the day was a birdie on 15. Smoked a 3 wood to the center of the fairway, then hit a wedge to about eight feet. 7/25: Well, I TRIED to get in 36 yesterday. My morning round was at Falls Village, and I shot 88 there from the blues. However, that was only after I was +8 through 14 with nothing worse than a bogey on my card. On track to shoot low 80s, I finished the round triple-bogey-bogey-triple. What really hurt was that both the triples (15 and 18) were on par 5s. So a bit of a disappointing finish, but one plus is that for the most part I hit the ball really well. Made a couple of clutch saves as well. My putting felt solid but another one of those days where nothing dropped. Then after a few hours to rest, I had a 4:15 tee time at Umstead for my second round. I moved up to the whites here, but that didn’t help much. Parred the first, but then made five straight bogeys. I ended up making a nice two-putt birdie on the par-5 ninth to go out in 41. The eagle putt almost dropped. Then, after starting the back bogey-bogey, one of the guys I was paired with noticed that there was a thunderstorm forecasted to hit us in about an hour. Being that I was walking this round, I decided to leave because I didn’t wanna get to 14 or 15, the farthest point from the clubhouse, and then it starts storming. So I was +7 through 11 this round. Ballstriking wasn’t quite as solid as the morning round, but it wasn’t awful. You may have noticed that for the most part, my play on the par 5s lately hasn’t been good at all. Not sure what the problem is but I’m trying to get to the bottom of it!

Currently binge watching the close to half dozen episodes of Big Brother we have on our DVR. After watching one episode I forgot how much I enjoyed watching this. It’s also one of the few shows that everyone in the house likes. So I would say it’s one of my favorite shows 😃.

That would be correct 🙂

Weird round yesterday. Not sure exactly how to explain this round without going into a ton of detail, so I’ll just put the scorecard here. 😃 I know it’s a little messy so I’ll sum it up in a couple of points. •The format we decided on was a combined team total, and no strokes were given. •One of the guys had to quit on 14 because he was overheating, which is why his row is blank from 14 on. And now some stats: FIR: 8/14 GIR: 8/18 Putts: 34 (three 3-putts in first six holes!) After all that, it was a 10.4 differential, which was enough to move me into the single digit club! The new index is 9.8, which I’m really excited about!

Played Talamore today with a group of guys from work (we had two foursomes) and shot a 90 from the blues (45-45). Played pretty solid golf apart from a nine on the 14th hole. The greens were lightning quick today and I had two four putts and four three putts. Hit the ball pretty well though, so that’s a plus. We also played a quota match and split up into four two-man teams. My partner and I needed 59 points total and only came to 50 (I only scored 20 needing 25). The winners had a quota of 63 points and got 66. Might be playing with my coach tomorrow, so hopefully I can report back here tomorrow night.

Played two good rounds this week while at the beach (today’s our last day). Monday: Monday we played Castle Bay, a course one of my buddies told me great things about. I ended up shooting 41-42 for 83 there from the blues (69.6/124) which say 6300 and some change but it felt a lot shorter, and my dad and I tied on the day. Two clutch up and downs on 16 (for par) and 17 (for bogey) proved to be crucial. One bad hole happened: the par-5 14th. It’s not an easy hole, but I still made a mess of it. After a bad tee shot, a lost ball, a bunker shot and a three putt, it was a triple bogey. I also doubled a short par 4, but the triple stung a lot more. Thursday: Yesterday we played North Shore, which is where I broke 90 for the first time. On this day I flirted with breaking 80. We played the whites (70.8/135) which were about 6300 yards. I shot 43 on the front with a triple on the par-5 eighth, then on the back I made only two bogeys and the rest pars for a 38 on the back and an 81 total. I parred the last three holes, which included a tough par 3 and a long par 4 finisher, which also played into the wind. One of the two bogeys on the back was on the 13th, a short par 5. I was in good position after my second shot, 60 yards out with nothing but short grass between me and the pin. Then I shanked the wedge shot. Almost got up and down to save par, but that was a disappointing bogey. Apart from the eighth hole, that was my only truly bad hole. Played super solid golf the other 16 holes. Some stats from the two rounds: FIR: 11/14 Mon, 11/14 Thurs GIR: 7/18 Mon, 6/18 Thurs Putts: 33 Mon, 31 Thurs I got off the tee well both rounds and putted fairly well both rounds as well: only two three putts over 36 holes. My index dropped a good amount too: I was at 10.6 before North Shore, and that round took me to a 10.0. One more good round and I’m in single digits!

I’m going to Methodist for the PGM program. As a 10.6 currently I will probably not pass the PAT my freshman year unless I play lights out, but I am confident that I can improve my game enough to be able to pass it by the time I graduate. I think part of it is that I’ve outgrown my TA1s (driver down to 9 iron). I feel that getting new clubs that are fit for me will definitely help. Another factor is that I have several PGA professionals who I can go to for lessons. I also have unlimited access to the course and practice facilities on campus, so there’s no excuse to NOT practice. My first step: once I get settled and everything, I will look at a lesson and club fitting.