jime

I shot the my best round in 7 years yesterday playing at the Santa Clara Golf and Tennis course in the San Francisco Bay area from the gold tees. I thought it would be an “average” round after a double bogey on #2, but I made a 60+ foot birdie putt on #5 and made pars on most other holes ending up with a 2 over 38 on the front. On #10 I sunk a 50+ birdie putt, and made a putt from off the green for an eagle on #14. Final score was a one over par 73 (differential 2.7) with an eagle, 2 birdies, 9 pars 2 bogeys and the double. My best all-time round was a 73 at Moffett Field Federal Air Field course from the blue tees in 2003 with a differential of 1.8. I keep track of my rounds using Eagle-Trak golf software and have every round for the last 20 years.

I have a very low ball and always play a Pro-V1 because I need the extra stopping power. I used to have the problem of people picking up my ball but I started marking my ball with a red marked and put a sloppy red circle about the size of a nickel on both sides. It fades as I play to a bright pink circle. It is really ugly. Nobody mistakes my ball for theirs and I don’t think anybody even wants a ball that ugly. So take one look, and leave it alone.

I live in the San Francisco Bay area and about 1990 my sister who lived in St. Louis called and asked me if I could take time off to play Pebble Beach. Her car salesman husband had won a “dream vacation” for two to golf at Pebble and she didn’t play golf. I ended up playing for free at both Pebble Beach and The Links at Spanish Bay. Also, when I was stationed in Monterey with the Navy in the late 70’s I never had the $100 they charged then to play Pebble, but as a member of the Northern California Golf Association, we could play Spyglass for $10 after 4:00 PM. We played many times but were never able to finish 18 holes before dark and always had to quit after about 15 holes.

I strongly recommend a laser rangefinder. It is critical to determine how far your clubs will go, then all you have to do is figure out wind, elevation, how hard the green is, etc. I purchased one several years ago (before they were legal for tournament play) to use for practice, but it quit working after about 8 years. It immediately lowered my handicap by several strokes. I now have one with a pin-seeker mode that makes it easy to use and very fast, and I carry a spare battery at all times. I think that a serious golfer will have some sort of range finder. I don't like the GPS as I want to know how far it is to the flag, not how far it is to the center of the green. I also have a program on my smart phone - but much prefer the laser for it's accuracy. And it is also great to see how far it is to a fairway bunker, or the corner of a dogleg.

After 40 years of golf I think there are no "rules" about what you should have in your bag other than you can only use 14 clubs. I have 6 woods (including 3 hybirds) and 4 wedges. And the distances for my clubs is about every 10 yards out to 220 yards (driver goes farther). The key is to find clubs that you have confidence that you can hit well.

At age 62 I am now down to a 7-iron being my longest iron, and a 5-wood being my longest wood. But the 5-wood is on a 44 1/2 inch (driver) shaft and I can hit it about 230 off the fairway, and I have replaced my irons with 25, 30 and 35 degree hybirds. My single digit index indicates how well my unusual approach is working for me. Your clubs should be determined by what you works for you. Be creative, and don't limit yourself just to what you find on the pro-shop shelf.

Years ago I went from steel to graphite shafted irons. I quickly started breaking them at the hosel, about one every third round. When the third shaft broke (9-iron, then PW, then 6-iron) and it cost $80 to repair each, I decided to go back to steel shafts. The guy who makes my clubs said that when I hit down on my irons on very hard ground (San Francisco Bay in the summertime), the graphic just could not take the shock.

I keep track of each round using software I have had for a long time so it is easy to check. 17 eagles recorded with the first being in 1993 and two hole-in-ones. But more importantly, I am out on the golf course again and will have my single digit index back (starting next week) after 5 abdominal surgeries in the last 2 years. Playing good golf is important, but not nearly as important as just being physically able to play.

Simple skins for different handicaps. Lowest handicap gets 0 strokes and every body plays off him. If the low handicap was a 10 and the others were 15, 19, and 23; the 10 would get 0 strokes, the 15 would get 5, the 19 would get 9 and the 23 would get strokes on the 13 hardest holes. Complex skins for different handicaps. Everybody gets their full handicap and the net score is compared on each hole - this one is difficult to compute, but thats what the guys I play with want to play.