Troy Ocker

Long since my last post here. It's been a strange season for me with a lot of inconsistency in my game. I've shot mid 70's one day and mid 90's the next. I've been through periods this season with the shanks with my non-fullswing wedges (still got it) and have zero confidence with driver in hand. Somehow (with the hcp system we have now I've managed to get my index down to 6,1 this season....with 18 shots difference between my best and worst rounds) My morning round yesterday ended up being a good one, but it didn't look like that early in the round on my home course - 6250 yards par 72, slope 147/rating 72,7 (wet and soft conditions with little to no roll): Front 9 (par 35) Hole 1 - 535y Par 5: A slider to the left from tee, that I just managed to keep it in play in the left rough (5 yards from the white sticks on the left), but I got some distance on is so I was left with 220y from the rough, with the ball above my feet and decided to try to get it up towards the green. Didn't hit my best, but got it to the right semi rough around 90y short of the green. A little AW to the fring from there and a chip to a tap in for par. E Hole 2 - 150y Par 3 (15y downhill): A soft PW slided a bit left for me and the ball bit a sprinkler 10' left of the green and bounced 20 yards into the woods to the left. A horrible break. I had a microwindow through some branches that I gave my best to hit....and missed. It hit a branch and ended up with a worse lie, but with a bigger gap to find the green. Hit a great shot from there and left my self with 15 feet for a bogey. Hit a great putt that had a taste around the entire lip before it fell to rest on the edge of the hole. Double bogey. +2 Hole 3 - 350y par 4: A bit uphill and into a breeze, but that didn't matter much because I hit an absolute shocker of a drive into the trees on the left (70y off line). From there I was looking at tree trouble and a 190 yards shot from an ok lie in the rough. Needed to hit a 40 yard hook around the trees to get it anywhere near the green and pulled off a really nice one with my 6i to the fairway 10feet short of the green. Chipped it to 4'' and got away with a par. +2 Hole 4 - 195y par 3: Into a bit of breeze, so I tried to hit a low 6i, but hit it poorly and got a low slider to the greenside bunker left of the green. Not a good shot. 20 yard shot from the bunker was hit way too clean and went straight over the green to the rough on the right in stead. Was left with a 20 yard pitch to a green that runs heavily away from me, so I tried to land it on the fridge to release down to the hole, but landed it 2feet to short on the fringe and it completely died there. Opted to putt it down the hill (20 feet) and got it to a tap in for another double. Two doubles on the first two, quite easy, par 3s is not the way to start a good round of golf. +4 Hole 5 - 380 yards par 4: Dogleg left and down wind. Hit another horrible drive, short and 70 yards off line to the left rough. Left with 165 yards and some high pines to get over. Hit a good 9i from there to the left fringe. Left a relatively easy chip from there 5 feet short and missed the putt. Bogey. +5 Hole 6 - 340 yards par 4: Not a driving hole (with a very narrow FW from 190-300 yards from tee). Tees up a 7 iron and barely hit the ball. It didn't make it to the fairway in the wet semi rough and left me with 240 yards to the green. The lie was not the best so I went with a 4i in stead of a spoon. Hit a decent shot from there and was left with a 35 yards shot from left rough. It should be a fairly easy shot with enough green to work with, but I hit a horrible shank from there with my 60°. It flew over the left side of the green and into som bushed back there. Hit a great shot from the bushes and got it on the green with 20 feet left for bogey. Hit good putt, but it lipped out for tap in double. Six holes in and complete mishits every other shot did not bold well. Pffff! +7 Hole 7 - 375 yards par 4: Into wind and a hard dogleg left. Didn't hit my best 4i but it was in play allthough too far left and too short to have a clear view of the green. Was left with 160 yards and needed to move it 25 yards to the left around the trees to get anywhere near the pin. Hit a real beauty from there and left my self with a 15 feeter for birdie. Great shot! Another really good putt that lipped out. Par. +7 Hole 8 - 165y par 3: 8 yards uphill. Hit a good 8i to the fringe 25 feet from the pin. Went for a chip from there because it was still a lot of morning dew on the fringe. Great chip that stopped 0,2'' short in the line. Par. +7 Hole 9 - 500y par 5: 25 yards uphill. Hit an ok drive to the right semirough. Not very long, decent lie and no other problems, but too short to go for the green. Hit a good 3W up the hill and left myself in the FW with 35y to the pin. Hit a good little pitch with my AW to 7 feet. Another good roll that lipped out. Par. +7 Front 42 (par 35) - The last three holes was very positive. Hole 10 - 540y par 5: Down hill into wind and dogleg left. Completely mishit my drive 70y to rough. Mishit a 3W from there another 60 yards to more rough. Had another go with 3W from there and hit another horrible shot. Now I'm left in the left rough with 240 yards to the front of the green. I do have an angle to cut the dogleg and go for the green (need 200y carry over OB) to be in play. I decided to go for it since that is the only way to score on this hole as played. I pull out my 4i and hit a good shot FW 20 yards short of the green. It would be very good if it wasn't so soft/wet conditions. I managed to get up and down from there to away with a bogey (as played it felt like robbery). +8 Hole 11 - 205 yards par 3: 15 yards down hill, breeze from the right, water short and right. I hit a great 7i pin high 25 feet left of the pin. Tough putt downhill with 8-9 feet break left to right. Hit another great one and drain it. Birdie! +7 Hole 12 - 340 yards par 4: 15 yards uphill tee shot. Finally hit a decent drive to the iddle of the fairway. I got 95y left, and overhit an AW a little bit and end up in the rough just past the green. Good chip to a tap in par. +7 Hole 13 - 385 yards par 4: Finally a good drive 300y down the middle that leaves me with a 85 yard shot from a downhill lie. Pull the approach shot a bit, but end up pin high on the green with a 30 footer for birdie. First put has a bit too much pace an goes 4 feet past the hole. I pull the next one (really bad stroke) and end up with a 3-putt bobey. +8 Hole 14 - 535 yards Par 5: Not a driving hole (very narrow and slopey fairway from 220-300 yards from tee), hit a great 5i, great 6i and a great AW from 95y to 12 feet for birdie. Hit a another good putt that lips out. Par. Good hole! +8 Hole 15 - 125 yards par 3: Into a little breeze to an "island" green. Hit a good AW to 18 feet. Not the best putt from there, but it's within 3 feet so no prob. Par. +8 Hole 16 - 350 yards par 4: Not a driving hole into wind. Great 6i from tee left me with 150 yards (7 yards downhill). Hit a good PW from there to 15 feet. Two putts - par. +8 Hole 17 - 350 yards par 4: Not a driving hole, uphill and doglegg left. Good 4i to right semirough with 120 yards to pin. Really good AW from an uphill lie in the semirough to 14 feet (highest shot of the day). Another lipout. Par. +8 Hole 18 - 530 yards par 5: 25 yards uphill with water on the right. Good drive and good 3W to semirough 20 yards short of green. Flag is on top back level, and I send the pitch 5 yards to long and leaves me with a tricky downhill chip from a tight lie. I chicken out a bit with the chip so I leave it 12 feet short of the hole (3 feet too long and I would run down to the lower level of the green and be left with 30 feet in stead). I make the putt. Par. +8 Back 38 (par 37) Total 80 First 6 holes: 0/6 greens, 0/4 fairways (+7) Last 12 holes: 5/9 fairways, 8/12 greens (+1) Golf is a strange game. If only I could find some consistancy and confidence over the ball. + Good putting (despite 30 putts), needed to shape a couple of shots both ways and executed well, happy with how I managed to get the game together after a very shaky start. - Too inconsistant from tee, bad shot the one time I was in a greenside bunker and I need to get rid of the 4 complete hishits/shanks I hit (shank on 6 and first 3 shots on 10)

Meanwhile the Saudi regime goes on with it's usual business: Saudi woman given 34-year prison sentence for using Twitter | Saudi Arabia | The Guardian Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University student, was charged with following and retweeting dissidents and activists

Finally birdied #14 on my home course. It's a 510 yards par 5 where driver is not the play from tee. We played from the back tees (6800 yards, rating 75,0, slope 152) yesterday, to practice a bit before the Club Championship next weekend (don't know if I will play it yet) and this is fortunatley not one of the holes that grows much in length from the 62 tees (only about 8-10 yards). I smashed my 6i from the tee about 223 yards to the left side of the fairway, and hit a really good 8 i from there (205 yards) and was left with around 75 yards to a front right pin. The fairways are hard and dry now, so you get a lot more roll than usual right now. Did a little knock down 50% AW from there and it checked after the first bounce 6 feet short of the pin. Aimed the putt 4 inches outside right end it was never any doubt it would end up dead center. 4 good shots in a row on a day where my game was a mixed bag to say the least. Over a stretch of 7 holes (#7-#13) I went +16 plus had a triple on #4. There was plenty of good shots too, but what a mess of a round. Ended up shooting 94. Now I only miss hole 13 and 17 on this years list. Can't believe I haven't birdied hole 17 yet actually, as that definitely is one of the more gettable holes on the course. Hole 13 is a bit tougher, but if you hit the fairway there you usually end up with a decent look.

I guess it's very dependent on which tees you play from and the course you play. The key word is context. I'm in the 275-300 bracket, but I'm not hitting more than 40% fairways and even from the FW I don't hit more than maximum 10% of the greens from 225+. I'm not a scratch golfer, but I'm above average, and I don't think I have more than 1 putt for eagle every 10 rounds on my home course. On my home course we have five 500+ yard par 5's, I've made only 1 eagle on the par 5's from the 57 tees (6350 yards - mens) in my last 250 rounds on this course. I've had putts for eagle on 4 of the hole, but many stars have to be aligned to get the ball in the hole in 3 shots on any of these holes. Here is the par 5's on my home course (from the regular mens tees): Hole 1: 540 yards par 5, downhill tee shot. Very reachable for me with the right wind. Tough green that runs away from you. This is the hole that has given me the most chances through the years. Hole 9: 500 yards par 5, 20 yards uphill, water down the entire left side. Reachable when the wind allows it for the long hitters. Hole 10: 540 yards par 5, with a huge dogleg left with 130 yards left to the green. You need to hit a long miss left and carry 200+ yards over OB to reach the green or hit a 330+ yards drive down the middle to open up the dogleg. Then you have 210 yards to a green with dangers on all sides. I putt for eagle here maybe twice a year (80 rounds) and the green is extremely ondulated. Hole 14: 530 yards par 5, not a driver hole. The hole is very narrow between 220 and 300 yards from tee + 80% of the shots landing in that area will feed down in the hazard that runs on the left, so this is a hole I never go for in 2. Hole 18: 525 yards par 5, 20 yards uphill with water down the entire right side. Tough hole to reach even with the right wind. Needs 2 very good shots. So on this course just a very few will be able to reach any of these in 2. If allowed to play from any tees (from the 48 - womens - The par 5's plays 440, 435, 450, 440 and 410) it is a completely different story. Then the 10% number is of course way too low. I guess the stats in the article could use some more context for us to read anything usefull out of it.

Hole 16 on my home course: A 340 yards par 4, into a slight breeze, downhill, dogleg right. The hole narrows a lot where the dogleg starts around 120 yards fro mthe green. Not a driver hole, so I hit a 7 iron, struck it great and hit the middle of the fairway with just 135 yards left. The green is situated down by a Lake, is around 7-8 yards downhill from where my ball lies, and is a MacKenzie green with running from right to left (the water) . The shot here here is to land a wedge a bit short of the green and let it feed in. The pin was place far right on the lower level only 3 yards from the water. I picked an aimingspot on the right half of the green and tried to land my AW just a little short of the green. Executed to perfection, the ball landed 4 yards short of the green and took 1 bounce to get on and startet to release left towards the MacKenzie, It had just enough speed to reach the edge and accellerated down the slope towards the hole. The speed down the slope towards the hole was perfect and it fell in at the heart of the cup without even touching the flag. After this some jumping around and shouting followed. Probably the sickest shot I've made in my life.

New record on my homecourse on Saturday. I tested positive tuesday morning and didn't feel 100%, have had a great downswing in my form lately as well, so a bit low on energy and with a light cough I managed to get a beautiful 78 on my home course (6350 yards, par 72, rating 72,7, slope 147). Didn't strike the ball great, but scrambled really well and managed save pars and bogeys around the course. A tap in birdie on 1 and a 135 yard holeout eagle on 16 did also help a lot of course. My game around the greens and on the greens was very solid. Took 2 penalty shots: was in the water on 15 and managed to pull my second shot in the water on 18 as well. The eagle on 16 is the longest I've holed out from so far in my life. Surreal experience! All in all a very fun day!

I finally managed to fill birdie some of the holes I've struggled to get close to (over 4-5 round the past 10 days): Hole 2 A short par 3 (135 yards) downhill. Hit a good AW to the middle of the green and sunk the 15 footer for birdie. Only took me 40 rounds to get a birdie here this year, and this has historically been one of the first ones on the sheet before. Hole 4 A long par 3 (192 yards) flat, into wind. Hit a great 6i to 12 feet, below the hole and drained the putt. Not the easiest pin either. Great birdie. Hole 8 A 180 yards par 3 uphill. Didn't birdie this one last year, but have had plenty of good opportunities. Hit a great tee-shot to 4 feet. Finally drained one here. Hole 16 A 340 yards par 4, downhill and dogleg right. Narrow the the last 120 yards, not a driver-hole. Hit a very nice 7i to the middle of the fairway and was left with 135. Hit a perfect AW from there and did not need a putter......EAGLE - 2! Shot of the year and life ofr me so far.

Had an interesting week last week. Played 3 rounds on 3 different local courses. Had a nightmare round during a tournament at Kragerø GK on Thursday and shot a 93 (Par 70), which is 15!! shots over my par on the course. That course has always given me trouble. It's a narrow forrest course (anything not in the fairway is either a lost ball or some dropped shots, the greens there are big, fast and very ondulated and I've never really got my putter going there either (had 6 3-putts this round - 36 total which is 5,6 putts more than my average this year. Especially the 3-5 footers caused me problems for some reason, my confidence there is low at the moment). Needed to get that round out of my system, so I played an early morning round on my homecourse Saturday. Finally broke 80 from the 57 tees (6300 yards) and shot a 79(!!) which is the best I've shot from there. Played some solid golf all day, but missed a lot of 3-5 footers. Hole 1: 535 yard par 5, playing into wind - Struck my first drive of the day poorly, and just moved the ball around 210 to the left part of the fairway. Hit a soft little transport shot with my 6 iron to around 150 yards in. A soft 9 iron from the gave me 13 foot look for birdie. 2 putts - Par. Hole 2: 140 yard par 3, playing downhill and into wind - Hit an AW 5 yards short of the green. Hit it hard with too much spin, so the wind just ate it up. Nice up'n'down par from there. Hole 3: 360 yard par 4, uphill and pretty straight, but narrow with wind from behind - Hit an ok drive, but it drifted a bit to much left and I ended up with some treeproblems in the left rough and 145 yards in. I tried to hit a draw around the trees with a PW from there, but it went straight, so I ended up pin high in the semirough 10 yards left of the green. Hit a great 60° from there to about 4 feet. A flat, no break putt. Still managed to push it far enough left to lipout. Bogey. Hole 4: 190 yard par 3, down wind - Pulled a 7-iron 25 yards right, but got lucky and got a decent lie over there. Hit a great 60° to 3 feet. Downhill with a little right to left break. Overread it and aimed outside the cup. Another short miss. Bogey! Hole 5: 370 yard par 4, dogleg left into wind. - Hit a good drive the just ran through the fairway into the semirough on the right with 100 yards left. Hit a 3/4 AW a bit chunky and ended up on the fringe a tad short. Made the up'n'down for par. Hole 6: 340 yard par 4, straight, narrow and tough hole plaing into wind - Got great contact wit ha 6 iron from tee, but pulled it just a little bit right. Enough to get me in trouble. I was left with 160 to the pin from the right semirough, but was blocked by a bunch of trees, so I had to choose between taking my medicine (50 yards left back into fairway) or go for the little low fade through a tiny window right of the first few trees. I went with the last option, gripped down on a 4-iron and went for a low faded "chip". It faded a little bit more than perfect, but it was a pretty darn good shot. Ended up on the fringeshort left. Made the up'n'down for a pretty good par! Hole 7: 370 yard par 4, dogleg left, down wind. Not a driver-hole and by most concidered the toughest hole on the course. - Hit a great 5 iron off tee, the just roled in the the second cut on the left with only 140 left to the pin. Tough pin location on the left side of the green. Hit a good AW from there that landed a yards short of the pin, but not with enough spin to bite, so it rolled out to the fringe 5 yards past the hole. Easy up'n'down from there. Hole 8: 185 yard par 3, uphill into wind. - With a far back pin, short was the miss here, so I hit a good 7 iron to the middle of the green. 2 putts and par. Hole 9: 500 yards par 5, 25 yards uphill with water down the entire left side and into from the right wind. The drive wasn't awfull, but it drifted to far left into the wind and ended up just into the hazard on the left. Dropped in the semi with 240 left to the pin and almost 20 yards uphill. Abolutely amashed my new (4 year old 14,5° cobra 3/4 wood) from there and gave myself a 4 footer for birdie. Overread it again and made a surprisingly frustrating par even with the penalty. Front (Par 35) - 37 shots - 1/6 (!) fairways, 3/9 greens and 14 putts. Still I felt like I wasted 3 shots on the greens.... Hole 10, 530 yards par 5, downhill, dogleg left (400 yards out) down wind. - Hit a good drive to the second cut on the left that left me with 205 to the front of the green if I cut the corner of the dogleg ever the 35 yard high trees there. I decided to go for the corner cut with a 9 iron (flyer lie and some help from the wind). I hit it as hard as I could , but hit it on equator and it headed for the trees 2 yards above the ground. Luckily I got a members bounce as the woods spat out my ball to the middle of the fairway with 100 yards in. An AW to the fring from there. My chip almost went in, and I ended up with a tapin par. (PS! My player partners wanted to see me try the shot over the trees one more time. Smashed it and ended up on the fringe short.) Hole 11, 203 yards par 3 with wind from the left. Downhill and water (the Norsjø lake) short and right. Probably a top 10 intimidating and tough par 3's in Norway. Hit a 7 iron to the right side of the green (25 feet from the pin) and left the birdie putt 0,5 inch short. A stressfree par here is allways welcome though. Hole 12, 335 yard par 4, 15 yards uphill with wind from the right. - A good drive up the hill (blind) to the semi on the right left me with 95 yards in. Got a little flyer with my soft 56° from there and it jumped just off the green long. Made the up'n'down for par. Hole 13, 385 yards par 4, downhill the last 120 yards with wind from the left. Started my drive a hair to far right (lefty with a natural fade with my driver) and caught a branch at the first tree on the right, usually hitting it there doesn't hurt the ballflight too much, but this time it did. The ball was knocked 40 yards straight left and ended up in the left rough with 255 yards to the pin. It wasn't the best of lies, so I opted for a 5 iron .Hit a decent one and ended up in the left rough around 35 yards from the pin. My 60° from there got it to 5 feet. Pretty straight and a bit downhill putt. Pushed it a tad and it lipped out. Bogey. Hole 14, 520 yard par 5, into wind. Straight but very narrow between 210 and 300 yards out with a hazard on the left. Chunked a 6 iron from tee to the fairway, but only 165 yards out. Pullet another 6 iron a bit from there to the semirough on the right with 155 left. Hit a good PW to the fringe just right of the flag from there (very narrow and intimidating approach with dangers left, right and long). Chipped it to 2,5 feet, and managed to push it a tad again. The ball teased me a bit by doing a full 360° before falling to rest on the edge of the hole. Bogey. Hole 15, 134 yard par 3, wind from behind right. A beautiful little par 3 with nothing to land on outside the green. Didn't hit a very good teeshot, and ended up short in the hazard. There is a dropzone behind the green (Blind uphill shot 15 yards from the green) Hit a great 60° from there that almost went in. 4 is a good score here if you're not on the green in 1. Bogey. Hole 16, 335 yard par 4. Another spectacular hole. Dogleg right, narrow the last 130 yards down to a McKensie-green down by the lake.- Hit a great 8 iron off tee to the second cut on the right (good angle in) that left me with 140 yards to the pin. The pin was placed on the lower level of the green just 4 yards from the lake. Made a great AW from there and gave myself a 4 footer for birdie......which I missed....Par. Hole 17, a 335 yard par 4, uphill, dogleg left playing into wind. - Hit a decent 6 iron to the left side of the fairway and was left with125 yards to the pin. Made a great AW from there to 5 feet and managed to burn another shot putt on the edge. Par. 72 shots so far. Just needed to avoid a tripple on the last to break 80. Hole 18, 530 yard par 5, uphill, into wind with water down the entire right side. - Hit a massive pull into the water on the right with my driver off tee only 190 yards out. Dropped and hit a 4 iron to the semirough (just a foot from the thick stuff)that left me with 150 up the hill to the pin. Shaky hole so far. Hit a decent PW to the front portion of the green and was left with 23 feet for par up a McKensie to the hole. Lagged it to 2 feet and missed the 2 footer! 3-putt and double bogey! Total 79 shots, 5/13 fairways, 6/18 greens and 30 putts. Even though the fairways and GIR numbers are not very impressive, I felt like the iron game was very good. My game around the greens were superb, but my putting from close range hurt the score a lot. Good to finally cross the 80 line from those tees (6300 yards, rating 72,7, slope 147), I have stumbled on the goalline several times.... On Sunday I shot another good round at another local course. 81 shots from the 58s (par 72, 6350 yards, rating 72,7, slope 142), is among my best rounds there, but it still felt a bit sloppy, especially the long game. I did hit a couple of marvellous shots off tee with my new 14,5° wood though. My HCP index is slowly creeping in the right direction now, and I'm currently playing at 6,1. Hopefully the progress continues 🙂

Made a pretty tap in birdie on an away course last week: Hole 3 on Old Fredrikstad GK, a 520 yards par 5, pretty straight with water left and OB right. It played down wind and the fairway ran pretty fast so it was optimal conditions for a long one off the tee (Smashed it down the right side (353 yards!!) . Only had an AW (149 yards) left (pin short right) for my second and had a 6 footer for eagle. Missed that, but had one of the easier eagles of the year. Two extremely satisfying shots to the green. Made another birdie there too, on the 15th, a 335 yards long par 4, dogleg right with water left and long left and OB left playing into wind. Hit a smooth 4W 230yards down the middle and a perfect AW to a back right holelocation, that lipped out and almost went in. 5 inch tapin in for a nice 3.

I'm afraid you can't miss some must see sites on that trip 😉. I would take the detour around "Trollstigen" on my way to Ålesund and make sure to see a bit of Jostedalsbreen though. You will see plenty of fjords and beautifull landscapes along the road. In Flåm you should try out Ægir brewery and pub with great local food and fantastic local bears, should be a very nice experience (might want to book a table here though). Ålesund is also a very nice town, with a lot of nice places to eat and drink on both sides of "Ålesundet" Added The Sapphire and Emerald courses on McDonalds in Whitchurch, England in the end of March. Added Gjersjøen GK and Gamle Fredrikstad in Norway this week. Now: Norway: 25 Sweden: 3 Denmark: 2 Spain: 5 Scotland: 1 Ireland: 1 Egypt: 1 England 2

A varying number of shanks have sneaked it's way into my rounds lately. With them I feel a lot more insecurity when I stand over the ball. It can be on any type of shot, from tee, from rough, from fairway, full swing, half swing, a short pitch etc. In my round on Saturday I had a stretch of tripple, tripple, double on three par 4 holes in row where I found myself in the middle of the fairway between 50-90 yards out after a great drive..... Ended up shooting 93 after going 20 over on the last 11 holes. Parking lots, houses next to the course etc. nothing was safe. It was like the connection I usually feel between eyes, hands and clubface was none existing for 2,5 hours....and it repeated itself yesterday, when I counted 12 pure shanks and shot 89..... there were some positives too, but with 3 tripples and 2 doubles on the scorecard I hardly feel comfortable standing over the ball now. Hopefully the curse will be lifted soon and I'll give it another go today.

What preventive measures do think is suitable to prevent privileged players, from modern democracies with individual freedom for all that respects human rights, to help dictators hold on to their power in countries that doesn't respect freedom and human rights for its citizens? I really don't care about the practical part of stripping a player of his trophies (not titles), and I don't think it would be possible to take away money earned in previous tour events. Olympic medals would be tough to take away from a player. Regarding your example with murder and sexual assault, I'm pretty sure the legal justice system would serve him a fair trial and a suitable punishment for the crimes commited, which is not at all related to golf. Receiving enormous amounts of money to play golf to sportswash the public image of one of the worst dictatorships in the world is golfrelated though (and not illegal). Not being able to freely choose which golftournaments to play anymore is hardly a serious consequence. These players will have to live with losing their honor and hopefully losing their fans and other sponsors. They should all have a serious look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves if they really want to be a key part of one of the most serious problems in sports today. They are all pissing on the people suppressed, killed, imprisoned and/or robbed of their freedom by the Saudi regime. Maybe they should witness the next public beheading (by sword) and crucifixion of a person found guilty of blasphemi, speaking up against the regime, homosexuality, witchcraft, sorcery, apostasy or maybe good old adultery.

It might be too harsh, and the trophies these players have won, as you say, have been won fair and square. The reason I mentioned it is because I believe we need to take strong preventive measured in use to cope with sportswashing. The consequenses for joining LIV should be known for the players before they make that choice, not after. It's still baffling that players join and I don't believe any of these players are naive enough to not understand what they will be part of. It's obvious that pointing fingers isn't working or is a strong enough measure, when it's also obvious that many of these players already have broken moral compasses and don't care who their employers are or what people think. It must hurt the players to make decisions like this. If the players know they will be stripped of their medals and trophies if they cross this line, maybe they'll at least give it another thought before making such a horrible decision. They would in that case do it voluntarily knowing most of the consequenses of doing it. The 48 players that has now crossed this line will unfortunately lower the bar for other players to cross that same line in the future if it turns out it doesn't have any serious consequences for them. I don't like it. I think the Saudi regime is a lot worse than the Emirates, even though the Emirates are bad too.

Sure Mr. Suppressor and Dictator, give me enough green and I'll perform at your fancy dinner party. What is going on with people? Would they take money from Hitler, Idi Amin, Mugabe or Stalin to make them shine a little brighter as well? Very dissapointed with every single one on that list. Just ban them from the European tour, the PGA tour and all majors for life and strip them of all silverwear won already.

I played a great round of golf yesterday. I decided to play from the 48s (red tees - 5300 yards, par 72, rating 68,0/slope 137) and go for everything: Hole 1 (441 yards par 5): Good drive to the right side of the fairway with 150 yards left to pin. Hit my PW very fat and short and was still left with 55 yards in for my 3rd shot. Hit a great 60° from there to 5 feet. Sunk it for Birdie! (-1) Hole 2 (113 yards par 3): 15 yards downhill shot, so I hit a soft 56°. Chunked it and ended up short of the green with 15 yards left to the pin. My chip from thre went 10 feets past the hole, but I holed the putt. Par (-1) Hole 3 (325 yards par 4): Horrible drive left and to the sky (left a nice little scar on the top of my driverhead) to the woods on the left with 190 yards left to the pin. The lie was horrible and the gap I had was maybe 4 feet. DIdn't get any good contact on the second and didn't hit the gap, so I only got it 25 yards forward, but evene further left to another horrible lie in thick rough next to a tree. My 3rd shot move the ball 40 yards further up on the left side, but out of treetrouble to a better lie in the rough. With 125 left to the pin I managed to get it to the back left fringe from there with a nice shot with my AW. A nice lagputt from there left my with an easy tap in for a double. (+1) Hole 4 (100 yards par 3 - 195 yard from the tees I usually play from): Meant to hit a soft 56°, but bladed it and flew to some thick rough 25 yards behind the green. Managed to hack it out from there to the semi rough 6-7 yards from the green and hit a great chip from there to a foot for a tap in. Bogey. (+2) Hole 5 (330 yards par 4): Hit a nice 4W to the semirough on the right (dogleg left) and left myself with 83 yards in. Chunked my 60° from there and left my self with 40 yards in from the fairway. Hit a nice little 60° from there to around 6 feet, but needed 2 putts from there. Bogey. (+3) Hole 6 (305 yards par 4): Not a driving hole as is very narrow the last 110 yards to the green with hazard on the left and lost ball land on the right. I hit a 9-iron and lost a bit left to the left rough, which left me with 150 yards in where I needed some height and carry to get over some trees and the hazard on the left. I didn't catch my PW great, but good enough to get over the trouble to the fairway 5 yards short of the green. Made a nice up'n'down from there. Par. (+3) Hole 7 (320 yards par 4): A hard dogleg left with hazard all along the left side and a large pond in front of the green. Usually the 2nd hardest hole on the course, but not now though, as there is some work on the course just after the dogleg. Where all ball that goes into this area get a free drop in a dropzone 60 yards from the green. I hit a nice 8 iron the just ran into the GUR area and hit a great 60° from the DZ to 4 feet. Dropped the putt for birdie! (+2) Hole 8 (172 yards par 3): Plays around 20 feet uphill, so I hit an 8 iron. I lost i bit to the left again, so it ended up pin high in the semi with a steep downhill lie around 5 yards left of the green. Chunked the chip a bit and was left with a 15 footer for par, that I didn't make. Bogey. (+3) Hole 9 (435 yards par 5): This hole plays around 25 yards uphill. Hit a great drive to the middle of the fairway that left me with around 180 to the middle of the green and around 172 to this front pin location. It's around 15 yards uphill and I had a slight breeze in the back, so I hit my 8 iron from there. A great shot to 10 feet pin high and I drained the putt which had around 1,5 foot right to left break in it for an eagle!!. (+1) Hole 10 (460 yards par 5): This is a hard dogleg left hole that is a good bit downhill and played into breeze yesterday. I hit a good drive, but it ended up a bit right of my target, so I had a 203 yards shot from the right rough in from there. Hit a great 6 iron from there to around 25 feet. Two putt from there and a streefree birdie! (E) Hole 11 (155 yards par 3): This hole plays a lot easier from this teebox compared to where I usually play from. I caught my PW very thin and I flew the green, was cought in the upslope behind the green and rolled back to the semi rough around 2 yards from the green with 7 yards to the pin, that was placed in the back of the green. Made a great little chip with my AW from there that rolled out nicely and fell into the hole. Birdie! (-1) Hole 12 (280 yards par 4): Drivable par 4 which plays around 15 yards uphill (the first 170 yards - flat from there) with a blind teeshot. Hit a good drive that ended up pin high in rough 5 yards left of the green. Hit anothe nice chip from there with my PW to a nice tap in birde! (-2) An eagle, 4 birdies and a bogey in the last 6 holes! Never been on a streak like this before. Hole 13 (340 yards par 4): Hit a good drive to semirough just left of the fairway and was left with 55 yards to the pin. Had tricky downhill lie, but hit a nice litte 60° to 15 feet from there. 2 putts and par. (-2) Hole 14 (467 yards par 5): This is usually for me the hardest hole on the course. From the longer tees this is not a driving hole as it is very narrow from 200-300 yards from there and feeds heavy towards the hazard that runs through the entire left side. From this tee you need around 240 carry to clear the narrow area and reach a wide part of the fairway, so hit driver. Started it a bit to far right and touched several trees on the right side, but was lucky with the bounces and ended up in a good lie in the rough on the right side. To far back to reach for the green in 2 though (only around 200 yards out). With 265 yards to the most claustrophobic green, ther was only one option: to lay up. Hit a nice little PW from there and left myself with 110 left to the pin. The only good miss around this green is short, so it is either short, green, fringe or big trouble. My soft AW from there was good though and ended up on the green 20 feet short of the pin. 2 putt and another good par. (-2) Hole 15 (75 yards par 3): On this hole there is literally only the green to land on. Hazard with drop zone short, left and right and bigger trouble long.... I managed to hit the ball just below equator with my 70% 60° and ended up in some bushes 25 yards long. Needed 4 shots to get out of there and save a double. (E) Hole 16 (280 yards par 4): Not a driving hole for me as it is very narrow the last 100 yards and dogleg right with a hazard on the left side and the terrain feeding towards the hazard. Hit a great AW that rolled out to the middle of the fairway with just 110 yards left. From there I didn't want to play with the lake on the left so I aimed a little right and ended up pin high on the green,but with a tricky downhill putt (35 feet) from the top level of a McKenzie green. This was just after a little shower of rain, so I misscalculated the speed and left it 6 feet short. Didn't make the 6 footer, that had more than a foot break in it, for par. Bogey. (+1) Hole 17 (280 yards par 4): Uphill dogleg left. The smart play is 8/7 iron and leave yourself with 100 yards in, but I went for driver. Didn't get the fade I ordered and ended up in the creek on the right. Penalty and a drop in the rough with 40 yards to the pin. Hit a decent shot to the left fringe and got up'n'down from there for a bogey (+2) Hole 18 (420 yards par 5!): 25 yards uphill and pretty straight with water along the first 300 yards on the right. Big trouble left if you hit it more than 30 yards out of your line. Hit a good drive up the hill the middle of the fairway and was left with 150 yards (15 yards uphill to the pin (back hole location on the top shelf of a McKenzie green) Hit a very good 9 iron from there that ended up in the left fringe pin high with just 15 feet to the hole. Went with putter and left it 2 inches short. Tap in birdie! (+1) 73 shots (1 over par), 6/13 fairways, 9/18 greens, 26 putts and a lot of fun. A round with a lot of great golf, and some bad golf! I recommend playing the course a bit shorter than usual every now and then. It's almost like a new course and you end up in so many new situations. Good for your confidence as well