Avalanche

Bad back and poor flexibility. But really, my bad back doesn't hurt my game as much as poor hand to eye coordination and my inability to read greens. lol

Hit the practice green twice, once before work and again after lunch. 15 minutes practicing short pitch shots out of rough. Another 15 minutes practicing short pitch shots out of fairway. With both 52 and 56 wedges.

I bought Gamegolf last week, tagged my clubs, and now I’m off and running. I’m hoping it will reveal the weakest part of my weak golf game—the things I need to work on most. About me as a golfer: I’ve played off and on for 30 years, but never been much good. I’ve never played more than 10 rounds per year until last year. In fact, at age 32 I gave up golf, in frustration, for a 10 year stretch. Didn’t touch a club for a whole decade. So basically I’m a 50-something year old guy who is more or less just now taking up golf. My ghin handicap is a 22. I belong to a country club a few blocks from my house. Quite a few members there are single digit handicappers, including a handful of scratch or near scratch golfers. My goals are more humble. I’d like to get into the middle teens. I’m open to any suggestions TST has to offer—which is basically why I’m posting the GG stuff. I’ve been working exclusively on my short game this past month. Mostly on chip shots and short pitch shots. I’ve improved some, but still have a long ways to go. Really, I have a long ways to go in all phases of my game. Here are the first two nines I played (and four practice holes) after the long winter layoff: http://www.gamegolf.com/player/Avalanche/round/819837 http://www.gamegolf.com/player/Avalanche/round/817276 http://www.gamegolf.com/player/Avalanche/round/814749

Danny Willett might be one of my luckiest picks evar! ============================================== btw, I changed my TST username from Volkey to Avalanche. As in "avalanche of strokes"—a quote from Tin Cup.

15 minutes hiting 7-iron at the range. 15 minutes hitting 56 wedge to a target.

5 minutes stretching and back exercises. 15 minutes at the range chipping and short pitches.

I enjoy playing 2 or 3 scramble events a year. And I've played in a Tuesday night league for a couple of years that plays various scramble formats. It's not *real* golf though. I mean, never a bad lie. And we're allowed to move the ball up to club length from the original ball. So, never behind a tree or other obstacle.

I mark my ball with a thick black line that goes about halfway around. I line it up with my direction of ball flight. Or maybe I should say my *intended* direction. I use the black line to line up putts also.

20 minutes at practice green with 7i and 52 gap wedge. Playing 8 balls, alternating 4 shots with 7i then 4 with gap wedge.

The head pro at my club started using Game Golf last season. He said that before the season he figured he hit it around 270 on average. But at the end of the summer Game Golf informed him that his average drive was 256. He's not prone to exaggeration, and he certainly knows his stuff. So I guess all of us, even the best golfers, tend to forget the snap hooks, slices and misses that get caught up in the rough and fall 40 or 50 yards short of our good drives.

15 minutes at the practice green chipping and short pitches. Still got the Pachinko greens from the aeration plugs taken out last week.

I actually do wear a straw fedora golf hat a lot like this. Except mine has a U.S. Open hat band that's bit wider than this.

Just bought a Vokey 48.08 SM5 like the one above. Got in on eBay this morning. So it'll be few days before I get. It matches the two Vokeys I carry now, a 52.08 gap wedge and a 56.14 lob wedge (that I use out of sand). I think I'm set for wedges. For now. lol

Yeah, good point for those who play on crowded courses. I didn't think of that since I mostly play by myself on a course that gets very little use. I generally have plenty of time to scope distances, play two or three balls in, take an extra shot here and there, etc.

Given that so many people have distance range finders it seems like most people would know about how far their drives go. I mean, how often do you go out when no one in the group has some sort of device to measure distance? I'll bet those same high handicap duffers who claim 270 yard drives also brag about their 9 inch schlongs. Just sayin..

Drizzly and cold out. No practice greens today. Spent 10 minutes practice putting indoors. Working on alignment. I have a problem getting my eyes lined up over the ball. I tend to position my eyes about an inch outside the ball. This causes a pull which I've subconsciously learned to compensate for. I need to line up, eyes over the ball, and knock it straight in. It's a work in progress.

I'd hit exotic courses that I wouldn't otherwise have access to. Augusta 湯臣高爾夫, 上海 (Tomson Golf Club, Shanghai) Valderrama, Prov de Cadiz, Spain

Wow, I'm embarrassed to say. Aside from what's in my bag I have 6 sets of irons, including two old sets of Pings and two sets of MacGregor blades. Have four drivers and 8 or 9 fairway woods. Have at least 10 putters. And several misc clubs. There are four of my putters that I cycle through the bag. (The dang things just quit working for me every so often. lol) And I play a set of MacGregor blades once in a while—maybe once per summer or so. The rest of them just sit gathering dust. Guess I should sell them off, huh?

15 minutes at the practice green practicing chipping and short pitches. Damn it was cold out there this morning.

5i. I like my 4i, but the hybrid I replaced it with hits better out of light rough. And it's more forgiving in the fairway if you fat it just a little bit.

This would be FUN to watch! But it also seems like LPGA players don't spin the ball back towards the hole as much. They might have to change the hole positions too from the normal PGA set up with so many short sided holes, and holes guarded by hazards.

Spent 20 minutes this morning chipping with 7-iron and short pitches with a 52 gap wedge. Alternating between the two clubs from similar distances trying to get a feel for how hard to hit each. Seems like I tend to blow past the hole with my 7-iron and leave my short gap wedge pitches short.

Hit the driving range with my five year old son for a half hour. Then we spent another half hour at the practice green playing chip-tag. What is chip-tag do you ask? He chips it on and putts once. Then I chip on and putt once trying to hit his ball. If I can hit his ball I get a point. If not, he gets a point. It's good up-and-down practice for me. (btw, He creamed me in our little game. lol)

The course where I play has a dress code which I abide by. But I often swing by for a quick session at the practice green or driving range wearing my jeans. (I generally wear jeans to work.) Some of the older, fuddy duddy members will give me a sideways look once in a while. But so far no one has said anything. btw, I asked about the dress code for the practice green and driving range. The head pro told me that jeans are fine. Just no jeans out on the course is all.

Hit the practice green for 15 minutes this morning. They sanded the green which took *some* of the pachinko action out of it. Still had some weird bounces though. Practiced chipping and short pitches with my 7-iron and gap wedge from five spots around the green, hitting three balls to different holes. Wind blowing 25 mph, and about 47 degrees out. Not very good golfing weather.