Uncle Peter

Most of the times a longer club and try to abbreviate the follow through. Always something I take time to practice at the range though.

My two cents on recent customer support: nothing but positive. Had an issue with their mapping of a new course that I played (tagged fairway shots weren't recorded as fairways hits, mapping seemed skewed to the right). Was able to contact their support using the live chat feature and instantly was paired up with a rep, who managed to fix the issue in about 20 mins. Easy!

Par 5, 535 yards downhill dogleg left with water all along the left side and tree-lined on the right, green also protected by water on the left. Placed myself at the centre of the bend with a nice drive, 206 yards to the hole. Managed to hit a 3W perfect, over the water, and got it to land pin high, about 25 feet away. Unfortunately three-putted for a disappointing par.

Cobra Bio Cell Had it for a few years now, love it's overall looks especially when I'm standing over it. Has some loft adjustability too, which I plan to use once I start hitting it better.

End of October is usually the norm, but it's really weather dependent. (For example, a few courses were opened on Christmas Day a few years ago, because there was a warm patch!) On the other hand, we've had a warmer than usual summer, so this may continue into the fall. I'd say bring the clubs, worst case there's a few good year-round ranges here as well.

I mostly play whites. I'll occasionally play from the blues on certain courses so that I can practice some longer, tougher shots. For example, I recently added a 3 iron to my set and played a round from the blues just so I could hit that particular club more often.

203 yard par 3 from the tips, downhill and surrounded by bunkers. Hit a 3H with a nice draw to 5 foot. Missed the birdie putt but was happy with par nonetheless.

41 on the front nine of my home course from the white tees. No doubles, made excellent contact with all my irons, was one of my best!

Going out for the first time this season, figured it's a good time to post my goals: 1) Make better contact with my iron shots (i.e. those shots where you don't even feel yourself hitting the ball) 2) Play courses in my area that I haven't played before/play more rounds overall 3) Get my chipping and putting back to what it used to be

1) Sort've. Halfway through the season, I decided to go ahead and just play my natural fade and forgo fixing my swing to fix it. It worked out, as I had a fair idea of where the ball would be going. 2) Yes, mainly with the driver due to #1 3) I had a couple, but I just didn't get to play enough. 4) I didn't play more rounds overall, but I did play courses that I'd only played once or twice before, as opposed to my regular courses.

I played a "course" in my area called Parkshore Golf Club. It's interesting to say the least. The course is dead centre in the middle of an industrial zone. Large industrial warehouses on most sides and a railway line on the other side. Awhile back it was a pretty nice course, one of the longest 9-hole courses in Ontario. Recently however they changed owners and the place has gone downhill. Bad greens, flooded fairways, debris and dead birds all over the course. Rumor has it that the new owner doesn't care about the course and just wants to sell the land to developers.

Mid par 3 for me. I'm always interested in how each course I play at designed their par 3's. It's cool to see all the different things they think of to make the hole difficult since they can't rely on distance to do that.

I've played about 30, all in Ontario (actually, all within about an hour of me). There's a ton of great courses near me that I haven't played and I'm making an effort this year to play a lot more of them. I like collecting the little pencils with the course's name on them and if I really like the course I'll buy a ball marker or something.

Came back from seven shots behind to beat a friend.

Mine was on a 134 yard par 3, over water to a downwards sloping green (towards the water). I hit an 8I just over the green and had a downhill chip towards the water. I chipped on with a SW okay, to about 20 feet, then made the slinging downhill putt for par.

First round of the season, shot an 84 at a new par 63 course in my area. My friend and I decided to make it a competitive match. Long story short, he was beating me by five shots after the front nine (by seven shots after 13 holes). I then went +1 for the last five holes (my partner had a Speith-like collapse during this point) and I managed to beat him by one shot after parring the final par 5 18th hole. I was pretty proud of myself for staging a comeback and was impressed with how I was swinging things on the back nine. Hopefully it's a sign for the rest of the season!

I'm planning on upgrading my 56* sand wedge to either a Vokey SM5/6 or Callaway Mack Daddy PM grind. I haven't done much research into either of these clubs yet. I'm looking for a club mainly for my short game, something to use around the greens, in rough, or to play those tricky shots. Basically from about 40 yards in. Looking forward to testing out the both clubs, and the different Vokey grinds too.

My 2016 Goals: 1) Improve strike with driver (i.e. hit the clubface center more often) 2) Consistency, with swing, distances, ball paths, etc. 3) Shoot more sub-90 rounds. Should follow from completing other goals 4) Hit more greens in regulations 5) Play more courses. There's a lot of quality courses in my area that I've been wanting to play.

1) No eagle, but did get very close a couple of times. Hybrid/Wood accuracy and distance did improve though. 2) Drives did get longer towards the end of this season and a little more straighter. I should add that they also became more predictable, see below. 3) Contact with my irons was slightly better overall (when I could remember what I was doing wrong!). 4) This was mostly a problem with my driver. I did find a few drills that reduced it to a point where it's more manageable and predictable, but I haven't eliminated it. Instead I just decided to live with it, and adjust my drives accordingly. It actually worked and I'm now hitting a nice fade with my drives. Overall, my swing has slightly improved and my shots (especially drives) have become a bit more predictable, which is always nice.

Anything under 90. After that I play the last few holes...

2nd hole at a tougher course, 183 yard downhill par 3 with a green on top of a hill below. Hit an easy 4H that drew with the wind and landed pin high 2 feet from the hole. Easy birdie (I've never made one so early in a round)

I was on the 18th hole at my course, which is a long downhill par 5 about 530 yards long, tree-lined. I hit an okay tee shot that found the centre of the fairway, then hit the best 3 wood shot I've ever hit in my life. Perfect contact, perfect swing, perfect everything plus I didn't even feel the ball when I hit. The ball went about 270 yards which is longer than most of my drives. I ended up parring the hole after an 80 yard chip and two-putt.

I purchased a Cobra BiO Cell Driver from a golf store in my area (Golf Town for any of you who know it) in August of last year. I love the driver and it's helped me so much with my driving. I would highly recommend it. A few days ago, I'm on the 1st tee at my local course. I pull out the BiO Cell, take a swing, and the clubhead completely snaps off and flies ahead. Luckily I was able to find the head. The club snapped just above the hosel. I've heard of other companies having a warranty on their clubs, but am not sure about Cobra. Does anyone know if my driver will be covered by a warranty? It's still relatively new as I purchased it later in the season last year. -Uncle Peter

12th hole at a public course near me (par 3 138 yards): The hole is on top of a hill surrounded by forest and trees that run away down the hill. The pin is on the left side of the green so I decide to hit a draw over a few trees, but end up pushing ball deep into the downhill forest. I manage to find my ball and hit a SW through trees and up the hill onto the right fringe, about 40 foot away. I make the putt for a very unlikely par.