I don't know about you, but we took a long roadtrip from western NY to Rock Hill, SC for the Thanksgiving holiday. My wife and I left Tuesday afternoon and drove down to see her brother. And oh yes, we played golf---sort of.....
Let me clarify a few things first and foremost: The first round on Thursday was played on a course that was underwater from the day long drenching it got on Wednesday, the second round on Friday was delayed about 45 minutes due to frost (it was 38 degrees in SC!!!). Although, once the frost delay was over it turned out to be a bright sunny 55 degrees. Finally, third round was delayed one hour and ten minutes by frost once again, it was a mere 34 degrees when we teed off and never got above 45 or so.
Ok here goes........
Round one at Waterford Golf Club (Inverness tees, 6513 yards) featured 4 penalty strokes and three 3-putts!!!!!!!! Ouch. I rarely have penalty strokes and I lost 4 balls in various places due to poor shots, club selection and a lack of local knowledge. All and all, after all of that mess, I shot 84. Not bad. I did birdie one par three (a 2 always makes a score card look better) This was a very good course. Too bad it was very wet due to quite a bit of rain the day before, and unfortunately I posted poor numbers.
Round two was the pits. Tega Cay Golf Course (Carolina Pines and Grande View nines, blue tees, 6500+ yards). Again, I loved the course but my game that day did not. My wife will not tell me what I shot. It had to be close to 90 or even worse. I don't want to know. This course was a good one. Excellent lay-out and fast greens. The one and only highlight was the 3 iron on the number 3 handicap hole from 195 that hit the pin and stopped about 6 feet from the pin. (of course, that was one highlight that could have been even better if I had nailed the birdie, but alas I did not). The second shot on that par four hole was all carry over a deep valley and a very shallow green. It was one of very few highlights on a very bad round of golf.
The last round (Highland Creek, blue tees, 6520 yards) started out bad and did not get much better. I had a bad case of the "lefts" with just about every second shot I had. I was coming over the top of everything and trapping it and that swing always produces a yank. I swung so poorly with a 3 wood on one hole that I hurt both of my wrists as my club gouged out a rather hefty divot. This is another fine golf course and I would play it again in a minute, hopefully with better results. This too is a round that I really don't want to know what I shot. It had to be close to 90 again. The 18th hole was a par five with a huge lake all the way from tee to green and the entire fairway sloped rather severely towards the water. I bit off a bit more than I should have and dumped my tee shot in the water (why not). At this point I just dropped in the fairway and went for the green from about 210 over the rest of the lake and of course dumped that one in the drink as well. I pretty much did not care at that point, however and picked up.
On the bright side of all of this I have to say that I pretty much put on a clinic with my driver. There are 42 fairways to hit in 54 holes of golf, excluding par 3's. I don't think that I missed more than 10 or so. I have developed a routine with my driver that gives me great confidence on the tee. I have to apply that same deliberate approach to my second and third shots and for some reason I don't. I will for next season however. I am hitting the driver too will to shoot as poorly as I did last week.
Well, I know that I probably bore you all with my blow by blow discriptions of my rounds, both good and bad. But here I can rant and rave, toot my own horn and get it off my chest without any rolling eyes (that I can see) to make me feel like a braggert. I should have been a TV golf analyst I think. I like to talk about shots that I have made and some that other people have made.
Monday, November 29, 2004
Monday, November 15, 2004
Fall golf = bonus golf
I killed myself in my yard on Saturday 11/13, raking leaves and cutting the grass one last time, knowing full well that Sunday was going to be a beautiful day, sunny and 48 degrees for the high. Not bad for mid-November. Remember, I live in Western NY and winter is just down the street. So this is our silly-season, bonus golf as I like to call it.
I met my buddy, Ron (he is a fall golf junkie like me) at 10 AM, but we had a frost delay, go figure. We did get on the tee at about 10:30....it was still only about 38 degrees. With winter gloves and woolen hats we headed out. I managed a solid triple bogey on the par five first hole, it came complete with two tree shots and a three putt. I fell behind to Ron by three when he parred the hole. I managed to three putt the next hole for bogey, and it was on baby!
I just could not get anything going. I did manage to par two holes and after three great shots on the eighth, a tough par five, I blasted my 15 foot birdie put about 10 feet past and three putted for a really bad bogey. After yet another bogey on the ninth, I carded a poorly crafted 45 to Ron's 46....up by one at the turn.
I realized that I had been gripping the club way too tightly and made a conscious effort to lighten up on the grip. It worked. I just missed my par putt on the par five 10th and grumbled a bit, but it was not the putt, but the yanked 7 iron that hit another tree that led to the bogey. Then things got interesting.........
I nearly aced the 11th from about 140 yards and made a four footer for bird. I actually thought that the tee shot was going in, it did not miss by more than a foot or so as it rolled by the hole. I then parred the next four in a row and bogied the 16th go to one over on the back. Our seventeenth hole was a par 3 playing uphill to a three tiered green. The pin was in the back right and it was playing about 210 to the pin as best as we could tell. Ron hits a five wood with a big hook and it landed on the edge of the green and stopped about 15 feet from the hole, GREAT SHOT on that hole. I hit a 3 wood to the middle of the green, about 60 feet away. No problem, up and over a ridge and if it goes too far by it is off the back of the green. Hit it and hope.............
My birdie putt rolled in the heart of the hole and I could not believe it. Ron just shook his head. His fifteen footer just got a lot longer. He calmly rolled his in to cancel out my birdie. We looked at each other and thought that it is a rare feat the both players in a group birdie that tough, tough hole. I was back to even par on the back and parred the 18th to shoot 36 on the back.
After a pretty poor front nine, I hit the ball very well on the back and ended up with a respectable 81 in the cold sun. By the way, I kept my winning streak alive against Ron.
I met my buddy, Ron (he is a fall golf junkie like me) at 10 AM, but we had a frost delay, go figure. We did get on the tee at about 10:30....it was still only about 38 degrees. With winter gloves and woolen hats we headed out. I managed a solid triple bogey on the par five first hole, it came complete with two tree shots and a three putt. I fell behind to Ron by three when he parred the hole. I managed to three putt the next hole for bogey, and it was on baby!
I just could not get anything going. I did manage to par two holes and after three great shots on the eighth, a tough par five, I blasted my 15 foot birdie put about 10 feet past and three putted for a really bad bogey. After yet another bogey on the ninth, I carded a poorly crafted 45 to Ron's 46....up by one at the turn.
I realized that I had been gripping the club way too tightly and made a conscious effort to lighten up on the grip. It worked. I just missed my par putt on the par five 10th and grumbled a bit, but it was not the putt, but the yanked 7 iron that hit another tree that led to the bogey. Then things got interesting.........
I nearly aced the 11th from about 140 yards and made a four footer for bird. I actually thought that the tee shot was going in, it did not miss by more than a foot or so as it rolled by the hole. I then parred the next four in a row and bogied the 16th go to one over on the back. Our seventeenth hole was a par 3 playing uphill to a three tiered green. The pin was in the back right and it was playing about 210 to the pin as best as we could tell. Ron hits a five wood with a big hook and it landed on the edge of the green and stopped about 15 feet from the hole, GREAT SHOT on that hole. I hit a 3 wood to the middle of the green, about 60 feet away. No problem, up and over a ridge and if it goes too far by it is off the back of the green. Hit it and hope.............
My birdie putt rolled in the heart of the hole and I could not believe it. Ron just shook his head. His fifteen footer just got a lot longer. He calmly rolled his in to cancel out my birdie. We looked at each other and thought that it is a rare feat the both players in a group birdie that tough, tough hole. I was back to even par on the back and parred the 18th to shoot 36 on the back.
After a pretty poor front nine, I hit the ball very well on the back and ended up with a respectable 81 in the cold sun. By the way, I kept my winning streak alive against Ron.
Monday, November 08, 2004
In all honesty....
Yesterday as I played golf with my buddy (and former boss) Ron, we were tied neck and neck at the turn with a pair of 43's. He was psyched that he tied me on the front nine because I have had his number for a couple of years now. Then came the back nine.
I pulled ahead by three after parring the first three holes on the back nine. Then came #13. I hit my drive down the right side of the fairway and from experience know the it was either under, behind, or right in front of one of several pine trees. Ron hit his drive in perfect position right in the middle of the fairway.
Of course, my drive ended up on the green side of the last pine tree in question and I had a limited (no) backswing. I did not panic, however, and while waiting for the green to clear I weighed my options.....chip out with a 7 iron (smart play) , try to hit a screaming chop shot with a 4 iron (less smart play) or try to actually reach the green from just about 100 yards by running a 5 wood along the ground (really risky play). Well. after several practice swings with all three clubs, I chose the dumbest one. "Let's try flatten our swing with a 5 wood and run one onto the green from under a tree, off a down hill lie, off dirt. Yeah, that ought to work", I said to myself.
It didn't.
In fact, I actually whiffed. Not once, oh no, I had to try that high percentage shot twice. So, not only did I whiff the first time, I actually ran the count to 0-2 and I had to call time out. I ended up switching to the 4 iron and chopping it out. I managed to card a smooth 7 on the very short par four. Damn.
There went my lead as my buddy made par. Back to all even.
Here is where the honesty part kicks in.....Ron did not know that I had whiffed, he thought that I was just making a practice swing. I informed him on the green that I had in fact whiffed twice and had seven not five as he thought I had. Now I could have kept those two special swings all to myself and carded a bogey. But my honesty and the integrity of this great game shone through and I posted a solid triple bogey on my card.
I went on to par the rest of the holes for a pretty good 39 with a two-whiff triple bogey and kept my winning streak over Ron in tact. More importantly, I kept my integrity in tact as well.
I pulled ahead by three after parring the first three holes on the back nine. Then came #13. I hit my drive down the right side of the fairway and from experience know the it was either under, behind, or right in front of one of several pine trees. Ron hit his drive in perfect position right in the middle of the fairway.
Of course, my drive ended up on the green side of the last pine tree in question and I had a limited (no) backswing. I did not panic, however, and while waiting for the green to clear I weighed my options.....chip out with a 7 iron (smart play) , try to hit a screaming chop shot with a 4 iron (less smart play) or try to actually reach the green from just about 100 yards by running a 5 wood along the ground (really risky play). Well. after several practice swings with all three clubs, I chose the dumbest one. "Let's try flatten our swing with a 5 wood and run one onto the green from under a tree, off a down hill lie, off dirt. Yeah, that ought to work", I said to myself.
It didn't.
In fact, I actually whiffed. Not once, oh no, I had to try that high percentage shot twice. So, not only did I whiff the first time, I actually ran the count to 0-2 and I had to call time out. I ended up switching to the 4 iron and chopping it out. I managed to card a smooth 7 on the very short par four. Damn.
There went my lead as my buddy made par. Back to all even.
Here is where the honesty part kicks in.....Ron did not know that I had whiffed, he thought that I was just making a practice swing. I informed him on the green that I had in fact whiffed twice and had seven not five as he thought I had. Now I could have kept those two special swings all to myself and carded a bogey. But my honesty and the integrity of this great game shone through and I posted a solid triple bogey on my card.
I went on to par the rest of the holes for a pretty good 39 with a two-whiff triple bogey and kept my winning streak over Ron in tact. More importantly, I kept my integrity in tact as well.
Friday, November 05, 2004
A cool golf story
Several years ago we were playing the second round of the first and only Crosby, Crosby, Crosby, Crosby Open up in the middle of nowhere in NH. We were cruising along, waiting for no one in front of us and not being rushed by anyone behind us. When suddenly a foursome came flying up behind us and caught us on what I remember was the 16th hole. Would you believe one of the group was none other than Gene Sarazen!!!
We later found out that he had a home up there at the time and was doing some consulting work at this particular golf course. We decided that since they came out of nowhere, that we should probably let them play through. And we did just that. All four of their group knocked it on the green on the par 3. We walked to the green with them as we had already hit our tee-shots.
Gene Sarazen calmly rolled in about a 30 footer for his birdie and my father canned his from about 15 ft and proudly proclaimed that he and Gene always birdie that hole when they play together!!!!!
I will always remember that moment on the golf course.
Another funny (to me) story about that round was that one of my brothers found out on the first tee that the epoxy on every one of his clubs had come undone and the heads were spinning freely on the shaft. He was understandably very angry. He had to use rental clubs and never calmed down after finding his clubs were unusable and played very poorly that day. I will have to remember that tactic for the next Open.
Oh, by the way: I won the Open with back to back 80's. (Why do I remember that?)
We later found out that he had a home up there at the time and was doing some consulting work at this particular golf course. We decided that since they came out of nowhere, that we should probably let them play through. And we did just that. All four of their group knocked it on the green on the par 3. We walked to the green with them as we had already hit our tee-shots.
Gene Sarazen calmly rolled in about a 30 footer for his birdie and my father canned his from about 15 ft and proudly proclaimed that he and Gene always birdie that hole when they play together!!!!!
I will always remember that moment on the golf course.
Another funny (to me) story about that round was that one of my brothers found out on the first tee that the epoxy on every one of his clubs had come undone and the heads were spinning freely on the shaft. He was understandably very angry. He had to use rental clubs and never calmed down after finding his clubs were unusable and played very poorly that day. I will have to remember that tactic for the next Open.
Oh, by the way: I won the Open with back to back 80's. (Why do I remember that?)
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