Winter (?) golf?

Well, here it is the day after Thanksgiving in Western NY and it the sun is shining and the temps have hit the mid 60"s!!!! I played Victor Hills North today with "the boys" and had something to prove. The last time we played I played like a pig and shot 86. Needless to say I was not too pleased with that mess.

Today was a totally different story. After parring the first two holes, I hit three horrible tee shots...a duck slice and a duck hook and another lovely duck slice... in a row. However, I managed to make bogey on the first two and made a 15 footer for par on the third. After a two putt birdie on the 6th hole and bogey on #8 I carded a pretty solid 38 on the front.

I finally got my back to loosen up on the 6th hole and from then on I hit the driver pretty damn well. I don't think that I missed another fairway until our 16th hole.

We were playing for quarters and the 17th was worth a bundle after a bunch of carry overs. I missed the green on the par three but knocked in a 6 footer for par to net a ton of quarters from the boys. I usually do not do very well in the money department, but today I netted $13 from my playing partners. So, the $8 it cost me to play ended up being free plus $5. Nice.

I left two birdie butts right on the edge on the back, made a miraculous par on our 16th hole, and one putted the last three holes for an even par 36 on the back.

A 74 this late in the year is pretty darn good. The greens are beginning to freeze and are pretty hard. I actually slipped hitting my drive on one hole due to the nearly frozen turf on the tee box. Other than that hole however, the course was pretty good and very playable.

If I don't get out again this season I finished with a very strong 74 after that nasty 86 a few weeks ago. My handicap sits at 5.1, the lowest it has ever been. I am pleased.

A fall golf date with my golfer chick

My wife is my favorite golfing partner. Period. I enjoy her company and her game on the course. I enjoy our handicapped match play contests that amount to nothing more than a source of entertainment during the round. Most often it comes down to the last hole before things are decided however if I play my best she cannot beat me and vice versa. My 5 handicap vs. her 23 gives her the perfect one stroke per hole to keep it close most of the times.

Last Friday we played some late season golf on a Veteran's Day work holiday. This late in the season afternoon rounds are dependent upon how late you tee off and how many people are in front of you holding you up. We play very quickly and this day we ran into the dreaded wall of slow players on the 4th hole of the South Course so we doubled back and played holes 2, 3 and 4 a second time which gave us a cushion again.

We caught the masses again on the 12th hole and decided that the daylight was not going to last if we stayed behind the back up so we skipped to the 4th on the North Course and played #4 and 5 before catching up to another group. We decided to bag it and head on in.

We had fun trying to find a solution to the waning sunlight. In the end we played a full 17 holes after zipping to and fro trying to escape the groups ahead of us. Its too bad because for the official 12 holes that we played I was only 3 over and Joanie, while having not played in about 3 weeks, was also playing well.

If we don't get out together again this year it will be too bad, but we did have fun last week.