Author: vet4golfing51

A rain out today so only played 2 and half rounds this week. Did add a new course this week as we went to Pittsburgh North in Bakerstown Pa. about a 40 minute drive. Pittsburgh North is an older challenging course with lots of interesting holes, trees and water. The tees we played from were about 6700 yards and course played to a par of 72. The course was in excellent shape and the greens were smooth, but a little slow at 4.5 on the stimp. I really liked this course and would have liked it even more with a little quicker greens. There is a great variety of holes and the course has a nice flow to it and is not too hilly. The hot dog at the turn was one of those fatter dogs which is not my favorite but the dog was cooked very well and the condiments were good. The young lady who served it was also very nice, so that didn’t hurt my taste buds either. This course was worth the trip and will probably be in the top 20. This week, I also got some of my mojo back. Thank goodness for notes, especially if your an old person like me.  After reviewing my notes from earlier this summer I played 9 holes at Mt Lebanon and I got back into some solid ball striking.The biggest plus was that I got my distance back with all the clubs.  We had a three some at Pittsburgh North and we all did pretty good on this tough lay out. I shot 77, Pete had 80 and David 85. Played Scenic Valley on Thursday and managed a 78. The scores were not great but I finally untweaked the tweak and now can get into solving the mental game puzzle. I even think I made some progress on that this past Thursday. I was really looking forward to today but mother nature would not co-operate. This week is looking very good weather wise. With a well rested game and the physical side back in business I am hoping to get in about 5 and half rounds this week. I think the next 4 to 5 weeks  will be critical to the possible success in finding the answer to this goofy game. Seventy eight down with twenty two to go.

Finally a new course was added this week as we went to Totteridge in Greensburg Pa. about a 55 minute drive. This course started as a country club but ran into financial difficulties and went public about 5 years ago. The course played about 6600 yards from the tees we played from but has tees that will make the course play over 7000 yards long. We had a beautiful day to play golf and the course was in very good shape. This course is again one of these courses that I call a fake links course. They cut down all the trees, let weeds grow up that they call heather and hope the ocean moves in real quick. Despite this, the course does have many interesting holes. The fairways were very good, with the greens running a nice 6 on the stimp and were very smooth. The roughs were grown in nicely with very few bare spots. The course was fair and enjoyable to play. The green fees are a little stiff, but over all this course was worth the trip. If they get more competitive with the fees I am sure this course would get more play. The hot dog at the turn was ok but nothing special. We had a threesome and course got its way with most of us. I shot a ho hum 80 with no birdies and one double bogey. David had an 84 and Pete had a tough day with a 90. Earlier in the day I shot a 37 on the second 9 to go with my 34 of last week at Mt. Lebanon, but I do not know if that was good enough for a win. I played South Park on Saturday shot 37 on the front from the blue tees, but then storms came in and I went home. Today we went to Village Green and I shot a miserable 84. Before we get into that debacle, I have to mention one of the strangest shots I have ever hit in my life, the last time I played Village Green, about 10 days ago. It was on the 17th hole which is a very tight 400 yard par 4 with OB on the right and a creek on the left. The right side of the hole has a bank which will kick everything to the left. I hit a good solid drive along the right side just about 5 yards into the rough. The ball hit the top of the white 150 yard post, at the point that is angled at about 45 degrees toward the hole, and can not be more than an inch wide.  It caromed off the post way up in the air and backwards some 55 yards. The most accurate drive I have ever hit in my life. The odds of hitting that post exactly at that point some 250 yards away  would be far higher than getting a hole in one. Needless to say untweaking the tweak has been a much tougher endeavor than I would have ever thought. I will have some work to do this week and hopefully I can back to where I was about 5 weeks ago. At least a new course was added this week so I am one course closer to possibly being put out of my misery. Seventy seven courses down and twenty three to go.

No new courses again this week as competition and some threatening weather came into play. This was a very up and down week with some changes made. By the end of the week I had untweaked the tweak. The week started off well enough with a good 9 hole practice session at Mt. Lebanon. On Wednesday I got off to a solid start to the Mt Lebanon Men’s league championship by shooting a nice 1 under  34. I followed that up later in the day at Village Green with a 74. I was feeling pretty good going into the 36 hole North Park mens championship on Thursday. There I laid an enormous egg by shooting a very smooth 85. Nothing specatacular, 13 bogies and 5 pars. The second 18 was not much better but I finished up on the last 4 holes I played with 3 pars and birdie but then the rains came and I was ready to pack it in. Even though I had shot the 1 under par 34 on Wednesday, I made some very nice par saves and was quite fortunate to shoot the score. After giving the tweak a solid 3 to 4 weeks, I decided to go back to the original way I was doing the new swing. Over the weekend this gave me just so so results with a 74 at South Park and a 78 today at Riverview. I did feel more comfortable with the swing but poor thinking was the culprit for not scoring any better. I have to say this was one of the most disappointing weeks I have had in a long time. I still feel this is the answer to the physical side of the game. Not much work done on the mental side this week due to the fact that I made the swing change. Even though I thought this was a minor change and I was really narrowing down the controlling factor of the golf swing it seemed to me that these muscles just do not seem to do the job. Next week I feel certain that I will be adding a new course to the list. I also found some new reading material that may help with a muscle explanation on what I am doing. I don’t think there has been anything written for what my brain is doing. Obviously this game can jump right up and tear your heart out. Just ask Adam Scott. Does anybody dispute that this game is just plain goofy.

No new courses this week but a very good week none the less. On Wednesday we went back to what I call golf heaven, Mill Creek in Boardman Ohio for a 36 hole day. It was a perfect day for golf and the course was in great shape. Again we only paid 37.50 for 36 holes and a cart.  We played the North course in the morning and the South in the afternoon. I hit the ball really well in the morning but a bulky putter kept me from shooting any better than a 4 over par 74. I felt really good going over to the South course but then my brain went into stupid mode, started off with 2 double bogeys and never really recovered and shot an 82. I could shoot 90 on this golf course and still walk off the course a happy man. It was just another great day in golf heaven. On Sunday we played Murrysville, and I had a really up and down. After I bogied the easy first hole I righted the ship made a couple of nice pars and then birdied the par 3 fourth hole. After I parred the fifth hole I then proceeded to butcher one of the easiest holes on the course and double bogey a very short par 5. Then I settled down with 2 more birdies to be even par after 12 holes. Then I went into another funk and bogied 4 straight holes. I parred the last 2 holes to shoot a 76. I usually don’t go into such detail on a round but I think this is a good prelude to the next step into finding the answer. I am 95% sure I have the answer to the physical side of the game. This is the longest period in my golfing life that I have been swinging the club the same way. So now it’s time to go after the mental side of the game. Like the physical side of the game the mental game has had a lot written about it. We that play the game know the drill. Stay in the moment, stick to your routine, one shot at a time, and blah blah blah. Again, like on the way to hit a golf ball, I strongly feel that something is missing. I started this blog 2 years ago out of desperation to try and keep playing this game that was driving me nuts. It has taken me this long to find the swing thing. Hopefully I can find the mental key sooner. Speaking of mental, I may be slowing down on playing new courses subconsciously to give me more time to find the answer. Think about that for awhile. The search continues.

With grand kids and family in town for the week it was a welcome slow week on the circuit. I played 2 rounds this week both close to home. On Wednesday I shot 79 and today I had a big fat 83. This “little tweaking” I am doing with this swing is causing more problems than I thought it would. After shooting a 4 under par about 3 weeks ago it makes me wonder if this tweaking is the right thing after all. This does remind me a little of the problems I was having with the swing in the spring. So I will be still doing the same thing for awhile longer. One thing about today I did finished pretty strong. I started doing some of the drills that I use to do for the swing which I had got away from because I had been hitting the ball so well. My concentration has not been as good because of the slight change and that has contributed to some of the higher scores.  This week will get back to normal and we will add some more courses. Hopefully we are getting closer to the answer as there are only 24 more courses to go. Do golf clubs float.

This was a busy week, as three new courses were added. On Wednesday i went to Lake Vue North, in Butler Pa which is a 45  minute drive. This course plays 6100 yards from the back tees to a par of 72. The greens were running a 5 on the stimp and the course was in good shape overall. The course had a good variety of holes with lots of tree lined fairways and water that came into play on about 4 of the holes. There were a few unique things about this place. First the course did not have a course rating or slope. Even though the course was only 6100 yards the third hole was a 600 yard par 5. Finally they had the best sand traps of any course I have played so far. The sand was that nice fine white sand and there was plenty of sand in all the traps. The back nine is easier than the front and I was able to take advantage and shoot a 2 under 34 which gave me a 73 for the day. The hot dog at the turn was good with some good condiments. On Thursday I went retro at Rose Ridge in Allison Park Pa which is about a 50 minute drive. The reason I said I went retro was this was just like playing golf back in the 60’s. There was no watered fairways so everything was brown. The front nine greens were like concrete but the back nine greens were like a sponge. The greens had some burned out areas but were smooth, even though they barely made a 4 on the stimpmeter. The course did have a good design with some interesting holes and some water that came into play. This course needed some tender lovin care and I,m sure it would have been in better shape if I had played during the sping or the fall. The hot dog at turn was ok. Even the scorecard reminded me of the scorecards from the 60’s, very small with no frills. Despitie having to bang putts all day I had a consistant ball striking day and with the help of lots of roll was able to shoot a steady one over 73. The course played about 6500 yards from the back tees to a par of 72. On Sunday the group went to Lenape Heights in Ford City Pa. which was a 70 minute drive. This was a newer modern course which is having the typical delusions of grandure. The normal green fees on the weekend are 55 with a cart although they do have a senior rate even on Sunday of 45. The course plays 6250 from the back tees to a par of 71. The greens were running a 5.5 and were very smooth. The course was in very good shape. I suppose because of the green fees the course was not crowded at all for a Sunday. The course is hilly but has a good variety of holes with some very narrow conditions. There is some water on the course which comes into play on about 5 holes.  The $3.13 hot dog wss like everything else about the place nothing special but overpriced. I shot 78 thanks to playing the par 3’s 7 over. The rest of the group did all right with Tony shooting 76, Pete 82, and John 85.None of these courses were worth the trip. Lake Vue was the most enjoyable and had the best value. The shot of the week for me came yesterday at Lenape at the 2ond hole a short par 5. I pulled my drive which inadvertantly cut the dogleg. I hit a 5 iron from the rough that was able to hop a bunker on the left onto the green and hit the pin to stop about 4 feet from the hole. On Saturday I shot a mediocre 77 at South Park. Overall though the game is coming along and I am about as comfortable with my golf game as I have ever been. Next week there will be no new courses as the grandkids are in town with some less golf overall. Seventy six down and twenty four to go.         

Even though no new courses were added this was an interesting week of golf. Had a bit of a decline in my play but I think this was due to some,hopefully,final tweeking of the new golf swing. I was finally able to do a little anatomy reasearch and I think I have the golf swing down to some very specific muscles that controt the entire action. On Wednesday,I played an outing at St. Clair Country Club and really stunk out the joint. I think besides just starting the new tweeking of the swing the format contributed to some awful scoring on my part. The next day I played in the South Park Men’s Championship and shot two solid rounds of 78 and 75. I had terrible luck on the greens all day, and then just terrible putting the last nine holes, but all in all, I hit the ball really well, especially off the tee.The rounds could have easily been 4 to 6 shots better. Then yesterday went to Riverview with lots of confidence and laid a big 80 egg. It was a very bad ball striking day that was kept from being worse by some very good putting on some pretty tough greens. I hope I am right about this latest move I am working on with golf swing. It is no change from the basic principle I have been doing since around late September of last year. This year so far my index has gone down from about 5.2 to its current of 2.5. I have hit the ball better at times than I have ever hit it. Yesterday’s 80 ended an 11 round stretch in the 70’s. Earlier this year I had had a 12 round stretch in the 70’s. So I think I may be getting closer to the answer. Only time will tell. Next week I should be adding some new courses which will take me either closer or farther away from the answer.

Another busy week, with two new courses added to the list. On Wednesday we played two courses in Ohio about an hour and 20 minute drive. The first course was Pine Lakes in Hubbard, Ohio. The course played about 6500 yards from the back tees to a par of 72. The greens were running a 5.5 on the stimp and were very smooth. The fairways were perfect and the rough was grown in well. The golf course was in excellent shape and was one of the most enjoyable courses we have  played so far. It had a great variety of holes with water and trees and the course was fairly flat. There were some holes that were fairly narrow but others had a more forgiving driving area.  The hot dog at the turn was good but it may have tasted better than what it really was, because this course just put me in a really good mood. It was a beautiful sunny day and the course just added to the nature of the day. I shot 79 with Pete shooting 81. I was coming off my big 4 under par round and I think I was thinking a little too much about that round. My ball striking was not that bad, but some unfamilarity of the course contributed to a higher score. Then we went about 10 miles south, to a course called Knoll Run in Lowellville, Ohio. This was another very nice golf course but just slightly below the quality of Pine Lakes. The course played 6400 yards from the back tees to a par of 72. The greens were running a 5 on the stimp and were again in very good shape. This course was not in quite as good of shape as Pine Lakes but still was very good. This course was a little tighter and had more doglegs. Again it was beautiful with many tree lined fairways and some water that came into play. The hot dog at the turn was better here than at Pine Lakes. The hot dog had a little more snap to it and the condiments were better. Or maybe it tasted better because I had it with a big cold 16 oz can of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. I shot 77 and Pete an 83. These two courses were definitely worth the trip. With the weather being perfect this was one of the best days of the 100 golf course trek. Yes, its official I will be playing 100 courses now instead of 90. All courses no more than 90 minutes from my house. The rest of the week was rounded out by playing in a 4 man scramble event at Turkana where we shot 12 under which was not anyway good enough to get in the money. Our biggest problem was that we could not hit good second shots into the par 5’s and never made an eagle. Then on Sunday I shot a 75 and Meadowink. Kind of a blah round, although Meadowink’s greens were very bumpy which was surprising considering the time of the year. I also did some research on the golf swing this week and I think I have narrowed it down on what group of muscles control the golf swing. That could have contributed to the downturn in scoring. Overall a very good week. Probably no new courses next week as there are some events to be played in, which includes the 36 hole South Park Mens Championship on Thursday. We will see how the swing holds up under the gun. Seventy three courses down and Twenty seven to go.

Even though no new courses were played this week, it was a busy golf week with two 9 hole rounds played, and 4 18 holes rounds played. My play was pretty steady if not spectacular for the first rounds of the week. I shot 37, 36, 75, 73 and 74. The last 2 rounds were at South Park which I am playing more than I really want to but that’s the way it’s just been. My 74 was one of my most up and down rounds, I have had in a long time. I had one double bogey, 5 bogies, 3 birdies and an eagle. I also 3 putted for a par on another par 5 from 8 feet.  Today we went to Rolling Acre a course I have already blogged and is a course that I really like. It plays to a par of 73 and after making an opening bogey on a fairly easy par 5 yours truly went on to birdie the next 3 holes and make 4 more birdies against 2 more bogies to shoot one of my best rounds in years a four under par 69. Obviously the new muscular control of the swing is working out very well. But the big differnce is I have been able to finally apply the same controling factors to my putting and my short game. I did not need a lot of short game today since I hit 15 greens in regulation and had 29 putts. So am I on to something? I think so. Even though I have played as well as I have ever played for the last 4 to 5 weeks I am still not ready to say this is the new way to play this game. Remenber this is not a method I am doing here. You can apply what I am doing to any form of golf you like, ranging from the stack and tilt, the one or two plane swing. natural golf or the Jimmy Ballard technique. What I have been doing since about last October is I am letting a specific group of muscles control my entire golf swing. Before I get into more specifics there are 2 things that are going to have to happen. One I will have to continue to play well and will have to get into a little neuro anatomy reading to see exactly why this method is working so well. There is a part of me that still thinks this could be nothing more than swing number 306. I have played this game for 54 years and have had hot streaks before. The difference here so far, is my consistency, while still learning and trusting the method. Twelve straight rounds between 75 and 78 and now I seem to have taken it to the next level of 73 and 74. Even though this round was one of my best in a long I have been making steady progress with no major setbacks. In the coming weeks there will be some team tournaments and one individual event. It will be interesting to see how this method will hold up. Next week I should be able to get in some new courses. The other thing which I hinted at in some previous blogs, is I think I am going to go for a nice round number of 100 courses because there are a 100 within 90 minutes of my house.  Since the play is getting better I give my clubs at least a 50/50 chance of staying out of the lake at the end of the one hundreth course. Till next Sunday hit em straight. THE SEARCH CONTINUES