Tag: golf

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Golf: The Top 20 Golfers Of All Time

Anytime you make a list like this there is always going to be disagreement. I tried to make the process as objective as possible, with opinion thrown out the window. The criteria I used was wins and major championships. Winning is not emphasized enough in golf. There have been many golfers over the years that have made very good livings on the PGA touring with winning hardly any tournaments. The golfing media is into top 10 finishes and even scoring average to some degree. I gave a player one point for a win and 5 points for a major championship win. Since this is going all the way back to the 1900’s, the U. S. and British Amateurs are considered majors. I will go into this more as I go through the list but there still had to be some subjectivity when doing the process. Professional wins in some cases had to be weighted somewhat and some not included. I did not include any team events and no senior wins were included. The quality of play is very good, but it is not the quality that is on the regular tour. If it was, these guys would be playing the regular tour, because they would win about two to three times the amount of money. As much as I admire the longevity of players like Bernard Langer and Hale Irwin their senior careers were not included. The two surprises to me that just failed to make it were Lee Trevino, not enough regular wins, and Vijay Singh, not enough majors, both falling one point short of making the top 20. No active player on the PGA tour made it, with Rory coming the closest falling 10 points short. With no further ado, here is the list and since most of the surprises are from the middle on, I am going to go from no. 1 down to 20

No 1. Tiger Woods  95 wins  18 majors  185 points. No surprise here. Tiger’s record speaks for itself. The amazing thing here is that he has 38 European Tour wins to go along with his 3 British Opens which is third all time. He really is a winning machine. What is remarkable he did about 90% of this from 1997 to 2008. It was quite an 11 year stretch.

No. 2 Jack Nicklaus 64 wins  20 majors 164 points. Just not enough worldwide wins for Jack to catch Tiger. No question, major championship record 2nd to none, and with as many 2nd and 3rd place finishes he had, if the emphasis had not been placed on winning so much, he would have probably slipped just ahead of Tiger. Even though it is very hard to win in golf it still in my view the name of the game.

No. 3 Sam Snead  76 wins   7 majors 111 points. No question Tiger and Jack stand alone at the top. The next 5 are going to be separated by only 9 points. Sneads lack of a United States Open Championship is the big flaw in his record but even if he had won, he would not have challenged the top two. Other than the Open, it is clear that Snead knew how to close the deal.

No. 4 Gary Player  60 wins   9 majors  105 points. The first surprise for me on the list. I would not have ranked Gary that high. His worldwide wins put him in that position. Here is where I had to make some decision on the quality of wins and there were some, I gave no points for. The ones that I did give credit to were against good fields. You cannot argue about his record in the majors, he is tied for 5th all time.

No. 5 Ben Hogan  58 wins  9 majors  103 points. Many people rank Hogan 3rd on the all-time list. His horrible auto accident limited his activity. The odd thing about Hogan was his terrible playoff record of 8-12 and 1-3 in the majors. No question 1953 was his great year, playing in only 6 tournaments he won 5 including 3 majors.

No. 6 Walter Hagan  47 wins 11 majors  102 points.   Hagan was a match play king winning 4 PGA championships in a row when it was contested at match play. During much of Hagen’s career there were only 3 professional majors to win per year. Even with less opportunity he finished 4th all time in major championship wins.

No.7 Arnold Palmer 62 wins  7 majors.  102 points. Tied with Hagen but I used majors to break any ties. The king was by far the player that gave golf its first major boost in popularity. Just could not win the PGA and only came close a couple of times losing by one shot to Julius Boros in 1968. His go for broke style which won him many a tournament and was popular, also lost him a couple of majors at least.

No. 8 Peter Thomson  65 wins  5 majors  90 points. By far the biggest surprise on the list. The man who gets no respect. He won 5 British Opens 4 in the 50’s when there was not a lot of American participation. He did win one in 1965 when it was beginning to get a foothold on being a big tournament again, thanks to Palmer. He won eleven times on the Senior Tour so it showed he knew how to play against his peers. He dominated what was known as the Great Britain tour in the 1950’s. It is hard to judge the quality of the competition at that time so I gave him only a half a point for those wins. It was hard to judge this player but one thing is for sure he knew how to win and is a forgotten great champion.

No.9 Bobby Jones 21 wins  13 majors  86 points. The only amateur on the list and the greatest amateur of all time. Another player who did not play in that many tournaments but won most that he played in. He had one of the greatest years in golf when he won the 4 major championships at the time in one-year, 1930.

No. 10 Seve Ballesteros  57 wins  5 majors  82 points. Again another worldwide player who had a magnificent short game. He got the Ryder Cup to go European and turned it into a premier event. He was wild off the tee which contributed to him never winning a U.S. Open. He finished 3rd in 1987. He helped put European golf on the map

No. 11 Greg Norman  69 wins  2 majors  79 points Again another worldwide player getting his just do. Second least number of major wins in the group but contended many times and had two unbelievable losses, the Mize pitch in and the Tway bunker shot. During 86 and the first major of 87 he was tied or in the lead in 5 straight majors after the 3rd round, the only player to ever do it. Then he lost the 6-shot lead to Nick Faldo in the 1996 Masters. What is amazing is that he still managed to finish 2nd even though he shot 78. Of the 44 players who played on Sunday only 11 broke par and just 5 broke 70. Faldo’s 67 was probably one of the best final rounds in major championship history. Normans career will always be thought of as what might have been.

No. 12 Roberto De Vicenzo  74 wins  1 major 79 points. Another surprise on the list. De Vicenzo was another great worldwide player whose wins had to be evaluated. He may have had 2 majors if not for the scorecard mistake at the 1968 Masters which cost him a place in a playoff with Bob Goalby. He was truly a great player and obviously new how to win. He and Norman are the only players with fewer than 3 major wins in the top 20. De Vicenzo had a great senior career which again shows that he could play with his contemporaries.

No. 13 Tom Watson  37 wins  8 majors  77 points. Another on the list that could not win the PGA, but he loved the British Open winning it 5 times. A player, like so many, that ran into putting problems late in his career, or would have won much more. Made the big chip in on 17 at Pebble Beach to keep Nicklaus from winning his 5th U.S. Open in 1982

No. 14 Phil Mickelson  46 wins  6 majors 76 points. It took Phil awhile but once he broke through in the majors he went on a tear. He ended it in 2021 by becoming the oldest to win a major. Like Sam Snead he never could win the U.S. Open but finished 2nd six times. 2006 was the brutal one when he double bogied the last hole to not even get into a playoff. His course management has been questioned the most of anyone on this list. There are many out there that think he would have won much more if had not made so many dumb mistakes.

No. 15 Harry Vardon  41 wins  7 majors  76 points. I put Vardon below Mickelson because there was no question the competition was not as great in the early 1900’s as it was in the 2000’s. Vardon is credited with starting the modern game. He was the dominant player for the first 20 years of the 20th century. Another victim of the bulky putter late in his career.

No. 16 Billy Casper  59 wins  3 majors  74 points. Casper went on a transformation in the mid 1960’s going on a diet that included buffalo meat. He dropped 40 pounds and added two majors, a U.S Open in 1966 which saw him make up a 7 shot deficit on Arnold Palmer, and a green jacket in 1970. He was the best putter of his era with that wristy pop stroke. He wrote an instructional putting article for Sports Illustrated, that my Dad and I followed to a T.

No. 17 Byron Nelson  48 wins  5 majors  73. I am sure many would put Bryon higher on this list. He had one of the greatest years in professional golf winning 11 tournaments in a row. Nelson is probably the only player on this list that did not enjoy tournament golf. For him golf was a ways and a means to buy a ranch and become a rancher, which is exactly what he did. He probably would have won a lot more if his heart had been in it. No Open championship for Nelson.

No. 18 Gene Sarazen  38 wins  7 majors  73 points. Sarazen had one of the most famous shots in golf the double eagle at no. 15 at Augusta in 1935 that propelled him into a tie with Craig Wood and the next day won the 36 hole playoff. It is unlikely the Masters needed any help in establishing itself as a major but the double eagle shot solidified the deal. This allowed Sarazen to become one of only 5 players to win all of the majors.

No. 19 Ernie Els  47wins  4 majors  67 points. Els will be always known as the man that Tiger Woods kept from winning even more. If Tiger had not come on the scene when he did, Els probably would have won at least 3 more majors. Els had one of the worst cases of the yips when he 7 putted the first green in the 2016 Masters. Els had a great career, but it will be what “Wood” have happened if Tiger had not come along.

No. 20 Nick Faldo 36 wins  6 majors  66 points. Last but certainly not least Nick Faldo was the man that started all the swing change nonsense. He made a big swing change with coach David Leadbetter and turned his career around. He went from a journeyman player with the nickname of Nick Foldo, to becoming a 6 time major champion winner and no. 1 player in the world.

There you have it, the top 20 golfers of all time. Some would argue that there is too much emphasis on worldwide wins rather than concentrating on PGA tour wins. I tried to value the wins but in some cases I think I went overboard. I was really surprised by Peter Thomson’s record. His British Open wins, particularly the ones he won in the 50’s have always been tainted by so called weak fields. However, the last time the British team beat the US team in the Ryder Cup was in the mid 50’s. I just cannot go along with the premise that the best golf was only played in America. I think it is a good list driven by one thing, winning. Winning on the world stage and winning in national events no matter where they are played is still one of the most difficult things to do in golf. I feel there will be some current players that will crack this top 20, but we will see. For now, I will take any of the top 20 against any other 4 you want to have.

 

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Golf: Mystery No. 4, The Yips

I have done other articles on the yips, but this is going to be a more in depth look at this dreaded affliction. I will look at the yips from a more historical standpoint, by reviewing some of the big-name golfers that have been affected. What is amazing to me is that the yips have been around since the early 1900’s and there does not seem to be any remedy for them. It is not for lack of effort. None other than the Mayo Clinic has done a major study on the yips in the early 2000’s. They came to the conclusion that the yips may be more of a physical problem than a mental one. I disagree with this conclusion completely, but more on that later. There are many well-known players that have battled the yips, some with more success than others. Let us go back to the first known case, or at least to the first golfer who admitted that he had this problem.

The first well known player to describe the yips was Harry Vardon. They were not called the yips in the early 1900’s. Vardon described watching for this jump of his right hand. His gaze would be riveted on his right hand waiting to see what it would do. He wrote that if it did not happen on the first hole that he would be fine. One of his treatments for the affliction was to practice putt right around dusk or dawn. The lighting would be good enough to see the hole but not good enough to see the character of the green. Vardon had the affliction on putts of 4 feet or less. He blamed all of this on a lack of confidence or lost confidence when it came to making short putts. Vardon had many observations on putting but his best one was the finest way to putt is the way that gets the ball into the hole. Vardon would not be surprised about all the putting methods that are used today some 130 years later. Another wave of yippers, so to speak, came along in the 1920’s and Tommy Armour was given credit for naming the ailment the yips. In his instruction book ABC’s of Golf, the Y chapter is Yips. He does a great job in describing the yips and I feel there are many key words in his description. The yips are a BRAIN SPASM that impairs the short game. There comes that ghastly time when with the first movement of the putter, the golfer blacks out, loses sight of the ball, and hasn’t the remotest idea of what to do with the putter. Armour also states that everybody gets them. Even Bob Jones got the yips. He got rid of them by not lining putts up with the blade of the putter anymore. They would still come back occasionally in the heat of tournament action. The other key aspect of the chapter is that Armour talks about yipping putts in the hole. He writes about yipping a 2-foot putt on the 71st hole missing it in the British Open but then on the last hole needed a three-footer to win and wound up taking a different grip, different stance and somehow making the putt. Despite the changes he yipped but it went in for victory.

The next two golfing greats to be plagued by the yips were Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. Snead got rid of his yips with the croquet style of putting which the USGA quickly banned. There was another pro who had been putting with this croquet method for about a year and no one complained. When Snead did it and had great success, all of a sudden, the USGA had to step in. Snead got around the ban by going side saddle and but that did not give him as good a view of the putt but still accomplished the original goal of getting rid of the yips. Hogan, more of a golf traditionalist, really never got rid of the yips and this cost him many a championship over the years. Bernhard Langer has battled the yips throughout his career and has managed to solve them with various methods, to enable him to have one of the greatest professional careers ever, especially on the senior tour. Two of the best examples of what the yips can do, happened over the last 30 years. In a Shells Wonderful World of Golf match in the late 90’s between Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus, Miller had the yips very bad that day and missed short putt after short putt to be defeated by Nicklaus by a resounding 11 shots 70-81. Without a doubt the most graphic example of the yips was Ernie Els’s disastrous 7 putt on the 1st green on the first day of the Masters in 2016 for a 9. If you have the stomach for it, you can watch this on You Tube. What I think is lost in all of this is that he went on to play the next 8 holes in even par. He did run into trouble on the back and shot an 80 for the day. The next day he shot 73 but of course did not make the cut. You have to wonder how he was able to gather himself enough to shoot as well as he did the rest of the day. There have been other players of the recent past that have had the yips, but the above examples are the most graphic.

What can we surmise about the yips over the years from this historical perspective. Let’s get one thing off the table right now, and with all due respect to the Mayo Clinic, the yips are strictly a mental problem. The idea that yips can be brought on by overuse of muscles like in writers cramp or playing the violin too much, just is not true. The yips affect all types of golfers not just the pros and anybody that has a job cannot practice enough to cause the above problems. I wish that was the case, but it simply is not true. This is not an example of focal hand dystonia. As we look back, there are some key observations about the yips made by the professionals that have had to deal with them and instructors that are trying to help the afflicted. Tommy Armour statement that everybody gets the yips is very telling. I see people yip putts and chips every day I play. When a pro misses a huge putt down the stretch believe me, he has yipped it. People will not admit to the yips because I think they fear that if they use the word that the yips will get worse. I don’t blame them, but it does not change the facts. One reason there is the belief that the yips have some kind of physical cause is that many of the remedies involve making a physical change in the way you putt or chip. From the different grips to the long and belly putter, they have all been used to combat yippy strokes. Different techniques in chipping have been used to help with chipping yips ranging from left hand low to chipping one handed. Somehow changing the way you putt or chip, rewires the brain enough to make that part of your game functional again. Some method changes seem to last longer than others, and you will see pros go back and forth between methods. I have written about this before but the reason I think all these method changes work is because the yips are a symptom of a problem, not a disease in itself. The best analogy I have of this is a lack of red blood cells or anemia. If someone is anemic, it can be caused by many different things at many different levels. A person could be losing blood, not producing red cells, producing flawed red cells, or have red blood cells destroyed internally. The idea is to find the disease that is making a person anemic. The exact same thing can be said of the yips. The idea is to find the issue that is causing the yips. What could be causing the putting yips may not be causing the chipping yips. There is driving yips, and in my view shanking is nothing more than the iron yips. These can also have different causes than the putting or chipping yips.

At least for the moment, the best we can do is muddle through some of these temporary but effective solutions to keep the yips under control. From a personal note, it always amazes me how I am always surprised when I make the first yip of the day. I do not know why I have this reaction. I have it more so on putts, rather than on chips. I know I battle the chip yips more than the putting yips, but I still should not be surprised when I do either one. Stress over a particular putt or shot many times will precipitate a yip. I do not disagree with this statement. However, the yips seem to happen on the easier shots and putts, not on the more difficult ones. I know when a shot or putt is perceived as easy, this automatically puts our expectations higher on the result of the shot. I am not sure that this is enough in the thought process to cause a yip, but it is one of the frustrating things about the yips. One thing is for sure, there are no cures for the yips as of yet, despite what you see on internetville. Please do not give anybody any money that says they can cure your yips. It ain’t happening man. If I ever find a permanent solution to those darn things believe me, it will be free of charge.  

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Golf: Mystery No. 3, Why Things Work, Until They Don’t

A thing is defined as an object or entity not precisely designated or capable of being designated. I think thing is the perfect word for what we try on the golf course to get through a round of golf. Those things may include swing thoughts, swing methods, various address positions and mental processes that we think will either get us through a round of golf or improve our golf game in general. In fact, it could be any combination of these things, that one could use to suddenly improve their ball striking abilities. Putting is an even more fickled activity. There are endless ways and techniques that are described in putting. One of the amazing things about all of this is that we are not the only ones doing all of these different things to try and improve are games. You hear about pros changing their swings all the time. They are putting one way one year and then another way the next year. Vijay Singh has won three major championships in 1998, 2000, and 2004. In each of these majors, he won with a distinctly different putting method. From this point on I will go back to calling all of this, things again, because I do not think it makes any difference which of the things we are discussing. They all have the same thing in common. They work for a while and then they don’t, so we go to a new thing. Sometimes we will go back to an old thing that we may have used years before and gosh darn it, it starts to work again. Alas, over time it quits working. Let’s take a look at each part and see if we can unravel this mystery. No spoiler alert here, we don’t but I am going to proceed anyway with lots of theories. I will look at each part, why they may work, why they quit working, and is there any alternative.

Even though I am putting all of these things under one heading there is one of these things that is a little bit different. Swing methods are more of complete swing techniques, where all the other things could be looked at as band aids or quick fixes. Ah yes, good old swing methods or systems. There have been many over the years and I am not going to mention any of them because they all suck. They are associated with some well-known instructor or player and have lots of testimonials. This is what you might call the long version of all the other things listed above. You decide to try one of the methods and give 100% to it. You practice, you make the changes in your swing, and this is what happens in any system. At first there is some back sliding. You’re getting use to new swing and pre-swing techniques, but after x amount of time and rounds, things begin to click. You feel you are hitting the ball better and your scores are even coming down some. What eventually happens is your game goes back to about the same level it was when you started the new system. You will see this with tour players when they change swing coaches. There is the period of adjustment, the supposed break through happens, but then they wind up with pretty much the same record they had with their old swing coach, over the same time period. The band aide treatments just do all of this in a much faster time frame, sometimes in the matter of a few holes. Change your grip, stand taller, stand closer, be more relaxed, change the waggle, speed up your tempo, slow down your tempo, be more rhythmic, finish in balance, swing easier, swing harder, make a full backswing, smooth transition, and finally who gives a shit. Then there is the mental game of picturing the shot, visualization, positive attitude, keeping your cool, not reacting to bad shots, playing conservatively, playing aggressively, letting go of bad shots, making the correct adjustments to the conditions, and finally who gives a shit. Like all of the methods, these things work until they don’t. They usually stop working quicker and rarely make it to the next round. These are facts Jack but why does this happen. I will be damned if I know but here are some theories that are probably worthless, but I don’t care.

We are all trying to improve, God love us, but most of these things are tried because at least in our own minds our games are actually getting worse. If we shot our handicap every time, I am not too sure we would be doing any of these things. Right now, my index is 5.7. If I shot below 80 every time, I think I would be fairly satisfied and would just go ahead and swing away without a care in the world. In my last 20 rounds I have had 6 rounds in the 80’s and one as high as 88. I have had some horrible ball striking rounds. I have tried all of the quick fixes with some really good results. I am way past trying any system. I know better than that. I feel the quick fixes work because they distract me from what is causing my horrible ball striking day. Sometimes what is causing this may not even be related to golf. Regardless, once I make a change then I get a new feel, whatever that may be, and I immediately start hitting the ball better. Now once if a while, just to make things interesting, I will do something different and continue to play poorly. I usually give it about 2 to 3 holes and then try something else. Some rounds I never seem to make any progress. Another way to look at this is to say none of these things really work, even though they seem to. Changing some relatively minor aspect of your swing should not make all that big of difference. Maybe doing something like that triggers some neurologic pathway that allows you to swing better and that in turn causes better ball striking. The reason it stops working is that this pathway had nothing to do with the poor ball striking and simply loses its effectiveness due to repetition. All of this goes against the idea that we are supposed to groove our swings, so we can repeat our swings on command. There is the adage that you can have a flawed swing if you repeat the mistake all the time. That is why you practice, to groove that swing.

There is no doubt that this is the biggest mystery of the game. It could be summed up in the following way even for the beginner; learn, success failure and repeat. If you look at tour players who have had success and then lose it, never to see their winning form return you could say the middle step disappears. For those of us who have never reached such great heights, the middle step does always happen, it just may be for a very short time. For all the things that I have done to my swing, and it ranges into the 100’s believe me, I have had a few that last a full season, but most don’t last for a week. Maybe we should just swing the way we feel most comfortable and to hell with results. Just accept the fact that you will have good days and bad days on the golf course. Sometimes the bad days stretch out over weeks. When that happens, it is extremely hard not to try and do something. Tucking my right elbow right into my side, I bet that’s the answer. What do you think? Thank God it’s January and I don’t have to think about it for the moment.

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Golf Diary

The Rounds: Beaver Valley Score 77 Greens In Reg. 10 Putts 31

South Park Gold Score 73 Greens In Reg. 11 Putts 31

Indian Run Score 76 Greens In Reg. 13 Putts 36

The Good: The ball striking for the 3 rounds was good. My method for striking the ball changed dramatically from the Beaver Valley Round to the Indian Run. Of course, I am always changing my swing or “searching for the answer” so to speak. I believe, but not sure, because I am too lazy to check, that this was the first time this year that I have hit double digits in greens in regulation 3 times in a row. The short game was ok, and I am going to put it on the good side. For the three rounds I got it up and down 9 out of 20 times.

The Bad: Putting. The worse day was Indian Run, where I 3 putted 3 times. I only had one 3 putt in the previous 2 rounds but I missed a lot of putts that were under 10 feet. I had my share of yip putts. If I had been having any type of day on the greens, I would have taken 2 to 4 strokes off each round. Even though I had the worse day at Indian Run I was putting better toward the end of the round. We will see if I can build off of that.

The Luck Of The Rounds: Other than putting I had good fortune in all three rounds. Not to go into too much detail but every time I hit a bad shot it came out ok. Every time I hit a tree I wound up in a playable place. The best way of explaining this was if I had putted well and had bad luck, I would have wound up shooting the same scores. Luck in all three rounds ensured that my rounds were going to stay well within the 70’s. I have been on a good luck roll.

Next Round: Tomorrow, North Park

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Round: Played South Park Score 79 Greens In Reg. 7 Putts 32

The Good: I drove the ball pretty well. The weather was beautiful.

The Bad: The iron game was bad. The short game and putting were pretty horrid. I had one long putt from off the green that went in for a birdie on the 2nd hole but I failed to get it up and down the other 10 times. I made a long birdie putt on the 11th hole and another one of about 8 feet on 10 for 3 birdies on the day. Other than that, my putting was not good. But the short game was the culprit today for the high 70 score, 0 for 10, just like most of the Pirates. I was doing all sorts of things today trying to find something that would work and nothing could really get me going.

The Luck Of The Round: Made two long putts and I always feel that has to be a little luck. Never really had any bad luck today. It’s not that I often that I make 3 birdies, but I could not do the basic things that you need to do in order to score.

The Next Round: Tomorrow, Beaver Valley Golf Course.

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Golf Diary

Rounds played 3: Rittswood Score 80 Greens In Reg. 5 Putts 31

Quicksilver Score 78 Greens In Reg. 8 Putts 31

Highland Springs Score 76 Greens In Reg. 12 Putts 34

The Good: My driving was the best of the year. Not only in straightness but in distance. I did hit some bad drives here and there particularly at Quicksilver and in the early going at Rittswood but other than that, I hit some really good drives with some extra distance. My iron game improved with every round and was really good at Highland Springs where I hit 13 greens. I had some short irons into some large greens but overall my iron game was very good. My short game was neither good or bad as I got up and down 4 for 13 at Rittswood, 4 for 10 at Quicksilver and 3 for 6 at Highland Springs.

The Bad: Putting, Putting and more Putting. Even though the numbers do not look all that bad I could not make anything. The best putting day was at Quicksilver as I did make some nice par saves and two nice birdie putts. The worse was today as I had some very good birdie looks and could not make a thing. I had 5 putts under 15 feet for birdie, and none were made. If I had had a good putting day I would have shaved off 2 to 5 strokes in each round.

Luck Of The Rounds. I had two lip outs today on those birdie putts that could have gone in. Overall though, luck was not much of a factor in any of the three rounds.

Next Round: Saturday, at South Park.

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Golf Diary: Three Rounds

Rounds: No. 1 North Park Score 85 Greens In Reg. 6 Putts 35

No. 2 Hartmans Score 83 Greens In Reg. 4 Putts 34

No. 3 South Park Gold Score 75 Green In Reg 14 Putts 35

The Good: My iron play at South Park was as good as it was all year with 14 greens in regulation. I drove the ball well. It was good to get back to playing after a 10 day layoff with the grandkids that I loved. My driving was decent most of the time particularly today at the Park. I had some good short game shots all three days.

The Bad: Obviously my putting was pretty bad. I had 5 three putt greens in the 3 rounds and missed many short putts some for birdies. My short game was not good and my driving at Hartmans was very erratic. My irons at North Park and Hartmans were bad as I could not get my irons on line which I corrected today at South Park.

The Luck Of The Rounds: Mostly bad luck on the greens. At Hartmans especially I had many lip outs and edge burners The last 6 holes on the front 9 at Hartmans are very tight and when my drives went off line just a touch I wound up with shots to the green that were not normal. I either had to keep it low or bend it around something. The ball striking really improved today so there is future hope.

Next Round: Thursday South Park.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played South Park Score 82 Greens In Reg: 6 Putts 32

The Good: Nothing. I could not find anything to latch onto today to get me going.

The Bad: I had yip issues which was a little surprising. My driving was horrible. My iron game only had a few bright moments, but overall stunk. Putting was bad because of the yips. The short game was bad getting up down 5 out of 12 times. I think it was just being over golfed. The weather was muggy although the temperature was not that high.

The Luck Of The Round: I yipped some putts in, which has to be lucky. You could say I was lucky that I did not do bodily harm to myself, the play was so bad. Can not use bad luck as an excuse for this round.

Next Round: Probably not until July 8th at North Park. It’s Grandkids time.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played Stoughton Acres Score 76 Greens In Reg. 6 Putts 27

The Good: I had to put my putter in the freezer when I got home it was so hot. I made two birdie putts one of about 40 feet and the other 25 feet. I made a par putt on the 9th hole of about 40 feet on a hole that I just butchered. I got it up and down 7 out of 12 times. I never missed a short putt all day. My driving was good most of the day.

The Bad: My iron game was bad hitting only 6 greens in regulation. I did have a couple of holes where I put it on the fringe. I played the par 3’s badly never hitting one on the green and playing them 2 over.

The Luck Of The Round: I had a lot of good fortune today. I hit one drive on the 9th hole so far left that I wound up being ok. I got through a couple of trees on 2 holes with minimal damage where I had shots to the green. Any time you make 3 bombs of putts, luck is on your side. I also hit a second shot on a par 5 that was headed into a lake but hit the rocks and ricocheted back into play. I hit I nice wedge within about 6 feet but missed the putt. One of the few putts I missed all day and did not really take advantage of the good break.

Next Round: Tomorrow, South Park then a 10 day break.