Tag: golf

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played Beaver Valley Score 80 Greens In Reg. 5 Putts 31

The Good: Drove the ball really well at times. Made solid contact with most of the iron shots. The weather was gorgeous.

The Bad: I hit horrible drives on 4 holes that really cost me. The major problem was distance control and club selection. Even though I hit my irons solid, I would come up short or long on most of the holes. That was the main reason for only 5 GIR’s. I finished really bad by bogeying the last 3 holes. The putting was mediocre at best with some very poor green reading. The greens were slow but they were very smooth so that was no excuse. All in all, a come down to earth day on the course. The game just slowly deteriorated the last 7 holes. Death by quicksand.

The Luck Of The Round: I got a good break on the 13th hole a short par 4 when my drive hit a tree about 100 yards from the tee but went back to the fairway and another 100 yards down the hole. I was able to hit a 9 iron on the green and almost made birdie. On the greens I had many putts come close and one lip out for bird, so not a lot of luck on the greens.

Next Round: Tomorrow Cedarbrook Red

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Golf Diary:

The Round: Played South Park Score 71 Greens In Reg. 11 Putts 28

The Good: No, this is not a repeat blog. For the second round in a row from the Gold tees I shot the same score with the same GIR’s and the same putts. The nines were the same 37-34-71. I also had 4 birdies and 3 bogies to shoot the 1 under score. I did birdie some different holes. On Tuesday the birdies were on 2, 10,15, and 17. Today I birdied 1, 5, 10, and 12. The bogies on Tuesday were on 4,8 and 13. Today the bogies were on 2, 4, and 7. I had a much steadier back nine today with the 2 birdies and no bogies. My game was just like Tuesday where today, everything was clicking pretty well. I did have some yips on chips today which led to one of the bogies and I had a few more bad putts. The chips yips kept me from a good chance at a birdie on 3. I really had the speed of the greens down after the 2nd hole. It was another beautiful weather day.

The Bad: Nothing

The Luck Of The Round: There was plenty of good luck today. I skulled a wedge on the short par 3 8th hole that could have gone into the rough but somehow stayed on the fringe. It left me with a treacherous downhill putt of about 35 feet. I knocked it about 10 feet by and was fortunate that it stayed on the green. I made the comeback putt, right in the center of the hole. I always had good lies in the rough. Then on the 200 yard par 3 13th I cold top a five wood about 85 yards down the rough. I had about 115 in and hit a 51 degree wedge to about 12 feet of the hole. The putt just fell in the front edge of the hole to save that par.

Next Round: Saturday, at South Park weather permitting.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played South Park Score 71 Greens in Reg. 11 Putts 28

The Good: First off, I played the senior tees, but I am not going to disparage the round in any way. No matter what tees you play from you have to hit the fairway, hit the green, and make the putts and boy did I ever make the putts. Three of my four birdies were on putts between 15 feet and 25 feet. I knocked it on the front edge of the green on number 10, a par 5, in 2 and rolled up a 50 footer about 6 inches just left of the hole, for a tap in birdie. I drove the ball well and my iron game improved immensely with the 11 greens in regulation. I chipped ok to get it up and down 4 out of 7 times. I only hit one bad putt all day, a 9 foot birdie putt on number 5 that I slapped at because of indecision.

The Bad: Nothing. The weather was even good.

The Luck Of The Round: I had one big break on the 14th hole where I hit a drive to the right and was driven even further right by the wind. The ball ended up exactly between two tree stumps and I had a clear shot. I had a somewhat restricted swing but had only 112 yards to the green. I choked down on an 8 iron just about down to the steel and took a nice little swing and punch it right at the pin, ending up about 20 feet behind the pin. I made an easy par. I had a brutal lip out for a par on number 4 that I was getting ready to pick out of the hole but with all the other putts I made I cannot complain.

Next Round: Back to South Park on Thursday.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played at Rittswood Score 85 Greens In Reg 4 Putts 35

The Good: This is easy, nothing. I hopefully figured out something at the end of the day.

The Bad: Had basically bad driving although did a little better on the back nine. The greens in regulation speaks for itself as far as iron play goes. 35 putts are way too many when you only hit 4 greens. The short game was also bad. The weather was not great with drizzle and cool temperatures.

Luck Of The Round: On the greens I missed putts in every way possible. Hit the pin and went out, lipped out, burnt the edge, left some short in the jaws and misread a ton. I had no luck at all today to compound a poor ball striking day in general.

Next Round: Tomorrow South Hills Country Club. Will be starting over tomorrow. Whew.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played South Park Score 75 Greens In Reg: 5 Putts: 24

The Good: It is called putting out of your mind. I only hit 5 greens in regulation but made one birdie. I made a nice 25 foot putt for bird but my other GIR’s were over 40 feet from the pin and never 3 putted one of them. I chipped in from about 50 feet for another birdie. I drove the ball well and I chipped well because I had lots of opportunities, 13 to be exact. My short game was pretty good but I made every putt I had from around 7 feet in. Another way to get to 3 over par.

The Bad: You could say my iron game, but it was not as bad as the stats make it out to be. I had a lot of shots that were on the fringes or close to the green. The conditions were tough with some wind and temperatures barely into the 50’s. We have had pretty terrible weather the last week, as this has been my first 18 hole round since last Thursday. I did play some 9 hole rounds in temperatures that were in the mid 40’s top. We are supposed to get improving conditions for the next few days, that can’t come soon enough as far as I am concerned.

The Luck Of The Round: There was good fortune everywhere during this round. My chip that I holed hit the pin, went around the cup, teetered on the edge and then fell into the cup. One of my few really bad shots hit a tree and did not find a hazard and I was able to salvage a bogey. All my 6-7 foot putts that I made seemed to find just enough of the cup to hit the hole and fall in rather than lip out. I made a 20 foot putt on another hole from the fringe to save par. All my lies in the rough were doable. As written previously, this is how you shoot 3 over par.

Next Round: Tomorrow, Mt Lebo, will play 18 holes.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played Riverview Score: 80 Greens In Reg: 11 Putts: 36

The Good: Iron play improved greatly hitting 11 greens. Drove the ball well. Short game was good.

The Bad: The putting numbers were bad, and I missed 2 really short 4-6 feet birdie putts. If you don’t putt you don’t score was proven again. I continue to make some bad decisions out there trying to do too much, which cost me at least 4 strokes.

The Luck Of The Round: Had absolutely no luck on the greens. I did hit some bad putts especially those short birdie putts but I burned as many edges as I had all year. I am listing them damn it. 1st hole upper edge for par. 6th hole a 25 foot birdie putts that burned the high side and stop right behind the hole. 4 footer on 10 for birdie that skimmed the hole. 10 footer on 12 left edge for birdie. A 10 footer for par on 16 slight lip out. Birdie putt on 17 left edge. Finally a 12 footer for par on 18 burned the low edge. None could find the hole hence the 36 putts. Just a major frustrating day.

Next Round: Who knows? We are in for some rainy and then rainy and cold weather for the next 5 days. May not golf for a week.

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Golf: How To Plan Your Golf Shots

If you are expecting to learn how to plan golf shots, then you will be disappointed, because it is obvious from my play yesterday, that I really don’t know how. However, I have a very good excuse, at least for now, why I am so bad at it. It’s like someone writing a book about how to be able to run a 4 minute mile. The vast majority of people, no matter how much they followed the instructions in the book, would never be able to run a mile in 4 minutes. Time would be the enemy. The same could be said about planning golf shots, especially shots that are approaching the green and around the green. Tee shots on par 4’s and 5’s do not have to be near as precise, but even those shots you have to have some idea of how you want to play the hole. If you watch professional golf on TV one of the complaints recently is slow play. Slow play in professional golf is not from standing over the ball too long or poor shots, but from how long it takes these players to figure out what type of shot they are going to hit and reading putts. If lower handicap players even took half as much time, they would be banned from the course on about the 6th hole. Many times you can hear these discussions on the telecast. They could be anywhere from about 160 yards in from the green and they are talking in single yards. The caddy might say something like hit it 147 yards. The player may come back with what about 149. They check the wind, the lie, and where the pin exactly is. Even with all this time spent and help from the caddy, they still seem to make some kind of miscalculation more often than not. Now, let’s look at my warped thinking from yesterday where I spent a maximum of 30 to 45 seconds trying to figure out what shot to hit in less than ideal conditions.

I am not going to go through all of the shots but what I consider the key ones that affected my thinking. I had just come off making a double bogey on the 1st hole because I hit my second shot about 5 to 10 yards left of where I was supposed to hit it and this resulted in my ball going about 30 yards down a steep embankment. I hit a decent drive on 2 and had about 120 yards to the middle of the green but dead uphill and I was in the rough with only a fair lie. The wind was helping a little but between the cold temperatures and how much uphill it was I decided to hit a 9 iron which I usually hit about 140. I expected not to make great contact. I hit the shot exactly how I thought I would and it looked like it barely got over the hill onto the green. But when I got to the green I was at least 30 to 40 feet over the green. This led me to be short on the next 7 approach shots. The first one was a bit of a mishit but the rest were hit solid but came up short because of wind or elevation or both. By the time I got to the 17th hole a par 3 of about 125 yards I took my 48 degree wedge and crushed it 50 feet past the pin. I hit a good drive on 18 but was on a downhill lie in the rough with a good lie and I was 95 yards to the middle of the green. I took my 58 degree wedge, played it back in my stance and expected it to come out lower than normal with some run on it. I hit it higher than expected and it squirted a little right and I missed the green. If I had made better decisions, I would have easily broken 80 and maybe came close to 75. Would I have done better if I took 4 to 5 minutes like they do on TV to decide what shot I am going to hit? I really don’t know or do I care. If I took that long to decide, I would probably be playing alone all the time. So, what’s a mother to do?

At this point, I really do not know. This was one of my better ball striking rounds of the early year. The score, however, sucked. If I had made the proper decision on 14 out of 18 holes I would have shot in the mid 70’s with no problem. This will be the main focus of my golf game for a while, making a better shot plan. I am not sure how I am going to do it but I know I have to do it in under 60 seconds. We will see how my scores go in the next few weeks.

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Golf Diary

Round Played: Chippewa Score: 85 Greens In Reg: 5 Putts: 34

The Good: Believe it or not the ball striking in general. Even the short game was not horrendous.

The Bad: My club selection. I could not get the right distance. I hit many good shots but they wound up way short or way long. My shots could be classified as 2 long, 7 short, 1 good, and 6 where club selection was not a factor. I picked the right club 3 times. One shot was good and the other 2 were off by about 5 yards left or right but it put me in very bad positions. When I am saying long or short, I am talking about at least 40 ft. and sometimes more. This time my putting could not make this round respectable. I had 3 three putt greens, and never made a putt over 6 feet. I hit many good putts, they just did not find the hole. The weather was cold again.

The Luck Of The Round: I can’t say I had any real bad luck. It was just one of those days where the decision making process was bad and any little mistake seemed to be magnified. Still, I was encouraged by the overall ball striking of the round. See if I can build upon that.

Next Round: Thursday, Riverview. Hope it will be a little warmer.

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Golf Diary:

The Round: Played Stoughton Acres in Butler Pa. Score: 80 Greens In Reg: 5 Putts: 30

The Good: Putting kept the round from being embarrassing. I did have one 3 putt but made lots of par saves and a nice 20 foot birdie putt. Drove the ball well but was not consistent for the day.

The Bad: Iron play hitting only 5 greens and the short game was brutal. Poor thinking on some holes cost me strokes also. It was cold as I expected, but still hard on these old bones.

The Luck Of The Round: Made one really long putt of about 40 feet that I thought I pulled. It was on the same hole that my drive just skimmed a tree on the right side but it threw the ball further right behind the tree. The breaks evened up on one hole. Did hit a tree on another hole that kept me from going into the lake and made a nice twenty footer to save par from the fringe. On the whole the good luck was ahead of the bad.

Next Round: Tomorrow, Chippewa, in Bentleyville. Another cold one but maybe a little more sun that might help. I just love spring.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played Riverview Score: 78 Greens In Reg: 8 Putts: 32

The Good: Doing a new swing thing that I even incorporate in the short game and putting. It worked pretty well. Did nothing outstanding but nothing was horrible either. Hit my irons better than the norm but that’s not saying much.

The Bad: With the new swing thing my driving suffered the most especially in the beginning, but I was able to overcome it with some good putting and chipping. The front nine I bogied 1 and 9 but parred all the rest. The back nine was up and down but mostly down for a 41.

The Luck Of The Round: Did not have very much good luck that was for sure. The 10th hole started the back nine and the round decline. I hit a 51 degree wedge form 110 yards to a downhill pin location. I pulled it just a touch and the ball bounced to the left and into the trap. I skulled the sand shot over the green and made double bogey. I had another ball take a big bounce left and get close enough to a tree that it affected my swing, and this led to another bogey.

Next Round: Stoughton Acres, in Butler Pa. on Sunday. It will be cold.