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Golf Diary

The Round: Played Black Hawk Score 83 Green In Reg: 11 Putts: 36

The Good: Iron play came around some as I hit 11 greens, the highest number in a long time. Drove the ball ok and over all the driver did not get me in any big trouble.

The Bad: Putting as I was yipping some putts and it was costly. I had only one 1 putt green and that was on the last hole. One 3 putt, with rest being 2 putts. I did putt much better on the back did not have anything to show for it. The ground was very hard and I did not have that many good looks at birdie. It was very difficult to stop the ball on the green. The short game was bad, with some yipping creeping in. I did chip a little better on the back nine.

Luck OF The Round. I really did not have any bad luck but I could not gage the bounce into the green and most of my bounces were not toward the hole. Overall it was just another blah round with no birdies.

Next Round: The weather is going to take a nasty turn but should have 18 holes in by Wednesday.

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Round: Played South Park Score: 80 Greens in Reg: 7 Putts: 32

The Good: Putting made a spectacularly long putt from the fringe on the 1st hole for birdie. Drove the ball pretty well. Iron play improving but did not show up in stats. The course was hard and fast because of an unusual lack of spring rain. Some shots went over the green as they did not hold but the shots were solid and crisp. Short game was ok but did mess up a few chips.

The Bad: Did have a four putt on the 4th green for a double bogey. Overall, even though the score was not all that great I really can’t find a lot of bad in this round.

The Luck Of The Round: Now this is a different story. No breaks today. Because of the dry conditions I had a few drives that looked pretty good, roll into sand traps or under trees. The drive on the second hole which I thought it was well left of the trap, bounced to the right and into the trap. From 140 I hit an 8 iron left and it rolled under a tree. I had a drive on 16 that was cutting back from the left side of the rough, ticked a tree, which caused it to bounce crazily to the left and under another tree. Both of these led to double bogies for a total of 3 for the round. This was a round where I played well enough to break 80 but it was not in the cards. After the long putt on the first hole I thought this was going to be my day. Not so, ball wash breath.

Next Round: Tomorrow, Mt. Lebanon. Things seem to be coming along. This was the best ball striking day of the year. Between the conditions and not being so lucky, the score did not materialize. I played 15 holes 2 over par. Unfortunately, a round is 18 holes.

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The Round: Played Rolling Green Score 77 Greens In Reg: 8 Putts: 27

The Good: The putter was smoking today and kept the score barely respectable. Had 9 one putt greens and not too many gimmes. Many par saves and a couple of nice 5 to 8 foot birdie putts that I canned. No 3 putt greens today. The iron game continued to improve and the short game was passable, but it probably seemed better, because I almost made every putt.

The Bad: Had the worst driving day of the year and it was a good thing this course was pretty wide open. I still managed to find trouble and it cost me a double bogey on one hole. Working on something new, and I improved during the round. The weather was gorgeous, so all in all a pretty good day.

The Luck Of The Round: Really not much of a factor today. Can’t say that I had any good or bad breaks. Certainly, no bad luck on the greens today.

Next Round: Somewhat unknown at the moment but should have 2 rounds in by the end of the week.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played at South Park. Score: 81 Greens in Reg: 8 Putts: 34

The Good: Putting on the back nine (14) Iron play improved somewhat. Drove the ball at times really well but that was off some today as well.

The Bad: Putting on the front nine (20). The short game was mediocre all day as I could not get the ball close on chips and pitches. The difference between the nines was I had 4 one putt greens. A 2 footer on 10 for a birdie, a 10 footer on 11 to save bogey, 4 footer on 12 to save par and a 10 footer on 15 to save another par. I finished with 4 straight pars as my iron game improved as I hit the last 3 greens in regulation.

Luck Of The Round: Coming off a 3 putt double bogey on 9, I hit a duck hook on the easy par 5 10th hole. I had an opening through the trees to get back in play and I hit driver off the deck to keep it low. I missed it right and the ball just missed two trees and rolled out to the fairway 105 yards from the pin. I hit the gap wedge in about 2 feet and made birdie. The biggest problem was that my bad shots were really bad.

Next Round: Tomorrow Rolling Green Golf Course. Some improvement but will see if can continue on a fairly easy course.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played Mt Lebanon Score: 85 Greens In Reg: 3 Putts 32

The Good: Absolutely nothing. Did not drive the ball bad but that was about it.

The Bad: Hitting 3 greens in regulation shows the iron game was very poor and then compound that with mediocre to poor chipping. The putting had too much stress put on it to call it poor, but it did not bail me out at all. Just chalk it up to one of those rounds. I thought I was swinging quite well but little or nothing to show for it.

Luck Of The Round: Anytime you shoot a round like this you are not going to get a lot of breaks. I had many awkward and bad lies and the putts would not drop at all. It was pretty cold out but a least it was not that windy, and the sun was out much of the time. I guess you could say that was lucky.

Next Round: Tomorrow at South Park. Hopefully this was just an anomaly, but we will soon find out. Will be glad to get the taste of this one out of my mouth.

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The Round: Played at Mt. Lebanon Score 77 Greens In Reg. 7 Putt 30

The Good: Really not much. The weirdest part of the round was that I hit some good shots off of some really odd lies. Made some nice short game moves on the last 2 holes to save pars. Think I am a little golfed out. Played 3 consecutive days and was really tired for the early 7:20 tee time. Did make some really tough 3 to 4 foot putts.

The Bad: My longer putts were horrible. The greens were a little slow but that is no excuse. I never hit a good putt over 10 feet. My iron game was a little better but not enough to call it good.

Luck Of The Round: Did have some bad breaks. Hit a real good drive on 3 but wound up with the ball way of above my feet because it did not roll all the way down into a grass bunker. But I hit a really good shot about 15 feet right of the pin but the putt was lousy. Looking forward to a non golf day tomorrow

Next Round: Most likely finish up on Saturday. I’m taking a nap.

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The Round: Played Highland Spring Score 78 Greens In Reg: 6 Putts: 28

The Good: My driving and putting saved the day. The highlight of the round was an eagle on the par 5 13th hole. After a beautiful drive that cut the dogleg I hit a low bullet of a 3 wood off a downhill lie to the middle of the green about 40 feet short of the pin. Of course, I made the eagle putt but more on that later. The eagle gave me the shot in the arm, to post a 1 under 36 on the back nine. What is interesting, is up until I started this blog, I had yet to break 80 in about 10 previous rounds. I had strung some 9-hole rounds together, that were under 80, but never on an 18 hole course, until the last 3 rounds.

The Bad: This round did not look like a round that was going to be under 80. I started bogey, bogey double bogey then got it up and down twice to save pars. Did not hit a green until the 6th hole and that was the only one I hit on my way to 7 over 42. The culprit was some horrendous iron play. Double yuk! Once again, really good putting saved the round. The last iron shot of the day a gap wedge up hill from 95 yards away was a quality shot and hopefully I can continue that feel on the next round. Let’s face it 6 greens in regulation is not going to cut in the long run.

Luck Of The Round: Naturally the eagle putt was the fortunate shot of the day. It was about 40 feet in length and was uphill for about 25 feet and then slightly downhill the last 15 feet. These kinds of putts, up and down, are very hard to judge the speed. Since an eagle putt is a rare occurrence, I was not going to be short. I thought it wasn’t that hard as I saw it start up the hill but when I heard it bang into the flag, I knew it would have gone 8-10 feet past if it had not hit the pin. Not any bad luck during the round, as my putting was even bad at the start of the round. The putts were so bad, that lip outs were not a factor. On the last 8 holes, The putter found new life, as I had only 12 putts.

Next Round: Finishing up a 9 hole round at Mt. Lebanon from March 30, tomorrow.

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The Round: Played South Park Score 76 Green In Reg: 9 Putts: 29

The Good: Played really solidly the first 9 with 8 pars and a bogey on 9. Then I birdied the 10th hole but then faltered with double bogey and 2 bogies for 76. The putter saved the back nine from being worse. I made 3 really nice par saves on the back but did miss a 10 foot birdie putt on 17. Drove the ball well again today.

The Bad: Some bad iron play and again poor club selection led to some horrible shots and tough up and downs. The short game was mediocre at best and at times had trouble concentrating. The pace of play was slow but no excuse, that is just part of golf.

Luck Of The Round: Got a big break on the 4th hole when my second shot was headed for the woods but hit a tree and came out, so I had a clear shot. Really no bad breaks today.

Next Round: Tomorrow Highland Springs Golf Course.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played Beaver Valley Golf Course Score: 78 Green In Reg. 8 Putts 31

The Good: Drove the ball very well and the putter was ok even though I had two three putt greens. Did a lot of visualization this round that worked really well. Hit some good chips early then went into problem. Ball striking was particularly good after the 8th hole. Made 2 birdies on the 10th and the 12th hole which led to an even par round on the back nine.

The Bad: After getting off to a good start went into a bad stretch of holes 4 through 8 where I 3 putted for a double bogey and hit some very poor chips that resulted in 2 more bogeys. For the 5 hole stretch I was 5 over par. Picked the wrong club a few times that did not help the cause.

Luck Of The Round: Had a lot of putts that came really close today but just would not find the hole. Had some lip outs and burnt edges or the round could have been even better. Did not really get any real good breaks or bad breaks through the green.

Next Round: Tomorrow at South Park.

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Golf: Are The Good Shots, Just Luck?

We have all had runs of good golf shots. When I hit a few good shots in a row, one of my favorite sayings is ” I don’t know where they come from, and I don’t know where they go. The reason I say this is because good shots seem to come out of nowhere. You can see this on the pro tour. I remember the 1987 Masters when Corey Pavin was in contention after 2 rounds but blew up in the 3rd round, being 10 over for the round, going into the 18th hole. For whatever reason CBS decided to show him playing the last hole of this horrific round. He hit a beautiful drive around the bend, then hit an iron about 5 feet from the pin and make the putt for a final birdie to shoot 81. These good shots can follow any type of pattern or length. They can be at the beginning of the round, the middle of the round or the end. Good shots may last from one good shot, to hitting good shots for up to 5 to 10 holes. Rarely do they last longer than that, never spilling over into the next day. There is no question that something clicks and all of a sudden, we are hitting good shot after good shot. If we are working on something or trying something new, we think that this is it, having found the lifelong swing fix or swing move. But somewhere along the round the good shots disappear quickly, and we are left with that what happened feeling.

Let’s work backwards and see what the reasons are given for why the good shots disappear. I’m not saying that I believe these are all true, but all have been written up in many golf articles. One of the big reasons that good shots end is if you start out a round really well. Then you start to become too aware of your score and the shots become more significant, which causes tension, and the bad shots start to happen. There can be other times when something seems to unclick so to speak due to the circumstances of the shot. This affects your concentration with a bad shot as a result. No one gives a reason why you lose your concentration, you just do. Sometimes the good shots go all the way to the end of the round. You leave the course invigorated and may be playing the next day. You get to the course all fired up and promptly slice your drive right into the woods, starting out 5 over par for 3 holes. Sometimes the good shots may be brief. You play 11 holes lousy but on the 12th you smash a drive and birdie 2 or the next 4 holes. You get to the 16th tee with all the momentum in the world and proceed to go bogey, bogey, double bogey to end a nice 4 hole round. This may be considered letting adrenaline getting the best of you and again losing your concentration. Is any of this really true? Before we draw any final conclusions, let’s take a look at why we start hitting good shots in the first place.

There are again plenty of reasons given why we start hitting good shots during a round. It could be that the new swing thought or supposed fault that we have corrected is now allowing us to strike the ball better. Some people feel that good shots start to flow when we stop caring so much about where the ball is going. This seems to be true concerning putting. If we have more of a devil may care attitude and do not think about making the putt or the significance of the putt, we have more of a chance of making the putt. Sometimes a shot just fits our eye, feels simple and the result is a good shot that can start the flow of good shots. There are thoughts as to why we may find our game during a round, but the bottom line is this, it is always related to some kind of physical move that we are going to control, that is related to a specific skill set. Some of us may have a better skill set than others, but we are controlling the ball to the best of our ability. Could there be another reason why these shots seem to come and go?

Could just plain old luck be the reason that our games just seem to come and go. Earlier in the blog I wrote that something just clicks, and you begin to hit good shots. Could it be that you have a perfect distance for one of your irons? Could it be that the ball is sitting perfectly whether in the fairway or rough? Could it be that you have an easy target for the first time today? Maybe the wind has died down. You could be hitting a club that you really like to hit. Whatever it may be, once you hit the good or great shot, the brain and body have now connected to this feeling of a good shot. Even that swing flaw you have, somehow has compensated in a way that allowed you to pull off the shot. With that feeling of the great shot you go on to play X number of holes really well. Then your luck simply runs out. Is there a way we can figure out when this is going to happen and how we can deal with it. I think we can, and I will deal with that in the next blog. In order to move forward, you must believe that luck is the primary factor here. It is a little hard to swallow considering how much time is spent practicing and working on one’s game. Even though there is the old saying I would rather be lucky than good, luck always seems to get a bad rap. Many players are embarrassed at being “lucky”. But luck is a huge part of golf and not just in bounces and where the ball ends up. You may need luck just to hit the ball with instruments that Winston Churchill said, ” Were singularly ill-designed for the purpose”. I don’t think you are going to get much of argument about golf clubs, even today.