Finally got a round in!

The intersection of good weather and sufficient time in my schedule to get in a round of golf has been hard to come by.  We have some warmer than normal temperatures in the Raleigh area this week – it was almost 70 yesterday – and I was able to play yesterday.

I was supposed to play last Friday but the course was closed because it had been so cold all week that they didn’t want to take any chances.  I was bummed because I had rearranged my schedule so I could play.  Yesterday was nice but the wind really picked up after we had played 4-5 holes.  From that point on it was really windy.

I shot 96 which I wasn’t too unhappy with considering I hadn’t played since just before Christmas.  I hit the ball, particularly off the tee, really well.  My chipping really let me down, particularly on the back 9.  I just don’t have much confidence in my ability to execute a short (10-30 yards) wedge shot.  On the part 5 17th I hit a great tee shot followed by a very good 3 wood to leave myself 30 yards from the green for my third shot.  What do I do?  Duff the chip and hit it maybe 10 yards.  I do the same with my 4th shot.  I think get fairly close with my 5th and 2 putt for a double bogie.  30 yards from the green in two but take five more shots to get it in the hole.  I had a number of holes like that yesterday.

Still, it was good to get out and I am going to try and play again tomorrow although I may only be able to play nine holes due to my work schedule.  We’ll see.

A little forward progress

This evening I gave a co-worker a ride home so we were out of the office earlier than I typically leave.  I wanted to play golf this morning but didn’t have enough time so as I was headed home, I stopped at MDCC and played 4 holes.  The first four holes make a nice short circuit – it is a reasonably short walk from the fourth green back to the club house.

I hit the ball much better today than I did last week at Croasdaile.  I only had one really shanked shot and playing by myself allowed me to drop a few balls and hit the same shot several times.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous – I wish I had more time and more daylight!  No chance to play tomorrow either, too many conference calls early and late in the day to play.  Next week …  At least I feel a little less discouraged than I did on Friday.

Another Poor Round

I played at Croasdaile Country Club yesterday morning with some of our customers.  I like the course and have played there a couple times.  It was 15 degrees colder in Durham yesterday morning than it was in Cary and we had an 8:30 tee time.  I had gone to the gym ahead of time and didn’t think it would be that cold so I had shorts on when I got there.  It was 37!  Yikes.  Good thing I had on a thermal shirt!

I started out ok but promptly dumped a ball in the water on #2 with a poor tee shot.  That tee shot was somewhat indicative of the rest of the day, I was really getting under the ball a lot and popped a bunch of shots up in the air, even with my hybrid clubs which I can usually hit decently.  I also shanked a number of shots which results in 2 or 3 to recover from.  Bleh.  All said and done – 103 – 4th round in a row above 100 after playing 5 or 6 in the low 90’s and getting close to breaking 90.

Compared to my last round where I was really spraying it off the tee, I got off the tee ok for the most part.  It was my second and third shots which really gave me trouble today.  I am consistently inconsistent.

I've lost it!

I seem to have lost all of the progress I was making on the golf course.  I played last Friday  MDCC and shot 103.  I was all over the place, mostly to the right, off the tee again which really makes it hard to score well.

About 14 holes in, I made a slight adjustment, dropping my right foot slightly to force an inside-out swing path.  Once I did this my slice went away and I was off the tee correctly (down the middle) on all but one of the last 5 holes.  My putting however, was poor, so even though I wasn’t playing out of the woods, I wasn’t scoring very well either.  I think it is time to go back and take a tune up lesson or two to identify where I my swing is flawed, trying to fix it in real time on the golf course isn’t the best way to fix it!

On the plus side, it was absolutely gorgeous day, a little chilly perhaps which is why the course was empty.  As poorly as I played we still played in 3 1/2 hours which is always nice.

Golf game heads south again

I have played twice since my last golf posting and unfortunately my results have more like the 2nd 9 in my Tale of two 9’s as opposed tot he 1st 9.  I didn’t even break 100 much less get close to 90 the  last two times out.  In both cases I was really spraying the ball off the tee and here where we have the nice thick bermuda rough, once you are in trouble, it is hard to get out of it.

I think I know what I was doing wrong – I let some old bad habits creep in.  My stance was too wide and my grip was too weak.  I went out one evening and played a couple holes and hit the ball much better.  Not sure I can play this week though, I’ll be out of town for a couple of days for work.

A tale of two 9's

I played at MDCC yesterday with Dr. Bob and two other Dad’s from our Y-Princess tribe.  It was a tale of two 9’s me.  I shot 43 on the front nine and hit the ball well.  I actually hit the flag with my tee shot on #8 and got a Sergio bounce out it – the ball rolled back about 40 feet!  We took about an hour break between 9’s – long story – two of the guys had to attend a school program in the middle of our round so we took a break for lunch and watied for them to get back.  Unfortunately I lost all my rythm and shot 51 on the back and it was a bad 51.  I think I only had two decent drives oh the back 9.  Once again, I was unable to close when I had a good chance to break 90.  I’m playing again on Friday, we’ll see if I can do a little better.

Shot 92 today

I played MDCC this morning and played ok, shooting 92.  I putted well today unlike the last time I was out, I think I only had one 3 putt (I can’t find my card) but my long iron and hybrid shots weren’t very good today.  I didn’t lose a ball but I was in the woods on at least 3 holes and on 2 of them, it took me 2 shots to get out.  I did have 2 birdies – #4, and #10.  On #10 I had a good tee shot, a great 3 wood and a so-so wedge which left me just short of the green with.  There was a significant bump in my line so instead of putting it or using my wedge, I used my 4 hybrid and with a putting stroke, knocked it in the hole!  Certainly the highlight of my round.  Looking back on my round, I can easily identify 3-4 shots that I should never have had to hit but those mental lapses continue to keep me from breaking 90.

How's my golf game?

I haven’t posted much about my golf game in a while, I have been out twice in the last month and both times played pretty well.  I shot 91 at MDCC and 90 at The Preserve.  In both instances it was my putting which kept me from breaking 90, particularly at The Preserve where I 3 putted at least 5 times.

I was a little disappointed in The Preserve, the greens were not in that great of shape.  I had heard about the course over the years so it was surprising to see the greens so marked up.  We played the day the remnants of Hanna started to roll through so it wasn’t very busy and we cruised through the front nine in about 1:45.  It slowed up at the turn and we picked up another player which also slowed us down a bit but it was nice to get out.

I am hoping to play MDCC this Friday – hopefully I can keep the solid progress up.

How far is it from 91 to 89?

How far is from 91 to 89?  Turns out a 4-putt ultimately kept me from breaking 90.  There were other shots which didn’t help either but a 4 putt on a par 3 after hitting the green from the tee really, really hurts.

I teed it up Ronnie, a co-worker and one of our customers this morning.  I played my best round in a long time – shot 91 and really hit the ball well.  Ahhg, so close to breaking 90!  I hit the ball well off the tee all day which makes a huge difference.  I had a few other shots which were poorly executed which also could have gotten me under 90 but that 4 putt is what sticks in my brain.

Stinkin' up the joint

Last Friday Ronnie and I played 18 and were paired up another member and his old neighbor who happens to be a player on the local high school team and a scratch golfer.  Nice kid and he can hit the ball a mile!  I have played with a couple people who can really hit it but none were in the same league as this kid.  Not sure what he shot but it was around par.  After his drive on #18 he teed up another and tried to drive the green which is about 350 yards away.  He was about 20 yards short!

Of course, I played like crap.  Started out okay but then I started pulling the ball left which I never do.  I have struggled with a slice and if I get careless, it creeps back in.  But a pull hook?  Every once in a while but Friday I must have hit a dozen.  Needless to say I was hitting from all sorts of odd places.  My short game was ok and I putted well, no 3 putts at all.  The highlight of my round was on #18 where once again I pulled my drive into the lake.  From the drop area I hit a 3 hybrid to the fringe of the green and then hit a wedge in the hole for par!  It may have been the best wedge shot I ever hit.  It was a nice way to finish what was otherwise a terrible (101) round.

Saturday I was hoping to get out and see if I could hit the ball a little better.  I concluded that on Friday in an effort to hit the ball farther, I was swinging much too quickly (bad tempo) and hitting the ball poorly.  My daughter (who is 8) and I played 9 holes late Saturday evening and although I didn’t score very well (50), I hit the ball much better and was much happier than I was on Friday.  I didn’t putt well at all and some of that I attribute to making sure we weren’t holding up the group behind us.