Boy, it’s amazing how quickly a hot and humid day will totally sap any strength you have. Granted, it wasn’t as humid as its been, but it was ugly anyway. Supposed to be better tomorrow and Wednesday…but they’re not here yet, so we’ll see.
So, last Wednesday I won Low Net with a 63! Hot dig! What they do is take your score and subtract your handicap. Since I had a great round last Wednesday, minus my handicap, I got a 63. Wish I could shoot that without the handicap. Now that would be something to remember
So today, I played stupid. I couldn’t do anything right….except hit my drives. I was killing them! Not too bad for an old fart, broken-down athlete who’s over the hill!! I was hitting them 180+ which is something I couldn’t do before I got that shot in my back. It was my short game that failed me today. I hit several beautiful shots that came up short…and shouldn’t have. Shanked several other shot shots. Missed putts. Sad Day!!
I didn’t end up too badly, but I was hoping for a really, really good day. Maybe my opportunity will be on the dreaded Wednesday league day. I need to make more pars and more birdies! That’s the key….with the cooler weather predicted, maybe it’ll happen.
They call it golf because all the other four-letter words were taken.
I had a great day at golf today. I should have had a wonderful day but royally messed up two holes that I shouldn’t have. I had 6 pars and 2 chip-ins. Too bad about those two holes. Had I done just a little bit better, I coulda broke 90. That was my goal for this year.
Of course, there’s still a lot of golf to be played this season and I play all year round unless it’s windy and in the low 40s. But when I start doing well, and I parred the first hole we played which is the second hardest hole on the course. I thought I might have a chance. Of course, I was still asleep when I did that, so I was bound to mess it up…which I did 2 holes later.
It’s so bothersome when that happens…but I still ended up with a great score. I could win low gross or low net in today’s tournament. The two chip-ins were nice as well…one was for a par, and the other was for a solid – I’d rather not say
It was brutally hot. When your arms are sweating, it’s hot…not just shiny but actually wet with sweat! It’s not pretty…nor is it pleasant. And, to boot, we started at 8am. It was hot then…and only got hotter, until the sun went behind the gathering clouds and the wind started picking up.
So another day to excel. I was happy even with the horrible holes. I broke 100 again, so what’s not to be happy about?
The difference between a whiff and a practice swing is that nobody curses after a practice swing.
…but I didn’t quite get it done! I didn’t play horribly, but I didn’t play great either. I had some fantastic shots followed by disasters. I would love to string several great shots together for 4 or 5 or more holes. Only happens on rare occasions and today wasn’t one of them!
It was a bit more humid than I’d like but it wasn’t awful and it did cool off near the end of the round. We started early and pretty much had the course to ourselves. There was no one in front of us, so we sailed right along.
They were supposed to aereate the front nine today, so were going to have to play the back nine twice. It’s not fun to do that, but they only do this twice a year, so it’s not terrible. Because of that, a lot of folks cancelled (and probably went to other courses). The equipment they were renting wasn’t available or was broken or something, I don’t remember, so it didn’t get done. Probably next week.
Aeration really makes the course look great, but it’s a pain when they first do it. There’s a lot of debris and your ball usually ends up lying in an aeration hole and it’s a bit more difficult to hit, but when it fills out and grows, the fairways are lush, the rough is lush (which is what we don’t need…more and thicker grass to hit through) and the greens are amazing.
Of course, you have to deal with the turds, that look like a gazillion dogs have been let out onto the course to “do their thing!” It’s actually a bit funny…not HA HA funny but you know what I mean.
It does make for an interesting playing field – which do you hit further – the ball or the turd? They look pretty gross though…don’tcha think?
Anyway, since they didn’t do it today, we played quite quickly and even with the mis-hits and stupid play, I ended up with a decent score. No…I didn’t break 100, but I”m staying close, so that’s what matters to me.
So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. The league is playing Thursday this week as the other ladies league (our 9 hole group) is having their invitational on Wednesday. Maybe a change of day will bring me luck. Who know? Time will tell – so I’ll see ya then.
Until next time: Like life, one’s golf game is made up by a series of absolute changes which are: Sudden Collapse, Radical Change, Complete Frustration, Slow Improvement, Brief Mastery, and Sudden Collapse.
Oh, by the way, the METS are 500, but I’m not sure how long that will last. I hate that they fired Willie and did it in the middle of the night. What pansy, a**h**** they were to do it like that!!! I fear this will be another disappointing year, but hope springs eternal for a charge!
Four days in a row. I’m pooped!! My old bod needs some serious R & R!
We won today’s tournament 11 1/2 to 6 1/2. We should have been able to win by more, but it was the stupid trick shots that seemed to get both of us. We had some really phenominal shots as well. We had one shot, our second off the tee on like the second hole we played – a short par 4. We were both behind this humongus bunker with a blind shot to the green. Both of us got on the green with a wing and a prayer.
Of course, I blew my birdie and ended up parring the hole, but it’s better than a lot of other scores I could have gotten. Again, several missed birdie opportunities flew right by me
I swear, my eyeballs are crooked. I can’t count the number of times my ball goes just over the hole’s edge. I actually didn’t putt badly on most holes, but I sure didn’t make the number of putts I should have.
We played with two very nice women but they were very slow, not sure of the rules, not sure where their balls went or what balls they were hitting on some shots. Besides that, they were lovely. It took us way too long to play, however. These tournaments do tend to drag on. Not sure why. A round of golf shouldn’t take much more than 4 1/2 hours. Why it takes 5 1/2 to 6 to play in these tournaments is beyond me, but it does.
Anyway, I almost broke 100 again. This course (this is the one I had such a miserable time with on Tuesday for the practice round) is the most difficult I’ve played to date. It’s slope rating (which is the difficulty) is 126. My home course is only a 119. The bunkers on this course are huge…on one hole, the bunker is so large, it could be a small country! There are many hazards, some water, fairways that have steep slopes and nasty, nasty greens. That said, it’s also a gorgeous course.
Today, I totally enjoyed playing it. Part of that was because I did better. Part of that was I didn’t have bad ju-ju. Part of that was my partner, who is a very nice woman. The day was magnificent. There was, at times, a very cool breeze. The sun hid behind clouds many times, which kept things cool. The temps were again in the 70s. For mid-June in Virginia, it doesn’t get any better than this!
So, I’m finished for this week. 4 days is about it. My back needs a rest as does my body and my bad knee. Next week, I only plan on playing twice, subject to change of course. If the four-letter word is mentioned, I could be out on an unplanned day. We’ll see.
The only sure way to find a drive sliced deep into the woods is to hit a provisional ball 260 yards down the middle.
Yes…another Wednesday league day and yet another opportunity to excel or fall flat on your butt!! I did a bit of both…but didn’t embarrass myself too badly.
I certainly played one hell of a lot better than I did yesterday. I’m firmly convinced the debacle of Tuesday was a result of seriously bad ju-ju! I’ve never been a big believer of the metaphysical stuff so many folks subscribe to – but the karma was not good Tuesday and I think, subsconscioously, it affected all of us…at least those in my cart!
So, I feel renewed and ready to face that nasty golf course tomorrow with hope and eternal optimism that while I might not break 100 (but that is always possible), I feel I will contribute and play a much better round.
Today was full of ups and downs. I’ve decided I will find and hire someone to putt for me. I had 2 birdie opportunities (that’s one under par, for those who don’t know the lingo) and they should have been. I missed the putt and ended up with a par or a bogey (that’s one over). If only it were legal, I would hire someone. It’s like I need one of those tiny eyeglass screwdrivers to adjust my eyeballs. I hit the lip of the cup and had the ball go around the cup and fly out – not once, not twice, but three times today. We don’t even want to talk about the times it slides over the edge of the cup and keeps on truckin’. There is absolutely nothing more frustrating than having that happen!
That said, I ended up in a pretty good place. Of course, I didn’t win anything today. Our “tournament” was the best score on the 13 hardest holes (determined by the hole handicap – the difficulty of the hole). I thought I might have a decent score but there is no way I could compete in that one…not with what I did on those holes that counted.
But, I’m ready for tomorrow!
On the sad news side, Tiger is out for the season. Not only does he need to have his ACL repaired (I had that – it is not fun), but he also has a couple of stress fractures on his tibia. OUCH!! How he ever played 5 days of golf, 91 holes and walked, not even counting how he swings and hits the ball, is beyond me. I play hurt…I’ve done it all my life, but 2 months out of surgery, with a torn ACL (which I have in both knees, but now with the total replacement, that’s not an issue…but I have a torn ACL in my other knee). The difference is I’ve had mine for many, many years. When I first hurt it, I don’t think there was any way I could have played golf and torqued that knee. He’s got an amazing pain tolerance to be able to do what he did.
He’s going to be missed by all the fans and his friends. I’m sure the guys on tour all breathed a collective sigh of relief and feel they now have a chance to win some tournaments. I think, once they fix that knee, he’ll be better than he was before. There’s nothing like being pain free. I’m sure we’ll all anxiously await his return!
I’m playing in another tournament Thursday (Oy Vay!!) and since many folks have not played this course and they’re new to this league, they allowed us to come out and play a practice round. Oh joy!!!
Let me digress a moment, as I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this and today’s round proved it to be true yet again. Golf is a game played between two places…your left ear and your right ear! If your head isn’t in the game, if you’re thinking about 3,000 other things other than what you’re doing at that very moment on the golf course with your club in your hand and the ball at your feet, you game will go in the toilet! You may have thought it was a game played with a ball and several sticks, but it’s really a game played between the ears!
So, now that you understand that, I’ll continue. Initially, I was thrilled to be playing this course. It’s one I’d never played…it’s across the street from that executive course I played last week. This one, however, is a championship course, designed by Arnold Palmer (even those of you reading this who aren’t golfers will know that name). And let me tell you, it is one tough cookie!
To start with, since none of the four of us had ever played the course before, we had no idea what was over hills or around the doglegs (those are the curves on the course). We literally played it blind on many of the holes. The starter did warn us about the “island green” on 9. That actually was an easy hole, but some of them, taking totally blind shots and hoping you’re assuming the fairway is where you’re aiming, makes the game even tougher.
What made it abysmal for me today was that mentally, I just wasn’t there. I don’t know if it was the over-abundance of food and wine I consumed at the wine dinner I attended last night (no…I wasn’t hung over, I just ate everything they put in front of me for 7 courses), or if I was tired or what the deal was but my head-space was definitely elsewhere.
There was not a club in my bag I felt comfortable with – not even my driver which is usually my most reliable club. I just didn’t have any concentration. It was warm but it wasn’t humid so that wasn’t a factor. I could probably point to one or two annoyances, but I tried to mostly ignore them. I just wasn’t there mentally.
That said, it screws up your games. If you don’t concentrate and pay attention on every shot and every hole, you haven’t a chance in the world of playing well.
I am glad we played today even though my performance sucked the big one! Why? Well, it gave me a chance to see the course and know what I was getting into before I play it Thursday. And, BTW, I wasn’t the only one playing poorly, so we all learned things today.
I will get my head wrapped around the game by Thursday. When you’re playing with the points on the line, you tend to be more focused. Even when I play with my group on Mondays (and we play every Monday together), I’m usually more in the game than I was today!
I have another day to get ready – the dreaded Wednesday league tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll get my rhythm back, my swing back, my confidence back and will play well tomorrow and Thursday!
Fairway: [faer-wai]:An unfamiliar tract of closely mown grass running directly from tee to the green. Your ball can usually be found immediately to the left or right of it.”
We didn’t get a reciprocal from our club. It doesn’t surprise me, but it still pisses me off. As a member of my club, if I can’t play on my course, the pro shop should do everything in it’s power to get us another place to play. I know they don’t try that hard.
That said, we played another course not too terribly far from here. We got a senior rate and that included a continental breakfast and lunch to go with the greens and cart fee. Not too bad for 32 bucks!
It was an interesting course. It was quite challenging and it offered several opportunities to excel or fail miserably. I parred the first two holes (par 4’s) which shocked me since I’d never played the course before. Then, I slipped into Donna mode and had ups and downs. I thought I might have my concentration thing licked, but it only worked well for those two holes…then it was up in the air.
I also got sick about the 6th hole. 3 holes later, I was done in. I felt better after 9 so I didn’t have to deal with those issues and, unfortunately, I can’t use it as an excuse. I ended up a little over 100. Not bad for never having played the course and the slope was slightly harder and about 100 yards longer than my course, so I’m not unhappy.
Now…on to serious matters. Although I like Tiger and he is the most phenominal golfer ever, I really was rooting for Rocco to beat him. He came awfully close but couldn’t close the deal when it counted. That said, for the 158th ranked player in the USGA to go 18 holes with the #1 player in the world and be ahead of him by a stroke on the last hole is a credit to his ability. Of course, now he’s ranked 47 and I think it’s wonderful, but I sure was pulling for him to win it all. Maybe next year
A golf match is a test of your skill against your opponents’ luck.
Many of you may not know it, but I have been very busy over the last 2 years putting my thoughts and ideas together in a book. I am very proud of the results and to assist with the marketing, I am asking friends and family to help me out. I believe my new book on GOLF gives the reader valuable playing tips and insider information that I have gained through my years of struggle and experience. I’m hopeful you find this a useful tool to help you enjoy your game that much more as you enjoy the great outdoors.
The cost is only $29.95 and can be ordered by simply leaving me a message here. Don’t wait until they’re all gone !!!!
Chapter 1 – How to Properly Line Up Your Fourth Putt
Chapter 2 – How to Hit a Nike from the Rough, when You Hit a Titleist from the Tee
Chapter 3 – How to Avoid the Water When You Lie 8 in a Bunker
Chapter 4 – How to Get More Distance off the Shank
Chapter 5 – When to Give the Marshall the Finger
Chapter 6 – Using Your Shadow on the Greens to Maximize Earnings
Chapter 7 – When to Implement Handicap Management
Chapter 8 – Proper Excuses for Drinking Beer Before 9:00 a.m.
Chapter 9 – How to Rationalize a 6 Hour Round
Chapter 10- When Does A Divot become classified as Sod
Chapter 11 – How to Find That Ball That Everyone Else Saw Go in the Water
Chapter 12 – Why your Spouse Doesn’t Care That You Birdied the 5th…
Chapter 13 – Using Curse words Creatively to Control Ball Flight
Chapter 14 – When to Let a Foursome Play through Your Twosome
Chapter 15 – How to Relax When You Are Hitting five off the Tee
Chapter 16 – When to Suggest Major Swing Corrections to Your Opponent
Chapter 17 – God and the Meaning of the Birdie-to-Bogey Three Putt
Chapter 18 – When to Regrip Your Ball Retriever
Chapter 19- Throwing Your Clubs: An Effective Stress-Reduction Technique
Chapter 20 – Can You Purchase a Better Golf Game?
Chapter 21 – Why Male Golfers Will Pay $5.00 a Beer from the Cart Girl and Give her a $3 Tip, but will balk at $4.50 at the 19th Hole and Stiff the Bartender.
Thanking you in advance for your order.
(BTW, for those of you who are not golfers, this is a joke. There is no book!)
Today was beyond brutal. First of all, we had a 7:30am shotgun start (zzzzzzz). Second, we started on the nasty hole (<- 17)…nasty only because you have to go over the environmental area and you have to hit it well. Of course, I got it over but put it in a bunker. In this picture, it looks so benign. It can be but not all the time.
The heat really wore me out today. I did not play as well as I played yesterday, but I did OK. I played 5 days this week (Sun, Mon, Wed [tournament], Thurs {tournament} Fri). Only Wed was a beautiful, bearable day. The other 4 were obnoxiously humid and hot! I feel like a wet dish rag…no energy, nothing.
I only shot 7 stokes higher than yesterday…and get this…The gals we beat so badly yesterday thought I was sandbagging because I played so well. They forgot how poorly they played. Why in the name of poop would I enter a bunch of sucky scores to make my handicap higher? I’d have to be nuts to do that! And, to enter a sucky tournament score (which stays around a whole lot longer than a regular score)? They were just trying to make us lose by intimating I was doing something I shouldn’t. The noive!!! Nothing worse than a sore loser.
So…my putting was slightly better today. I had a few good holes…I did par the hardest hole on the course. That was nice…but all in all, I just didn’t have game today.
That’s OK…I have two days to rest…which I will and I can do it again next week. We’re supposed to get storms tomorrow night and the humidity and temps are supposed to be lower. They say temps in the 70s Wed and Thurs. We’ll see! If they are, I’ll be envigorated and be able to kick some major butt on the course!!
Then, to add insult to injury, when I got home and turned the computer on, it came up fine, then went black. I thought it was the computer because the new computer I ordered was to be delivered today…no such luck. The monitor just quit!
It was a Viewsonic. I used to like them….but I had to go out an purchase a new one. I did not want to do that!! This Viewsonic never was right. It died shortly after I bought it. I sent it back to them, they couldn’t fix it and sent me a used/refurbished piece of crap I had issues with. Let me tell you, buying a new monitor, which used to be a no-brainer, was not fun.
You can’t get a square monitor any more….that’s what I wanted!! I was forced, because Best Buy or anyone else, doesn’t have them…and I didn’t feel like driving to another store in Manassas to see if there was a square monitor hanging around, so I now have a widescreen. I’m not sure I like it yet. Time will tell….
I lied…there was one square monitor. It was a Westinghouse! They make appliances. Why in the hell would I but a monitor made by them? It didn’t happen…I bought an LG, which I know and like their products.
That’s it for today. I’m going to open the box for the new computer and eat something. I haven’t dont much of that today!
You can hit a two acre fairway 10% of the time and a two inch branch 90% of the time.
It wasn’t supposed to be this hot today…or this humid. It wasn’t as beastly as it was last week, but it reached 91 (F) and the dewpoint was in the 60’s. It was hot…no bout adoubt it!
Today was a match play tournament. The course was in fantastic condition…one of those old, established courses where the fairways are lush like carpets and the greens are soft. This course was 600 yards longer than our course and it’s slope, which is the difficulty, was 6 points more difficult. As I looked at it, a good day today and it being a tournament round would go a long way to lowering my handicap! Well…I did well yet again. Fourth time in five rounds I’ve broken 100 and it seems the stokes are lessening each round. I can’t tell you how happy I was with my score today. Well…I could…and I just did, didn’t I?
Not only did I shoot a great round, we kicked major butt on our opponents. We beat them 11 1/2 to 6 1/2. Their handicaps were 12 and 14 points lower than mine (and 10 and 12 points lower than my partner’s) and they just couldn’t beat us! Having played so poorly in Arpril and May decimated my handicap but it helped me big time today. I got at least one stroke on 15 or 16 of the 18 holes on the course. So what does all that mean??
If you’re not familar with match play, you play to see who wins the hole. Whoever has the lowest score of each team wins. There’s 1 point for each hole, but if you tie, you halve the hole (that’s where the 1/2 comes in). The first two holes, we halved so we were even. Then we won two holes in a row (we got 1, they got 0). Then, they won one back. Then, we just went on a tear. At one point we were beating them 10 1/2 to 3 1/2. even good players have bad days…today it was their turn…and we took advantage of it at every opportunity.
One of our other teams did almost as good as us, and the other team lost but only by a couple of points!! It sure was fun being on the winning side for a change!! I did so well, I was asked to play in another match next week….and at a course I’ve really been wanting to play. I’ll have 2 opportunities to do it too….Tuesday for a practice round and Thursday for the match. I’m a happy camper…even though my poor arms got sunburned above my tan because my stupid shirt was shorter than the others I’ve been wearing. And, as per usual, my cheeks got burned yet again!! THAT I don’t understand.
So, tomorrow I play for fun…a 7:30am shotgun start (so we can get off the course before a tournament in the afternoon) and then I’ll rest until I play another 4 rounds next week. You have no idea how much I love this silly game of hit the ball and chase it
Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.
