Tell us about your game today...

First topic message reminder :

Fresh thread - you know the score: share some of your tales of woe, indifference and banditry with us all.

played as much golf as i have since a kid this year and for the most part had "card in hand" syndrome.
I went on a late "summer holiday" this year on 20th Aug" and hadnt played in a comp since due to a couple of weddings etc. so I went into last counting comp of the year this sunday with very little expectation other than a slim hope of getting back down to 5 (from 5.5)

+3 after 2 holes and then everything clicked from there on. played the last 15 in -3 including 6 birdies! won the hamper and all. down to 4.9

Society day at Stisted, Braintree for me yesterday. Didn't really fancy it that much when I looked out of the window first thing and it was tipping it down with rain, especially as my last visit to the golf course had yielded a miserly 25 points and it had rained continuously all the way round.
 
However, fortified by coffee and a bacon roll and a catch-up gossip as to which of the boys that I hadn't seen lately were now seperated from their wives and living with hot new girlfriends, I wandered to the first tee feeling a little more enthusiastic particularly as it had stopped raining.
 
Cue my best round of the year. 3 chip-ins from the fringe, 5 birdies and 23 putts (don't think I have ever had that few!) for a 1 over 71 and 41 points. Didn't win obviously, nudged into the runners-up spot by an 18 handicapper with 42 points!

a sorely missed ex-poster used to average 23 putts per round over an entire season

I used to average a staggeringly low number of putts, 26 I think, however it could be explained by missing lots of greens and chipping well meaning lots of tap in putts.

Unexpected bonus this weekend. Recently struggling a bit so turned up with no expectations yesterday. 4 holes closed, monthly medal, windy. Started birdie bogey so usual sort of up and down indication. Went on to shoot 52 (par 54 with the shorter course) including 4 birdies and 2 bogeys with none of the usual disaster holes. Lowest gross and the net silver win (48 net) plus £13 for my 2 in the sweep.

One of those days where everything seemed to click, and as per usual left about 4 or 5 out there too!

Not quite Kim Jong il's 18 gross but the only chance of shooting in the 50's gross I'm ever likely to get!

fun round on saturday. plans with the family, so nipped out early doors to beat the saturday rush. tee'd off at 8am, and had a nice leisurely 2.5 hr round. Great fun getting to grips with the new sticks. Had been a little disapointed with the 3-wood and hybrid on first outing, but none of that on saturday. Carefully thought through my set up / ball position etc and they performed superbly. Lovely 3-wood off the 2nd tee, and nailed another to the heart of the 3rd green (shortened course - winter tees) from the tee. Despite a penalty drop from some gorse early on and a 3-putt on 5, my game was super-steady - pars more or less the whole way round, until the round caught fire on 13 - a super drive pin high from 260, rolled in a solid birdie. Short 14th gave way to another. Nailed another drive pin high on 15, but failed to convert. Made a tricky up and down on 16 to save par, then birdied 17 with a great approach shot. Standing on 18, needing a 3 to break 70. Hit a lovely 7 iron over the flag - pitched 4 feet past and spun back an inch past the hole. Would have been a nice b'day pressie had it dropped but delighted with a cheeky 68 to get my winter off and running.

barragan wrote:fun round on saturday. plans with the family, so nipped out early doors to beat the saturday rush. tee'd off at 8am, and had a nice leisurely 2.5 hr round. Great fun getting to grips with the new sticks. Had been a little disapointed with the 3-wood and hybrid on first outing, but none of that on saturday. Carefully thought through my set up / ball position etc and they performed superbly. Lovely 3-wood off the 2nd tee, and nailed another to the heart of the 3rd green (shortened course - winter tees) from the tee. Despite a penalty drop from some gorse early on and a 3-putt on 5, my game was super-steady - pars more or less the whole way round, until the round caught fire on 13 - a super drive pin high from 260, rolled in a solid birdie. Short 14th gave way to another. Nailed another drive pin high on 15, but failed to convert. Made a tricky up and down on 16 to save par, then birdied 17 with a great approach shot. Standing on 18, needing a 3 to break 70. Hit a lovely 7 iron over the flag - pitched 4 feet past and spun back an inch past the hole. Would have been a nice b'day pressie had it dropped but delighted with a cheeky 68 to get my winter off and running.

Barra - I thought you played at Duddingston?

I do, but was up north at the weekend and playing F&R on this occasion.

barra i have to say- you come across as a serious bandit off 5!

I've got some shots, but to be fair, it was around a shortened course (forward winter tees). If I was to guess the SSS rating it might be 65ish (usually 69) so nothing particularly spectacular. Still nice to shoot in the 60s though!
Tend to score well when I'm hitting fairways and greens. Short game has come on this year but still below standard. Putting is steady but often hit a hot streak. Bit of a flair player on the whole. Have collapsed on the back nine after some good front 9 scoring of late. Also pulled a few cracking back nines out of nowhere after some horrendous starts. Just need to learn the art of holding a score together for 18 holes. Had a couple of 73s this season during a 10day spell I played every other day. Seem to have little continuity week to week when only playing weekly though. O to be a junior again!

i think im pretty similar to you! have all the shots- which sometimes can be the problem! streaky with the putter (paticularly shakey on 3footers) i hit alot of GIR and am very long of the tee (won long drive comp this year at our club of 1000 members ) im a poor chipper though and dont hit it close enough from the 60-120 yard range.

County alliance today at scraptoft .3/4 handicap better ball and 21 each half was pretty good.But when we left 46 points was in with a couple of 44s course playing long -every week the scores are
similar so very hard.But we were solid only 4 over between us.Game in front had pro Matthew Cort who has played at a decent level for some years.Some long drives and all round tidy game.
This runs through the winter on all the county courses at £17 a week well organised and good crowd.
Work tomorrow!

Hi peeps.Another county pro am yesterday Birstall GC nice course sunny autumn day par 70 some long par fours all out of reach in two for us mere mortals.Played rubbish fir 13 holes then finished off quite tidy best shot was about 180 yd 3 wood to the last green which made me believe I can actually play the game.Best pro Cort was 8 under this week another lad 6 under for second week in a row.These guys with all respect cos they are good very good but not good enough to move up to the next level.Hole in one as well in one of the groups.All down to the weather now but good start to the winter series of games.
Separate story but our club shop/superstore was raided last week hole in the wall gang through the brickwork and cleared all the clothing ranges and golf balls with the exception of the john daly chefs outfits.Knew what to take without doubt.
No clubs taken

Played Hayling today with D4S, JAS and a non 606er. Beautiful day, sunny, cold and a breeze to keep everyone honest. Really enjoyable. Good to meet up again at an excellent course which we concluded probably doesn't get the recognition it deserves. If you get the chance to play it don't pass it up!!!

...Of course Puligny is too modest to announce that he and D4S gave me and the other guy a thorough 5&4 horsing!! Very steady stuff especially on the front 9.

I concur entirely about Hayling, We may have had the benefit of members guest rate but even looking at the County card rate or even the full visitor rate, it still represents a great bargain, proper links golf and a superb variety of holes throughout the layout.

At this time of year days like today are few and far between so it was good to make the most of it.

Very true JAS so I sneaked away to play in the monthly stableford today and what a beautiful morning it was. Lovely golden yellow leaves on the trees as they change colour in the crisp autumn warmth, not a breath of wind just blue skies and sunshine, swans gliding effortlessly on the lakes, the sight of a kestrel swooping down and snatching a vole for an early lunch whilst we teed off on the 13th...sorry nearly getting all poetical there for a moment, but it was a perfect November morning and a real pleasure to be out there.

As for the golf an interesting start...birdie, blob, birdie! Finished with 35 points, gross 79 and happy to make the buffer zone. Now the question is can I keep the diary free and sneak out of the office again next Wednesday?...

Missed a game last week due to house move. Did suggest to the missus that we could get most of it done in the week, have a quick blast on Saturday morning for a couple of hours to get it all in and then I'd be able to make a 12 tee time. Apparently this wasn't the best idea she'd heard. So, missed a game last weekend.

Keen to get out tomorrow and doesn't look too bad weather wise. Only fly in the ointment is my partner hates one of the oppo and rarely plays well when riled. With my week off it could be a short sharp dusting.

Still, I'm fairly sure I'll enjoy it nonetheless.

weekend off golf ahead so snuck out for a sneaky 18 holes this morning with a couple of friends. solid drive up the first and a fairly straightforward birdie 4. dropped one on the 2nd, then got a little hot under the collar on 3, taking 5 from 60 yards short of the green for a triple. went awol on 4 too and ended up picking up - regroup. head was a little mushy after being woken every hour last night by the wee one who is teething again. worse for him of course, but it's tough focussing at work let alone golf! gave up in the end trying to get back to sleep and got up at 5 to get a few hours work done before the game. anyway, back to the golf. nice drive and approach on 5 - nice iron on the par 3 sixth, good drive and iron on 7 - all ok but no birdies. 8th hole, nice hybrid off the tee and a tidy 3wood off the deck left a little flick to the green and another two putts. 9th, great 3 wood into the wind, flick with the gap wedge - spun back off the front. one of the others left at that point, and it was time to focus - a wee match to come back v's oppo off 4. got off to a nice start 7 iron to 8 feet on 10, par was enough. good drive and solid iron on 11, par for a half after oppo scrambled well. lost 12 with a sandy bogey. won 13 with another good drive and a solid 7iron to 4 feet - par was enough again. went swimming on 14 and despite a good recovery bogey wasn't enough. lost 15 to a birdie after missing my 10 footer by a fraction. won 16 with a solid par. birdied 17 to go dormie up 18. hit a super drive up the middle, matched will by oppo, knocked on with a wedge and then did a full lap of honour with the putt spinning out and had to settle for par from 20feet. oppo duly knocked in his 10 footer to half the wee match - good fun. both +1 despite playing a little scrappily. i'd love to have his short game - really excellent to watch and quite clear just how far behind a cat 1 handicappers short game mine is. ironplay and putting definitely the strongest elements in my game, but driving is definitely adding itself to that list too. really can't wait for next season. plenty work on the short game to make it solid (if not good) and will genuinely have high hopes for knocking another stroke off the handicap.

scramble yesterday and our 5 under was marginally outside the prizes.we all missed from 10 feet on 2 holes and that would have won it for us.One of the group made a 2 on 270 yard par 4 and then same happened in the game behind a group of young ladies the noise was deafening.My game is poor 20 yards has gone somewhere this year.
Couple of asides the club appears to be struggling head greenkeeper is away to Gainsborough,discount membership deals flying about,course condition poor,and shop broken into again Friday night this time the simple way in through the roof tiles/felt lath cut through a stud wall and away with all the clubs this time.
Mate went to turkey last week and couldn't praise it enough watched the ET and was particulary impressed with Stenson

Played today for the first time in a month, Captain's Drive In comp. Started well, +1 for the first 7, then drove the par 4 second (shotgun start). 3 putting that for par seems to have started a slump, I doubled 3 off a reasonable drive, bogeyed 4 and then doubled 5 and 6. Parred 7 through 10 and finished bogey, bogey for 34 points. Really pleased, despite the poor holes, given my lack of play recently; no problem with my iron shots and what a lovely day.

Stunning wind free day, solid all round play and a birdie on the last to sneak a 1 up win. Couple of erratic drives, but tempered by unusually good touch with the wedges.

Playing against an 18 handicapper getting all sorts of pars and whose putter was on fire made it a particularly pleasing result. Partner played well too which was nice as he's been really struggling.

One of those days that makes you want next week to come round sooner.

Winter stableford yesterday on a very short and soft course. 44 points won it but well pleased to beat my handicap after not playing for a couple of weeks. 38 points. Did as was suggested and slowed everything down and shortened my backswing. Not a huge loss in distance but greatly improved accuracy. Gutted to finish 16 & 17 dropping four shots but overall can't complain.

Just back from a very enjoyable day at North Hants. Now there's a club that looks after it's visitors, treats them well and makes them feel very welcome. I was part of a 70th birthday celebration (the dad of the guy who organised my 50th). 19 of us in total and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Late November for a golf day is always a gamble weather wise but it paid off, cold yes but it stayed dry and the wind never got up enough to cause any issues. After a good chinwag with the  knowledgable and informative starter, off we went. NH is heathland in character, have to say as well that the greens were marvellous for this time of year despite 2 3putts in the first 3 holes followed by a missed 4 footer for birdie on the 4th (only offset by winning nearest the pin in 2 at that hole). At the decently long par 4 5th I canned an 18 footer for par and all of a sudden the puttter just seemed to come alive. 10 putts in the 1st 4 holes eventually became a 31 putt round.

Some stunning golf holes on this course and 2 or 3 real thinkers holes. A decent drive on the Par 5 3rd and the safest option actually turns out to be go for it rather than lay up (if the pin is left - which it was). Very lucky to get away with a chunked 3 wood 2nd and had a 3rd to the green which I left woefully short and 3 putted. The round turned for me on 8 & 9. 8 is a very short par 3 (108). After 4 straight pars my round was back on track after the early putting faux-pas. I then go and carve a divot the thickness of a fillet steak and move the ball about 50 yards. an almost equally horrible chip on was followed by ramming in a 30 footer for par....no feelings of guilt at all On 9 I pulled the drive into the trees left. 177 to go and no line to the green..."I can draw this". For once it actually came off, managed about 40 yards of draw to 15 foot then canned it for birdie. So 19 out but didn't feel like I'd played that well. I thought if I could do that again though I wouldn't be far away and so it proved. A slightly more erratic 19 back for 38 and won by 2.
Never ceases to amaze me how I can rock up to decent courses like this that I've never played before and beat my handicap, yet struggle on my "easy" home course.

JAS wrote:a missed 4 footer for birdie on the 4th (only offset by winning nearest the pin in 2 at that hole).

I always think that in nearest the pin comps (or nearest in 2) you should hole the putt to be eligible. Just adds a little spice to the comp ;-)

Davie wrote:

JAS wrote:a missed 4 footer for birdie on the 4th (only offset by winning nearest the pin in 2 at that hole).

I always think that in nearest the pin comps (or nearest in 2) you should hole the putt to be eligible. Just adds a little spice to the comp ;-)

Good job you weren't organising the day then Davie

Really odd miss...with about 3 inches to go it was left lip...then it missed right..wtf??. Remember that episode of Randall & Hopkirk (deceased) when Hopkirk blew a German free kick over the bar??....Well he blew my putt right at the death

Hi peeps .had a good day at Lutterworth yesterday in the county winter alliance.In our group professional Matt Cort just back from PGA quali in turkey finishing 2nd which gets him into BMW and a few other challenge events,very very tidy player 4 under and all round real solid game,very quiet but efficient player.yardage spot on and threatened the hole with every putt never short if it missed it was 18 inch return.I slowed down a little and played to handicap of the whites so happy.Lost the I phone and found it later down in the bottom of the golf bag thank goodness.Decent weather for end of Nov

JAS wrote:

Davie wrote:

JAS wrote:a missed 4 footer for birdie on the 4th (only offset by winning nearest the pin in 2 at that hole).

I always think that in nearest the pin comps (or nearest in 2) you should hole the putt to be eligible. Just adds a little spice to the comp ;-)

Good job you weren't organising the day then Davie

Really odd miss...with about 3 inches to go it was left lip...then it missed right..wtf??. Remember that episode of Randall & Hopkirk (deceased) when Hopkirk blew a German free kick over the bar??....Well he blew my putt right at the death

Maybe you agree though JAS it would be a good addition (just not for you on that day)

For many years we've played a little nearest the pin comp in just a friendly little weekend 4-ball - we have always had a rule that you need to make the par to qualify (this is just 4 mid to high handicappers so the "nearest" could well be 25 foot away - doesn't seem too much to ask that someone makes a 2-putt to take the money. I just reckon on a bigger field, the "nearest" will be much closer and then it adds a little tension to make them hole to putt to claim the prize

Final qualifier of the year today, as a rule I don't play qualifiers off the yellows but a make an exception for 2 events, the Captains Invitational (2 weeks ago) and the Turkey Shoot today. Should have safely bagged a turkey with a 74 net 67. Rather annoyingly though CSS was projecting at 68 when I left the clubhouse so probably only a 0.2 cut which had promised so much more.

Works xmas meal last night so a bit hanging this morning, worst of all though I've picked up a rib injury from God knows where. The pain got steadily worse as the round progressed. 1 under through 4, I drifted right off the tee on the 5th, the shot out the rough, which I had to dig at a bit really started the spasms of pain. Dropped a shot on 5 but then go back under par on 8. By the turn I was thinking of quitting but back to back birdies on 10 & 11 to be 3 under you'd have to have broken my legs for me to stop at that point. after dropping a shot at 12 I then doubled 13 after going in a ditch off the tee, by now it was a effort to get down to put the tee in the ground. Very disappointing double on 15 to go over par for the first time, never say die though, stiffed a wedge to inside a foot for a birdie on 17 (the 5th one of the round). By 18 I was down to half a swing, was never getting on in 2, limped home with another disappointing double...another case of oh what could have been. So depending on where CSS finishes today I'll be ending the season on either 6.3 or 6.1

I should know the rules but how are you playing qualis off the shorter course?I understand there is a limit on yards reduced.My next comp in anger will be first week of April.On the mats now which is a lot shorter.

Don't see anywhere where it says it was a short course (perhaps I missed it). It was off the yellows and so would be measured against the yellow SSS - as long as it was withing the prescribed yardage of the yellows it can (and should) be a qualifier

BTW JAS is your middle name Maverick? (yeah yeah I'm just pulling your leg)

Yep the yellows has a SSS of 69 as opposed to 71 for the whites. CSS today turned out to be 69 so I've ended the year at 6.1. Should be lower yes but I'll take that... Good platform to push for Cat 1 next year.

Same for us yesterday qualifier off the yellows. SSS off the yellows is 71 as opposed to 73 off the whites. A steady if unspectacular round of 10 pars and 8 bogeys for me resulted in 34 points, enough to make the buffer zone.

horrendous couple of games for me on friday and saturday. dunbar on friday and duddingston on saturday. got a nasty bout of the 'tops' - felt like i'd just picked up a club for the first time, completely bizarre... my partner played really well on friday to earn us a 2up victory (though i did help on a couple of holes). saturday however was a greensomes match so i couldn't rely entirely on my partner. i topped my tee shot on 2. thinned my approach on 3. hit a great 2 iron from 210 to 5 feet on 4 and was given the eagle putt. then back to the crap on 5 - a topped 7iron, fortunately nailed a 30 footer to save par and win the hole.. nice 5iron to 10 feet on 6 but then a thinned 8iron on 7 into trouble through the green meant a loss. sorted it out on 8 with a nice solid 9iron to 10 feet, and then a tidy lob wedge flick to 8feet after my partner chunked it in the burn on 9. back again to the crap on 10 - thinned 7iron. took my drives on 11, 12 and 13 so approach shots on hold. 14, finally found my grip and with the green wide open after the other 3 had misfired i stuck a super 8 iron over the flag, and another concession ensued. pretty much the same as on 15 - a great 8 iron bang on line but 6 feet short - conceded again. thought i was on the up, but managed to thin the crap out of my 6iron approach on 16, leaving my partner in a the sand and we were fortunate to salvage a half. dormie 2, and great drive down 17 leaving 210 to the green. partner pulled his shot left and ricochet off a tree or two. i spanked a provisional to 10 feet (very pleasing), but we got up there and found the ball. not the easiest shot, 70 yards off a bare muddy downhill lie with trees inbetween - no shot under them as bunker was blocking the line. caught it quite nicely - thought it was long as it came off the downhill lie lower than i'd wanted - but it landed at the back of the green and zipped back to leave my partner a straightforward 2putt from 10 feet to tie up the match. pleased to have come through and especially pleased to pull out the match winning shots on 14,15 and 17, but i've no idea what on earth was going on with my game. must get up to the range this week to iron out the defect before next weekends 4ball league match.

ban

Don't worry about the tops, the rest of the time you were hitting better shots than McIlroy and he shot a 66 to win.  It sounds like your iron couldn't improve if you were given charl schwartzel's swing.  :shock:

To expand

4 - 2 iron to 5 feet

6 - 5 iron to 10 feet

8 - 9 iron to 10 feet

9 - LW to 8 feet

14 - 8 iron to gimmie range

15 - 8 iron to 6 feet

17 - unknown iron from 210 yards to 10 feet

17 - unknown iron for 70 yards to 10 feet

Are you kidding when you say you have an iron issue????

That is a list of most peoples best iron shots over the course of a whole season.

It is weird when you pick up a club and it feels totally alien. Time to (try and) strip back on any thoughts whatsoever and just "wahey tw*t it" and see what happens, accept it's just a freak phenomenon and see whether you can get some kind of score/result out of it (sounds like you did).

Not sure I'd have been giving you 5 or 6 footers though! Did you have a go and make the eagle one anyway?

Yes, 8 good shots in the round very pleasing – however it’s the inexplicable one’s I’m worried about:
topped 6iron on 2
thinned 9iron on 3
topped 7iron on 5
thinned 8iron on 7
thinned 7iron on 10
thinned 6iron on 16,

not to mention 9 similar occurrences at Dunbar on Friday (mainly with the mid-short irons too) – that’s 15 shots in two rounds of which I have barely a handful of over the course of the year. My duff with an iron tends to be on the chunky side (these happen pretty regularly), I’m completely at a loss to understand where all the tops and thins have come from.

(the putts on 4, 14 –also a 6 footer-and 15 were conceded as we had 2 putts for the win on each occasion)

roller - think you're probably right. i was thinking about an 'emergency' lesson, but probably all i need is a quick trip to the practice ground mid week to bash a few balls and build a bit of confidence again. difficult in a greensomes to get a rhythm going if you're game isn't on. fortunate that we were up against a pair who didn't really have much ammo to take us down.

Ban

I hate to be blunt - well I don't mind too much  - but your are talking utter gash. Emergency lesson after you achieved a proximity to hole stat better than tiger at his prime. Go and have a talk to yourself.

Yeah, cos comparing my best 8 shots in a round and ignoring all my worst ones is really a fair comparison. That's like finishing a round with 3 birdies and claiming you were -3 despite the 10 bogeys you had...
Anyhow, given just how destructive and unsettling the bad shots were, I'll hopefully have some range time to find some consistency again.

barra - yeah - lesson would be over reaction methinks. Possibly something silly like you are actually hitting it very well a lot of the time and so you may sub consciously be getting over eager to get up out of the shot to watch the results. I'll do that every so often when I've had a run of striping it and all sorts of disasters follow!

If (and obviously I have no real idea without watching) that were to be the case, 15 mins to half an hour just getting the strike and rhythm flowing without thinking about it should see the bizarre tops waft away again.

Also (and sort of in line with Mac's comments) the accuracy you are getting when it works is bloody good and you wouldn't want to change anything when those are happening pretty frequently!

dynamark wrote:I should know the rules but how are you playing qualis off the shorter course?I understand there is a limit on yards reduced.My next comp in anger will be first week of April.On the mats now which is a lot shorter.

Wow - that's a long time to wait. Is your course in poor condition right through from now til April?

Have to say, down south it's been fairly mild and dry so far. On Sunday our monthly stableford was played off the whites. Course in great nick, normal tees and greens.

Same here Ray apart from one temp green where the main one had been senselessly vandalised by some brainless kids

Played at the delightful Felixstowe Ferry today in the winter fourballs. First time I have played in this betterball pairs event which is held on the first Tuesday of each month right throughout the winter months. Open to non-Felixstowe members at a very reasonable £35 per person, including coffee on arrival, a two course meal after your round and prizes for the leading pairs. It is held in conjunction with a pro event for professionals who are mainly from the eastern region.

It was played off the back of the white tees and the pins were in some tricky positions. My partner and I both receiving 5 shots were pleased to score 40 points although no chance that we would ever score the 45 points that was already registered. The leading pro score when I left was a 1 under 71 achieved by 3 players. If you fancy some decent winter golf on a lovely traditional links course then I can thoroughly recommend this event, located in this unspoilt haven on the Suffolk coast.

You played golf on a ferry? It must be difficult to judge the line on putts.

This breaks to the left, no wait now it break to the right, now it breaks left again, wait now to the right....

First round with the new clubs. Shot 91 at Wycombe heights. Not a classic course but in decent condition for early December. No temps at all. New clubs lovely to hit. Just erratic off the tee and initially round the green. 35 points off 21. 3 sevens and a few sixes on the card. But 4 pars on the back 9 helped. New sand wedge was lovely hit 3 from green side bunkers that I've never done before. So feeling pretty positive.

Nice work b. Nail any good putts? 34 for me today in pretty good conditions. Played with a very long hitter n tried to keep up. Managed to keep up ok but didn't  make a putt all day on good greens. Spose couple of 8 ft par  putts but no10 ft birdies. Or 3ft birdies

Made a few decent putts. According to my online stats tracker I took 31 in total. Though nailed a long one on a par 3 for birdie. The distance though wouldn't have a clue maybe 20/25 ft or more. Great feeling though.

what do we have to do to win a winter League match?? another 74/75 (always hard to be exact in 4bbb). 3 under gross as a pair yet only good enough to half the match. Partner off 4 me off 6, that's 2 rounds each where if you count my round today as a 75 that's the highest score of the pairing.

Good pair we played today though, the 17 year old off 1 was the guy I mentioned on a thread a few months ago as he got an invite to a Jamega Tour event at the Players Club and was lying 10th out of a field of 70 Pros after day one. I'd bet my house on him being better than scratch this time next year

much, much better today. no opportunity to nip to the range this week as work was tres hectic. managed half a dozen balls in the practice net before starting. no frost to be seen, but started the round on temp greens. a dozen main greens were back on by the end of the round, but we had passed by most of them before the switch so only 6 of our holes were playing full length. up against two fantastic 21 handicappers from our group. both have ridiculously inflated handicaps and ought to be off around 16-18 at worst. half handicap allowance due to the temps, so i was giving each of them 8 strokes and my partner 2.

i started fairly poorly, tugged drive up the first and blocked out by trees. hit a nice punchy 5 iron but caught overhanging branches. finished 5, but my partner made 4 to half versus their 5n4.
2nd - a bit of a push off the tee, followed by a misjudged putt from the fairway. again bailed out by my partner who made 3.
3rd - both of us made 4, for another half v 5n4, but both were a touch scrambley.
4th - again i was blocked out after a poor drive and made 5. my partner made a super 3n2 (shortned par 5) and we went 1up.
5th - again a poor drive, monkey business boucing off tree into a fairway bunker. made a straightforward 4 for the half.
6th - finally i was properly in the game, a super 7 iron from 155 to 5 feet. missed the putt - tricky down hill left to righter, but a confidence booster.
7th - smashing drive up the middle after my partner blocked his about 100 yards right... left 70 to the temp green and over shot by about 15 yards. up and down, but lost out to a 4n3 - all square.
8 and 9 are temporary holes (230 and 130 yards respectively) in the practice ground - normal 14th and 15th are being rested over the winter.
8th - poor 3 wood off the tee, duffed a wedge and ended up with a silly 5. partner halfed in 4.
9th - overshot the green finished 4, partner made his 3. A/S at the turn.

10th - topped tee shot with hybrid... bit disturbed by some tom-foolery on the tee at the top of my swing - hey'ho. nipped a hybrid up the middle, then hit a nice 7 iron from 150 to about 25 feet. nailed the putt for an unexpected birdie and 1up.
11th - 190 yarder - lovely hybrid to 8 feet. missed putt but 3 was good enough for 2up.
12th - poor 7iron off the tee - bunkered. reasonable bunker shot but missed the 10 footer back, and back to 1up.
13th - smashing drive, nice 7iron, but came up short. duffed chip, then holed a 15 footer to save par and a half.
14th - another great drive, 6 iron to the centre of the green - soooo close to holing from 30 feet, but settled for a half.
15th - decent drive up the middle - a touch off the bottom. good soft 5 iron from 165 pin high and 15 foot. nice two putt and our opponent missed a 4 footer after a tremendous approach to give us the win - 2 up.
16th - decent drive up the lhs of the fairway. nice wedge but took a bit of a funny bounce and missed temp right. couple of putts and another half.
17th - nice drive but tugged it a bit and it bounded off toward the pond. partner through the back in two (again shortened par 5). got down to mine and it was on the slope down into the pond, a foot from the edge. thinking i need to drop, but when i got down to the ball, the ground wasn't as soft as i though. thought what the heck, and got my feet wet. ball above (sinking and soaking) feet. bit of a hit and hope from around 60 yards. nipped it beautifully...on line...it's online...it's frickin on line...it's fricking landed in the hole...it's smashed into the base of the flag and spun out to about 15 feet - a wee punch in the air and utter disbelief. two putts from there were enough to half the hole and win the match.
18th - on a wee high after the miracle shot on 17 - smashed my driver over the hill and down the middle. first time for a while that i've walked over the hill hoping the green would be on a temp - couldn't see the ball, but once within 50 yards spotted it a few feet away from the hole - great finish. funny bumpy turny putt from about 6 feet hit the back of the cup but stayed above ground.

so, after a pretty ropey 38 out (par 32), came back well in 34 (35) for a decent 72 (par 67). really pleased with the back nine. delighted there were no tops or thins. disappointed with the short game still - really uncomfortable over chip shots again. but long game is solid, and plenty of positives to take from ball striking with my irons and accuracy with the driver.

lol...Good read Barra...well done on 17 ...and on the match obviously