One of the weaknesses in my game right now is the dreaded “big number.” I’ll end up taking an 8 on a hole and lately it seems to end up being the last hole of the day pretty often. On Friday I shot 46-42 with an 8 on hole #18 at Swan Valley. Saturday I shot 39 and didn’t record anything but 3s, 4s, and 5s on the scorecard at Twin Oaks back nine. Sunday it was 47-45 at Currie Municipal West in Midland again with an 8 on #18.
Today is the first day for one of my golf leagues, so I’m looking forward to it. Last year in this league I took the trophy for low actual of the year with one under par 34. All 27 holes at Twin Oaks are wide open, so I can play a simple grip it and rip it style of play. Wish me luck!
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April 24, 2007 - 8:56 am
I’ve been keeping track of every round of golf I play since 2000. I’m a little weird like that. Does anyone else do this? I don’t keep track of putts, birdies, sand saves, or anything extravagant like that. Date, course, and score are what I save into a little spread sheet which is has a sheet for each year, and then a stats sheet which gives some averages. I use Google Docs and Spreadsheets so I have easy access to the file wherever I have an Internet connection. Today Google added the ability to insert charts in spreadsheets, so I figured I’d have a little fun with it. Click each chart for a larger version.
This first chart shows my average 9 hole score by year. I’ve come a long way since I started playing golf seriously back around 2000. I like the downward trend in scores!
The second chart shows the number of 9 hole rounds I’ve played each year. Looks like the previous chart is definitely affected by this chart. The more I play, the better I get, and the more my average drops.
This chart shows the number of times I’ve shot in a certain range each year. Looks like I haven’t been in the 60s in quite some time. Now if I could eliminate the 50s that creep in once in awhile I’d be happy.
The final chart just shows the best and worst scores each year. Last year I managed a 1 under par 34 during league play. Hopefully I can improve on that by a stroke this year. I’ve already beat last years worst score by 2 strokes, which isn’t something I’d like to do.
If anyone is interested in the spreadsheet I use, I can try to explain it and make it available for download. The only goofy thing is when I enter a new year, it takes a little spreadsheet knowledge.
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April 18, 2007 - 10:17 am
It didn’t take long to fail at one of my goals for the 2007 golf season. Yesterday I went to Valley View Farm Golf Course. After 5pm right now they have all you can golf with cart for $15. It’s supposed to be $30 for a two-some, but the guy let me get away with the rate for just myself.
I started on the back nine, hitting two in the water and taking a 9. Shot 2 more balls in the water on the round and also lost a ball somewhere in the open (it must have plugged on my drive). I managed to make a birdie on #18 and somehow ended up shooting a 46. Not bad with 5 penalty strokes and the 5 shots from drops. I started out a little rough on the front nine. Took a double bogey 6 on #1, then hit my tee shot into the water on the 180 yard par 3. Ended with a 6 on that hole. From there I made a nice string of bogeys and pars.
On #8 I topped my drive which barely cleared the water in from of the tee box. Pull-hooked a 3 wood, but it caught a tree and dropped down. Tried to make a dumb shot out of the trees and nearly missed the ball. Duffed a wedge into a little dip in the fairway where water sometimes runs through. At this point I’m not quite sure what happened, but I missed the ball twice in a row. Ended with a 10 on the hole. Hit a horid push slice on #9 off a tree and who knows where it ended up. Played a provisional off the tee right down the middle. Why couldn’t I do that the first time? Ended with an 8 on the final hole for a total of 51! OUCH! 18 strokes on the last two holes to break 50 in the wrong direction.
I starting driving back to 10, but a group had just teed off and I saw some people on the holes in front of them. With the scores I had just shot, I decided to call it a night. I played 18 holes of ugly golf in 2 hours. At least I got to enjoy the weather…
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April 18, 2007 - 9:18 am
On Saturday we played 18 holes at Sandy Ridge. Nine holes would have been plenty. The weather forecast was calling for a high just over 50. It never went above 42 and with the wind chill it had to feel about 35 or colder. I shot a 41 on the front 9 finishing double bogey and bogey. I started out good on the back being 2 over after 5 holes. I think that’s when the cold really started to set in and I finished with double bogeys on each of the last 4 holes to shoot 46. I could barely close my hands at the end of the round.
Yesterday was a bit warmer and we shot 9 holes at Beech Hollow. I shot 9 over on the three par 5s and 3 over on the other six holes with one birdie. Took a nine on the last hole to shoot 49, one stroke short of a half-century.
I definitely need to hit the driving range and work on my tee shots with the driver. I topped a few yesterday and it was ugly!
It would be nice if the weather warmed up pretty soon too. I have a Tuesday night league starting next week at Twin Oaks and a Thursday night league starting the week after at the Bay City Country Club.
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April 16, 2007 - 8:31 am
60 degrees. It actually was supposed to get up to 70 today, but I’m not sure if it did. Played 9 holes at Beech Hollow with Tom and lost by a stroke. He’s on his high horse because I usually beat him by 5-10 strokes for 9 holes and now he’s beat me two days in a row. It was a beautiful day for golf, but the course was nearly empty again. I can’t believe more people don’t have the itch to get out there and play.
In response to my post regarding 460cc drivers, I need to figure out what’s going wrong with my tee shots before I test out any new drivers. The past 3 rounds I played were 46-48-49 and I don’t like the direction those numbers are heading. My bad golf is because of my tee shots for the most part. Two and a half rounds ago I started hitting a hook, then I hit a few dead pulls, and today it was a combination, with some bad topped drives. I don’t like playing catch up golf to try and par or bogey it from the women’s tee.
One of my goals for the year was to not shoot above 49 for the rest of the year. The last hole today is a 156 yard par 3 and I needed a bogey or better to break 50. Fat 9 iron off the tee, duffed pitch shot from about 80 yards, and then a chip well past the whole. With the pressure on, I drained the putt which was about 12 feet and my goal was safe.
My approach shots, chipping, and putting have all been pretty good, it’s just my tee shots causing me problems. I did hit Tom’s Ping Rapture a couple of times and when I made contact it felt like I launched my golf ball with a rocket. I’ve always loved the way the ball comes off my Makser AS440, but this was just amazing. I’d bet I can hit these newer style drivers a good 20-30 yards longer than I can hit mine and if the consistency on off-center hits is as I’ve read, it won’t take me long to be sold on dishing out some dough for a new stick.
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April 1, 2007 - 10:57 pm
I’ve been playing a Makser AS440 for the past couple of years and it’s the only driver I’ve ever hit consistently straight. My friend Tom recently bought one of the new Ping Raptures and now instead of out driving him by 30-40 yards, he is sticking right with me or bombing it longer. I’d really hate to give up my driver, but at the same time if I don’t test out some of the new drivers I think I’m costing myself distance which equates to strokes. So I’m asking your advice…
What type of driver do you play? How big is it? When did you switch? How happy are you with the results?
I’ve been reading a lot about some of the goofy looking drivers in Golf Digest and if I’m going to make a switch, I’d much rather do it at the beginning of the golf season than in the middle.
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April 1, 2007 - 9:50 am
