Played a 9 hole course today with my friend who is a -2 handicap and finally beat him, which isn’t saying a lot. He played the worst golf I’ve ever seen him play and I was kind of putting out of my mind. I had 11 putts in 9 holes and still ended up 5 over par. Two triple bogies one double, two pars, and three birdies. I was so excited after each birdie, I followed it up with a double or triple bogey, hahaha. The key takeaways though, three birdies in 9 holes, my previous best was two birdies for 18 and I beat a -2 handicap by five strokes, I’m a 10.5. Two pars and if I could’ve pulled my head out of my fourth point of contact the three big numbers would’ve been bogey at worst.
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What could have been? 3bi in 9 holes is very impressive
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Wasn’t planning on playing today, but the weather this afternoon was too perfect not to. Decided to not keep score or even turn on my Arccos app for distances, instead just hit around while listening to an audiobook. Hit plenty of good shots and plenty of bad ones, just a good way to spend a few hours.
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My eight best scores are 79 82 85 85 85 85 87 87 (par 70) making me play off 14 even though only 2 scores have actually played to that. The last 2 Thursdays I have shot 101 and 102. Played this am and sunk a long putt for birdie at the first and pitched over a bunker to 1ft at the second for a par and finished with 5 pars, 2 birdies and a quadruple for 84 and 37 points proving to myself that I can play to my handicap. Last month with the same group I parred the first and then hacked around for 103. They said never par the first. I reminded them of this today and the reply was still don’t make par but birdies are ok:) A beautiful sunny day with light winds and 33degs with the course hard and fast giving your drives lots of run
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Nice accomplishment! I’ve been looking into Adamyounggolf plans, would you say the Strike Plan comes first for a beginner, or the Accuracy Plan?
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Depends what you need, but IMO the Strike Plan would be best to tackle first. Its really fundamental and I was shocked how little I knew about the mechanics of impact despite having first swung a club 40 years ago. I have both of Adam’s plans and I tend to refer back to the Strike Plan more than the Accuracy Plan. But the truth is, I don’t actually have time for all the plans I’ve bought/acquired (those two, plus Ultimate Golf State of Mind and DECADE)!
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Thanks for the advice! Will be checking out the Strike Plan!
Yeah strike plan is a great starting point.
79 (6.5 differential)
12 NGIR
32 putts
2 doubles
0 3 putts
Played par 5s even par
One of my doubles came from spinning a pitching wedge off of a green back into the lake on a par 3. Failed to feel some breeze that was clearly up there. Pin was up and at 119. Thought pw would be perfect as a 125 club also there is a backstop. Ended up flying like 117 (3 paces into the green). Spun back off and was surprised that it rolled through a full pace of 1st cut. Live and learn
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Golf in Iowa on November 27th, typically doesn’t happen so it’s all gravy.
It was 35 when we tee’d off and 41 when we finished. Tomorrow will be nicer.
I was even par going to #9, and I hit a good drive, but hooked my 2nd badly to go OB. I dropped and hit my 4th left of the green, chipped it to 2 feet and took my double.
I proceeded to open the back 9 by going 3-3-3-3, a nice little 3 under thru the first 4. I bogeyed #14 then parred in to shoot Even. Felt pretty good to play well!
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Three rounds this week 77. 74, 77. First two detailed by doubles. Today just couldn’t make anything and threw a drive into a usually not in play hazard (I mean penalty area). Just can’t get everything clicking at once even close within a round.
Took me 12 holes today without making a putt to realize I was gripping too hard then did a little better but then the ball striking went down the drain.
I’ll be in trouble at home but playing again tomorrow in an event where I have to use an old driver and putter (circa 1990). No warm up time either. Should be interesting.
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Hope it went well! I got a final 18 holes in (always 2 9s) - I got to try out my new to me 15 degree hybrid, when I hit it correctly it did fly! Found my left hand letting go of the club (again) which explains the sudden hook tendency. (Figured later it’s carpal tunnel) Everyone was on the course for the 2nd 9, chatted with some nice folks, encouraged some even newer beginners, getting to realize I need a 60 degree wedge also. A learning experience and a nice time to close out the season.
I’ve been playing exclusively at my club for the past two months, but the course was closed yesterday, so rather than take a day off from playing, I decided to play the muni course I played most of the summer at. Somehow, there was an open spot in the first tee time at 6:30am, so I was able to get there early and head out on my own. I always knew this course (Hansen Dam) was fairly wide, but compared to my club with its 30 yard wide fairways and a skyscraper worth of elevation changes, it now felt like a parking lot. I think only one drive wasn’t fairway-ish and only missed a couple of greens. Nothing special on the scoring side, mostly due to putting. This time of year it was like putting on chewed-up shag carpet, but that’s only partially to blame.
It would be a shame if you missed a day!
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It will be exciting to write about a round come April!
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This was last weekend, but still thinking a lot about it. After some bad putting over Thanksgiving I decided to switch to the Claw putting style, and committed to make it last at least 1 round. First hole I left my 40 footer 8 ft short and 3 putted, and immediately thought about switching. Then I went on to have only 13 putts on the front 9, and 4 birdies, where I shot -1 with 3 penalty strokes.
On the back 9, I made a few more good putts and added some birdies, but had 3 more 3 putts due to terrible lag putting speed and another penalty stroke to shoot +3 on the back. My wedge play was good, driver was erratic and long irons were terrible.
Final stats
Score +2 74 (6 birdies, 8 bogeys, 4 pars)
31 putts (including four 3 putts)
4 penalty strokes
Par 5’s: +2
Par 3’s: +3
Par 4’s: -3
The Claw felt fantastic on the mid-range putts and I burned the hole on a few that I missed, but will keep working on speed control to get it dialed in. Also need to get rid of some mental mistakes.
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Have you thought about trying to make more pars and less bogeys? There’s this thing called Practical Golf that @jon teaches that might help you.
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That’s the goal. I was giving 11 strokes to 1 guy and 5 to the other, including every par 5 and it caused some bad decision making on the 5’s when they were on in two and I took a bad line or forced it a couple times to try and make eagle just to tie the hole. I still ended up winning half the skins on the day so it worked out, but I would have been in bad shape if I putted like normal.
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You can’t force birdies and eagles. Come on man 
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I think in a skins game, the math changes slightly… if a double bogey counts the same as a par, it’s worth pressing…
I like skins games because I’m naturally aggressive on the course… working on honing it into a better overall strategy, but much like Jon favreau in the replacements I see red and think charge… not stop.
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