Bigger Wind at Eagle Pointe...

I saw another great discount at Eagle Pointe and snagged it up. I tried to get a couple of buddies to do the same, but by the time they were able browse over the PGA18.com, all the slots were gone. I would be driving 35 miles to play golf with three strangers. I don't mind golfing with strangers, I often do. Only once has the experience been less than pleasant. But this is a nice course (they're trying to get a PGA event there), and a good little drive from home, and only the second time I've played there... Anyway, I was a little apprehensive.

I got there early in case they could fit me in and as it turns out, there were four others signed up for my time slot (I later learned that they allow fivesomes in the winter). Luckily, there was a twosome who welcomed me to join them for an earlier slot.

The wind was howling at 20-30, but this course is nestled in tall trees on rolling terrain, so sometimes there was a good wind, and sometimes there wasn't much at all. That made it tough at times because it could be calm while your partner tees off, then blow like the dickens when you step up.

You may recall from last time that I shot 108 up there and today I thought I was going to choke after recording 59 strokes on the front. I pulled it together on the back and shot a 51 for a total of 110. Not bad considering the weather and I'm trying to hit a draw with the driver.

I talked about drawing the driver in my last post and I have to say that what I'm doing is more like a hook than a draw. Several of the holes here are dogleg left holes and turn at about 210 to 240. Since I've just started hitting the fairway metals on the fairway, I'm just not comfortable hitting them off of the tee. So a slight hook worked out well on some of the holes.

I started out ok, hitting the fairway, laying up to within 20 feet of the creek, and hitting a 5i on to the green on the 496-yard par 5 first. Then I three putted for a bogey. That was disappointing because I spent 15 minutes on the practice green before the round.

The real trouble started on the second where I tried to draw the ball and made contact on the toe of the club. The ball went sailing into a tree and came to rest about 25 yards behind the tee box in the trees on the right. Then an easy, safe 7i failed to get through the trees and moved me another ten yards back. The third shot found a tree and the ball came to rest in a pile of leaves with no shot at the fairway. I swept it out toward the black tee box where I finally had a clean shot at the fairway, albeit from 40 yards behind where I started. I carded a 2-putt 10 on that hole.

I did fair from there, hitting four fairways, but still managed a couple of three putts.

I made up for the poor putting on the back where I had three one-putts and one chip in on the 18th from about 30 feet. My drives were okay averaging 222 with 303/195 being the long/short of the five that hit the fairway. The 303 was a hookish drive on a dogleg left that rolled quite a bit. Here are the stats for the round:


Fairways hit... 5
GIRs........... 1
Birdies........ 0
Pars........... 2
Putts......... 36
Bogeys......... 4
Doubles........ 6
Triples........ 3
Bad holes...... 2 (2nd and an 8 on the 13th)
Balls lost .... 4 (3 water)


I took a couple pictures with the W-10 and I'll try to update this post this evening.

Other Stuff to Blog About...

I have tired of entering my scores, slopes, and ratings into on-line handicap calculators, so I wrote a short program to calculate my handicap that uses a file I update each time I play a round. In doing so, I determined that 8 of my last 10 games rank in my top 10 (based on differential) and count toward my handicap. The 108 at Eagle Pointe last week ranks 4th!! That's good news since I felt pretty bad about shooting above 100. The 98 at Battleground ranks 2nd!!!

While doing this little project, I did some research and came upon this little thing called ESC (Equitable Stroke Control). ESC uses your course handicap to determine the maximum number of strokes you can take on any hole for that course. My max happens to be 9. Now the problem here is that my golfing history is peppered with 10s, 11s, 12s, and 13s. I carded a 10 twice in the last three rounds (once during each round at Eagle Pointe). Does anyone use ESC? Do you turn in your cards with actual strokes and let your club (or whatever handicapping service you use) figure it out, or do you record your maximum based on ESC?


Grips...

I noticed that Scott (one of the folks I played with) had thick grips on his clubs. I asked and he let me swing one a little bit. I have pretty big hands and I'm wondering what this could do for my game. They felt very comfortable and if I had to choose, I would probably want the thicker grips. It's not that I have a problem holding the club, I don't even wear a glove (yet). It's just a comfort thing. They really felt comfortable.

My wife is working this weekend so I'm hoping to get out this week.

Some time later...

Okay, I grabbed a discount tee time for The Battleground tomorrow. Looks like it will be another windy day with the winds forecast to be out of the south at 10-20.

I'll keep you posted,
-Greg