Post Weekend Ramblings...

Practice Round at Bayou GC...

I made it down for a round at Bayou on Sunday. My focus was my new wedges. Again, with little exception, I tried to fly the ball on to the green to take advantage of the high trajectory of the 60* wedge and to get a feel for how much roll to expect.

I made two outstanding shots to within one foot. One was on the 5th where I flew the ball over the bunker, and the other was on the 15th where I hit my 5th shot from about 5 feet off the green (with about 60 feet to the cup) to within inches with the tight lie pitch shot.

I made several shots from 40-60 yards and many of them fell short. This is an area where I really need to work on to get the feel for how much swing is needed with these clubs.

One thing I've noticed is that the 52* gap wedge seems to have a smaller head than the 53* Wilson sand wedge I had been using prior to purchasing the Ray Cook set. I'll need to get out to the range and hit a bit before I'll be able to have confidence hitting this club with a full swing. Unfortunately, I have not been able to hit this club as well as I can hit the Wilson.

Joining Bayou Golf Association...

I don't have the details of the round (I shot 102) because I turned in the scorecard along with 19 other scorecards and my application to join Bayou Golf Association. I also signed up for the February tournament as a "Stand By" player. The signup sheet was full and the only slots to write my name in were the "stand by" slots. I sent an email asking if there was a limited number of participants, but have not received a response. I'm a little concerned about giving up my scorecards. I emailed the handicap guy and requested that the cards be returned, but I just don't know. What's the SOP with this? Should I expect to get them back? Am I asking too much? How should I handle this? I'm thinking I should fill out another scorecard with just the strokes and turn that in, keeping my original that has fairways hit, yardages, GIRs, putts, distances and other notes. Opinions anyone?

The next day...

Ok, I'm a BGA member and I'll be playing in the February tournament. It turns out that I'll get worked in based on no-shows or I can show up at 11:00 and be placed in a group at that time. There was no mention of getting my cards back so I think I can guess what that means. In the future I'll fill out a second card to turn in, keeping the original with more detailed notes.

Practice outlook...

Now that I know I'll be playing in the tournament, I'll want to play mainly at Bayou. My first official practice round will be Saturday. My work schedule will allow a weekday round each week so I should have a minimum of three practice rounds over two weeks. I am psyched!!!!

The Buick Invitational...

I watched my first golf tournament this weekend. Usually, I don't watch more than a few shots of golf on television. I managed to see most of the Saturday and Sunday coverage and I have to admit, I was pretty excited as it came down to the last few holes. I felt much better about my three-putting at least five times earlier in the day once I saw Tiger do it. I was rooting for the rookie and felt bad for him after the first playoff hole. I'll give Tiger some props for making the birdie put to get into the playoff and the par put to pressure Jose Maria Olazabal into missing his four-footer.

So, I thought to myself, "Hey, I can 3-putt (Tiger), flub chips from the fringe (Green), and miss 4-footers (Tiger, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mickelson, and others I'm sure), I can play like the pros!" The amazing thing is that these guys (and gals :^)) can score so low even when they make mistakes!!!

Looking forward to competition,
-Greg