Down the Final Stretch...

I signed up again for another month at Green Caye. This month will represent my final month as a beginner because June 3rd will complete my first year playing the game.

Good Round at The Battleground...

I played a round at The Battleground on Wednesday with a friend from work. I did pretty well shooting a 99 (my course handicap). My record there is 98, and my goal was to shoot under 100. Here are the stats:

Fairways hit... 6
GIRs........... 3
Birdies........ 1
Pars........... 2 (1 up and down)
Putts......... 34
Bogeys......... 7
Doubles........ 5
Triples........ 1
Bad holes...... 2 (2 7s on par 3s)
Balls lost .... 4 (4 water)

The four water balls account for four of the five doubles. I had two 3-putts and five 1-putts. Too bad most of those 1-putts were for bogey. I really have nothing to complain about for this round. Sure I shanked a couple shots, but all in all I hit the ball pretty well. Given all my practice at Green Caye (a par 3 course), I should have done better on the par threes. I did not make par on any of them and the two 7s I carded were downright ugly.

Kickoff at The Caye...

I shot two loops at Green Caye to kick off my last month as a beginner. I did pretty well hitting very solid shots on all but a couple of holes. I shot 37 and 34 with pretty good stats. The first loop I made 3 pars, hitting 2 greens, crapped out a 7 on one of the easiest holes on the course, and finished with a double. The second loop went very well until I pulled a shot into the water on #7. I had bogey par bogey par bogey par TRIPLE bogey par. I hit four greens (three putted one) and had one up and down.

Looking Ahead...

I'm going to keep on keepin' on as I have been for the last couple of months. I'm getting more comfortable with my irons and I'm drawing the ball consistently. I'm still flying the ball with the 60* LW around the greens with some success. My main problem is that most of the time the ball checks but sometimes it releases. I can't put my finger on how to control that so if anyone has a clue, please chime in. It might be time to learn to use 9i or PW around the greens with a "bump and run" type shot. I've seen many players use this shot with good results. I've also been focusing on not leaving putts short. I played a couple match play style rounds and I've found that if I take an attitude of "I need this putt to win the hole", I putt much better. I still have trouble fading/slicing my drives and my ball flight is very high with my 10.5* R540 XD. I need to learn to hit a lower flying soft draw consistently with the driver.

Dad (my Father-in-law) will be down for Chance's 4th birthday and we'll be taking an afternoon to play golf. I'm not sure where we'll play, but I'm thinking about Tour18, Southwyck, or Magnolia Creek. All are very nice (but a little spendy) courses that I have only dreamed about playing.

-Greg