One More Mulligan

Just here for a quick update, I haven’t been able to post for a while because my job has been completely insane. There also hasn’t been much to write about when it comes to my game. I have been trying to put it all together since I shot 93 and 91 and have just been missing some of the magic I had in those rounds. I shot 46 for 9 yesterday with 3 doubles and 2 pars. My putting was spot on with a really good short game behind it. Driving was average with my irons being the worst part without being that bad. I feel like breaking 90 is right around the corner.

Play in Jersey tomorrow with my friend and some of his co-workers. I should be able to put some number up on the course since I have played it once before. It is a resort course with tight fairways and beautiful atmosphere but I am not looking forward to it. I like woods course so much more that it makes it hard to get excited about this style of course. Either way I’ll get to see if I can make things even in the dollar a stroke match that we have been having this year. I am currently down eleven dollars.

In equipment news I have been swinging a new driver as well as using a testing a new GPS option. The driver is a Taylor Made SuperQuad with an orange accra XT 60 shaft. It has helped me tremendously with distance and accuracy. The weights in the head help me turn the club over and get a nice draw on the ball and the shaft increases my ball speed and my distance by about 20 yards. There is no comparison to my Nike, I don’t think I ever loaded that shaft enough to get any performance benefits. The GPS is GolfShot for my iPhone. I have been using it for scoring ever since my last option went down before a round and with a dead battery in my uPro I decided to try it on a friends recommendation. I am still not 100% sold but with it’s $30 price tag comes a full list of features including point to point measuring, shot measuring, distance to all hazards, a fly over view and lay up distances. I believe that it offers even more than my $400 uPro does. The only real downside so far is the time it takes for the distance on the screen to update. I am going to try it out more in the coming rounds for comparison and I will keep you posted.

Tags: Quick Updates by admin
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I am fresh off my trip to Las Vegas I am hooked on seeing courses in different zip codes. I have been searching for my next destination and keep coming back to news on the British Open and the beautiful links courses. I have always wanted to visit Scotland so this might be a good opportunity to play the Old Course at St. Andrews.

The similarities of St. Andrews and my local group of courses at Bethpage are intriguing.  Each has a premier course, the Old Course and the Black respectively, as well as other courses that you can play while staying there. St. Andrews other courses include Balgove, Eden, Jubilee, Castle, and the New. This makes the trip for me since I prefer to play a variety of courses and not just a couple of rounds on the same one. Another interesting fact is that both the Black course and the Old Course set aside a number of early tee times for walk ups in the morning. This gives everyone a shot at getting on the course even if you weren’t able to make a scheduled tee time.

I’m not sure exactly when I will be getting time to go so I have been checking out some of the other course options in case St. Andrews is booked for the dates I am available. The good news is that Scottish golf offers many other worthy courses. Aberdeenshire, Dundee & Angus and Highlands have come up in my research and all appear to be top notch choices that are affordable as well.

I can’t wait to watch this year’s British Open and day dream about taking 17 shots to get out of one of those pot bunkers or 5 putting on one of the gigantic greens. Truth is when you are on a course that beautiful I don’t think it will really matter how I play.

Tags: Golf Travel by admin
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Sorry for the delay in posting this round review but Vegas and the holiday got in the way. Needless to say my early morning attempt at golfing was much more enjoyable than the previous day at one in the afternoon. I play Silverstone Golf Club in Henderson, Nevada and had a blast. I was greeted and driven down to the covered real grass practice range where I was able to hit balls and practice putting until my group was at the first tee. When I got in my cart I was pleased to see a built in GPS that acted like a “you are here” map. I played with three locals, an older couple and a guy just older than me.

Things started off shaky on the first hole with a triple bogey. I was very nervous for some reason but I settled in and started hitting fairways. In fact I noticed that not only was I hitting the ball pretty straight but man was it flying! I hit my drive on the third hole 285 yards.  I had about 120 yards to the green on one of the early holes and ended up flying the green by a pretty decent amount with my nine iron. The course was in amazing shape with lush fairways and well groomed greens.

The front nine was a dream, fairways and greens the whole way. I wish I could have putted better but I still shot 45. The back nine was just as fun but not as low scoring. The heat started to affect me a little and while I still hit some really good shots I blew up on the 12th hole. A long par 5 with a dogleg around a water hazard to the green. I hit it to the right of the green on my third shot in between the bunkers in some deep grass. I took a hack at it and bladed it into the hazard. I ended up taking a 9 on the hole with the penalty. I carded a 51 as the sun was really getting up into the sky. My 96 total is a new personal best and really made me happy since I was playing on a course with a 128 slope rating.  I only wish I had started the round a little earlier so that I could have concentrated better in the final holes.

I highly recommend this course to anyone travel to Sin City. For any out of towner they offer a rental car reimbursement for up to $30 off your round. I played the entire 18 for $55 including the cart. Just stay hydrated and tee off nice and early! You can see more photos in the photo gallery.

Tags: Golf Travel, Round Reviews by admin
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