One More Mulligan

Like any other golf fan I get really excited for that Masters but it isn’t just because I can’t wait to watch the first major of the year. The Masters always signals the unofficial start of the golf season in the northern US. Being from New York it is pretty unusual if we can get a round in before mid April at the earliest. From mid November to around this time every year I have to fill my golf craving watching the winter PGA tour, playing a little Tiger Woods on the PS3 and the occasional golf trip if I can get away. This year I have gotten two rounds in during March but they weren’t very comfortable. The wind was blowing really hard and the temps kept a heavy sweat shirt on me most of the time which didn’t make for a smooth swing.

That being said the courses were in really good shape and I didn’t play too badly so hopefully I’ll break 90 this year and get the monkey off my back. Last year was difficult because unlike my previous, and first, year playing I barely had a lesson and didn’t play nearly as much. I guess getting married, buying a house and starting a new business will do that. I did get some cool trips in thanks to some work “vacations” but that was about it. This year I plan to keep a much stricter practice schedule as I did during the previous season. I will be hitting balls at the range at least once a week and then at least one other day I’ll be putting and working on my short game. It seems like late in the season when I start to chip and putt well my scores start to get respectable so I’d like that to happen sooner rather than later.

I also vow that I will conquer my driver this year. I have improved but there is no reason that I should slice the ball any more.  I understand what I’m doing wrong and will go several rounds driving the ball very well and out of no where I’m back to square one like I’ve never played before. The sand is another area I need to build confidence. Right now it’s 50/50. Sometimes I do very well and other times I’m hacking at the ball like a cartoon. Just like anything else, the couple of times a round that it happens is not enough practice to get this confidence.

I also hope to get back to playing 2 full rounds a week. Practice is really important but it is also important to evaluate how the practice is helping and the only way that I can do that is to get out on the course. One without the other just isn’t going to cut it. I’ll play at off times like twilight hours to try and keep the cost down. If one thing helps keep the wife happy about you playing golf it’s definitely discount golf. I’m very lucky that my wife let’s me play as much as much as I want so I feel like keeping the cost down is the least I can do.

I’ll try to update the blog with my progress especially if I take some fun trips or play some good rounds.

Oh yea, my Masters prediction – Go Phil!

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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.

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I just got finished playing the 9 hole Founders course at the Black Mountain Country Club in Henderson, NV. The round was really cheap, $30 for 18 holes, but I was only able to play nine. The heat was bearable but I was just not used to being out in it for as long as I was. A bank sign read 109 degrees Farenheight when I passed on the highway and that was at 1 o’clock.

It was a links course surrounded by houses that made acurate tee shots very important. I could not stay in form from my previous round and hit the fairways. I only had 3 acceptable shots with my driver with 1 hitting the fairway. Overall since I was playing by myself I rushed as usual and couldn’t take my time and play multiple balls or take pictures due to the oppressive sun.

I am playing Silverstone Golf Club at 7:30am tomorrow so I should be able to play without a problem. I am going to get there early to take advantage of the unlimited range balls that come with the green fees. I’ll update you again tomorrow.

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Well, first off, I appologize for the delay in posts. I have been trying to get all my lose ends with work and other stuff tied up before I leave this Saturday. As far as golf goes I have followed up my sub 100 round with some rounds of 100 to 106 and I attended the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. I have played both Blue and Red at bethpage but have yet to try and tackle the Black course with it’s famous sign letting the high handicappers like myself know they have a little to learn before teeing off.

I attended practice rounds 2 and 3 as well as the Saturday part of the championship. I took some great photos from the U.S. Open practice rounds that can be seen in the 2009 Photo Gallery. I can say the if anyone out there is thinking of going to any PGA events, the practice rounds are they way to go. They are really cheap, I got two tickets for $40 on StubHub.com, and you are not able to take photos on any of the other days. I had a blast watching the practice range and greens and loved how the players interact with the gallery while they are practicing. Another piece of advice, don’t worry about where Tiger is! They will never tell you what his scheduled practice time is and when possible they almost always send him out on the tenth tee to keep the crowds to a minimum. He always has a crowd that is 10 deep following him making it impossible to get a glimpse. If you must see him pick a hole way in front of where he is and just plant yourself there until he comes through and make the most of the one or maybe two shots you get to see. I chose to follow some other really good groups and was able to see all of their shots very comfortably. My favorite was Ogilvy, Furyk and Casey on Saturday. I watched them from the first tee to the eighteenth green and loved every minute of it. Wish I could have taken photos then.

As for my upcoming trip that I wrote about in my first travel post I have finalized the two places that I will be playing while in Vegas, Silverstone Golf Club and Black Mountain Country Club. Silverstone has an amazing deal where they will repay you up to $30 towards your travel expenses to the course. That means your cab or even your daily rental car fee! This brings the green fee, which includes unlimited range balls and cart with GPS, down from $85 to $55. The course looks great and should be a challenge. Black Mountain will be played in the afternoon so it is very cheap at $35. I don’t think that includes the cart but it doesn’t matter since it will be over 100 degrees outside when I tee off. The cart could cost another $150 and I think that I would go for it.

I’ll keep you posted and try my best to take pictures. Check back during the week and I’ll be posting some updates!

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