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.

The back nine, the Rail course, as the name would have you believe snakes around the rail road tracks. It was much more open which meant that I could find my errant drives and since I was hitting my irons well I could get myself back on track. My putting woes continued and no matter how close I got with my short game I would blow the putt by the hole or end up woefully short.

My iron and short game were really on, it was at the far ends of the course that I was sorely lacking. I couldn’t stop slicing my drives deep into the woods or missing lag putts by ten feet to save my life. It wasn’t until the 14th hole that I really got my driver back in plane and hit some really good tee shots. My putting never turned around which was disappointing since my last few rounds putting was my strong point. Considering how bad my driving and putting was a 54/52 – 106 isn’t really that bad. The couse had a slope of 129 which is way above the average course that I play. I am going to try and play Timberpoint tomorrow morning the lower slope rating should be better for my ego.

I also played the entire 18 at West Sayville for the first time this year. I played about average as of late and shot 104 with a 52 on the front and back. I am going to continue taking pictures the next couple of times I play and try to use that as my first course review on the site. I am starting to get the hang of playing in a timely fasion and picking the right time to take out the camera without slowing down the round for everyone in the group. I am playing nine there after work tomorrow and trying to get 18 at Timber Point in tomorrow morning. I also have a trip to New Jersey to play Great Gorge with Chuck and some of his co-workers sometime on Memorial Day weekend. In the mean time I plan on getting some more posts in and I will have some first hand coverage of the Open at Bethpage Black since I will be there on Sat and Sun!

Off to a Good Start

We played with some people from Indiana that were in town to play the Black Course while it is in shape for the 2009 U.S. Open. They were really nice guys who explained that they were sleeping in the parking lot trying to get a tee time on Black after accidentally canceling the one they had set up before the trip by hitting the wrong button on the phone! A 13 hour drive and they may end up not getting to play! I hope they got their chance because the holes that we could see from the Blue looked amazing.

I played pretty well and am starting to get my putting on track. I think that lack of concentration has really been the issue along with crappy speed control. My short game didn’t let me down and I started to really see how good that new sand wedge really is. I hit a low flying bunker shot that I thought for sure was off the green only to see it bounce twice and stop due to the amount of spin on it. It was pretty amazing. I ended the round with another 103 after blowing my chances to break 100 on the 17th hole. I hit a terrible tee shot and recovered well only to over shoot the green on my approach making an 8.

A New Day

Day 2 at Harbor Links was very different. A slow drizzle made us nervous all day but the skies waited until we were on the 17th hole to open up. Besides the weather, both my partner and I played terrible. I was slicing my drives like I just started playing. It was pretty embarrassing to say the least. My irons game and decent short game kept me in it. That combined with the course playing easier than we expected (it was a slope 125 compared to 122 at Bethpage) meant that our scores were the only thing that didn’t look different. I shot 52 on the front thinking that I should have shot 60.

On the back nine I realized that I wasn’t putting my back swing in the “slot” that I had been since my last lesson. This was causing me to be wayyyy over the top and hit that terrible slice. After I got that corrected things went much smoother. I was more consistant playing bogy and double bogey golf the whole back nine where on the front nine I went from triple bogey to par. I did three put in situations where I shouldn’t buring the edge on my second putt due to a push or misread. Shooting 52 on the back as well wasn’t very disappointing but I was hoping I could come back and reach my goal that day.

This week is chock full of rain again so I hope to get in at least 2 rounds. Maybe I can get the monkey off my back before we hit Memorial Day?

The course’s site just doesn’t do the course justice. It was in superb condition and had some of the toughest rough I have seen this early in the season. They also employed a system that started some groups on the front 9 and some on the back 9 to speed up play. A brilliant move if you ask me. More than anything the course made you use your course management abilities if you were going to score well, this wasn’t a long drive competition.

I had my usual bet with my college buddy Chuck, a New Jersey local, going at $1 per stroke. After the last time we played he was up $18 and I was on a mission to cut into it. After the front, my best nine holes ever, I was up 5 strokes shooting 49. I have to say that the back nine was disappointing both from a course standpoint as well as my score. I hadn’t eaten much and also was (as ususal) running low on sleep so I just couldn’t stay focused. I should have taken my own advice on how to pack my golf bag. Nothing suffered more than my putting and iron game. The final nine holes with only a couple of exceptions seemed to be a direct copy of the first nine in almost the same order. They were still beautiful holes well laid out but it could have used some variety.

At the end of it all I lost another $2 after shooting 54 on the back. While I was playing I was sure that I had shot much worse than that so I really feel that the day was a huge success. I really wanted to get some photos of the course to share and plan on doing that in the future but I just seems hard to slow things down to take pictures while people are either trying to hit their shots or waiting for you to hit yours. I will try and find a happy medium so I can better share my experience out on the links. Hopefully the weather will hold out and I can come back with some amazing photos from Meadows Farms!

I started the weekend a little early by playing nine holes after work on Thursday at West Sayville. It was the first really nice day of the year and I just couldn’t resist playing. Myself and a friend of mine found the course to be in very good shape. I played some pretty good golf driving the ball very well and hitting some really good approach shots from up to 150 yards. The highlight was a 154 yard approach shot on the ninth hole that landed softly on the green. I shot a disappointing 53 considering the vast improvement in driving and my iron shots. As usual my work on and around the green involved a lot of skulled wedges and three putting.

The previous days performance, and the fact that the course was packed, led me to practice pitching and putting the next day before my usual Saturday round. This week I played Timber Point again on the nicest day of the year so far, 70 degrees with a little wind, it was a great day to play golf. What I didn’t expect was to start the day off with a 58 on the front nine which isn’t that difficult. I drove the ball well again but struggled with irons wedges and once again putting. The work I did the day before didn’t really seem to help at all. I think I am going to look into a heavier putter either from Odyssey or Heavy Putters. The back nine saw some improvement in my short game but not my putting or long irons. I ended up shooting a respectable 54 on the back which is a much more difficult set of holes.

I ended the weekend with another round at Indian Island where I think things have at least started to come together. A 57 on the front with all parts of my game not looking good at all. However, on the back nine I was able to overcome some pretty bad tee shots with some finess around the green and very good putting. A typical hole involved a tee shot, a short approach shot, a chip/pitch on to or close to the green, followed by a close lag putt, and hitting the short makeable putt left over. I know that I need to eliminate the chip/pitch as I am usually close enough to hit the green from my initial approach but for now it feel like I am at least making progress. A 51 on the back, my best 9 hole round of the year, gives me some momentum going into my lesson tomorrow  as well as a special round on Saturday at a beautiful course in New Jersey. I will try and get some pictures for my next round review so I can share how amazing the course is.

Putts: 47 Fairways: 3 G.I.R.: 0 Sand Saves: 0 Up & Down: 0 Penalties: 1

Another new course was on tap on Thursday. It is a local muni that is part of the Green Key program that gives discounted green fees to county residents. Overall it is one of the most well kept courses I have played in my area. At $28 a round it is also the best bargain.

Lesson Learned

I had my first lesson of the year on Tuesday where we worked on getting my backswing more behind me and less over my head. For those that have seen the show “The Haney Project” on the Golf Channel it is very similar to what Barkley and Hank have been working on. During the lesson I really got it and was hitting the ball cleaner and more solid than I ever have. After the lesson was a different story, I felt like I had taken a step back to when I was first playing.

The swing issues continued on the course and made for a long and frustrating day. As you can see by the score it was my worst day I have written about and by far my worst day since I started playing. There was some positive as I did get my swing back in order for the final 5 holes but I still have short game and putting issues. I 3 putted the final 8 holes.

Round Highlights…

I feel like giving any single hole recaps would be pointless considering that I didn’t feel like I played any of them particularly well. That isn’t to say that there aren’t any amazing holes on this course, just that I didn’t do the course any justice by playing the way I did. I will be doing a full course review where I focus on a couple of the very unique holes. Hopefully I will also play half way decent that day as well.  I am going to try and play again on Easter Sunday, hopefully

Putts: 38 Fairways: 4 G.I.R.: 0 Sand Saves: 0 Up & Down: 1 Penalties: 2

I played Timber Point again only this time I played with my good friend Joe S. and there was a little twist. There was a lot of rain the night before so my favorite part of the course, the Blue Course, was closed. That would mean that we would have to play the Red Course for both the front and the back nine. I wasn’t really happy about it but there was no choice. The conditions were wet and windy making for a challenging and cold day

The Front Nine

We started out as a twosome and I got off to a quick start with a bogey on the first hole. Finally I was able to play on some greens that weren’t covered with sand and I was pleased to say the least. I was using my new sand wedge for the first time (review to be posted after a couple more rounds) and wasn’t really hitting it that well. On the second hole my par 3 woes continued as I ended up pin high about 15 yards to the right of the elevated green. In addition to bad tee shots on par 3 holes I also have continued to chip and pitch very poorly resulting in a double bogey.

In general I was very average for this half of the round. The things that I usually do well, putt and hit my irons, I did well with a few good drives and short shots mixed in. My two problem holes besides the the par 3s are the 6th and 7th. The 6th is a short par 4 but the green is well protected on either side with bunkers that are well below the putting surface and it also slopes from front to back. I can not seem to hit this green and get the ball to stay on and today was no different. I hit the edge of the green in my first attempt and the ball slide off and into the right side bunker. The second time around I sliced my approach right into the bunker.

The 7th is a dog leg left with a water hazard in play off the tee to the right. I have never hit a tee shot into this fairway in about 20 rounds. This attempt was no different as I sliced it over the cart path and right into the water hazrd for my first lost ball and penalty of the day. I was able to come back on the second attempt of the day and get the ball in the fairway off the tee which is great but I was not able to capitalize, more on that in the next section on the back nine.

The Fall Off… I Mean Back Nine

As you can tell from the heading I was not able to continue my decent play the second time around. Part of it may have been bordom in playing the same holes or being tired but I was way worse in all aspects. It wasn’t just the score, 59, that was really disappointing, most of the shots that I hit just weren’t good. I was not transfering my weight well at all and when I stay on my back foot I slice the ball really bad. There were a couple of highlights, a putt in from a foot off the green on the 16th and a pitching wedge onto the green on the 14th after a poor tee shot, but most of these were followed by a 3 putt or a terrible iron.

Some Positive, Some Negatives

As far as overall progress this season I think I am just about where I expted considering I have had no lessons and only a couple of practice sessions. My GPS is really helping me manage the course becuase I am now able to hit irons that give me the distance I need instead of just trying to get it as close as possible to the green. I am hoping that this will result in getting the ball closer to the hole for my first putt and in turn reduce the number of 3 putts that I have.

Putts: 45   Fairways: 7  G.I.R.: 2   Sand Saves: 0   Up & Down: 0  Penalties: 1

I came to play here by invite from my college & golf buddy Chuck and as you can see from the handicap and slope rating this course isn’t the most difficult around. This was the first time I played the course but I didn’t really need much hole explanation as almost every hole has a wide open fairway with little to no hazards in play. I didn’t get much sleep the night before (I acutally slept in the parking lot of the course) so I was very worried about how my body and mind would react. I topped my first drive and it rolled about 50 yards along the ground. I was pretty sure I was in for a long day. When we got to the first green we were greeted by a sand dune. The greens were airated and sanded but they hadn’t been brushed which made for even worse conidtions than the airated greens I encountered on my last round at Timber Point.

Course Conditions and Layout

Despite the conditions on the greens the course was in decent shape for this early in the season. I found that even when I hit a pretty poor drive I was still in a very playable situation if not still in the fairway. The rough wasn’t all that bad either, leaving no penalty for any errant shots. Trees were also far and few between with the 14th hole the only one with any significant hazards with dense trees on the right and a small creek just short of the elevated green. The 14th was the only hole that I really enjoyed even though it was the first time I lost a ball during the round and I doubled par.

My Play

My front nine was one of my best ever score wise, 50, although due to the ease of the course I am not so sure I how I hit the ball. Either way I was feeling pretty good and had 2 pars and hot some fairways and greens. I was glad to have a 1 stroke lead on Chuck on the turn but he was starting to pick up his play. When we got to the turn we decided to go in and grab a bite. While I really needed to eat I wish that I could have gotten it to go and continued the round because my knees got stiff and my head was just not in the first couple of holes on the back nine.

I didn’t get into a rythem again until about the 15th hole making holes 10 to 14 not good with 12 through 14 being a complete disaster. The 18th was my second favorite hole and I was able to get onto the green in 3 and have a chance at a birdie putt. Unfortuately due to the greens and my speed control being way off most of the day I three-putt to close out the day. I was glad that my back nine score was a 59 and not a record worst 60. My total of 109 is realyl disappointing considering my front nine 50 but with the break and the green conditions I guess it isn’t all that bad.

For my first round of the year I chose to play my favorite local course Timber Point. They have 3 nine hole courses (Blue, Red and White). When you play 18 the Red is used for the front nine and the Blue for the back nine. The back nine makes you think you’re playing a different course but I’ll go into that more when I review the course in a later post.

I started the first hole playing by myself and as usual the first drive wasn’t pretty but by the third hole I had warmed up more long clubs. I had also joined a group celebrating their buddies 30th birthday. We were playing as a 5-some but no one seemed to care as long as we let them play through. I was playing my typical game but I felt like I was striking the ball more solidly off the tee and with my long irons but as usual my short game was a disaster. Chipping and pretty much any other shot requiring a wedge was either duffed or skulled making my new friends wonder how I could be so crisp with my other clubs.

Some Positive Stuff Some Not So Positive

I started to really get into a groove on the 5th hole when I hit an 8 iron just past the green with my 8 iron. My new uPro GPS from Callaway really helped me out there because I knew I was 134 yards out and I can start to dial in how far I hit each of my clubs which I had issues with last year. I’ll have more to say about the GPS in an upcoming quipment review after I get a few more rounds in with it, but for now all I can say is that even on a course I have played two dozen times it came in extremely handy.

The front 9 was without any real disasters until the 8th hole. This is always my worst hole featuring a water hazard along the whole right side of the tee box and along the dogleg right (a slicers nightmare!). I haven’t ever hit a tee shot that didn’t end up in the drink and this attempt was no different. The penalty stroke and two extremely poor wedge shots lead to a 4 over par 8 on this hole. I did make up for it in the file hole of the front nine by hitting a long but errant tee shot followed by nine iron on the green within 6 feet of the hole. Even though I pushed the birdie putt left I hit the 3 foot par putt and had my first par and G.I.R. of the year. I also kept myself from shooting 60 on nine holes for the first time.

The back nine was a similar theme with some shots that stick out but nothing super spectacular. Since we are playing along the Great South Bay the hole way the wind was pretty difficult to deal with. I was also able to ruin some more great approach shots with horendous wedge work and very marginal putting. All in all this round gives me hope for the rest of the year. This 114 stroke round is definitely not my best score but I think that after a couple of early season lessons I might be able to make some big strides toward breaking 100.