Monday, May 29, 2006

76 Rockhill

Got a practice round in today at Rockhill for the Ultra Golf tour event in June and shot a nice solid 76. (7000 yards for the blues..prolly played 7200 as the markers were at the very back on each hole)

Made some short game errors but got my putting together and had a good round.

Got into trouble once or twice and thought my way out well plus keep the ball in play of the the tee.

Worked on my lag putting this weekend and really got some ideas togetehr for how to approach pace and worked on stroking the ball (not "hitting it")

I need to remember to keep my head still, dont let me left wrist break down and accelerate smoothly and full thro the ball after my back stroke (worked on this with kevin johnson in TX)

Played 3 days in a row for the first time sice last fall. it helped a lot


gonna take tomorrow off and then get ready for everything starting on wed.

gas prices are kill me tho. still cheape than the LIRR tho.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

78 on Black

Good solid round today and achieved a scoring goal with a good solid 78 on Bethpage Black.

Thought my way around the course well and kept in position off the tee.

Played the par 5s smart and hit knock down shots on all the par 3s to keep the ball out of the wind. swirling winds today. hard to get a sense of where it was coming from.

Good solid putting on the front 9 and ok putting on the back. 38 40 with a double on 15 due to my cut 4 iron approach not cutting. I was waaay up the hill to the left and long with a killer up and down. basically was toast no matter what. Then 3 putted 16 for bogey but a nice solid par on 17 got me on track again.

getting there

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Rain and More Rain

Hasnt been the most condusive spring for weather up here but trying to get rounds in on the weekends and played another Ultra Tour Event yesterday.

It poured, but I played well in the rain. There was an hour rain delay and again that didnt bother me.

I shot 88.

It was in driving rain and crazy winds..but that didnt really throw me off.

Ive been thinking about it and this is the solidest high score ive ever shot. I hit 10 of 13 fairways and hit a good amount of greens. Any that I missed i didnt miss my much (fringes or rough just off)

My main problems came from 2 mental errors and only one bad swing. These 3 things all resulted in Triple bogeys. Combined with one dumb double (due to cart golf, which I really hate) the rest of the round was solid pars and one birdie. I missed some key up and downs but thats simply lack of practice whic hshould slowly get better once i get some time and a facility to work on my short game around the greens

I missed some key par putts and yipped 2 short ones but got my putting key back ("staying down" which has also become one of my full swing keys: "complete my turn" and "stay down").

Mentally I lost it when I had to take an unplayable after a bad bounce of a tee shot. I took my drop and instead of playing 90 degrees back into the fairway, I tried a fancy shot which only compounded the problems and hit it into a fairway bunker. I hit a good shot out and put myself back in position to get up and down but lost focus thinking I was "out of it". I sorta yanked my wedge chip and went long then didnt really try to get up and down again. 8.

Thinking back I could have easily turned this into a bogey with some luck or at worst a double.

Then my other mental error was on a pretty tough shot that I should have realy taken my time with.

Tough par 4 where I hit into a fair way bunker. I just got in there and took a rip at it with a 5 wood and didnt have a plan for the hole. I ended up losing the ball and having to play my provisional. Again I didnt concentrate on my wedge and lost another shot after trying to go for a tucked pin.

I should have simply played a shot to the 100 yard marker out of the bunker and went for the solid bogey and with some luck a par.

The only bad swing of the day was on a par 3 where i basically hoseled a 5 iron lol. Instead of re grouping tho and trying to hit it close, I took a quick second shot from the tee..I hit well actually but shot-sided myself. I almost holed a really tough 58 degree chip (almost like my triple before) then yipped the 2 footer (got out of my putting key).

So simply mental errors.

Its good to recognize my mental erros. When I get into trouble I just seemed to panic it felt like. So my goal is to "take my medicine" and no mattrer what the final result, stick to my plan (play back onto the fairway even if it means literally going 90 degress) and keep myself in it.

Learned a lot yesterday

Sunday, May 07, 2006

82 Black

Well only got one day of golf in this week and my back was a touch sore thro the week from last weekends rounds.

Feeling 100% again so went out to Bethpage today and was 82.

Was hitting it ok, gusty winds were grabbing my better drives and getting me out of position off the tee. About half we sorta rushed swings. But my putting again kept me in it.

Looking forward to playing some more rounds and seeing how my mental game comes together once I get some more confidence and feel etc.

Hit Some nicve shots but got blown out of position by the gusts..like on 6, 7, 11, 18. Good swings on 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 18.

Only hit 2 fairways as a result. Just cant score on Bethpage with a stat like that.


Good solid short game feel tho. Not breaking down with my left hand and leading with it and acceleration though.

Getting there.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Early Season Schedule

I think I need a day planner!

ok early entried are in and its getting hectic for June.

Saturday, June 10, 2006 - Rockhill Classic - Ultra Golf Tour

Monday June 12 - NYSGA Men's Amateur Qualifier - Long Island
Links at Shirley, LI (This is for: NYSGA Men's Amateur Championship Jul 18 - Jul 22 Country Club of Troy- Troy, NY )

Tuesday June 13 - MGA Public Links SQR (NYC) -LaTourette (This is for: MGA/MetLife Public Links JULY 6 SPOOK ROCK GC SUFFERN, NY)

Monday June 19, Tues June 20 - USGA Public Links Sectional Qualifying: 6/20/2006 - 6/21/2006 59. FARMINGDALE NY Bethpage State Park (This is for: the Public Links July 10 - 15)

Big goals but trying just get into these for the experiences. If some good happens one of these day, so be it! Bring it on I say ;)