Confessions 12 --- Exploding Heads

[PapaJohick]

Yes very very relieved at the forecast this morning/last night. Like you said though, we are just hitting the peak so there will be more. Hopefully nothing like this one though.

[DeNinny]

As of yesterday, I'm no longer a country club golf snob. I quit my club and am going on a prolonged break to heal up.

[Pigems]

I finally played my first round today with the 690's and wow! These irons are awesome, tight lies, rough, soggy fairways, it doesn't matter they just slice right though it all like its butter. I didn't miss hit an iron shot all day, I pushed a few left and chose the wrong club for the shot a few time and came up long/short. But I hit dead center on every damn on of them, nice high ball flight too. They are definitely in the bag for good as of right now. The SM wedges were sweet too, lower bounce than my sm5's. I liked them, I think they are gonna stay in too for now. Wound up shooting 40/48 for 88 on the day though, couldn't hit a put and My woods failed me miserably on the back nine. We had caught up to the groups in front of us by then and at one point we were at the tee box while the group in front was waiting to tee off because the group ahead of them was still in the fairway and the group ahead of those guys were still on the tee box of the next hole. It was soooooooo slow, i got frustrated and lost my concentration big time on the back nine. But the Blades were awesome none the less! Oh and I forgot my Driver at home and had to play 5 wood all day off the tee lol, I had the Mini Bertha with me but it failed big time and is now cut from the team. Oh well it was a good day overall :)

 

These are the highlights of my first round with Blades :)

 

1st hole, 403y par 4. 7i from 165y out of the rough. Hit the putt for birdie, the only good putt I hit all day lol.

 

 

2nd hole, 309y Par 4. 9i from 145y to an elevated green. Lipped out the putt for birdie and made par.

 

 

10th hole, 361y Par 4. 8i from 155y to an elevated green. Missed the putt for birdie by a couple inches. .

 

 

13th hole, 156y Par 3. My best shot of the day. 8i off the Tee, sky high right on line and dropped like a rock. Again I missed the putt by inches. Putting was not good today, but these iron and so nice, I love them :)

 

[Pigems]

As of yesterday, I'm no longer a country club golf snob. I quit my club and am going on a prolonged break to heal up.

 

I sorry to hear that you won't be playing golf for a while Den, but it's good that you'll be getting healed up :)

[Pigems]

Yes very very relieved at the forecast this morning/last night. Like you said though, we are just hitting the peak so there will be more. Hopefully nothing like this one though.

 

How's everything going down there Papa J?? Hope all is well Sir!! :)

[PapaJohick]

Atta boy pigs! I know putter may have let you down but glad you had fun hitting the blades. Those things are beauties

 

Played today as well.

 

Started off birdie, par (although had a sliding birdie putt from 3 feet that I missed..... don't want to talk about it), par double haha. Ended with a 41 front and 45 on back. Struck the ball so well all day.

The wind on the back was killer. Played a course near the ocean and we were having 25 mph winds most of the day and gusts up to about 40 so that messed with a lot of iron shots. Funny enough my drives did well. Lost a little distance on some but didn't have the ballooning slice shot I had with almost all irons 3-6. It was tough. I had a par 3 that was 138. Typical soft 8 or good 9. Hit 5 iron low and still ended up 30 yards short haha.

For not the wind, could have been a really special day, no doubt about it. The swing felt great.

[DeNinny]

Pigems it's no coincidence that you transitioned well going from your CBs to blades. By design you will hit the ball better with them. The low surface area and low bounce sole reduces your chances of hitting it fat AND it increases your clubhead speed through ALL media. The thick walled muscle behind the ball at impact enables BOTH more consistent spin and easier spin control. Even the less offset helps with better face control. There is NOT one single design "feature" in your CB irons that helps you play better than those 690s. As you switch between them often, you will realize this more and more. "Forgiveness" really is a carney sham(e).

 

And yeah low bounce wedges are ALWAYS better than high bounce ones, all other things equal, for the same reason stated above about low bounce blades: the low bounce decreases the chance of ground interference and the clubhead drag through any media.

 

I'm telling you, my man, that set is your gamer bag!

[Matt J]

DeNinja - best of luck with your recovery!

 

Papa - seeing some flooding around Chucktown on my facebook feed, hope you're safe and there isn't too much damage.

 

I shoved off late morning Thursday to escape this smoke. Leisurely strolled over to the club to grab my clubs and chatted with a few friends and our teaching pros. We debated whether or not Pebble Beach is worth the price of admission for quite awhile. That stuck with me on the drive. I batted it back and forth for hours as I bumped down the freeway to the Monterey peninsula.

 

Rolled into town in the evening and didn't want to inconvenience my friend I stayed with down there, so I got a cheap room in Monterey and some shut eye. Used Hotel Tonight and probably saved 50% of what it would have costed me rack rate. Channeling my inner Millennial I also used my phone to get tee times for Friday. My curiosity about Pebble Beach was piqued and I called central reservations to see what my options were going to be if I decided to play.

 

Bright and early I showed up at Pacific Groves golf links which is often times referred to in the area as the "poor man's Pebble." I want to say my GolfNow rate was 65 bucks or so. I thought that was even a bit overpriced so it's hard for me to call it "poor man's" golf, maybe poor for northern California, but not for southern Oregon. I really enjoyed this course. If you lived nearby and it were 25 bucks to walk it, I might play it 3 or 4 times a week. The front nine is inland and was designed by Chandler Egan and the back nine was put in later out on the beach in the dunes and designed by Jack Neville. The back is almost easy to a fault, but it's a ton of fun and GORGEOUS. It's definitely a little mini-links paradise with this cool historic lighthouse always lingering in the background.

 

I rushed over to Poppy Hills and grabbed a quick lunch at the clubhouse before teeing off at 2 PM. Leaving Pacific Grove I took a little of a long route and basically took in the "Monterey Super Drive" of touring the peninsula a little. The views are stunning. The natural beauty of the forests and the coast are breathtaking but there are a TON of people. There's also a ton of conspicuous displays of wealth between fancy bling cars and crazy mansions shoved onto every hillside. I am admittedly a little sensitive to over-crowding, probably from living at resorts and in tourist towns most of my life, but this was way over the top for me the worst thing about the trip. This region is just densely populated and a popular tourist spot. Too many people for my taste, but that's it's own story....

 

On to Poppy. The clubhouse is stunning. The Northern California Golf Association must have spent a large fortune on this facility. I had a burger at the bar and enjoyed chatting with some other golfers and some caddies from Spyglass. Snuck out onto the range for a few whacks, hit some putts and teed off. I walked Poppy and Pebble and Poppy is a much harder walk. It is a hilly piece of property which makes for some cool golf holes, but RTJ Jr. (who I'm starting to like less and less) did some weird stuff with the new routing and it's a long haul. We played it in reverse, teeing off on 10, but I think that's the original way he intended the routing !?! I don't know to be honest, but you cut back through the parking lot to make the turn and it seems like a senseless extra 1/2 mile walk up hill. It's obvious that the "walkability" was a small factor in the redesign. I also am just getting to the point where I don't enjoy his courses that much. They're kind of canned to me. A bunch of bunkers at 250 and a bunch around the greens with tough greens. Wow. Great. The course is in great shape though. It had been a little over watered and the greens were a little slower than they probably should be, but overall I enjoyed it. My 2 cents is that it feels a lot like Bob Jones's ode to Augusta on the west coast. The whole course is tightly mown with very little rough and that being short with some waste areas which obviously you wouldn't see at Augusta, but a lot of pine straw, too. So, having played as a kid on the piedmont on similar courses to ANGC and having been there, that was the overwhelming feel for me.

 

That morning, Saturday, I was told to call in to see what times I could get if I wanted to play Pebble. So, I totally forgot at 7, and was on the 3th or 4th hole at Pacific Grove when I remembered and broke my usual no cell phone on golf course rule and called in. They gave me the choice of 6:15 or 2 PM. Considering it was pitch black dark at 6:15 I chose the 2 PM time and booked.

 

I hung out with my friend until about 11 AM and then went over to the course. The first thing that jumped out at me is that this is public golf. It may be the most expensive greens fee in the world but it's very public. The logistics are a little bumpy for a day player like myself and I dropped by bag but had to park pretty far away and felt like I was walking around a lot. I guess I'm a little spoiled by Country Club life and the place is really set up for people to spend another small fortune on their lodging, but in all honesty I could only laugh at myself changing shorts in the car and putting spikes on sitting on my tail gate. Public golf.

 

The range is nice, lots of good space to practice, and I should have probably gone a little earlier, but I was much more about the experience than the number. The employees were all super nice to me, too. That's worth noting. The practice green over near the first tee rolled pretty well, much faster than the course, but it's a little weird as people are all smiling at you like you're an animal in the zoo.

 

First tee, I meet my foursome. One guy is a good stick and shoots a 74 or 75 and his buddy is a hack, but at least and golfer, and the fourth is playing only his second round of the year. I'm nervous over the tee shot and pipe one right into the "A" spot. Felt great. I pulled it a touch and it came off low, but it was long and couldn't have been positioned any better. Walking up the middle of the fairway, the sun is out, not a lot of fog, I'm feeling great and these guys are out on their veranda at the lodge. "Hey, are you the lefty?" "Yes, that's me." "Helluva poke, man." "Thanks, fellas." That feels good. Too bad I chunked the wedge and 3 putted for a smooth double. As I said I wasn't about the score and I wasn't taking any pictures. Just staying in the moment and sucking it all in, so I didn't let it bother me. The greens are junk IMO. They're thatched, slow as pi$$, and they hadn't even bothered to move the cups. Edges were overgrown two or three days at least and there was damage to the lips of most of them. I posted my score, but will admit I didn't put out very many. I picked up anything inside of 15 inches probably and slapped at a lot of 2 to 5 footers. The greens just weren't that true, they were so slow, and the cups were so worn, it didn't seem to make that much sense to grind out a tournament style round. Not to mention pace is always an issue on that course especially when you're playing with a couple of hacks and behind 4 more with 4 following you.

 

Driver was "on" all day which is nice. I wasn't crushing the ball, as it is sea level and humid and cool, but I was straight even on my misses which we all know is a fun way to play. We were playing off the golds which is only 6454 yards so even though I missed a few and probably only left them 225 or 230 from the tee box, I still had great shots in on every hole. I could give you guys the shot by shot, but I don't think you'd read it, so big memorable shots.... I got up and down from the left bunker on 5 and then came back and birdied 6. On 7 we didn't really know the yardage to the big chasm and I hit it right into it for the only other double. Chipped in 16 for my second birdie of the round. Generally played all right, probably B game, because my irons just weren't on. Drives and short game were fine.

 

I don't particularly buy in on the fact that guys say the nine holes that aren't on the water are mediocre. You have killer views back to the ocean on a lot of those holes too, you just have to look past the inside hole. We had zero wind and it plays pretty easy IMO from those tees, I posted an 85 but it could have been sub-80 with decent greens and putting easy. With my irons firing and another chance at the course I'd say I could play to my index pretty easily in this weather which was PERFECT. The turf was a little soggy, over watered probably due to the unusual heat they had last week and the amazing amount of play. This course is the most hammered golf course in the country so it's amazing it looks as good as it does.

 

So there you have it... a mix of Rodeo drive and Scottish links golf and 100% corporate America profit-driven. Doubt I'll ever play it again, but glad I did. Wouldn't even have a conversation about this versus Bandon. If it's golf you're after, no brainer. Even if Bandon wasn't 1/3 the price I'd still prefer Bandon. But, I'm a purist and appreciate that Keiser didn't guild the place with italian marble and golf leaf. Pebble is a little more gold leaf than my tastes, but to each their own.

[PapaJohick]

Sounds like a fun day Matt.

 

We didn't have any flooding in my "hood" haha but on the back roads to our friend's house was completely covered on the way back home around 9 last night. Had to turn around and a 15-20 minute trip took about 45 minutes due to backtracking and having to go the long way on the main roads haha.

 

Supposedly a lot of golf courses in the area will be open today but cart path only obviously haha. Surprised at this. Looking to see how Hilton head and Beaufort area handled it with so much damage last year.

[Matt J]

Oops, I had the hole numbers off...birdied 6, and 8 was the one we didn't realize was less than driver off the tee.

 

Glad to hear you're doing fine Papa. My grandma's place in Ft. Myers is probably done for.

[Halebopp]

Pigems, looking at the pics you mus'tve played somewhere quite close to the equator? :D

 

DeNinny, here's to a fast recovery!

 

Good to hear everything is fine over there, Papa. :)

 

Matt, that's interesting, I would've assumed Pebble to be in perfect condition year round, especially the greens.

 

I confess my swing has ditched me and went looking for a new home (somewhere on the southern hemisphere probably). Also, what's your record for lip out during a round? Yesterday I started off with 5 on the first 4 holes. :D The greens were slightly slower and I struggled to figure them out. The same happened the round before, I lost the match 2&1 with lip outs on 12, 13 and 16 and one or two on the front nine also. Sometimes it's just not your day.

[DeNinny]

Thanks for the well wishes, guys. I am going to see my doc today. Get an MRI scan if possible.

 

MJ great trip report. I have played Spanish Bay and Bayonet out there. Such a beautiful area.

 

In other news, I caught my limit on the Columbia the other day. I took my dad out on a guided trip. He caught one and here are mine:

 

 

 

 

I confess it was *almost* as good as a good golf day...'almost' being the operative word...

[PapaJohick]

Nice fish dude!

 

Today in prep for my vegas trip I decided to go out and test my mental toughness. I played worst ball with myself. Played one drive (except par 3s) and then played from that spot, two balls down taking the higher score (so best ball style, not captains choice). Worse ball score was an 85. Now if I had done two drives from each tee as well that may have been higher but I was driving the ball really well. More than likely would have still broken 90. By better ball score? A freaking 79! I couldn't believe it. While I can't count it for handicap since I was technically playing 2 balls, I'm still seeing it as somewhat legitimate since there were no mulligans/re-dos. I didn't have any birdies but my chipping was on freaking point and besides two holes I took the big number out of play and had mostly pars. Everything felt so right today. It was magical. I'm hoping a real sub 80 round is in the horizon soon.

[Matt J]

Nice fish Ninja!

 

Poppa your day is coming. It's so mental you have to relax and hit your shot.

 

I'm still grinding against this swingweight thing. Bought some lead tape and plan on playing with the CB's this afternoon.

[PapaJohick]

Nice fish Ninja!

 

Poppa your day is coming. It's so mental you have to relax and hit your shot.

 

I'm still grinding against this swingweight thing. Bought some lead tape and plan on playing with the CB's this afternoon.

 

but didn't you hear lead tape is bad for you? haha sorry if you hadn't seen that thread yet. it was full of ridiculousness by our ferguson

[Matt J]

I don't care about the health effects if it helps my iron play. ;)

[Qqq123xx]

Where's P-Hammer. Did the G-Force from one of his drives suck him into an alternative dimension?

[PapaJohick]

Where's P-Hammer. Did the G-Force from one of his drives suck him into an alternative dimension?

 

I haven't heard from him but I know he's working a lot and playing a lot trying to get things going for him. Dude has drive.

[Pigems]

Where's P-Hammer. Did the G-Force from one of his drives suck him into an alternative dimension?

 

I haven't heard from him but I know he's working a lot and playing a lot trying to get things going for him. Dude has drive.

 

Hammy's putting the Hammer Down!! I'm sure he will pop back around soon enough :)

[glk]

Good practice papa. Since we last played I started playing a lot and practicing little. Used to play 80 times a year. Done 15 and25 the last two. Should be well over 25 now. Gotta play. I fell into the practice trap. Been playing pretty well since June. Enjoy vegas.

 

Down for end of restaurant week. Beautiful early fall weather in smokies. Chucktown not so much. Lol. 82 queen tonight Getting a new matttress for back in tn from Charleston mattress. They ship now. Great mattresss. All made in USA. Flippable. Had a brew and sandwich at evo bakery. Already had wings at home team in west Ashley and brisket and pork belly at swig and swine. Market tomorrow then maybe halls again.

 

Got first paycheck and tips. Just 200 more hours til I get benes. Got to do it by 11/16 since we leave for a couple of weeks in San Diego on the 17th. Need 240 hours in first quarter worked to qualify for benefits.

 

Could be getting to do cold bar soon - frappacinos. Hot bar later. Then drive thru. Had a battle for the old guy between day shift and night shift. I'm in demand lol. Place did 6 k on Saturday of Labor Day alone. It can get nuts. Had lots of Florida folks in last week.

 

Saw zero abandoned cars on 26 until Summerville then we saw 5 before we turned onto 526. Thought it was going to be a first since we've never seen fewerthan 4-5. Nope.

[Matt J]

Hambone sent me a driver video a week or two ago. I was busy with that tournament and life and forgot to get back to him. Actually was thinking I'd like to call him and hear first hand how they are feeling about North Korea.

 

Swing was fluid and effortless. Amazes me he hits it that far. I got a couple buddies that are tour long, but they are going after it and wild. Hammer looks like he's hitting a 7 iron. I've been on a better driving kick myself even for a short knocker I've been focused on control and balance.

[PapaJohick]

I agree. His swing is pretty haha. He put up a live scoring round the other day. Shot a 76 I believe haha. He's playing well

[Halebopp]

I need to confess I did some ball hawking today. I got out to play but didn't fare very well. Playing a tight course meant I needed to do a bit of searching for my balls and found a fair share of other balls along the way. Then at some point I got more interested in finding balls than actually hitting my ball in play. :D

 

After the round my bag felt slightly heavy and I found out it would fall over to the side of the side pocket into which I put the found balls. When I started unloading the bag I never thought I'd have as many as I did. I did the math and the total came to 180... Whoops. :D A fair share of them will be heading straight back to the club for juniors though.

 

I worked as a Rules Official in national championships for clubs for men over 50 y.o. While the day itself was a quite non-eventful the funniest thing happened well after the day had finished. The club house was almost empty, with the players from the very last groups eating their dinners etc when a member of my club tapped me on the shoulder and asked me whether you could practice on the competition course in between stroke play rounds (it was a two-day event). I said no and he pointed out to and named some people walking towards the tenth tee saying they're in the tournament. I dropped my gear and ran after them, catching them when the first guy was teeing up his ball. Half a minute later would've probably been too late and we would've needed to disqualify the hosts before day two of the championships. The guys were rather thankful we managed to stop them in time.

 

Next weekend is my first bigger event in charge as a rules official, a two-day season final event for the lowest tier of national junior tours. Someone more experienced and with better credentials was supposed to do it but he cancelled and it's too difficult to find anyone else for the job at such a short notice. The national golf union will actually pay me for the gig!

[DeNinny]

Ahahaha Halebopp you make me feel better. I am a shameless ball hawk, but I stop at 2-3 dozen. If I find an area loaded with premium balls, I will go after them compulsively and LOL then lose focus on my game.

 

So the doc said my rotator cuff issue is likely just tendonitis and not a tear. No MRI recommended. Just stretches and exercises and possible physical therapy and acupuncture. PJ and others I am curious as to your thoughts on acupuncture.

[PapaJohick]

Thats good to hear ninja.I would keep an open mind to a second opinion or pushing hard for MRI if the pain persists when you come back. What gets me is that you took a good break from golf and it returned pretty quickly when starting again.

 

I am not well versed in it personally. It's one of those old therapies that some people swear by and some think it's just Chinese voodoo haha. I could certainly see how it helps though. There is also something that a lot of PTs are doing that is similar called Dry Needling. Pretty cool and I have heard great outcomes with that from athletes and patients. Also, if you know a good PT or (i don't normally recommend these people but....) REALLY GOOD chiropractor who does Active Release therapy and other trigger release type treatments then that could be of big help as well. Graston techinque and stuff like that

[DeNinny]

Thanks PJ. Yeah the doc said if the pain gets worse after trying acupuncture/PT she will get me the MRI and also refer me to a sports medicine specialist who *could* give me a steroid injection.

 

There is some science behind that Chinese voodoo, just like there is science behind chiropractor "voodoo" techniques. I met a Chinese doctor schooled on western medicine but also practiced eastern healing methods like acupuncture. She opened my eyes to eastern ways of healing things like sprains and strains that affect muscles, tendons, and ligaments. She was a doctor for sports events and mentioned that using eastern methods had real and immediate benefit over western methods for many sports related injuries. So based on this and personal testimonials from trusted friends and family, I'm willing to try the acupuncture route for my rotator cuff issue. We shall see...

[PapaJohick]

Oh for sure. I have had a lot of people tell me they much rather have the eastern healing treatments than what we typically do here in the Western Hemisphere. More natural and less opioids haha. I'm all for it.

[DeNinny]

LOL Palauan Hambooger is back. I just got "like bombed" by him.

[Palauan Hammer]

Wassup Fellas!!! It's been a minute or two haha.

 

Just got caught up now, Ninja hope that rotator cuff heals up soon! I was just battling a bad rhomboid muscle strain, it hurt just breathing, and of course like an idiot I played and practiced almost everyday which made it worse. Then it messed up my swing lol. Anyway, took almost a 4 WHOLE days off LOL and it's gone. Also, probably more importantly, I took a break from oly lifting. Just started yesterday. No pain, I'm good!

 

Matt, good shooting to qualify for your match play event! Your game keeps improving! As for N. Korea, I'm not too worried about it, however it does kinda suck for us to be "caught in the middle".

 

Pigs, congrats on the new career low round! And sweet 690's!!!

 

Papa, hope the game is coming along! Nice 35 the other week too, I see the updates on Grint haha. And hope you and the family are good especially with the crazy weather out your way!

 

Halle, nice shooting! Couple rounds in the 70's now right??

 

LOL Palauan Hambooger is back. I just got "like bombed" by him.

 

Decided to pop in before heading out to practice!

[Palauan Hammer]

Game update!

 

So I've been working pretty hard at it. Probably playing way too much and not enough range time, but I'm getting better.

 

A few things of note, low round this year so far is 67 (7 birdies that round). Low 9 is a 30 lol. That was white tees but still. Also I had a pretty cool comeback round where I was playing AWFUL was about to mentally check out for the day and decided to see how low I could go for the rest of the round. Proceeded to go eagle, par, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie. Turned an 80 something into a 75. I feel like I'm close.

 

Lastly, played our usual monthly National Team tourney. This month is also the 1st round of the Guam Am. (so we get world Am. ranking points if you finish 1st or 2nd). Anyway I hadn't played a good round in the qualifiers this year, all low 80's rounds which get me nothing. So this past weekend I went in with a game plan. 3 iron off almost every tee, with a driver and 3wood thrown in on certain holes. Ended up with 5 birdies, but had some bad holes as well for a 74 in some windy conditions. Got 2nd place. The last 2 rounds of the tournament are next month (Lol weird set up) I'm ready to win this thing!

 

Sorry its been a while since I've typed out my thoughts, I'm all over the place.

 

Hope everyone is well! And I'll be popping in more often!