Be Better, Brad! (Update 4-11-2024 with new swing videos)

[betarhoalphadelta]

Well, found the R10 on a Black Friday deal at indoorgolf.com, so I pulled the trigger. With the deal, payoff is <1 year relative to my membership at the practice facility / exec course. 

 

I'll need to also buy a better hitting mat, but otherwise hopefully it will make it easier to hit balls during the day while WFH.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Played at San Juan Hills again yesterday. 

 

Shot 51/52 for 103. 99 for HDCP purposes with ESC due to blow up holes, but at least I kept them all in single digits this time lol. 

 

Putting was improved compared to the previous round, but still bad. 36 putts total, and one 4-putt... Which was terrible because it was a GIR, so I hit a great drive and a great approach and ended up with a double. I had a 20-foot birdie look which turned into a 21-foot par putt... Never good when your second putt is longer than your first. Getting used to these greens is going to take some work. 

 

What REALLY killed me was off the tee. Not that I was wild (although I had a couple OB from being wild), but that my contact was outright terrible. Just duffs. And it wasn't all driver either, I had absolute duffs with 5w and 4h too. I don't know what the heck happened. 

 

Definitely need to get back on the horse with some full swing practice. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Played yesterday at Oso with my son. Got around in 75 (+15), for a differential of 19.2, so it both counted for my cap and dropped it to 19.0. 

 

Biggest positive was not having any holes worse than double. In addition to that, I mostly avoided the big sweeping hooks. Had a bit of a pull hook off the #9 tee, and a big ol' sweeper on 16, but the rest of the full swings were pretty tame by my standards. Technically it was a good putting day getting around in only 31 putts, but a portion of that is based on having a lot of near-misses where I putted from the fringe or farther off the green and was able to get into close-ish range for a one-putt. 

 

It was a Texas Wedge sort of day. The first hole I flubbed a chip and just said screw it... If I can putt the ball, I'm putting the ball. 

 

Biggest negative was that I was just a big off on finding the center of the clubface. I had a pretty large number of shots that I know based on sound & feel weren't off the sweet spot and thus came up short despite being on line. But that's balanced by really not having very many terrible or wasted shots, so I can't complain too much. 

 

It was a bit of a learning experience too. It was a bit breezy as we got onto the back 9, and I tried to take that into account a little bit more than I usually do. I took extra club on 12 into the wind and it still landed front half of the green and spun back to the fringe, so I tried to make use of that info. Holes 14 and 15 were playing about the same distance, but hole 14 was with the wind and I took 9i and put it pin-high. Hole 15 was into the wind and I took 7i and put in pin-high. Holes 16/17/18 are all coming back to the clubhouse and are into the wind, so took extra club on all of those and although none were great holes (directional control problems), the carry distances were spot on. 

 

So a good day overall. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Didn't think I was going to get another round in before Christmas. Was planning to go to Vegas with my wife this weekend, but we decided to cancel that trip... Which means I had already planned Friday off work and found a 7:30 tee time at Oso, and then scheduled a 9:10 tee time there with two of my normal group for Sunday. So went from "I don't know when I'm going to play next" to "two rounds in three days". So that's nice. 

 

Will be ordering a leveling/alignment stand for the R10 and a small Fiberbuilt hitting mat in the next few days to get the backyard practice area going. Looking forward to that. 

 

Found out my son will have a callback for another HS golf team tryout tomorrow. Not sure why there was a month of no contact and suddenly there's another tryout, but I'm happy because he will get another chance. If he makes the team, it'll make owning the R10 that much more important to give him practice time where he can know the ballflight on balls hit into the net. If he doesn't, it'll make owning the R10 give him that much more opportunity to practice before next year's tryouts. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Sure beats working today!

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Teed off at 7:30 AM in temps around 40 degrees, but it warmed up enough that I had to drop the pullover after the 6th hole. Got around the course in 3:15 as a foursome, though, which is always nice. 

 

Overall a bit of a middling day. Shot 86 (+26) but it'll be an 82 with ESC because of two blow-up holes. Got around in 28 putts, which was good. Only had 2 GIR (which I 3-putted both GRR) but had 5 par saves (incl. one out of the sand) that were all 1-putts and a zero-putt because I sunk a long one from the fringe. 

 

Basically all day my ballstriking was questionable--the only GIR were short par 4s (the only kind that exist on this course) where I was hitting 56* wedges to the green. 

 

The two blow-ups were a par 3 where I put the tee ball into the sand and took 3 to get out and then three-putted for a 7, and the short par 4 where I duffed my 4h OOB and hit 4 from the fairway and chunked an approach, bladed a pitch, putted back on but long and two-putted for an 8. 

 

I ordered a Fiberbuilt hitting mat and a leveling stand for the R10. The stand won't get here until a couple days before Christmas, but I'll plan on setting that up with my son so he can hit a bunch on Dec 23 (off school) and 24 (keep him out of the way as we prep for a big dinner with friends that night. Then I'll hopefully be able to get a bunch of time hitting between Christmas and New Year's being off work that week.

 

Unfortunately his HS tryout yesterday, while he improved from his previous 63 on 9 holes, only improved to 58. However they said that even if he doesn't make the team he might still be able to take golf as a class in place of PE, which should give him a lot more time to devote to his game. 

 

I have a tee time again on Sunday morning, but right now the weather looks like steady rain all damn day. So I'm pretty sure that's getting canceled. 

[bortass]

Wind is always fun. My experience has been that unless it's a strong wind, it doesn't matter because I may adjust the club but it goes the normal distance. It's probably confirmation bias of some sort or just being too erratic to count on the wind helping/hurting. Now if a hazard is involved, I'll take wind into account if it could hurt me. I won't count on  tailwind helping me clear a pond but I will take a headwind into account to either layup or club up...

 

Hope you and the family have a great holiday!

Edited December 12, 2022 by bortass
speeling;)

[betarhoalphadelta]

Haven't updated much lately. Didn't play between my last update and Christmas. Also haven't had a lot of ability to practice with the new R10 launch monitor due to weather. We've had a fair bit of rain and that screws up my backyard enough that I can't swing out there until it dries up, and there hasn't been enough warmth or sun to really get it dry. Should have a bunch more rain in the next week too. 

 

On the bright side, it gave me an excuse between Christmas and New Years to finally get the lift kit installed on my Jeep lol...

 

I did some hitting on the R10 on Dec 27th because I had a round the next day. A few summaries of the rounds since then:

 

12/28: San Juan Hills

 

Played like utter trash. Shot 107 (+36). It was, quite frankly, a mess from the start. I literally started quad/quad/triple/triple/bogey/quad. Then when I was "getting it together" it was merely 3 bogeys to finish out the front 9 at a 58. It got better on the back and I only shot a 49, finally made 2 pars, both of them par saves. I had only one GIR all day and 3-putted it for bogey. 

 

What was going right? Not much. I did only make 33 putts, which was good. I had a couple good drives on 10 and 11, when things were "coming back together", but followed those drives up by hooking my approaches into a hazard and making triple both times. A lot of penalty strokes added up. All in all the day was a mess, and the course is penal enough that my score went in the tank pretty quickly. 

 

One bright spot was the bogey on 5, in that I put the ball into the sand, in a bit of a fried egg lie, and managed to extricate myself to about 8 feet from the hole, in one. Unfortunately I two-putted, so I couldn't get a sand save for par, but I was actually pleased to get the ball out. The sand at San Juan Hills is SO much better than most other places I play. 

 

1/2: Oso Creek

 

Played just okay, shooting an 86 (+36). Started off really nicely on the first 5 holes, at just +2. Including a perfect kick-in birdie on #3 when I stuck an 8 iron to 6". Then managed to score a 10 on #6. Oof.  But rebounded with a par and two bogeys to finish the 9 holes at +10, which isn't bad. On the back, however, I just started having my left hook mess creep in and just couldn't string together shots to save the round, playing the back at +16. 

 

Score could have been a little better if I'd made a few putts. Finished with 36 putts but had a BUNCH that just burned the edge or finished an inch from the hole. Also screwed up the score with a lot of lost balls / hazards, which is uncharacteristic of me on this course. Overall one of those rounds where I was not playing my best, but it wasn't my worst. 

 

1/8: Oso Creek

 

Again just ok, with a score of 85 (+25). Played fairly well on the front, +10 with a quad where I forgot to close the face on a tee shot and hit one WAY OB. Then I started out the back pretty poorly, going +13 through 5 holes, before finishing par/bogey/par/bogey. Again lost balls / hazards really ended up getting me, which for a course that isn't that penal, really hurt. 

 

Overall I thought ballstriking was better in this round. I attribute it a lot to the fact that it was my 3rd round in 2 weeks, and I think just getting more of a rhythm really started to help me. Putting wasn't great at 36 putts for the round. Only two 3-putts, but I hit some approaches or long pitches that gave me decent looks at 1-putts and couldn't put any of them in. And I had several holes where I was chipping (or putting) from off the green that I didn't get my ball close enough to 1-putt those either. 

 

Overall

 

My game is IMHO suffering from a lack of practice. The long game has been leading to big numbers. But I could tell with my round yesterday that it's there, I just need reps. Hopefully when all this weather breaks and my backyard dries out, I can spend a lot more time hitting balls with the monitor. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Haven't been able to practice. The rain has turned my backyard hitting area into a mess, and because the local range also happens to be a storm runoff collection area, it has been closed. 

 

Played yesterday at Oso. It was a damned mess. Shot a 96 (+36), so averaging double bogey. The front was terrible with a 52 (+21), while the back was merely bad at a 44 (+15). 38 putts, with 3x three-putts, 3x one-putts, and a nice 4-putt (from only 20 ft) in there for funsies. 

 

Oddly enough, it wasn't the long game that screwed me. The long game was just a little bit worse than my typical. I.e. on that terrible front 9, although I didn't make a single GIR, my approaches were pretty much all "around" the green. Most missed left or right, but some even a little long. 

 

What killed me were pitches/chips. For example:

 

Hole 1, I put my drive about 90 yards from the flag. Hit a crisp 56* and flew the back of the green and it rolled down a hill leaving me a ~25 yard pitch. Hit that crisp and probably carried a little far, to a green now running away from me and it rolled off the front. Used putter from there. Hole 2, I pulled my tee shot and got my dreaded double-cart-path bounce that ran the ball all the way into the 18th fairway, leaving a ~50 yard pitch). Hit that one crisp, but carried just a tad far again to a green running away from me, and ran it off the front. Hole 3, I pulled my tee shot pin-high just off the left edge, but was too far out to use putter. I topped my chip about 4 feet. And by top I mean I hit the top of the ball with the sole of the club, not a skull. I was probably about a centimeter from whiffing entirely. Hole 6 I put my tee shot 120 yards from the pin, and two fatted shots put me on the front fringe where I said screw it and pulled out the putter. Hole 9 I duffed my tee shot, laid up 30y short of the green with a great 5i, and fatted one pitch followed by carrying another off the back of the green before saying "screw it" and pulling my putter. Hole 10 I put a tee shot right in the middle about 40 yards short, and by the time I was putting I was putting for double. Took me 4 strokes to get on from 40y out. 

 

It was just a comedy of errors with the wedges all damn day. 

 

I didn't make a bogey until hole 7, didn't make my first GIR until the 12th (3-putt from 50 ft), and didn't make a par until the 15th (and followed it up with another on the 16th). 

 

It aged out a good round so my index jumped back to 20, and I need to turn this stretch of bad play around because it's only two more rounds before I'll start aging out those 5 rounds in a row that counted for my index. 

 

The backyard should be dry enough to start practicing again by tomorrow, and no bad weather seems to be lurking in the forecasts, so I'm going to need to start putting the time in again. Not sure if I'll play this coming weekend (will depend on schedule and whether I can get out with my son), but if so I need to put in the practice because he can beat a 96 at Oso lol. I know he'll soon be outclassing me with all the practice he'll get on the golf team, but I don't want it to happen yet!

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Played both Saturday and Sunday at Oso. Shot 82 (+22) both times, but Saturday it was 81 and Sunday 80 for ESC, due to blow up holes. 

 

Strength both rounds was ballstriking. Still not great GIR stats (5 on Saturday, 4 yesterday), but the magnitude of the left/right misses is smaller, and the ballflight is great. 

 

Part of the improvement is a little change I've made to tempo. I wouldn't characterize it as "slowing down", but more that I'm a little bit more deliberate with my initial takeaway. I think it gives me just a little more time in the backswing to get back to my left side, and avoid sliding left during transition/downswing. I'm getting a lot more consistent shots where I get that nice compression, high ballflight, etc. 

 

The other change I've made might just be a bandaid until I practice more, but after seeing a Malaska video talking about aligning with the clubface slightly open (because it is behind the ball, and will close further than it looks at address), I've started aligning my irons just a little bit open at address. It's helping me avoid shutting it down and getting the big hook, more often hitting slight push draws which is my intent. 

 

Putting was decent if not great both rounds, with 33 putts each. 

 

The major weakness continues to be short game. 6 blow up holes across the two rounds, and 5 of them involved duffs/chunks/blades etc with partial wedge to chip distance. And two more doubles across the rounds can be attributed to the same. It's getting so bad that I've taken the Texas wedge from off >10y off the green several times because I'm at least pretty sure I can get ON the green with that club, even if it's not close. 

 

Only Sunday counts for cap, but Saturday will probably start counting soon. That stretch of 5 rounds in a row that counted for index are now my 16th through 20th oldest rounds, so the next 5 rounds will start aging those out. 

 

Next round won't be for 2 more weeks, and will be at San Juan Hills. Planning to get some practice time in before that, and hopefully keep the good stuff going. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Seems a theme of late in this portion of the forum has related to getting the rest of our bodies in order for golf (and life), and not just the swing. 

 

I obviously posted back in June about getting a Peloton. All I can say about that is that it has completely changed my relationship with exercise. 

 

I've always hated exercise. Which isn't to say that I hate being active. I don't. I love walking golf courses. I've done a fair bit of hiking. I think nothing of taking a brisk 3-4 mile walk with my dog. But I've never gotten on well with the gym, and so I just basically didn't go. When I went, it was more aimlessly going in with "I'm going to do a couple weight machines and then get on the treadmill/stairmaster/etc for 30 minutes". 

 

This is completely different. I actually find myself looking forward to it. With the classes being led by an instructor, I'm never aimlessly trying to figure out what to do. It's actually FUN. And because I don't need to leave the house, and can do it on any schedule, it's a lot easier to find motivation at some point during the day to do it. 

 

I've obviously been doing rides (typically 4 or 5 per week), but also been adding in core strength classes and stretching. This past week I actually decided to add in upper body strength work and plan to keep doing that. 

 

I went from basically not officially "exercising" at all to setting a goal of 15,000 minutes of Peloton-tracked activity in 2023. 

 

I'm getting noticeably stronger, my body feels (and looks) better, and since June, I've dropped from in the 275-280 pound range to just about 260, without focusing on diet or counting calories. 

 

So in other words, I've avoided it becoming an expensive clothing rack. 😉 

[bortass]

Sounds like a lot of positives in your last two posts.

 

Great job with the Peloton! That's some solid improvement you've made with it.

 

The ball striking improvement is great to read about. It'll help take pressure off your short game and improve your scores.

 

The short game sounds like an area that you need to figure out some sort of solution, even if it's a stop gap one. It sounds like the Texas wedge is turning into that for now. There are a number of ways to play short game shots but finding what works for you can be a challenge. If the Texas wedge is working, have you thought about expanding to a bump and run using wedges/irons and a putting stroke? It won't help if you have to carry a bunker but it's amazing how far you can get the ball to roll with a 4i, lol. It's a simple shot mechanically and does take practice but I have found that it's harder to blade one through the green when I've tried it in the past.

 

You know I've been reading about course management and the mental side of things. What I think may help based on that stuff is the following.

 

Course management - the goal is to get the ball on the green. That could mean your target is actually past the hole. We tend to miss the green short when we are short sided and trying to get the ball close. We want our next shot to be a putt.

 

Expectation - this varies by skill level but for us being on but 20 feet away might be realistic based on our skill levels. There's no magic number here but we can't expect to chip inside 5 feet all the time. It'll vary by the shot since if I'm in the fringe 6 feet away, I better be able to get it inside 5 feet. If I'm in the fringe. and there's a tier to go down, I'm probably happy to get it inside 10 feet past the hole. Just try to be realistic with what a good chip really is based on distances, lie, what needs to be carried, hole location, etc.

 

Acceptance - Bad shots will happen, even if we do everything correctly. I can't seem to avoid blading a chip over the green or stubbing it short every round. It's not the end of the world when I do that, so I'm trying to not let that affect my next chip. Not always easy but what in golf is?

 

So putting that all together. What's a realistic expectation for where my chip will end up? What's the easiest way for me to do that? Hit the shot, as long as it's on the green, it's okay because the goal is to just get it on the green. If I flub it, that's okay too, because I am going to flub some, just can't let it impact what happens next.

 

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Thanks @bortass . Totally agree with expectations. My goal when in the 10-60 yards off the green range is to get onto the green and two putt. I realize my skill level puts "up and down" as a bonus, not an expectation. 

 

I should probably consider practicing the Monte "chip with a hybrid" stuff from UTB (or 2.0?) as well. I recall when I first got back into the game in 2020, one of my earliest rounds was the exec course and I missed the green on the first hole, and chipped with a 7i to about 5 feet, since I had a ton of green to work with. But I've gone the opposite direction since, using my 56* for everything with the mindset that if I don't get enough practice, I should just get used to doing everything with a single club. But I might need to work on a middle ground between 56* and putter, so I can get a shot that elevates at least a little bit out of the grass (especially at Oso where the fairways are FAR from smooth) and is more reliable. 

 

It just gets REALLY frustrating when you're sitting there with a 40 yard partial wedge shot to a benign pin location, with a decent lie in the fairway...

 

...and chunk it 10 yards. 

 

ESPECIALLY when I'm playing a course like Oso so that 40 yard pitch is my approach on a par 4, and literally should be in "easy par" territory at that point. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

As an aside, here's one of my blow-up holes from Sunday. The one where short game was a savior, not the ruiner.

 

Hole 15, par 3, 162 yards but playing shorter. I think I was hitting 9i with a little tailwind if I remember correctly. 

 

First shot: failed to close the clubface. Nobody saw it, but we saw the tree branches (which were too far right to be in my line of play) that it hit, and assume it just followed that trajectory OB. Tee it up again for S&D. Second shot (hitting 3): Again fail to close the clubface, but miss the tree, and it goes right OB. At this point I say F it and I'm going to drop and take 2 penalty strokes for MLR E-5. Drop 50 yards from the hole. Third shot (hitting 6): Pitch with the 56. It's perfect and rolls to within 1 foot from the hole. Putt drops (actually they gave me a gimme) for 7. 

 

Sometimes I just don't understand how I can hit that shot sometimes, but at the same time I can be 40 yards from a green and take 3-4 strokes to get on. 

[bortass]

I feel your pain! The shots that would frustrate me the most would be when I was 70 - 100 yards out and using my 'stock' partial wedge shot with different wedges. It's one of the easiest shots for me since it's a partial swing. Chunk a few of those in a round and I'd start going off the deep end.

 

UTB chips with my SW are still a mixed bag for me. Sometimes I do great, sometimes I completely screw up, the rest of the time it's probably on the green somewhere(likely two putt range). I have used bump and run shots in the past and they have worked good. I probably should rely on them more.

 

15 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

As an aside, here's one of my blow-up holes from Sunday. The one where short game was a savior, not the ruiner.

 

Hole 15, par 3, 162 yards but playing shorter. I think I was hitting 9i with a little tailwind if I remember correctly. 

 

First shot: failed to close the clubface. Nobody saw it, but we saw the tree branches (which were too far right to be in my line of play) that it hit, and assume it just followed that trajectory OB. Tee it up again for S&D. Second shot (hitting 3): Again fail to close the clubface, but miss the tree, and it goes right OB. At this point I say F it and I'm going to drop and take 2 penalty strokes for MLR E-5. Drop 50 yards from the hole. Third shot (hitting 6): Pitch with the 56. It's perfect and rolls to within 1 foot from the hole. Putt drops (actually they gave me a gimme) for 7. 

 

Sometimes I just don't understand how I can hit that shot sometimes, but at the same time I can be 40 yards from a green and take 3-4 strokes to get on. 

 

Let me know if you find the answer. I have chipped in to save bogey/double bogey before. My reaction was the same as if it was for birdie. I was so thankful that I was going to save a stroke or two and not really blow up in both cases. 

 

The good news is you know you can hit the shot. So remember it when your getting ready to hit your other pitch shots. Feel confident as you are over the ball and about to swing. That confidence will increase the chances of good things happening. At least that's what they say in Every Shot Must Have a Purpose. It's a pretty quick read and may be worth checking out. 

 

How's your son doing out there?

[betarhoalphadelta]

56 minutes ago, bortass said:

 

How's your son doing out there?

 

He is on the golf team, so he's going to be getting a LOT more practice and time spent on his game, so that's good. He played with me this past Saturday, and matched his personal best score at Oso of 86. He actually led me by a stroke after 10 so I had to start playing better and put him in his place lol 😉

 

He's definitely making progress, so that's good. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Played San Juan Hills today. Shot 51/45 for a total 96, although it's 94 for index purposes due to NDB / blowup holes. 

 

In general, the "feel" I've found for ballstriking continues to help. It's nothing major, just a slightly more deliberate takeaway to give me more time to let my weight get back to my left side. It seems to allow me to get set at the top and then just unwind everything through impact rather than having to slide to the left and hit AT the ball. 

 

Manages 6 GIR and 5 pars, which of course points to putting being a little terrible--and it was, especially since one of those pars wasn't on a GIR hole. 37 putts total, 4x 3-putts, two of which turned birdie opps into bogeys. 

 

Other than the disappointing putting, it was just sort of a middling day. Fair number of good shots, a number of average shots, and a few clunkers. Some decent short game shots, and some of my characteristic short game screwups. 

 

All in all, though, it's the 4th time I've played there and the first time I've broken 100, which given that it's a bit of a penal course finally felt good. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

On 2/8/2023 at 6:07 AM, bortass said:

 

How's your son doing out there?

 

BTW I haven't gotten to play with him since the day I mentioned, but the Saturday before Super Bowl I dropped him off to play at Oso and he shot 84 (+24), beating his personal best there by two strokes. He was with his mom this weekend but I saw he played at the exec course yesterday and shot 41 (+12), one off his best there. 

 

So... Progress!

[betarhoalphadelta]

15 tee. 413 par 4, HDCP 2, with water down the left in the landing area and a dogleg left where you can drive it through the turn if you take the big stick. 

 

Have to choose between accurate and making your approach shot very long, or having lots of trouble in play to try to get closer.

 

Difficult hole.

 

[MattC555]

Definitely a tough looking hole.  Is that water on the left too?  Yikes. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

29 minutes ago, MattC555 said:

Definitely a tough looking hole.  Is that water on the left too?  Yikes. 

Yeah, there's water all the way down the landing area left. 

 

Here's the view of the hole on The Grint -- distances here are from the blues. We play the whites. 

 

[MattC555]

Not much you can do from my prospective except hit driver/3W and hope it's a good one. 

[bortass]

On 2/19/2023 at 6:57 PM, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

BTW I haven't gotten to play with him since the day I mentioned, but the Saturday before Super Bowl I dropped him off to play at Oso and he shot 84 (+24), beating his personal best there by two strokes. He was with his mom this weekend but I saw he played at the exec course yesterday and shot 41 (+12), one off his best there. 

 

So... Progress!

That's awesome! Seeing improvement makes it so much more enjoyable.

 

 

22 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Yeah, there's water all the way down the landing area left. 

 

Here's the view of the hole on The Grint -- distances here are from the blues. We play the whites. 

 

 

 

Is it marked as OOB down that entire right tree line? I ask because my course is similar except there's only OOB on both sides for a few holes and those tend to be a bit wider. The rest are pretty much OOB on one side and a hazard on the other.

 

If it's OOB both left and right, with the added benefit of the pond to catch some balls going left. I'd turn this into a par 5 depending on my driver dispersion and distances. A pull hook is OOB, A slice is probably OOB, a push could be OOB. A great shot could be OOB. A draw or slight pull is probably wet.  

 

OOB and you're looking at a 7+ most likely. A ball in the pond is likely a 6+ since the approach looks to be over 200 yards and while you are much longer than me, hitting a green from 200 yards isn't something we will do very often. A ball in the right trees but in play is probably a 5+( I'm assuming that the odds are you won't have a good shot at the green and may need to punch out). This hole looks to be more about avoiding the big number versus making par IMO.

 

So my armchair game plan is probably layup short of the pond; Hit a short iron/wedge over the pond; Hit a wedge on; two putt and profit????? It's not sexy but I think this hole comes down to trying to do the math based on how you hit the ball and likely outcomes. There are some holes where bogey is a good result and this looks to be one. Get that bogey and move on. A par from a great approach/putt is a bonus. 

 

if the right trees were a hazard, I'd say driver since at least your dropping much closer to the hole and laying 2. A pond ball is still probably a double though.

 

If you play the course enough look at your scoring average for this hole and the way you normally play it. If it's a hot spot, it's time to change something. If it's a bogey hole for you, than keep on keeping on. There were a couple par 4s on my course where I averaged over double bogey and everything else was in the par+ to bogey+ range, so they really stood out. I had to look at what I was doing on those holes and try something new. Some trial and error and I found a way to reduce the bleeding.

 

As always YMMV.

 

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Down the right side isn't OOB until you get beyond the trees. There's a chain link fence and then a road that is curving around over there. So there's SOME room on the right. 

 

I misplayed it Saturday. I hit 5i off the tee because I'd been hitting beautiful push draws off the tee with 5i all day on non-driver holes. I say misplayed it because I think if I had caught it just right (from the white tees) I'd be able to reach the water but only in the most narrow landing area on the entire hole. That said, I caught it off the too and turned it too far left, putting it short of the water in the left rough. Another 5i over the pond, then a wedge which landed JUST short of the green (and rolled 10y backwards due to slope). Chip with putter from off the green leaving 10 feet, two putt for double. So although I didn't end up with water or OOB on the hole, I think the 5i probably put water in play with no reward for that risk as I still can't reach from where a well-struck 5i would land. 

 

Looking at it more closely, I think on a day where the driver is behaving (and this is hole 15 so I should know by that point lol), driver is the play. From the whites I still can't carry beyond the pond, but my landing area should be in that bit where it widens out about 2/3 of the way through the pond.

 

On a day where driver isn't behaving, looking at the GPS to figure out where the pond starts and taking whatever iron is 10-15y short of that distance might be the best play, turning it into a 3-shot hole. To be honest, a 413 yard hole isn't one that I'm regularly going to make GIR anyway as even a good drive will put me 160-170 out. But it brings in a bunch of risk to try. 

[MattC555]

Regardless of playing ability, I'd recommend hitting a wood(driver or otherwise) favoring the water.  If it draws into the water you're dropping three and hitting towards the green, effectively making the hole a par 5.  Hit grass and the hole is manageable.   

 

I'm personally hitting a hard draw.  It'll either draw, push a bit right, or push fade.  Downside is an overcooked draw ending up in the drink, but that is the least likely miss for me.  I have my driver turned down and flat to make hitting heavy draws near impossible.  If you only play a fade, just aim for the left side of the fairway.  The downside to the fade is a double cross ending up in the drink.  That miss is more likely for me.     

[betarhoalphadelta]

50 minutes ago, MattC555 said:

Regardless of playing ability, I'd recommend hitting a wood(driver or otherwise) favoring the water.  If it draws into the water you're dropping three and hitting towards the green, effectively making the hole a par 5.  Hit grass and the hole is manageable.   

 

I'm personally hitting a hard draw.  It'll either draw, push a bit right, or push fade.  Downside is an overcooked draw ending up in the drink, but that is the least likely miss for me.  I have my driver turned down and flat to make hitting heavy draws near impossible.  If you only play a fade, just aim for the left side of the fairway.  The downside to the fade is a double cross ending up in the drink.  That miss is more likely for me.     

 

Yeah, I play a draw and the miss is a hook. However driver is one of the least hook-prone clubs in my bag with the ball position being more forward due to D-plane. 

 

I think as long as the club is behaving that day, it might be the statistically best play. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

When your range is a storm runoff collection area... 

 

 

Was dropping my son off to play the exec course and figured I might as well snap a pic. Guessing the range will be closed until at least mid-week. 

 

On the bright side, he birdied the first hole on the way to finishing in a tie with his personal best here of 38 (+9)... 

[bortass]

It sounds like he's making good progress out there!

 

When's your next round planned?

Edited February 27, 2023 by bortass

[betarhoalphadelta]

18 minutes ago, bortass said:

It sounds like he's making good progress out there!

 

When's your next round planned?

 

This coming Sunday at Oso. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Played Oso yesterday. Shot a not terrible and not good 88 (+28). Usually my rule of thumb there is shooting in the 70s is a good day, shooting 90s (or, god forbid, worse) is a bad day. In the 80s is not good enough to count for my index, but I also don't feel like I was a complete and total mess out there. 

 

The biggest concern is that the feel I was having that was contributing (IMHO) to being able to get to my left side properly (i.e. earlier) wasn't very consistent. I need to spend some more time working that, probably including Monte's Power Shift drills. The result was the return of the big sweeping hook, which happens when I slide laterally to the target and dump the hands inside for severe in->out path, vs actually rotating properly which gets my path more neutral. It's frustrating to hit a 7i, strike it flush off the center with great distance and trajectory, start it dead on line, and then watch it curve 45y left of the flag. 

 

Total of 34 putts with 2x three-putts. That said, I know I left a lot on the table with the flat stick. I definitely had chances for a lot more one-putts based on missing greens (only 2 GIR) and being able to putt/chip from off the fringe to at least a makeable distance. 

 

It was one of those days where everything was just a little off. Not so much that I felt like I couldn't hit the ball at all (which happens from time to time), but bad enough that I was missing greens and then not getting up and down well enough to save more pars. 

 

Hoping to get more practice in this week, assuming the weather cooperates.