Colorado WRX 2023

[Joelness]

22 hours ago, ztull said:

Doak calls Keystone ranch his favorite of the older generation of Colorado mountain courses. My favorite is the original 18 at Pole Creek (Meadow Ranch) and it's not close.

He also says that none of the holes at West Denver's Pinehurst CC are boring, here I disagree stridently.

 

I love Keystone Ranch. It's an awesome track and definitely my favorite in Summit County. As for my favorite CO mountain course, it's absolutely Catamount Ranch. That course is one that the architect took huge risks on and almost all of them paid off (10 is terrible.)

 

14 hours ago, golf4pj said:

I have a buddy who never posts his bad scores because his ego won’t let him.  He’s more interested in how low his GHIN is.  I played in a handicapped tourney with him once…he couldn’t play anywhere near his handicap.  Needless to say, never partnered with him again.

 

Oh man, I've definitely ran into a few vanity handicappers for sure! There was a guy at Nash that only played by himself and carried a 0. I think it took him 7 weeks before he broke 40 in the men's league. The worst one by far was a guy that played in the Rocky Mountain Open and got paired with me and Sean Thomas (who is really solid.) The dude showed up with a +3 cap and shot 110+ both days. It was one of those things that you knew right away too. I saw him grip the club on 1 so strong that there was no way he was good. The hardest part was watching him do this while both Sean and I were in the 60's. I kept his score and it felt like after every hole I was whispering to him.. "was that a 7 or an 8?"

Edited May 25, 2023 by Joelness

[Dancin]

38 minutes ago, Joelness said:

 

As for my favorite CO mountain course, it's absolutely Catamount Ranch. That course is one that the architect took huge risks on and almost all of them paid off (10 is terrible.)

heh. I was just looking at Catamount yesterday and thinking about including it in my trip out west in June despite the 1:10 side trip that would require.

[Joelness]

44 minutes ago, Dancin said:

heh. I was just looking at Catamount yesterday and thinking about including it in my trip out west in June despite the 1:10 side trip that would require.

 

Do it. If you can get on out there it's epic. I'll be very curious to hear what you think about it.

[ASak10]

2 hours ago, Joelness said:

Oh man, I've definitely ran into a few vanity handicappers for sure! There was a guy at Nash that only played by himself and carried a 0. I think it took him 7 weeks before he broke 40 in the men's league. The worst one by far was a guy that played in the Rocky Mountain Open and got paired with me and Sean Thomas (who is really solid.) The dude showed up with a +3 cap and shot 110+ both days. It was one of those things that you knew right away too. I saw him grip the club on 1 so strong that there was no way he was good. The hardest part was watching him do this while both Sean and I were in the 60's. I kept his score and it felt like after every hole I was whispering to him.. "was that a 7 or an 8?"

 

How do people like this show up and play with a straight face?  How do they not just walk off and quit??! I would be so embarrassed I wouldn't know what to do. 

[bobbyclampett!!]

Welp, @Dancin was right again. I was too quick to judge Rain Dance, thinking the firm, fast, tight, springy fairways would not be around for the summer. I think my last few rounds were just soaking wet. Played this morning and the course was AWESOME. Fast, firm fairways. Balls taking the mounds and shooting down speed slots. So fun to catch a ball clean off those lies. I think that helps me play better, too, when I know I'm not going to be digging in and stubbing an iron or pitch shot. Just expose the bounce a little and hit down on it as much as you want, club will never dig or stub, will just skid along the firm turf. Gives me so much confidence around the greens, which translates into iron shots. I hit 17/18 greens today, which I've never done before. Granted, they are big greens and some of the putts were from 40-70 feet, but still. I shot over par because I couldn't get the speeds and reads right. Also, when I'm hitting it that good (several drives over 350 catching the speed slot on a downhill, firm fairway) I should probably be playing the purples rather than blues. Either way, that is pure joy hitting irons and pitches and chips off turf like that. I'm hooked (again).

[ztull]

3 hours ago, Dancin said:

heh. I was just looking at Catamount yesterday and thinking about including it in my trip out west in June despite the 1:10 side trip that would require.

You HAVE to play Catamount, it's an absolute marvel, both of golf course architecture and of engineering, I have no idea how they slapped that thing onto the side of a mountain. 

[CDM]

What is this HDCP and posting score thing you guys are talking about................  😁🤣

Edited May 25, 2023 by CDM

[birdiemachine]

22 hours ago, golf4pj said:

I have a buddy who never posts his bad scores because his ego won’t let him.  He’s more interested in how low his GHIN is.  I played in a handicapped tourney with him once…he couldn’t play anywhere near his handicap.  Needless to say, never partnered with him again.

I love vanity caps for mens league play. It’s the reason I don’t have to pay out of pocket for clubs anymore. And not just the real vanity caps, but guys playing with the gimme five footers. Those become a lot tougher in league play. 

[ztull]

Harvester. Look at this mow…

[Joelness]

On 5/25/2023 at 2:14 PM, ASak10 said:

How do people like this show up and play with a straight face?  How do they not just walk off and quit??! I would be so embarrassed I wouldn't know what to do. 

 

I genuinely think that he had played a lot by himself and with friends and this was his first tournament. The fact that he didn't walk off and quit says a lot about his character, especially showing up on Saturday and doing it again. He was a nice guy and still enjoyable to be around. I would play with him again.

 

Maybe he did quit? I've never seen him since.

[ASak10]

6 hours ago, Joelness said:

 

I genuinely think that he had played a lot by himself and with friends and this was his first tournament. The fact that he didn't walk off and quit says a lot about his character, especially showing up on Saturday and doing it again. He was a nice guy and still enjoyable to be around. I would play with him again.

 

Maybe he did quit? I've never seen him since.

That’s fair. I guess I’d be worried that playing like that would impact those I was playing with too much that it wouldn’t be fair to them. Then again there’s only one way to get comfortable or used to playing in tournaments! 

[pseudoswede]

Crazy windy this evening at The Links, and couples league tonight was a 4-club (one must be a putter) tournament. I suppose if there is a course where you only need 4 clubs, this would be a perfect place. We played off the back 9, and I chose a 6, 8, GW, and putter. I ripped a 6-iron 233 yds with a generous tailwind; followed a few holes later by my best 6-iron of the night going a sweet 133yds into a brutal headwind. On two consecutive par 3s, I played perfect knock down shots into a stiff breeze--one to 4ft and one to about 10ft. I made a birdie and... a bogey. On the last hole, I played a half 8-iron downwind to 18 inches. I finished the round 1-over with 8 GIRs; the score ties my personal best at the course with all 14 clubs in the bag.

 

Speaking of sandbagging, I accidentally typed 34 into the GHIN app instead of 32. Oops.

[Joelness]

 

On 1/9/2023 at 9:11 AM, Joelness said:

Side notes: my brother got me a putter fitting for Christmas as I've never done one. The closest I've gotten was a SAM puttlab lesson at the Trent Wearner academy probably ~7 years ago. I ended up going to the Club Champion in Westminster and it was awesome. Ofc I left the folder with my puttlab analysis in the studio. I can sum it up pretty well though:
 

1. Rolled some putts to the guy could take a look at my setup to see about any problems there. In a fitting sense he's also looking at how length might be hurting setup
2. SAM Puttlab using my current gamer
   1. Setup, plane, etc. were very solid. Biggest issue for me is the rate of closure of the club face. It's closing too fast, causing my common miss to be left
3. That basically led to trying something a bit closer to face balanced as my newport 2 is about 70* of toe hang. My requirements were: milled faces only and I don't like "chunky" mallets (spider, futura 9, etc.)
4. We grabbed about 15 putters that he had on-hand that fit something closer to or face balanced and I basically just hit putts, trying to eliminate them down to 1-3 putters. They were various styles from the thick blade, to rounded backs, to the "fang" styles.
5. In the end, there is nothing that gives me the feel and sound of a scotty. I ended up settling on the Scotty Futura 5. The runner-ups were all "fang" style putters, with the Mizuno and Tulon being #2 and #3. 

Since it's still winter there will be plenty of time to verify these results and we'll see if I make more putts! Now time to sell that Betti Studio Stock #8.

 

 

Everyone up for more debatable topics?!

 

So, I picked up my old gamer blade putter on Thursday night before the Match play qual to just hit a few putts and omg I missed it so much. I hit about 20 putts and knew I had to switch back. The feel, the sound, the looks..... yeah....

 

Do you know what the biggest deal-breaker was for me? All of a sudden I can feel where the face of my putter is because of the toe hang. I had never thought about this but literally what a face-balanced has is even weight distribution on both sides of the shaft. Ergo, for me I believe it actually becomes easier to rotate the face and you have I no feel for where the face is. For me, this actually makes me putt worse overall. I put that gorgeous newport 2 back in the bag Friday morning and tbh I can't believe I ever switched.....

[pseudoswede]

That's a pretty interesting take because face-balanced putters are meant for people who absolutely do not rotate the face during the putt (straight back-straight through). It makes sense because if you're SBST, you know exactly where the putter face is going to be all all times (in theory).

 

However, I used a face-balanced center-shafted putter and I know I have a pretty decent arc to my putting stroke (and Jerry Walters also doesn't really believe in the face-balanced being meant only for SBST putters). My reasons for using a center-shafted putter are purely cosmetic--I just like the look of the shaft directly behind the ball (that's what she said). Also, I have no desire to drop 3-4 hundy on a SeeMore center-shafted blade, which what I probably need.

Edited May 28, 2023 by pseudoswede

[ASak10]

I’ve read no one is truly SBSF as that would be almost physically impossible without really doing some weird stuff with your body. Regardless there’s obviously levels of arc people have on their stroke and face balanced vs slight toe hang vs extreme toe hang should line up with everyone’s particular arc and face rotation through impact.  But that is interesting based on the SAM results and the closure rate. Then again Tiger has talked about feeling the toe close when he’s putting well so maybe you need a similar feel @Joelness 

[bobbyclampett!!]

4 hours ago, Joelness said:

 

 

 

Everyone up for more debatable topics?!

 

So, I picked up my old gamer blade putter on Thursday night before the Match play qual to just hit a few putts and omg I missed it so much. I hit about 20 putts and knew I had to switch back. The feel, the sound, the looks..... yeah....

 

Do you know what the biggest deal-breaker was for me? All of a sudden I can feel where the face of my putter is because of the toe hang. I had never thought about this but literally what a face-balanced has is even weight distribution on both sides of the shaft. Ergo, for me I believe it actually becomes easier to rotate the face and you have I no feel for where the face is. For me, this actually makes me putt worse overall. I put that gorgeous newport 2 back in the bag Friday morning and tbh I can't believe I ever switched.....

Dude perfect timing. I have a classic Anser, slight toe hang SPDR, and face balanced Odyssey OG7. I keep going back and forth between all of them. Sometimes I’m convinced the Anser is the one for me, because the toe hang matches the arc, but some days I feel lost with it and feel I need to switch to the OG7. Some days the OG7 feels like point and shoot, but if I start arcing it at all, it seems like chaos. I think the slight toe hang of the SPDR might be the answer…

 

One thing I think you’re into Joel is that face balanced does not mean more consistent. It all depends on your preference. 

[ztull]

I’m trying not to over react here, but Lost Rail is absurdly good. One of the best courses I’ve ever played

Edited May 29, 2023 by ztull

[Dancin]

31 minutes ago, ztull said:

I’m trying not to over react here, but Lost Rail is absurdly good. One of the best courses I’ve ever played

I believe it. Since both that and Landmand opened I've been more interested in Lost Rail

[Joelness]

6 hours ago, pseudoswede said:

That's a pretty interesting take because face-balanced putters are meant for people who absolutely do not rotate the face during the putt (straight back-straight through). It makes sense because if you're SBST, you know exactly where the putter face is going to be all all times (in theory).

 

However, I used a face-balanced center-shafted putter and I know I have a pretty decent arc to my putting stroke (and Jerry Walters also doesn't really believe in the face-balanced being meant only for SBST putters). My reasons for using a center-shafted putter are purely cosmetic--I just like the look of the shaft directly behind the ball (that's what she said). Also, I have no desire to drop 3-4 hundy on a SeeMore center-shafted blade, which what I probably need.

5 hours ago, ASak10 said:

I’ve read no one is truly SBSF as that would be almost physically impossible without really doing some weird stuff with your body. Regardless there’s obviously levels of arc people have on their stroke and face balanced vs slight toe hang vs extreme toe hang should line up with everyone’s particular arc and face rotation through impact.  But that is interesting based on the SAM results and the closure rate. Then again Tiger has talked about feeling the toe close when he’s putting well so maybe you need a similar feel @Joelness 

 

It's even more interesting that you guys brought this up. My grandfather taught me SBSF when I was little and I've been fighting for an arc ever since I started playing competitively. One of the nice things about SAM when I did go is that it showed I had reverted to a SBSF path and I was manipulating the face to keep it square.

 

I think more than anything the lesson for me is putting is still more of an art. There is science, but feel and results trump what the computer says. It doesn't matter "what you should use" or "how you should do it." Whatever gives each of us the most consistency is what we should do.

[ztull]

9 hours ago, Dancin said:

I believe it. Since both that and Landmand opened I've been more interested in Lost Rail

lmk when you make it out to Omaha I’ll set you up with a great host 

[Joelness]

On 5/27/2023 at 10:36 PM, pseudoswede said:

Crazy windy this evening at The Links, and couples league tonight was a 4-club (one must be a putter) tournament. I suppose if there is a course where you only need 4 clubs, this would be a perfect place. We played off the back 9, and I chose a 6, 8, GW, and putter. I ripped a 6-iron 233 yds with a generous tailwind; followed a few holes later by my best 6-iron of the night going a sweet 133yds into a brutal headwind. On two consecutive par 3s, I played perfect knock down shots into a stiff breeze--one to 4ft and one to about 10ft. I made a birdie and... a bogey. On the last hole, I played a half 8-iron downwind to 18 inches. I finished the round 1-over with 8 GIRs; the score ties my personal best at the course with all 14 clubs in the bag.

 

Speaking of sandbagging, I accidentally typed 34 into the GHIN app instead of 32. Oops.

 

What tees did they have you playing on? With 6i being your longest one they must have had you up on some tees. I've definitely thought about pulling the putter and using a 3w instead but it absolutely matters how the course lays out.

 

Isn't it crazy how much better you played with only four clubs?!

[pseudoswede]

46 minutes ago, Joelness said:

 

What tees did they have you playing on? With 6i being your longest one they must have had you up on some tees. I've definitely thought about pulling the putter and using a 3w instead but it absolutely matters how the course lays out.

 

Isn't it crazy how much better you played with only four clubs?!

 

This is an executive par-62 course, so you absolutely do not need the top half of your bag for this course. In couple's league, the men play from the white tees (longest are blue tees). I actually spent 5 minutes looking at the scorecard thinking what is the shortest club I could use off the tees on par 4's that will get me within 8-iron or wedge range of the green. I didn't realize how windy it would be, but I'm glad I settled on the 6-iron. For Mrs. Swede, there is one par 3 that has a lot of trouble in front of the green, so I picked a club that could get her safely over it (7-iron). Then I had her take a 3W and 9-iron. She did very well with that combination, and she also commented that she felt she played just as well as when she has all 12 clubs in her bag.

[thaar]

I had my singles match play this afternoon for men's club. I can't recall being that hungover in quite some time - 99pct of the time, it doesn't bode well for me lol. I ended up winning 4 and 3 with a 39/35 with 4 3-putts. I wish I had taken hole 16 a bit more seriously after I won as I 3-putted from less than 20ft, but so be it. Our group was hot on the back 9. Combined, we had 10 birdies and an eagle (not mine) on the back. 

[007iron]

20 hours ago, pseudoswede said:

 

TFor Mrs. Swede, there is one par 3 that has a lot of trouble in front of the green, so I picked a club that could get her safely over it (7-iron). Then I had her take a 3W and 9-iron. She did very well with that combination, and she also commented that she felt she played just as well as when she has all 12 clubs in her bag.

 

My gf uses 5 clubs (Driver, 6i, pw, sw, putter) for 90% of her shots I think and then the hybrid and 7-9 irons are on occasion as the yardages/situation calls for. The 3w is only for headcover flair 😉 

 

[ASak10]

Yay, all 18 are open again at CG!  I played yesterday and holy crap is the rough thick...like if your ball sits down in the rough you almost can't find it thick.  

 

Just read an article in Avid Golfer about that new course planned up in Johnstown, Bella Ridge.  Sounds promising?  Wonder how it will impact Raindance.  

[bobbyclampett!!]

2 hours ago, ASak10 said:

Yay, all 18 are open again at CG!  I played yesterday and holy crap is the rough thick...like if your ball sits down in the rough you almost can't find it thick.  

 

Just read an article in Avid Golfer about that new course planned up in Johnstown, Bella Ridge.  Sounds promising?  Wonder how it will impact Raindance.  

Yeah, just read up on it. Will be interesting. I think maybe when RD started they thought they would be far enough away to be like an attraction like Bally? (Although that is quite a stretch). With every new course that goes in around it, it seems like it dilutes the RD vision. Especially with Rodeo Dunes coming. 

 

Got out and played Collindale today. Course is emerald green and lush and a lot of grass on the greens, which made them pretty slow. Still a lot of little dead spots, which my ball found often when I was in the fairway. Not sure what they will do for C-dale Invite this weekend...

[RobotDoctor]

3 hours ago, bobbyclampett!! said:

Yeah, just read up on it. Will be interesting. I think maybe when RD started they thought they would be far enough away to be like an attraction like Bally? (Although that is quite a stretch). With every new course that goes in around it, it seems like it dilutes the RD vision. Especially with Rodeo Dunes coming. 

 

Got out and played Collindale today. Course is emerald green and lush and a lot of grass on the greens, which made them pretty slow. Still a lot of little dead spots, which my ball found often when I was in the fairway. Not sure what they will do for C-dale Invite this weekend...

 

Roll the greens and double cut.  Water the front of the greens to keep them moist so that run up shots will slow down or flat out stop.  😁  I am bummed that I am missing the Invitational this year.  I'll be traveling home to Florida from Texas spending the last two weeks here working.  Been a BUSY stretch since the week after The Masters as I have worked every week meaning no golf.  I am planning on coming back next June for the Invitational.

[Dancin]

11 hours ago, ASak10 said:

Just read an article in Avid Golfer about that new course planned up in Johnstown, Bella Ridge.  Sounds promising?  Wonder how it will impact Raindance.  

I'm glad we're getting another Schaupeter design in the state. One of the more promising up and coming architects

[CDM]

23 hours ago, ASak10 said:

Yay, all 18 are open again at CG!  I played yesterday and holy crap is the rough thick...like if your ball sits down in the rough you almost can't find it thick.  

 

Just read an article in Avid Golfer about that new course planned up in Johnstown, Bella Ridge.  Sounds promising?  Wonder how it will impact Raindance.  

 

You talking this?  

 

https://johnstown.colorado.gov/sites/johnstown/files/Example Submittal ODP.pdf 

[Dancin]

7 hours ago, CDM said:

 

You talking this?  

 

https://johnstown.colorado.gov/sites/johnstown/files/Example Submittal ODP.pdf 

Google must scan the filings as they already have an entry for Bella Ridge golf course on that corner on their maps. That land is really flat. Art has a lot of work ahead of him to make that interesting.

 

Looking more closely at those plans there are a lot of cool looking holes. 2, 4, 11, 17. 14 looks wildest. Seems kind of crazy to have that much extra fairway to maintain and I doubt it actually gets built, but he's got two fairways on 14 with completely different angles into the green. if he builds it I hope it works better than the extra fairway on 1 at Highland Meadows which pretty much doesn't get used at all and last time I was there they weren't even cutting it to fairway height anymore.

Edited June 2, 2023 by Dancin