Colorado WRX 2023

[deadsolid...shank]

5 hours ago, Gmcourtney said:

I’ve gone back and forth between ProV1 and V1X. I notice I get a few yards extra hitting the X, I think due to the higher launch helping the ball stay in air a bit longer…. But I just love the feel of the regular V1. So I’m probably playing the “suboptimal” fit, but my brain likes it better. 

I like the red numbers better than the black. That’s my high tech way of choosing ( of course I buy shafts based on the color). 

[Joelness]

7 hours ago, CDM said:

 

Titleist notes with the current changes that both spin the same now and the difference is ball flight (height) and feel is all. (Ie:softer/firmer) 

 

Yeah, I've never noticed a difference in short game and as I mentioned I can't really tell the difference. I agree on the red numbers being better looking also. Either way I'm marking on top of the number most of the time anyway. 

 

1 hour ago, Dancin said:

I finally got to experience the lightning fast greens at Hiwan that you must stay below the hole on (every previous time I played they were running about 9-10). Even though I love that course, I'm still glad I didn't join it. Middle of July and they still have some minor issues I assume from winter on a couple greens and the practice green had a lot of dead spots. Unless you have a house up there in Evergreen it's too much money for both a short season and only 2-3 months of good conditions. The freeze/thaw cycles at the end of every winter wreck havoc on them.

 

Yeah, it's gotta be super rough on the golf courses in the mountains. It seems like you need to be pretty wealthy to be willing to spend the money on a membership at some of these mountain tracks.

[thaar]

15 hours ago, Gmcourtney said:

I’ve gone back and forth between ProV1 and V1X. I notice I get a few yards extra hitting the X, I think due to the higher launch helping the ball stay in air a bit longer…. But I just love the feel of the regular V1. So I’m probably playing the “suboptimal” fit, but my brain likes it better. 

 

Yeah, I have typically been more of a feel guy too, but the V1 spins too much on approach shots and around the greens for me and the AVX not enough. The left dash certainly performs the best for me, but I'm struggling quite a bit with the feel. Titleist needs to bring the left dot back to market full time, but I'm fairly certain that won't happen. I need to try out some other balls, but I don't like doing that mid-season....not that it will make a difference in my scores lol.

[Joelness]

On 5/2/2023 at 5:55 PM, bobbyclampett!! said:

Just heard a rumor the USGA is pulling the plug on the Open qualifier from Collindale. I was afraid of that. Collindale is looking ROUGH so far this year. Joel, looks like you played in it. I was out there on Sunday and looking at some of the dead patches in the fairways and around the greens and the greens were total Plinko and I was thinking to myself “people are going to be pissed on Tuesday.” Hope it’s not the beginning of a downward trend for C-Dale. Sad. 

 

I forgot to mention that I talked to Lewis about this during the Match Play. He said this rumor is completely false and he knows of no plans from the USGA to stop hosting qualifiers at Collindale.

[Joelness]

20 hours ago, CDM said:

 

Titleist notes with the current changes that both spin the same now and the difference is ball flight (height) and feel is all. (Ie:softer/firmer) 

 

I found this article on the titleist website about the new balls for 2023.

 

Looks like they are still saying the X spins more also, primarily on full swing shots.

[golf4pj]

I went out to the US Junior Girls Championship tournament yesterday, for Round 1 at the Eisenhower Golf Club (AF Academy in Co Springs).  I have a friend from Houston who's daughter qualified to play.  This Robert Trent Jones designed golf course was giving these young ladies all they could handle.  They said it's the longest course the USGA has ever had in this tournament.  Length coupled with fast and tricky greens, you can imagine the difficulty these ladies are enduring.  The low-round on from the 156 person field on Day 1 was -4 by two players, but every single hole was over par for the scoring average.  The girls are 13 - 19 year olds and they have some game!!  Watching shots hit into those tricky greens was pretty impressive.  There were 3 Aces recorded on the first day!

EISENHOWER GOLF CLUB (Blue Course)
(Yardages/Par Subject to Change)
Hole 1: 361 yards (par 4)
Hole 2: 393 yards (par 4)
Hole 3: 162 yards (par 3)
Hole 4: 365 yards (par 4)
Hole 5: 565 yards (par 5)
Hole 6: 412 yards (par 4)
Hole 7: 143 yards (par 3)
Hole 8: 420 yards (par 4)
Hole 9: 552 yards (par 5)
OUT: 3,373 yards (par 36)

Hole 10: 384 yards (par 4)
Hole 11: 546 yards (par 5)
Hole 12: 370 yards (par 4)
Hole 13: 133 yards (par 3)
Hole 14: 392 yards (par 4)
Hole 15: 405 yards (par 4)
Hole 16: 568 yards (par 5)
Hole 17: 206 yards (par 3)
Hole 18: 411 yards (par 4)
IN: 3,415 yards (par 36)
TOTAL: 6,788 yards (par 72)

It's interesting to see some of the foreign competitors that qualified.  I saw a young woman from China who was built like a young man and bombing the ball.  One of the competitor parent's said they know all about her and she actually competes in Men's tournaments too.  It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.  Monday/Tuesday is a 36-hole round, top 64 players advance.  Then they play 18 hole Match play on Thursday, followed by 36-holes (2 x 18 match play) on Friday & Saturday.

 

The television schedule is:
Friday, July 21 (Semifinals)
5 p.m.-7 p.m. (Peacock)
8 p.m.-10 p.m. (Golf Channel, tape delayed)
Saturday, July 22 (Championship Match)
5 p.m.-7 p.m. (Peacock)
8 p.m.-10 p.m. (Golf Channel, tape delayed)

 

If you're interested in following along, here's more info:  https://championships.usga.org/usgirlsjunior.html

 

-- P.J.

[Dancin]

@007iron is caddying for Nika Ito

Edited July 20, 2023 by Dancin

[pseudoswede]

Rant: cut your practice greens to be the same speed as your course's greens, and vice-versa.

 

The practice green next to Fox Hollow's Links course was probably 20 on the stimpmeter--but the greens on the course was probably closer to 7 (and in terrible shape). On Links #1, my alternate shot partner had a 30ft putt over a ridge. Given what was happening on the practice green, he tried to ease it to the top of the ridge and let it zip down--except it stopped about a foot over the crest and still about 18 feet away. It took us forever to figure out the greens.

 

Then we played 2-ball and individual match play on the Canyons/Meadows nines. My partner and I went 0-2, and I won my individual match 1-up. I also shot a 75--but we were playing from the white tees (I swear we used to play from the blue tees for this event). On the Meadows, #1 was playing 407yds, so it was kind of a fluke that I went driver-wedge-42ft eagle putt for net albatross (and a skin). I drove #3, but three-putted from 30 feet because the greens were terrible (my excuse and I'm sticking to it). I think my ball ended up in an unfixed pitch mark four or five times. I had three birdie putts inside 13 feet, and I missed all of them. I was also happy that I was 2-for-2 in sand saves.

 

There was a guy who joined FRGC this year who is a +2. Since we were playing from the white tees, his CH was +5...and he still shot 9-under (and 2nd place low net)! He also shot 5-under from the tips at Red Hawk Ridge earlier this year.

Edited July 18, 2023 by pseudoswede

[golf4pj]

6 hours ago, Dancin said:

@Joelness is caddying for Nika Ito

Very cool - I see she qualified for the Match Play starting tomorrow!  One of my regular golf partners is caddying for Veronika Exposito, she also made the cut.  Unfortunately, my buddies daughter (Leena Stephens) did not.  I had out of town family visiting, or I would have also caddied.

[pseudoswede]

tl;dr - My swing is seriously flawed after years of playing in the thin, mile-high air.

 

How much distance do you lose when not playing in Colorado?

 

There is that saying that a golfer's handicap doesn't travel well. Then there's me: my whole golf game doesn't travel well ... to places near sea level. I know my swing has changed over the years, and I know it has become much more inside-out than it should be, but I'm too lazy to put in range sessions to change it and too cheap to pay for lessons. I pretty much only play golf in two places in the world: Colorado and Sweden. Thanks to the thinner air of living in the best metro area in the US, I usually produce a sweet draw with all of my shots. As you have read in this thread, I've been playing some pretty darn good golf this season. However, when I travel to thicker, more humid air, that sweet draw turns into a screaming banana hook. It's down-right embarrassing when I have tell the golf shop employee I'm a 9.5 handicap, my in-laws see me hacking my way through the woods, and then I have to enter a 93 (adjusted) into the GHIN app.

 

I've always meant to post pictures of golf at my "second home." I think I've finally got time. (Pictures posted will be a mixture of pictures taken over the years.)

 

 

My current setup that I keep in Sweden.

 

Ping i25 8.5° with OEM graphite stiff shaft

Ping S56 3-PW orange dot, CFS stiff shafts

Ping Tour S 52°, 56°, 60° wedges, orange dot

Ping Redwood Piper S 34" putter

 

 

Gotta represent Colorado.

 

Sommarro Golf Links (now known as Karlstad City Golf Sommarro)

A little side-story: June 1994. I had just graduated high school (with 24 of my fellow classmates). A few days later, I became the first golfer in my school's history to qualify for the Indiana High School regionals, which was happening the following weekend. But I had other plans: I had a plane ticket to visit my girlfriend in Sweden for six weeks. I packed my suitcase and golf bag and flew by myself for the first time. Four flights and roughly 20 hours later, I touched down at a tiny airport somewhere between Stockholm and Oslo. 18 months later, I touched down there again in the middle of winter. A few years after that, they closed the airport and built a new one on the outskirts of town. In 2004, someone had the brilliant idea of building a golf course on the old airport grounds, and the evidence of its previous life is still there.

 

 

In fact, to this day, the runway and apron are still used as a place for people to learn how to drive cars, motorcycles, charter busses, semi-trucks, race cars, and go-karts.

 

What makes this unique is that the regular course is only 12 holes, which is then split into two 6-hole loops. You play the "front 6" twice and the "back 6" once in order to record an 18-hole score (par 70--rating 68.7, slope 113 from the middle tees). It takes about 75 minutes to get through 6 holes. As I stated before, you need to have passed a "golf test" in order to be permitted to play on this course (or just loudly say you're an American). For those still learning to golf, they also have a small 9-hole "pitch and putt" course.

 

Greens fees are "dynamic" but it is usually between $15-35 for 12 holes. For an extra $17, you can play unlimited golf for the day.

 

An annual membership for unlimited golf costs... wait for it... $590. I'll explain more in another post.

 

 

Behind that sign are padel courts. To describe the sport: if tennis, pickleball, and racquetball had a threesome and somehow conceived a baby. It's incredibly fun and less strenuous than tennis. Parker Racquet Club was supposed to build four padel courts last year, but I haven't heard a peep about it.

 

 

I can't remember if I said it, but everyone walks in Sweden. Instead of having plastic bottles of sand and grass seed to fill in divots, they provide pouches that you hang from your push cart. As the sign says, when you're done with your round, be kind and refill your pouch with sand and grass seeds in the green container next to the rack. These pouches are sponsored by (weirdly enough) a local motorcycle clothing company.

 

 

 

Little robotic lawn mowers are all the rage in Sweden (homes and businesses). Hopefully they don't become sentient and unionize.

 

 

The course is Scottish Links-style. It's very flat and so you need to know where to hit the ball or else you will end up in the tall wispy grasses that line the holes. They offer three sets of tees: 1, 2, and 3. This is the view from Tee 3. If I recall, it's about 230 yards to the front edge of the green. Oof.

 

 

If you can't read the sign (or know how to convert meters to yards), hole #6 is a 470yd par 4 from Tee 3. Beefy. If I remember correctly, the par 5 is about 500 yards from Tee 3.

 

 

In fact, so few people play from Tee 3, they let a local car dealership park a car on the Tee 3 tee box on hole #1. The Tee 2 tee box is about 40 yards to the left of this picture.

 

 

100-meter (to the front edge of the green) marker. It's rubbery and flexible so the mowers can run over it without being too damaged. They also have 150-meter and 200-meter pins.

 

 

Almost every employee in Sweden belongs to a union, so there is no such thing as mowing the course before dawn. He'll kindly get out of the way if it's convenient, otherwise, you just have to wait. If we ever play together, I can tell you the story about how I almost killed a greenskeeper.

 

Sadly, I didn't have time to play at Sommarro this year. Whenever I could've played, their tee sheet was booked with various tournaments. It truly is a fun little track and pretty easy to get on normally. This year, they were excited to announce that they installed Top Tracer at their range, so I drove over (twice) to check it out.

 

 

They have 6 outdoor Top Tracer stations and 6 more inside that covered building. You download the app, scan the QR code on the station's screen, and you're off.

 

 

I didn't notice the large gear icon at the top left, so my first range session was displayed in meters, which depressed me even more since the numbers were even lower.

 

 

Such embarrassing numbers with my 8-iron...regardless if it's in meters or yards.

 

 

Switching to yards in my second range session didn't make me feel better about my 5-iron--which I can normally hit 210-220yds in Denver. 39 yards of curve is definitely not the norm for me in Denver.

 

Once you finish a range session, you can immediately see the results on the app. I wish I hadn't.

 

 

So yeah, I'm losing close to THREE BLEEPIN' CLUBS when playing at 400ft above sea level. I don't think I can blame the equipment (or the rock-hard crappy range balls) even though the S56's are slightly higher lofted. I'm seeing this while on the course while playing with Srixon Z-Star golf balls.

 

Anyways, enough ranting. Top Tracer was neat, but I really need a Trackman to give me the numbers that will show me my flaws.

[thaar]

That's really cool and pretty! I definitely want to hear your attempted greenskeeper murder lol.

 

It is humbling playing at sea level though I typically only lose about one club, so your swing may have been off. I go to Michigan every year for a golf trip, and instead of hitting wedges into the greens, I'm hitting longer clubs, which is actually kind of nice. And don't beat yourself up over the 93. We all have bad days. I shot a smooth 92 earlier this year, followed by a 74 😂

[Joelness]

11 hours ago, pseudoswede said:

tl;dr - My swing is seriously flawed after years of playing in the thin, mile-high air.

 

How much distance do you lose when not playing in Colorado?

 

There is that saying that a golfer's handicap doesn't travel well. Then there's me: my whole golf game doesn't travel well ... to places near sea level. I know my swing has changed over the years, and I know it has become much more inside-out than it should be, but I'm too lazy to put in range sessions to change it and too cheap to pay for lessons. I pretty much only play golf in two places in the world: Colorado and Sweden. Thanks to the thinner air of living in the best metro area in the US, I usually produce a sweet draw with all of my shots. As you have read in this thread, I've been playing some pretty darn good golf this season. However, when I travel to thicker, more humid air, that sweet draw turns into a screaming banana hook. It's down-right embarrassing when I have tell the golf shop employee I'm a 9.5 handicap, my in-laws see me hacking my way through the woods, and then I have to enter a 93 (adjusted) into the GHIN app.

 

I've always meant to post pictures of golf at my "second home." I think I've finally got time. (Pictures posted will be a mixture of pictures taken over the years.)

 

 

My current setup that I keep in Sweden.

 

Ping i25 8.5° with OEM graphite stiff shaft

Ping S56 3-PW orange dot, CFS stiff shafts

Ping Tour S 52°, 56°, 60° wedges, orange dot

Ping Redwood Piper S 34" putter

 

 

Gotta represent Colorado.

 

Sommarro Golf Links (now known as Karlstad City Golf Sommarro)

A little side-story: June 1994. I had just graduated high school (with 24 of my fellow classmates). A few days later, I became the first golfer in my school's history to qualify for the Indiana High School regionals, which was happening the following weekend. But I had other plans: I had a plane ticket to visit my girlfriend in Sweden for six weeks. I packed my suitcase and golf bag and flew by myself for the first time. Four flights and roughly 20 hours later, I touched down at a tiny airport somewhere between Stockholm and Oslo. 18 months later, I touched down there again in the middle of winter. A few years after that, they closed the airport and built a new one on the outskirts of town. In 2004, someone had the brilliant idea of building a golf course on the old airport grounds, and the evidence of its previous life is still there.

 

 

In fact, to this day, the runway and apron are still used as a place for people to learn how to drive cars, motorcycles, charter busses, semi-trucks, race cars, and go-karts.

 

What makes this unique is that the regular course is only 12 holes, which is then split into two 6-hole loops. You play the "front 6" twice and the "back 6" once in order to record an 18-hole score (par 70--rating 68.7, slope 113 from the middle tees). It takes about 75 minutes to get through 6 holes. As I stated before, you need to have passed a "golf test" in order to be permitted to play on this course (or just loudly say you're an American). For those still learning to golf, they also have a small 9-hole "pitch and putt" course.

 

Greens fees are "dynamic" but it is usually between $15-35 for 12 holes. For an extra $17, you can play unlimited golf for the day.

 

An annual membership for unlimited golf costs... wait for it... $590. I'll explain more in another post.

 

 

Behind that sign are padel courts. To describe the sport: if tennis, pickleball, and racquetball had a threesome and somehow conceived a baby. It's incredibly fun and less strenuous than tennis. Parker Racquet Club was supposed to build four padel courts last year, but I haven't heard a peep about it.

 

 

I can't remember if I said it, but everyone walks in Sweden. Instead of having plastic bottles of sand and grass seed to fill in divots, they provide pouches that you hang from your push cart. As the sign says, when you're done with your round, be kind and refill your pouch with sand and grass seeds in the green container next to the rack. These pouches are sponsored by (weirdly enough) a local motorcycle clothing company.

 

 

 

Little robotic lawn mowers are all the rage in Sweden (homes and businesses). Hopefully they don't become sentient and unionize.

 

 

The course is Scottish Links-style. It's very flat and so you need to know where to hit the ball or else you will end up in the tall wispy grasses that line the holes. They offer three sets of tees: 1, 2, and 3. This is the view from Tee 3. If I recall, it's about 230 yards to the front edge of the green. Oof.

 

 

If you can't read the sign (or know how to convert meters to yards), hole #6 is a 470yd par 4 from Tee 3. Beefy. If I remember correctly, the par 5 is about 500 yards from Tee 3.

 

 

In fact, so few people play from Tee 3, they let a local car dealership park a car on the Tee 3 tee box on hole #1. The Tee 2 tee box is about 40 yards to the left of this picture.

 

 

100-meter (to the front edge of the green) marker. It's rubbery and flexible so the mowers can run over it without being too damaged. They also have 150-meter and 200-meter pins.

 

 

Almost every employee in Sweden belongs to a union, so there is no such thing as mowing the course before dawn. He'll kindly get out of the way if it's convenient, otherwise, you just have to wait. If we ever play together, I can tell you the story about how I almost killed a greenskeeper.

 

Sadly, I didn't have time to play at Sommarro this year. Whenever I could've played, their tee sheet was booked with various tournaments. It truly is a fun little track and pretty easy to get on normally. This year, they were excited to announce that they installed Top Tracer at their range, so I drove over (twice) to check it out.

 

 

They have 6 outdoor Top Tracer stations and 6 more inside that covered building. You download the app, scan the QR code on the station's screen, and you're off.

 

 

I didn't notice the large gear icon at the top left, so my first range session was displayed in meters, which depressed me even more since the numbers were even lower.

 

 

Such embarrassing numbers with my 8-iron...regardless if it's in meters or yards.

 

 

Switching to yards in my second range session didn't make me feel better about my 5-iron--which I can normally hit 210-220yds in Denver. 39 yards of curve is definitely not the norm for me in Denver.

 

Once you finish a range session, you can immediately see the results on the app. I wish I hadn't.

 

 

So yeah, I'm losing close to THREE BLEEPIN' CLUBS when playing at 400ft above sea level. I don't think I can blame the equipment (or the rock-hard crappy range balls) even though the S56's are slightly higher lofted. I'm seeing this while on the course while playing with Srixon Z-Star golf balls.

 

Anyways, enough ranting. Top Tracer was neat, but I really need a Trackman to give me the numbers that will show me my flaws.

 

What a writeup! I love all the pics too, it definitely get the feel of the place. I had to play in meters in Germany and I never felt like I got the yardage right. I think the double-conversion of elevation and meters is the complexity jump.

 

Top tracer looks pretty sweet, tbh. Your point of the golf balls is dead on too. If you're going to build a product for tracking you on the range you must build in some algorithm so the user can get the numbers they will see on the course.

 

Sea-level numbers are definitely depressing...

[Joelness]

2 hours ago, thaar said:

That's really cool and pretty! I definitely want to hear your attempted greenskeeper murder lol.

 

It is humbling playing at sea level though I typically only lose about one club, so your swing may have been off. I go to Michigan every year for a golf trip, and instead of hitting wedges into the greens, I'm hitting longer clubs, which is actually kind of nice. And don't beat yourself up over the 93. We all have bad days. I shot a smooth 92 earlier this year, followed by a 74 😂

 

On this note I did shoot a 90-something a couple years ago. It definitely happens!

[pseudoswede]

2 hours ago, thaar said:

And don't beat yourself up over the 93. We all have bad days. I shot a smooth 92 earlier this year, followed by a 74 😂

 

2 minutes ago, Joelness said:

On this note I did shoot a 90-something a couple years ago. It definitely happens!

 

I wouldn't beat myself up as much except it's a regular occurrence when playing in Sweden. I probably have close to 50 rounds in Sweden, and I can say with confidence that I can count on two hands the number of times I've broken 90. 😞 My next post will be of the course I have played the most.

[thaar]

45 minutes ago, pseudoswede said:

 

 

I wouldn't beat myself up as much except it's a regular occurrence when playing in Sweden. I probably have close to 50 rounds in Sweden, and I can say with confidence that I can count on two hands the number of times I've broken 90. 😞 My next post will be of the course I have played the most.

Just chalk it up to your mind being unable to focus while thinking of beautiful blonde Swedish women!

[Dancin]

1 hour ago, Joelness said:

I had to play in meters in Germany and I never felt like I got the yardage right.

The easy trick for meters to yards is add the first two digits of the meters amount to the total and you'll be within a yard of the actual yards. e.g 150 meters = 165 yards

[thaar]

1 hour ago, Dancin said:

The easy trick for meters to yards is add the first two digits of the meters amount to the total and you'll be within a yard of the actual yards. e.g 150 meters = 165 yards

[Dancin]

Golf pros being babies again. A major championship asks them to execute a precise iron shot and they are losing their minds https://www.golfdigest.com/story/british-open-2023-famed-coach-warns-royal-liverpool-new-hole-could-ruin-somebodys-career

[Hardrain]

7 hours ago, Dancin said:

Golf pros being babies again. A major championship asks them to execute a precise iron shot and they are losing their minds https://www.golfdigest.com/story/british-open-2023-famed-coach-warns-royal-liverpool-new-hole-could-ruin-somebodys-career

Sad to see how poor Golf Digest's "journalism" has become.  The second sentence refers to Brooks Koepka's coach say no player has said a good thing about it the hole. Brooks said he loves the hole in his press conference!

[007iron]

On 7/18/2023 at 1:32 PM, Dancin said:

@Joelness is caddying for Nika Ito

 

He meant me 😉

 

Great week out at the Air Force Academy. 75-73 to make the cut at T28. Got the 33rd seed and lost to the 32 seed 2&1 yesterday. It was a great match where both players lead at one point and only 2 bogies in 17 holes for the group. Nika didn't make a bogie until 17 which unfortunately ended the match. Nika hit 15 of 17 greens, but unfortunately only made 2 birdies. 

 

Nika is a stud and I'm pumped to follow her going forward; a lot of college coaches seemed interested in her and were speaking to her and her dad before and after rounds. She'll be a senior back in Japan this school year and will decide on College in the states or not this winter. She's learning English and is about 75% to fluent - we had zero problems communicating about golf stuff but some of the regular chatting would not get through to her. 

 

Her game is great - she hit it very solid each day, putted it well on what I think might be some of the hardest greens the kids will see all summer. The undulation of the greens, plus decent speed and the confusion of the property (things look up that are down and vice versa) really challenged the ladies, especially in stroke play. +7 making the cut didn't surprise me thinking about the amount of 3 putts that were out there. Nika only 3 putted one green in 53 holes, which was awesome. She was self sufficient on the greens but called me in for a few confirmations on reads inside 8 feet and we drilled them all. We worked well tee to green and it was a great experience - similar to when I caddied for an amateur at the TPC Colorado KFT event it was great to help someone who had never played at elevation try and dial it in. Being inside the ropes in a USGA event was a real treat and I hope to get to do it again sometime. 

 

Nika, her dad and I after the match yesterday:

https://imgur.com/U9Ege5N

Edited July 21, 2023 by 007iron

[Dancin]

Ha just realized I typed the wrong name

[ASak10]

17 hours ago, Dancin said:

Golf pros being babies again. A major championship asks them to execute a precise iron shot and they are losing their minds https://www.golfdigest.com/story/british-open-2023-famed-coach-warns-royal-liverpool-new-hole-could-ruin-somebodys-career

 

I love that new hole, could provide a whole lot of fireworks!  I haven't seen too many players complaining about it, seems like most were maybe lukewarm about it.  That's probably just Cowen being his usual grumpy self, he can't help himself.  

 

10 hours ago, Hardrain said:

Sad to see how poor Golf Digest's "journalism" has become.  The second sentence refers to Brooks Koepka's coach say no player has said a good thing about it the hole. Brooks said he loves the hole in his press conference!

 

I think they were just quoting the coach, maybe he should have actually talked to his players about it first 😝

[Joelness]

1 hour ago, 007iron said:

 

He meant me 😉

 

Great week out at the Air Force Academy. 75-73 to make the cut at T28. Got the 33rd seed and lost to the 32 seed 2&1 yesterday. It was a great match where both players lead at one point and only 2 bogies in 17 holes for the group. Nika didn't make a bogie until 17 which unfortunately ended the match. Nika hit 15 of 17 greens, but unfortunately only made 2 birdies. 

 

Nika is a stud and I'm pumped to follow her going forward; a lot of college coaches seemed interested in her and were speaking to her and her dad before and after rounds. She'll be a senior back in Japan this school year and will decide on College in the states or not this winter. She's learning English and is about 75% to fluent - we had zero problems communicating about golf stuff but some of the regular chatting would not get through to her. 

 

Her game is great - she hit it very solid each day, putted it well on what I think might be some of the hardest greens the kids will see all summer. The undulation of the greens, plus decent speed and the confusion of the property (things look up that are down and vice versa) really challenged the ladies, especially in stroke play. +7 making the cut didn't surprise me thinking about the amount of 3 putts that were out there. Nika only 3 putted one green in 53 holes, which was awesome. She was self sufficient on the greens but called me in for a few confirmations on reads inside 8 feet and drilled them all. We worked well tee to green and it was a great experience - similar to when I caddied for an amateur at the TPC Colorado KFT event it was great to help someone who had never played at elevation try and dial it in. Being inside the ropes in a USGA event was a real treat and I hope to get to do it again sometime. 

 

Nika, her dad and I after the match yesterday:

https://imgur.com/U9Ege5N

 

Here I thought he was just being sarcastic. Nice work on the loop! That had to be super cool to be a part of

[golf4pj]

14 hours ago, 007iron said:

 

He meant me 😉

 

Great week out at the Air Force Academy. 75-73 to make the cut at T28. Got the 33rd seed and lost to the 32 seed 2&1 yesterday. It was a great match where both players lead at one point and only 2 bogies in 17 holes for the group. Nika didn't make a bogie until 17 which unfortunately ended the match. Nika hit 15 of 17 greens, but unfortunately only made 2 birdies. 

 

Nika is a stud and I'm pumped to follow her going forward; a lot of college coaches seemed interested in her and were speaking to her and her dad before and after rounds. She'll be a senior back in Japan this school year and will decide on College in the states or not this winter. She's learning English and is about 75% to fluent - we had zero problems communicating about golf stuff but some of the regular chatting would not get through to her. 

 

Her game is great - she hit it very solid each day, putted it well on what I think might be some of the hardest greens the kids will see all summer. The undulation of the greens, plus decent speed and the confusion of the property (things look up that are down and vice versa) really challenged the ladies, especially in stroke play. +7 making the cut didn't surprise me thinking about the amount of 3 putts that were out there. Nika only 3 putted one green in 53 holes, which was awesome. She was self sufficient on the greens but called me in for a few confirmations on reads inside 8 feet and drilled them all. We worked well tee to green and it was a great experience - similar to when I caddied for an amateur at the TPC Colorado KFT event it was great to help someone who had never played at elevation try and dial it in. Being inside the ropes in a USGA event was a real treat and I hope to get to do it again sometime. 

 

Nika, her dad and I after the match yesterday:

https://imgur.com/U9Ege5N

 

Awesome experience for you!  Congrats on getting that far with her.  Not knowing the course makes for an especially difficult challenge, particularly reading the greens and which part of the greens to hit (or not hit) to.

I typically welcome people to the AFA Course with 'Welcome to Eisenhower, home of the 3-putt'.

 

[deadsolid...shank]

We had a funeral yesterday for my uncle from Arvada. He organized and headed up a group of golfers based out of the Meadows. Called the Racoons I believe (they didn’t say where the name came from). They played all over Colorado and traveled out of state as well  He and at least one other gentleman were original members of the group.  They have been playing together over 50 years. 
 

I found it really impressive that at 85 years old, he had at least a dozen golf buddies at his service. Several of them spoke. It sounds like quite a group. 
 

Nothing like a really good group of golf biddies. RIP Uncle Bill. 

[drn92]

22 hours ago, 007iron said:

 

He meant me 😉

 

Great week out at the Air Force Academy. 75-73 to make the cut at T28. Got the 33rd seed and lost to the 32 seed 2&1 yesterday. It was a great match where both players lead at one point and only 2 bogies in 17 holes for the group. Nika didn't make a bogie until 17 which unfortunately ended the match. Nika hit 15 of 17 greens, but unfortunately only made 2 birdies. 

 

Nika is a stud and I'm pumped to follow her going forward; a lot of college coaches seemed interested in her and were speaking to her and her dad before and after rounds. She'll be a senior back in Japan this school year and will decide on College in the states or not this winter. She's learning English and is about 75% to fluent - we had zero problems communicating about golf stuff but some of the regular chatting would not get through to her. 

 

Her game is great - she hit it very solid each day, putted it well on what I think might be some of the hardest greens the kids will see all summer. The undulation of the greens, plus decent speed and the confusion of the property (things look up that are down and vice versa) really challenged the ladies, especially in stroke play. +7 making the cut didn't surprise me thinking about the amount of 3 putts that were out there. Nika only 3 putted one green in 53 holes, which was awesome. She was self sufficient on the greens but called me in for a few confirmations on reads inside 8 feet and drilled them all. We worked well tee to green and it was a great experience - similar to when I caddied for an amateur at the TPC Colorado KFT event it was great to help someone who had never played at elevation try and dial it in. Being inside the ropes in a USGA event was a real treat and I hope to get to do it again sometime. 

 

Nika, her dad and I after the match yesterday:

https://imgur.com/U9Ege5N

Nice write up. Do you know what set of tees they played?  
 

drn92

[bobbyclampett!!]

On 7/18/2023 at 11:06 PM, pseudoswede said:

tl;dr - My swing is seriously flawed after years of playing in the thin, mile-high air.

 

How much distance do you lose when not playing in Colorado?

 

There is that saying that a golfer's handicap doesn't travel well. Then there's me: my whole golf game doesn't travel well ... to places near sea level. I know my swing has changed over the years, and I know it has become much more inside-out than it should be, but I'm too lazy to put in range sessions to change it and too cheap to pay for lessons. I pretty much only play golf in two places in the world: Colorado and Sweden. Thanks to the thinner air of living in the best metro area in the US, I usually produce a sweet draw with all of my shots. As you have read in this thread, I've been playing some pretty darn good golf this season. However, when I travel to thicker, more humid air, that sweet draw turns into a screaming banana hook. It's down-right embarrassing when I have tell the golf shop employee I'm a 9.5 handicap, my in-laws see me hacking my way through the woods, and then I have to enter a 93 (adjusted) into the GHIN app.

 

I've always meant to post pictures of golf at my "second home." I think I've finally got time. (Pictures posted will be a mixture of pictures taken over the years.)

 

 

My current setup that I keep in Sweden.

 

Ping i25 8.5° with OEM graphite stiff shaft

Ping S56 3-PW orange dot, CFS stiff shafts

Ping Tour S 52°, 56°, 60° wedges, orange dot

Ping Redwood Piper S 34" putter

 

 

Gotta represent Colorado.

 

Sommarro Golf Links (now known as Karlstad City Golf Sommarro)

A little side-story: June 1994. I had just graduated high school (with 24 of my fellow classmates). A few days later, I became the first golfer in my school's history to qualify for the Indiana High School regionals, which was happening the following weekend. But I had other plans: I had a plane ticket to visit my girlfriend in Sweden for six weeks. I packed my suitcase and golf bag and flew by myself for the first time. Four flights and roughly 20 hours later, I touched down at a tiny airport somewhere between Stockholm and Oslo. 18 months later, I touched down there again in the middle of winter. A few years after that, they closed the airport and built a new one on the outskirts of town. In 2004, someone had the brilliant idea of building a golf course on the old airport grounds, and the evidence of its previous life is still there.

 

 

In fact, to this day, the runway and apron are still used as a place for people to learn how to drive cars, motorcycles, charter busses, semi-trucks, race cars, and go-karts.

 

What makes this unique is that the regular course is only 12 holes, which is then split into two 6-hole loops. You play the "front 6" twice and the "back 6" once in order to record an 18-hole score (par 70--rating 68.7, slope 113 from the middle tees). It takes about 75 minutes to get through 6 holes. As I stated before, you need to have passed a "golf test" in order to be permitted to play on this course (or just loudly say you're an American). For those still learning to golf, they also have a small 9-hole "pitch and putt" course.

 

Greens fees are "dynamic" but it is usually between $15-35 for 12 holes. For an extra $17, you can play unlimited golf for the day.

 

An annual membership for unlimited golf costs... wait for it... $590. I'll explain more in another post.

 

 

Behind that sign are padel courts. To describe the sport: if tennis, pickleball, and racquetball had a threesome and somehow conceived a baby. It's incredibly fun and less strenuous than tennis. Parker Racquet Club was supposed to build four padel courts last year, but I haven't heard a peep about it.

 

 

I can't remember if I said it, but everyone walks in Sweden. Instead of having plastic bottles of sand and grass seed to fill in divots, they provide pouches that you hang from your push cart. As the sign says, when you're done with your round, be kind and refill your pouch with sand and grass seeds in the green container next to the rack. These pouches are sponsored by (weirdly enough) a local motorcycle clothing company.

 

 

 

Little robotic lawn mowers are all the rage in Sweden (homes and businesses). Hopefully they don't become sentient and unionize.

 

 

The course is Scottish Links-style. It's very flat and so you need to know where to hit the ball or else you will end up in the tall wispy grasses that line the holes. They offer three sets of tees: 1, 2, and 3. This is the view from Tee 3. If I recall, it's about 230 yards to the front edge of the green. Oof.

 

 

If you can't read the sign (or know how to convert meters to yards), hole #6 is a 470yd par 4 from Tee 3. Beefy. If I remember correctly, the par 5 is about 500 yards from Tee 3.

 

 

In fact, so few people play from Tee 3, they let a local car dealership park a car on the Tee 3 tee box on hole #1. The Tee 2 tee box is about 40 yards to the left of this picture.

 

 

100-meter (to the front edge of the green) marker. It's rubbery and flexible so the mowers can run over it without being too damaged. They also have 150-meter and 200-meter pins.

 

 

Almost every employee in Sweden belongs to a union, so there is no such thing as mowing the course before dawn. He'll kindly get out of the way if it's convenient, otherwise, you just have to wait. If we ever play together, I can tell you the story about how I almost killed a greenskeeper.

 

Sadly, I didn't have time to play at Sommarro this year. Whenever I could've played, their tee sheet was booked with various tournaments. It truly is a fun little track and pretty easy to get on normally. This year, they were excited to announce that they installed Top Tracer at their range, so I drove over (twice) to check it out.

 

 

They have 6 outdoor Top Tracer stations and 6 more inside that covered building. You download the app, scan the QR code on the station's screen, and you're off.

 

 

I didn't notice the large gear icon at the top left, so my first range session was displayed in meters, which depressed me even more since the numbers were even lower.

 

 

Such embarrassing numbers with my 8-iron...regardless if it's in meters or yards.

 

 

Switching to yards in my second range session didn't make me feel better about my 5-iron--which I can normally hit 210-220yds in Denver. 39 yards of curve is definitely not the norm for me in Denver.

 

Once you finish a range session, you can immediately see the results on the app. I wish I hadn't.

 

 

So yeah, I'm losing close to THREE BLEEPIN' CLUBS when playing at 400ft above sea level. I don't think I can blame the equipment (or the rock-hard crappy range balls) even though the S56's are slightly higher lofted. I'm seeing this while on the course while playing with Srixon Z-Star golf balls.

 

Anyways, enough ranting. Top Tracer was neat, but I really need a Trackman to give me the numbers that will show me my flaws.

Great post! It's cool to see how golf is done in other countries. Also, I refuse to believe you ever shoot over 8. I don't care how much that ball is curving, look at that consistency and dispersion! Every ball starting to the right and curving perfectly back to your target line. You clearly know where your ball is going!

[007iron]

On 7/18/2023 at 1:25 PM, golf4pj said:

US Junior Girls Championship 

EISENHOWER GOLF CLUB (Blue Course)
(Yardages/Par Subject to Change)
Hole 1: 361 yards (par 4)
Hole 2: 393 yards (par 4)
Hole 3: 162 yards (par 3)
Hole 4: 365 yards (par 4)
Hole 5: 565 yards (par 5)
Hole 6: 412 yards (par 4)
Hole 7: 143 yards (par 3)
Hole 8: 420 yards (par 4)
Hole 9: 552 yards (par 5)
OUT: 3,373 yards (par 36)

Hole 10: 384 yards (par 4)
Hole 11: 546 yards (par 5)
Hole 12: 370 yards (par 4)
Hole 13: 133 yards (par 3)
Hole 14: 392 yards (par 4)
Hole 15: 405 yards (par 4)
Hole 16: 568 yards (par 5)
Hole 17: 206 yards (par 3)
Hole 18: 411 yards (par 4)
IN: 3,415 yards (par 36)
TOTAL: 6,788 yards (par 72)

 

 

1 hour ago, drn92 said:

Nice write up. Do you know what set of tees they played?  
 

drn92

 

 

The posted USGA yardages were the 6,788 above. it was a mix of the very back tees and the one up and even a few more forward tees on some holes.

 

For example, #4 the played it all the way back for round 1 and R32 so the Black tee at ~400y but in round 2 was from the Blue tee right at the 365 on the USGA chart above. Hole 6 had an up tee option but they used the back box all 3 rounds we played. On 9 they used the box right as you walked down the path from 8 green as it left the fairway bunker right in the landing zone for most of the girls. 11 was all the way back each day, they moved it around a bit on 14, but never all the way back. Hole 17 played from the ~155y box in round 1 and the 185+ box for R2 and R32.... A few other holes they used multiple boxes; they had a lot of flexibility and used it but I think the total distance was right around that 6,800 each day

[007iron]

Will be interesting how the USGA feels this week went. It's the first ever championship held on a military facility which created some interesting challenges I'm sure. The tipped out yardage is at least 7,300 (and one scorecard I see online shows 7,570) so I think it could be a possible host of the boys junior, either the men's or women's mid-am and maybe even either fourball championships?

[drn92]

1 hour ago, 007iron said:

 

 

 

The posted USGA yardages were the 6,788 above. it was a mix of the very back tees and the one up and even a few more forward tees on some holes.

 

For example, #4 the played it all the way back for round 1 and R32 so the Black tee at ~400y but in round 2 was from the Blue tee right at the 365 on the USGA chart above. Hole 6 had an up tee option but they used the back box all 3 rounds we played. On 9 they used the box right as you walked down the path from 8 green as it left the fairway bunker right in the landing zone for most of the girls. 11 was all the way back each day, they moved it around a bit on 14, but never all the way back. Hole 17 played from the ~155y box in round 1 and the 185+ box for R2 and R32.... A few other holes they used multiple boxes; they had a lot of flexibility and used it but I think the total distance was right around that 6,800 each day

Thanks. 
 

I looked on the USGA website …. looked like a mix of yardages somewhere between the green and blue tees. They do have a set farther back, but that would seem excessive for this tournament. 
 

drn92