broke 90 first time yesterday shot 85

retep · February 13, 2007

played par 70 falls road potomac, md

Wow, i finally broke 90. I have had 93's, 92 once, 94's, 95's, 96's... etc... i shot 15 over par at falls road in potomac, md. it was cold, but not too cold and no one in front of me or behind me, i had a cart and finished in just over 2 hours. previously my low was 91, (from the silver/white tees) so i shattered it by 6 strokes from farther back!!!! From the blues it is a short par 70 i think 5700 yards... The blacks, which are maybe 200? yards farther are out of order there yesterday, so couldn't play from them.

how i did it, i kept track pretty good and more or less stuck to this plan...
1. very few drivers unless it was a really wide landing area... PERIOD. I actually played any long par 4 as a par 5 laying up if i couldn't reach the green on the second ball. <---admitting i am not a long dude off the tee.. I figured 3 wood in the fairway was better than a driver in the woods 40 yards or so farther. I was looking at where i was expecting to land the ball of the drive and take out fairway bunkers if possible. (triple bogey was driver over the sand traps, =unplayable lie, stroke penalty drop, when i should have laid up in front of them with the 5 wood).
2. so... 3 wood or 5 wood off the tee
3. amazingly accurate irons... this was key, and the way i did this was i totally was doing the descending blow on all the irons, basically a la golf mag article from AJ bonar guy with the image of hitting a nail in the ground. <--- this really does work.
4. clean putting to get it close to tap in.
5. totally stayed up beat even after a double bogey or two and a triple bogey
6. reached my nemesis hole there in two on a 3wood, 4 iron onto the green.
7. i'm in between jobs so i got the big ZERO on my mind work related
8. didn't actually look at my score card until lthe 16th hole

so, now i must reward myself with a new driver that makes me cool.

Peter.

KDMullins · February 13, 2007

Congrats, Peter! Good round. There's no better feeling than a personal best on the golf course.

kurob · February 13, 2007

Congratulations on the achievement.

mrmizuno · February 13, 2007

Congratulations! Always a good feeling. Soon you will be telling us how you just broke 80.

I actually grew up playing Falls Road quite a bit as a kid. The re-model from a couple years ago was a welcome upgrade, and I am certainly a fan of hole 16 or 17 (the very downhill and shortish par 4; great for taking a huge rip at the ball with little or no penalizing conseuqences).

Now I'm in north Jersey begging the county to get our public courses into decent shape. Man, I miss the courses back home in the DC Metro area.

Play East Potomac (Blue) in DC next. That course has a low round waiting to happen for you.

Baller · February 13, 2007

:drinks: :drinks: Congrats on your milestone. You'll be shooting even par before you know it. Keep up the good work

Merlin_T · February 13, 2007

Bravo amigo!!! :drinks:

PlayerJason · February 13, 2007

Way to go Peter! :drinks: I'm envious of your achievement and you should be very proud.

I told myself that if I break 80 before the end of the year that I would buy myself a new set of Titleist forged irons (I said Titleist, but maybe Nike or Mizuno). Did I mention I've got a 28 handicap? :drinks: My best score to date was a 93 I shot this past Saturday from the whites (just in front of the blues) only to follow it with a 111 on Sunday and a 108 yesterday. (wipes tears)

You mention something that is probably the single biggest hurdle I can't seem to overcome: hitting down on the ball. I couldn't take a proper divot with a descending blow if you put a gun to my head! Most shots are hit fat or picked clean robbing me of desperately needed distance, so gaining that skill will be a huge help.

What is this "nail in the ground" you mention? (any info would be appreciated)

Congratulations again and you should definitely reward yourself. Let us know what you get!

Jason

retep · February 17, 2007

You mention something that is probably the single biggest hurdle I can't seem to overcome: hitting down on the ball. I couldn't take a proper divot with a descending blow if you put a gun to my head! Most shots are hit fat or picked clean robbing me of desperately needed distance, so gaining that skill will be a huge help.

What is this "nail in the ground" you mention? (any info would be appreciated)

Congratulations again and you should definitely reward yourself. Let us know what you get!

Jason

jason: AJ Bodner's article in golf magazine a while back had a nail through a stake at about a 10 degree angle DOWN . http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline/print...1534401,00.html there is an illustration in the magazine that is a good visual cue. i take a shallow divot after that article (ok, well a few months after it) with the descending blow. good luck! it did help me! peter