Sunday of this week was a total washout. I had intended to go to the driving range and get some quality alone time with my driver, but instead had to settle for watching Tiger Woods announce his full return to the golf world. Not a bad trade-off, but it still left me with a golfing itch.
So when I woke up this morning to a beautiful, sun-filled and warm day I knew I would have to get out and play while the getting was good. I decided to leave the range for another day and instead head into Norfolk and check out Fore Kicks and their 9-hole facility. Fore Kicks is a learning center for youth sports, featuring indoor soccer fields and a large lazer-tag area. Because it is mostly used by kids it is a very short course, featuring nothing but par 3's and the longest hole is only 157 yards. But for adults it can be a nice place to try and work on irons, scrambling and putting, as the greens can get tricky. Not to mention, for $12, you get what you pay for. This was the exact opposite of my original plan, since I wouldn't be taking the cover off of any of my woods let alone my driver, but I'd rather play short golf than just hit the range any day.
#1 At 115 yards I had my 7 iron in my hands, but figured that would be too much club and so I went down to an 8 iron. Turns out the club didn't matter as I caught the ball at an awkward angle and watched my ball shoot off to the rough on the right. I put my 8 away and grabbed my pitching wedge with 30 feet left to the hole. A good chip shot got me onto the green with 10 feet left to the pin. Putting for par I got the break right, but the speed wrong and ended up a foot past the cup. I tapped in for a pretty satisfying 4.
#2 With the hole pretty much the same length I decided to stick with my 8 iron and this time was rewarded with solid contact. Turns out I still had too much club as my ball landed over the green in the second rough. Now, watching the Arnold Palmer Invitational this weekend I saw a play where Sean O'Hair was off the back of the green in the second cut and rather than risk chipping, took out his utility club and hit that instead. It worked out for him, so I thought I would try it. Apparently the rough in Florida is thicker than the rough in Massachusetts in March, as my ball flew out of the rough, passed the hole and across the entire green, settling on the fringe on the other side. I guess I'm still not ready for the PGA tour. This putting surface was in the shade so it hadn't had a chance to dry from all the rain from the past two days, which slowed the green. My uphill putt came up well short and my second attempt still didn't have enough speed. I lipped out a close one for a very annoying 6.
#3 I had a pretty descent wind in my face, so despite the fact that this hole wasn't even 100 yards I decided to go with a 9 iron. Now, when you tee up you shouldn't be thinking about anything but the shot you're about to hit. But, on my backswing the thought "This is way too much club" flashed in my head. The result was a trying-to-pause half-swing. So, of course my ball weekly jumped off the tee and it didn't even make the green. I put the 9 iron away and grabbed the club I should have used the entire time, my pitching wedge. My second shot landed short of the green and I needed another to get onto the green. Now, this putting surface was in the sun and thus much dryer and faster so my ball ran past the cup. I nailed the 5-footer comeback putt to save a 5.
#4 The shortest hole on the course at just under 80 yards, I kept the pitching wedge in my hands for this hole. I felt pretty good about my first drive, until it faded to the left and landed off of the green in the rough. I thought about pulling out my utility club again but since it went badly last time I stayed with the wedge. Turns out I couldn't have done worse with the utility club, as this wedge shot took a sharp left. I needed a third chip to get onto the green where I two-putted for a second straight 5.
#5 This hole was only 118 yards, but uphill, so I figured I should go one club higher than my first thoughts and pulled out a 7 iron. Judging by how much the ball took off I probably would have been well over the green if I hit a shot with any loft. Instead I fired a line drive into the hillside and the ball died right there. My pitch attempt flew up and over the green and into the back fringe. Now, despite my bad wedge shot on the last hole I decided to stick with it and was rewarded by hitting the chip of my life. My ball perfectly caught the slope of the green and ran to within in a foot of the cup. A tap in and I had saved a 4.
#6 I was determined to get at least one shot with loft today and so I set the ball high on the tee. I really should have chosen a hole where the wind wasn't blowing into my face because it killed my ball off the tee and I came up two feet short of the green. I continued my good chipping from the last hole and got the ball inside of 10 feet. Again I had a pretty good read of the break on the putt, but not the speed and my putt attempt was an inch wide of the hole for my second 4 in the row.
#7 The holes were starting to increase in length so I moved up with my clubs and came up with 6 iron for the 122 yard hole. Again, no idea how far it would have gone if I had hit a descent first shot. Instead I hit a worm burner down the center of the fairway. The goose crap actually did a nice job of slowing it down and left me 40 yards or so to the hole. I pulled a Josh and my chip landed me over the green again and I needed another just to get onto the putting surface. This was another of the soggier greens and so I ended up about four feet short on my attempt at a four. After a quick double-check of the break I had to watch my ball circle almost the full diameter of the cup before dropping in with a 5.
#8 Determined to find out just how far I would hit a 6 iron if I actually made consistent contact, I stuck with in for #8, which was just 5 yards longer. Turns out that I was pretty close to right, as I landed on the green, but 30 feet from the hole. As I walked to the green I was feeling pretty proud of myself for doing so well today... only to turn to the right and see two kids who were probably 6 or 7 years old playing the same course I was. Suddenly I remembered where I was and my ego suffered a solid body blow. This would be like bragging that you could dunk when it's on a 7 foot rim.
#9 The longest hole of the course at 157 yards and into a pretty steady wind, I went for my utility hybrid club. Again, no idea if I had the distance right as I got almost no loft and watched my ball die in the fairway. My chip attempt was successful at getting me on the green and left me with 10 feet to the hole. For the final time, I was good the break, not on the distance. My putt went past the hole and left me with 3 feet to the hole. I was in a hurry and didn't set my feet, so shouldn't have been surprised that I lipped out the putt and ended the day with a disappointing 5.
Final Score: 42
Self-Analysis: My putting was better today as I was able to read the breaks pretty consistently. Speed of the greens was my big issue. Also, I'm having trouble getting distances with my irons right, but that's due to my lack of consistent contact. Fore Kicks is a good learning center and it's the right price, but if I want to get better at harder courses, then I need to play harder courses.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Triggs Memorial (The Front 9)
As the weather continues to get better here in the North East, hopefully I'll be able to update this site more often. Saturday I ventured out with my golf buddy, Josh, to try out another new course for us, Triggs Memorial in Providence.
Seeing that it is only mid-march there are some winter golf deals still around, if you can find a course that has opened for the season. With winter golf you get some bad with the good. The good is that the course isn't nearly as busy as it will be in a couple more weeks and the golf is usually cheaper. The bad is that you can't use the tee boxes yet so yardage is always a bit off and there are some areas of the course that aren't up to form yet. Just means lots of soggy parts of the fairways. Make sure you bring a clean towel, you're going to need it to clean your clubs.
Now, both Josh and I were feeling good after our round at Little Harbor so of course we decided to add a challenge for this round. Josh would attempt to play the round while pretty hung-over and I broke my glasses right after I arrived at the course so I would play with my vision messed up (They didn't snap so much as the lense over one eye kept moving. I had an awesome migraine by the 5th hole). Whatever, I love a good challenge; let's get this thing rolling.
Before we even got to the first tee, we got a lesson in life. In my everyday life, something about me makes people want to tell me their life story. But, when I'm on the golf course this phenomenon manifests itself into people wanting to give me advice. As we waited for the group ahead of us to get to the green we started chatting with an older guy who didn't seem to want to play, just talk to us.
"Have you been playing long?" he asked us. Only about a year, we replied.
"But," I added, "That works cause we both stink so it's better to play with someone close to your own skill level."
"No, it's not," he replied. "I'm a 9 handicap (show-off) but when I play with bad golfers they bring me down. Also, you need to take lessons. Change your whole perspective. I couldn't self-teach myself and neither can you." OK, good to know. We're going to go play n-. "Plus you need to realise that you're not making the PGA Tour. (ummm, I knew that immediately) Then you can just relax and have fun." Sir, we're trying, but you keep delaying our start.
#1 I was expecting to hit a descent first shot, cause that seems to be my thing this year. Instead I shot my drive right and up against a massive tree. Awesome start for me. My second got me back into the fairway, but I topped my third before I could hack my way to the green. Now, the greens at Triggs are very, very fast. They have a lot of slant to them, but because they are so fast they don't break nearly as much as you expect them to. It only took us 4 putts apiece to figure this out. Yikes - it was going to be a long afternoon.
#2 My initial drive off the tee was better as it was straight, though not high. I thought I would get another 10-15 yards of roll, but the ball hit a wet patch of the fairway and it stopped right there. Now, with six sand traps on this hole you would think I was in danger of landing in one of them but I miraculously avoided them all. I could tell that the lense of my glasses constantly shifting was giving me issues by the large divots I was ending up with. Normally I'm pretty conscious about not taking out huge divots (probably why I top so many of my shots) but today I was moving huge chunks of ground with every strike. However, depth perception problems had no part of my crappy putting.
#3 Now, this was easily the longest course that I have played since my first foray back into golf at Newton Commonwealth last summer. As a result I needed to use my driver a lot, which is a club I don't usually have to use and therefore, I suck at it. Case in point; I teed the ball up nice and high and actually got too under it resulting in a sky high drive that went at most 30 yards. It went farther up than out. It also took me a couple minutes to find the ball, which is actually impressive considering how short it went. Meanwhile Josh was crushing the ball with his hybrid. Unfortunately his issues with chipping came back to get him as he got closer to the green. I didn't make solid contact until my third shot which skipped down the fairway and nestled in front of the green. A short pitch onto the green and more fun with putting ensued. These greens were really giving us trouble.
#4 Later in the season, Triggs grows tall grass in the low-laying areas of the course in an effort to make the course even more challenging. It's not there yet so for now the low laying areas are full of water, which is where Josh's first shot landed. The water wasn't deep, but it was surrounded by a ton of mud, so Josh just decided to leave it be and let the course claim the first lost ball of the day. My first shot had good distance but hooked at the end, hit the cart path and bounced away from the green. It took me two pitches to get onto the putting surface and after a very promising drive I had to settle for a very annoying 5.
#5 A short par 4 (less than 315 yards), that hooked to the right behind some trees about 40 yards front of the temporary tee box. I decided to be bold and try to go over the trees, because the shortest distance between two objects is a straight line. The longest distance between two objects happens if you hit a tree branch and the ball takes a sharp right into the wrong fairway. This concludes our science lesson for the round. I did have a nice sand save on this hole, but that was about the only saving grace here.
#6 You know, if you don't play well with your driver, then it's probably best to avoid a course as long as Triggs. My initial drive was a shot down the right side, but it curved up and around the sand trap, so at least I got some style points. After a nice solid shot down the center of the fairway, Josh's second took a hard turn into a mass of trees at the dogleg. I felt bad for the guy... apparently bad enough that I felt the need to hit my ball into the same mass of trees. I pulled out my rescue club and it, for once, actually rescued me. I managed to slice through the clump without hitting a single tree and my ball rolled up to within 20 feet of the green. A short pitch left me with a 30 footer to the hole. Despite thinking I had a good grasp on the speeds of the greens by now, my ball came up about 6 feet short. So much for that theory.
#7 Back to our wheelhouse, a nice par 3. As we surveyed it Josh began to list the factors that go into deciding which club to use. "Uphill and into some wind," he noted.
"Yes," I added. "And you're hungover. And my left eye won't stay in focus." (I just wanted to make sure all our excuses were out in the open.) Josh's initial drive was one of the better shots he would hit all day as he landed just short of the putting surface. Mine was more to the right, but after a worm burner I found myself with a short chip. On the green at three, I was content to putt for a bogey, while Josh had a chance at par. Unfortunately, we still just couldn't get the speed of the green's right and we both ended up with 5's.
#8 Coming off the green at #7 we ran into our friend from the first tee who had jumped in with the twosome behind us (guess us telling him how much we stunk scared him off). Apparently he didn't feel like going down hill on #6 and back up on #7, so he just skipped them. In the time it took the group ahead of us to get out of our driving range (OK, fine, our 'best case scenario' driving range) the others in his group finished #7 and came to the tee box on #8. I debated letting them play through, but there was another group on their heels, so it wouldn't have really mattered. Now, other than the obvious 'lack of talent', a main reason I don't think I would play well on the PGA Tour is the amount of people who watch you play. Under the watchful eye of these three I hit a pathetic tee shot down the right side of the fairway and my rescue club landed me in the sand. At least they weren't yelling tips at me from the tee box.
#9 Of course, because we had some time before the group caught up to us again, I crushed my best drive of the day; high and right down the middle of the fairway. I topped my second attempt, though, just to erase any good feelings I had built up. Josh, meanwhile, had shot over to the right, next to the same tree I was up against on #1. His second was impeded by hitting a good amount of roots, so it took him a third to get past me. We finally reached the green with hopes of salvaging the final hole of the day, but the greens continued to give us trouble. Short putts didn't break at all or ended up well passed the cup, and we were just happy to have survived the front 9.
Self Analysis
Bottom line, this course was just too long for my skill level at this time. I don't use my driver enough at the courses I usually play and therefore I'm not good with it, which makes a course with this many long par 4's more trouble than it's worth. Of course, I'm not going to get any better with my driver unless I play more of these longer courses, so it's a bit of the "chicken and the egg" syndrome. I need to put in some range time with my driver, but until I do I should stick to courses that are mostly 3's and 4's and not made up of more 4's and 5's.
Seeing that it is only mid-march there are some winter golf deals still around, if you can find a course that has opened for the season. With winter golf you get some bad with the good. The good is that the course isn't nearly as busy as it will be in a couple more weeks and the golf is usually cheaper. The bad is that you can't use the tee boxes yet so yardage is always a bit off and there are some areas of the course that aren't up to form yet. Just means lots of soggy parts of the fairways. Make sure you bring a clean towel, you're going to need it to clean your clubs.
Now, both Josh and I were feeling good after our round at Little Harbor so of course we decided to add a challenge for this round. Josh would attempt to play the round while pretty hung-over and I broke my glasses right after I arrived at the course so I would play with my vision messed up (They didn't snap so much as the lense over one eye kept moving. I had an awesome migraine by the 5th hole). Whatever, I love a good challenge; let's get this thing rolling.
Before we even got to the first tee, we got a lesson in life. In my everyday life, something about me makes people want to tell me their life story. But, when I'm on the golf course this phenomenon manifests itself into people wanting to give me advice. As we waited for the group ahead of us to get to the green we started chatting with an older guy who didn't seem to want to play, just talk to us.
"Have you been playing long?" he asked us. Only about a year, we replied.
"But," I added, "That works cause we both stink so it's better to play with someone close to your own skill level."
"No, it's not," he replied. "I'm a 9 handicap (show-off) but when I play with bad golfers they bring me down. Also, you need to take lessons. Change your whole perspective. I couldn't self-teach myself and neither can you." OK, good to know. We're going to go play n-. "Plus you need to realise that you're not making the PGA Tour. (ummm, I knew that immediately) Then you can just relax and have fun." Sir, we're trying, but you keep delaying our start.
#1 I was expecting to hit a descent first shot, cause that seems to be my thing this year. Instead I shot my drive right and up against a massive tree. Awesome start for me. My second got me back into the fairway, but I topped my third before I could hack my way to the green. Now, the greens at Triggs are very, very fast. They have a lot of slant to them, but because they are so fast they don't break nearly as much as you expect them to. It only took us 4 putts apiece to figure this out. Yikes - it was going to be a long afternoon.
#2 My initial drive off the tee was better as it was straight, though not high. I thought I would get another 10-15 yards of roll, but the ball hit a wet patch of the fairway and it stopped right there. Now, with six sand traps on this hole you would think I was in danger of landing in one of them but I miraculously avoided them all. I could tell that the lense of my glasses constantly shifting was giving me issues by the large divots I was ending up with. Normally I'm pretty conscious about not taking out huge divots (probably why I top so many of my shots) but today I was moving huge chunks of ground with every strike. However, depth perception problems had no part of my crappy putting.
#3 Now, this was easily the longest course that I have played since my first foray back into golf at Newton Commonwealth last summer. As a result I needed to use my driver a lot, which is a club I don't usually have to use and therefore, I suck at it. Case in point; I teed the ball up nice and high and actually got too under it resulting in a sky high drive that went at most 30 yards. It went farther up than out. It also took me a couple minutes to find the ball, which is actually impressive considering how short it went. Meanwhile Josh was crushing the ball with his hybrid. Unfortunately his issues with chipping came back to get him as he got closer to the green. I didn't make solid contact until my third shot which skipped down the fairway and nestled in front of the green. A short pitch onto the green and more fun with putting ensued. These greens were really giving us trouble.
#4 Later in the season, Triggs grows tall grass in the low-laying areas of the course in an effort to make the course even more challenging. It's not there yet so for now the low laying areas are full of water, which is where Josh's first shot landed. The water wasn't deep, but it was surrounded by a ton of mud, so Josh just decided to leave it be and let the course claim the first lost ball of the day. My first shot had good distance but hooked at the end, hit the cart path and bounced away from the green. It took me two pitches to get onto the putting surface and after a very promising drive I had to settle for a very annoying 5.
#5 A short par 4 (less than 315 yards), that hooked to the right behind some trees about 40 yards front of the temporary tee box. I decided to be bold and try to go over the trees, because the shortest distance between two objects is a straight line. The longest distance between two objects happens if you hit a tree branch and the ball takes a sharp right into the wrong fairway. This concludes our science lesson for the round. I did have a nice sand save on this hole, but that was about the only saving grace here.
#6 You know, if you don't play well with your driver, then it's probably best to avoid a course as long as Triggs. My initial drive was a shot down the right side, but it curved up and around the sand trap, so at least I got some style points. After a nice solid shot down the center of the fairway, Josh's second took a hard turn into a mass of trees at the dogleg. I felt bad for the guy... apparently bad enough that I felt the need to hit my ball into the same mass of trees. I pulled out my rescue club and it, for once, actually rescued me. I managed to slice through the clump without hitting a single tree and my ball rolled up to within 20 feet of the green. A short pitch left me with a 30 footer to the hole. Despite thinking I had a good grasp on the speeds of the greens by now, my ball came up about 6 feet short. So much for that theory.
#7 Back to our wheelhouse, a nice par 3. As we surveyed it Josh began to list the factors that go into deciding which club to use. "Uphill and into some wind," he noted.
"Yes," I added. "And you're hungover. And my left eye won't stay in focus." (I just wanted to make sure all our excuses were out in the open.) Josh's initial drive was one of the better shots he would hit all day as he landed just short of the putting surface. Mine was more to the right, but after a worm burner I found myself with a short chip. On the green at three, I was content to putt for a bogey, while Josh had a chance at par. Unfortunately, we still just couldn't get the speed of the green's right and we both ended up with 5's.
#8 Coming off the green at #7 we ran into our friend from the first tee who had jumped in with the twosome behind us (guess us telling him how much we stunk scared him off). Apparently he didn't feel like going down hill on #6 and back up on #7, so he just skipped them. In the time it took the group ahead of us to get out of our driving range (OK, fine, our 'best case scenario' driving range) the others in his group finished #7 and came to the tee box on #8. I debated letting them play through, but there was another group on their heels, so it wouldn't have really mattered. Now, other than the obvious 'lack of talent', a main reason I don't think I would play well on the PGA Tour is the amount of people who watch you play. Under the watchful eye of these three I hit a pathetic tee shot down the right side of the fairway and my rescue club landed me in the sand. At least they weren't yelling tips at me from the tee box.
#9 Of course, because we had some time before the group caught up to us again, I crushed my best drive of the day; high and right down the middle of the fairway. I topped my second attempt, though, just to erase any good feelings I had built up. Josh, meanwhile, had shot over to the right, next to the same tree I was up against on #1. His second was impeded by hitting a good amount of roots, so it took him a third to get past me. We finally reached the green with hopes of salvaging the final hole of the day, but the greens continued to give us trouble. Short putts didn't break at all or ended up well passed the cup, and we were just happy to have survived the front 9.
Self Analysis
Bottom line, this course was just too long for my skill level at this time. I don't use my driver enough at the courses I usually play and therefore I'm not good with it, which makes a course with this many long par 4's more trouble than it's worth. Of course, I'm not going to get any better with my driver unless I play more of these longer courses, so it's a bit of the "chicken and the egg" syndrome. I need to put in some range time with my driver, but until I do I should stick to courses that are mostly 3's and 4's and not made up of more 4's and 5's.
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