How did you do?

[PaulBoy]

I know what you mean Dennis - Not that it's a laughing matter, but when I have a discussion about lightening & golf I am always reminded of what Lee Trevino allegedly said when he was asked about whether he was worried about playing when there was a threat of lightening? - I understand he was struck by lightening playing golf? - He said "If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron!"

 

[DennisMiller]

I know what you mean Dennis - Not that it's a laughing matter, but when I have a discussion about lightening & golf I am always reminded of what Lee Trevino allegedly said when he was asked about whether he was worried about playing when there was a threat of lightening? - I understand he was struck by lightening playing golf? - He said "If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron!"

Trevino did say that. No question about it. He recovered from a nearby strike and continued to play well into his senior tour years, but what's often forgotten is, Jerry Heard was with Trevino that day and also felt the effects of the same lightning strike. He never recovered and it drove him out of the game, a least as much as being competitive on the pro tour. He became a teaching pro after that.

It was a freak thing, with the two of them sitting at a table by a marsh in Chaska, Minnesota during a rain delay. Lightning struck near the other side of the marsh, traveled across it and jumped back on land to hit Trevino and Heard through their metal spikes. It exited through their backs, leaving burn marks. Both went on to have major back surgery and Trevino recovered, but Heard never did.

 

[Halebopp]

Ha, I made my first-ever eagle on a par 4 and also my first-ever eagle from off the green today!

A drive on the fairway left me with 112 metres to the hole from the middle of the fairway. I decided to use my (MP-4) PW and hit my stock wedge shot, which is a combination of a "half-swing" shot and a pitch shot. I aimed the shot a bit left of the flagstick as the green slopes to the right and hit it pretty much the way I wanted to. Because the green is slightly uphill, the only thing I could see was the first hop left of the flagstick only confirming the fact the ball most probably made its way onto the green. Rather anticlimactically no one else saw the ball go in either and we first searched for the ball behind and in front of the green before checking the hole.

Now, all that's missing is an eagle on a par 3 and an albatross on a par 5.

On a separate note, a couple of weeks ago I decided to put my MP-4s back into the bag and it's been an absolute blast! The feel so much better to hit than any cavity back. If they perform worse with some mishits, that's made up by the pure joy of the the good strokes.

 

[DennisMiller]

Congratulations Halebopp!

I've made a couple eagles on par 4 holes, but one was set up for a senior tournament to be a driveable par 4 and I left myself a tap in. I have made one albatross, back in 1978.

What frustrates me is, I made 4 hole in ones before the age of 25 and in the 50 years since, have only come as close as hitting the flagstick and bouncing 30 feet away. Next to that, I left myself a 3 foot putt one day last year and missed the damned thing.

 

[Halebopp]

Congratulations Halebopp!

I've made a couple eagles on par 4 holes, but one was set up for a senior tournament to be a driveable par 4 and I left myself a tap in. I have made one albatross, back in 1978.

What frustrates me is, I made 4 hole in ones before the age of 25 and in the 50 years since, have only come as close as hitting the flagstick and bouncing 30 feet away. Next to that, I left myself a 3 foot putt one day last year and missed the damned thing.

Thank you Dennis! I made my albatross hole in one all the way back in 2009, so the eagle has been waiting to happen for quite a while!

My guess is that the chances of getting a hole in one would go up the older you get as you start hitting lower shots that travel longer distances on the green. It's simply just more likely for the ball to drop with twenty metres of roll as opposed to with two metres. But you're still far too young to face such advantages!

 

[Halebopp]

Oops, I did it again!

An eagle that is! Today it was on a par 5 tenth hole. A nice little fade with the driver to the first cut on the right of the fairway. It's a dogleg right hole with a pond and some smaller trees on the inside corner. I had 206 metres to the hole and I had hit horrible shots with my three wood so I decided to "lay up" with the 17° MP-650 hybrid I had thrown into the bag for testing. It was a bit of a downhill lie so the ball took off a little low but straight. The ball brushed some leaves but I saw it bounce down the fairway thinking I'll be left with a little chip or pitch shot onto the green.

But, I found the ball almost pin high in the middle of the green. A three-metre downhill putt with a slight left-to-right break that seemed to flatten, or even turn right to left by the hole. The pace was good, the ball was dying by the hole but stayed too far left looking like it'll miss left. But luckily it grazed the lip, which sent the ball behind the hole where the ball stopped and fell in through the back door.

My fifth eagle ever and second in the past month!

Also made a fun par. On the third hole sliced my drive to some rough on the right. I had some 116 metres to the hole but my swing was weak and the PW was grabbed by the rough, the ball landed well short of the green. I measured the distance to the hole, some 49 metres. I hit the shot I planned with my 60° only to see the ball sail over the green and come down right in front of the hedgerow behind the green. But, thanks to the steep landing angle and the backspin, the ball didn't sink into the hedgerow, it slid down its outer edge and once it hit the ground in OB, the backspin returned the ball onto the course by maybe 10 centimetres. Needless to say that I holed the putt from the rough. I'm fairly certain I had measured the distance to the hedgerow instead of the flagstick as the ball was landing right there.

 

[DennisMiller]

Oops, I did it again!

Is that the Finnish Olympic Golf Team I hear knocking on your door?

 

[Halebopp]

Is that the Finnish Olympic Golf Team I hear knocking on your door?

They're not quite that desperate yet.

 

[PaulBoy]

Well played Halebopp! - Nice to hear the MP650 hybrid can still do the business!

 

[DennisMiller]

Just like the word UGLY has 4 letters, if I had kept score, my 9 holes this morning would have probably had 4 numbers in it.

Poor heat tolerance is a side effect of 2 medications I take and now that summer heat and humidity is here, it's really getting to me. It's not just difficulty with my physical stamina, but it's getting me mentally too.

I'm really scared I'm going to become one of those people who puts their clubs away for the summer.

 

[Halebopp]

Well played Halebopp! - Nice to hear the MP650 hybrid can still do the business!

Thank you Paul! I got curious about the combined age of the clubs used for the eagle, ST 180 driver came out in 2018, the MP-650 series in 2012 and the Bettinardi C-Series putter in 2006 (?). 36 years, not exactly the latest gear.

 

[Halebopp]

Just like the word UGLY has 4 letters, if I had kept score, my 9 holes this morning would have probably had 4 numbers in it.

Poor heat tolerance is a side effect of 2 medications I take and now that summer heat and humidity is here, it's really getting to me. It's not just difficulty with my physical stamina, but it's getting me mentally too.

I'm really scared I'm going to become one of those people who puts their clubs away for the summer.

I would play very little golf if I were to do that. I do put them away for the winter though. Maybe one or two visits to a simulator over the winter months but that's about it.

 

[Br1an_g]

Thank you Paul! I got curious about the combined age of the clubs used for the eagle, ST 180 driver came out in 2018, the MP-650 series in 2012 and the Bettinardi C-Series putter in 2006 (?). 36 years, not exactly the latest gear.

Congrats on the eagle. I'm still rocking my mp650 hybrids as well. And an original MP putter.

 

[Halebopp]

Congrats on the eagle. I'm still rocking my mp650 hybrids as well. And an original MP putter.

It was actually a "demo round" for the 17°. Sometimes I have the 22° in my bag but as I was hitting it well for once, I wanted to also try the 17°. Unfortunately I don't have the 19°.

There was a Mizuno demo day yesterday and we figured out the 230 Max hybrid at 19° with the Steelfiber 880 F4 was fantastic for me. But, out of the blue I also happened to hit my 650 3 wood really well. Now I need to go hit the 5 wood again on the range to see if that's the solution for me for now.

My TSR2 fairway is certainly easier to launch but directionslly the 650s are much better with their fade. If I learned to launch the 650s again, I'd absolutely love them.

 

[DennisMiller]

Yesterday, I hit the ball about 36 times in 9 holes, with an X score on 2 holes... It was horrible.

Speaking of what selection of clubs you have in your bag, I have my own quandary, but it's really an indication of how pig headed I am.

I have an old JPX 800 model 2 hybrid, 17*, senior flex. I have no idea why I mishit my 3 wood so frequently, usually topping it, but if I had any sense, I'd ditch fairway woods and just hit that 2 hybrid. I only lose about 5 yards on average between the woods and the hybrid, but I hit the hybrid squarely 90% of the time.

 

[Br1an_g]

Shot 91 43/48 round royal troon yesterday. Stunning course in great condition give or take a few areas now gur from stands being dismantled. Very lucky with the weather, packed for torrential rain and ended up needing sun cream. Been struggling with a back injury which flares up at the turn but managed to hold it together and finished with par on 17 and 18.. and yep, hit the postage stamp. 122 yards to pin, hit an 8 iron straight into the wind to land front right with a back pin. 2 putt par.

 

[PaulBoy]

Well done Brian - Breaking 100 on a championship Links course is a great effort - I managed the same at Royal Portush, Muirfield & Birkdale - Felt like I was walking on air when I finished - Needed decent weather to achieve it mind you ...

 

[PaulBoy]

I play in the Wednesday Fiddle at my home club & yesterday was a special one to celebrate it's 40th Anniversary - After a period of good form, I teed off receiving 5 shots in an 18 hole stableford competition - There were several bonus prizes on offer (nearest the pin on 2x par 3's / 2x par 4.s / 1x par 5) - There was also a prize for the player with the most pars & birdies in their round - I didn't expect to feature in the main prize due to the higher handicaps in the field, but felt I had a good chance in the pars & birdie comp - I started well & at the turn had made 9x pars - I kept the run going & added birdies on 12 (par 5) & 15 - After 16 holes I was two under par - Although I did par the last, I made a poor swing on 17 (par 3) & dropped my only shot - One under par is my best round at Army GC & 42pts was also the winning score, pipping one of the high handicaps who had 41pts (including 25pts on the tough back 9!)
My score resulted in a 1.0 reduction to my WHS handicap (now 4.3) - In June this year I was 9.1 getting 10 shots
Don't know how long it will last, but "living the dream" at the mo

 

[DennisMiller]

WOW! I'm envious of your good play Paul.

I'm currently rereading the George Peper book St Andrews Sojourn, in which he briefly explains the handicap system he had to learn after moving to st Andrews and becoming a member of the R&A. I found it interesting that they only calculate handicap based on tournament rounds and playing well will drop your handicap, almost regardless of poor rounds that may have been played in the recent past.

About 65 years ago, my father was on the handicap committee at our club in Louisville. They would have meetings in the form of parties, usually at our house. It would start with gathering all the recorded scores for each individual, figuring the average number over par, and deducting one stroke to be your handicap. Thus, if you spent a month playing an average of 10 over par, your handicap for the coming month would be 9.

I never understood why it had to be more complicated than that until the slope system was invented. That made great sense to me.

 

[PaulBoy]

Hi Dennis & thank you for your kind comments - My only beef with WHS is that here in the UK we were told before it was introduced that we would have to submit cards for all rounds played (competition & non-competition) - However when it arrived they decided to make it optional to submit cards for non-competition rounds - Sadly in my experience this has resulted in some players "manipulating" their handicaps (usually upwards) resulting in them having a higher handicap & an unfair advantage on the majority of players (within my circle of friends) who do submit a card every time they play?
I am at a loss why they changed the plan from compulsory to optional? - They say that golf is based on the integrity of the golfer, but I'm sure we have all come across golfers who lack integrity & will abuse the system for their own gain? - It has spoiled my enjoyment of the game both in competitions & socially ...
/rant over!