DATE: 11/25/2007 17:08:38 / MOOD: like playing 36 holes
Howdy Folks. Been away for a while. I recently retired at the end of October, and have spent most of November in Texas visiting my older brother. Back home in sunny Las Vegas now. After few hundred miles of snow/ice on the road, the desert is a welcome sight.
While in Texas I learned a new trick from another golfer that deals with putting and trying to figure out the break of a not so straight putt. He would look in the hole before he set up to putt. I finally asked him why he did that, and he told me he was reading the break near the hole. What he was looking at was the top rim of the plactic insert that was in the hole. If the distance from the top of the green to the top of the insert was equal completely 360* around the top of the insert, there was little or no break. If there was more dirt showing between the top of the insert, and the top of the green, on part of the hole, then this was the high side of the hole.
It's a little bit of info that could help. He did hole alot of putts, and I did notice that on some holes there actually was a difference in the amount of dirt showing around the circumference of the insert, and the top of the green.
Obviously it depends on how the greens keeper cuts the hole, and if the insert is actually touching the bottom of the hole. I asked him how he discovered this tid bit of information, and he told me he read about it in the book titled "Short Game For Dummies". I got a bit of a grin on my face on that answer, but then again, as I stated before, he did hole a lot of putts. Might be something to it.
DATE: 10/30/2007 00:11:44 / MOOD: like playing 36 holes
I played in a tournament this past weekend. First one in few years. I decided to play to put my game under some pressure to see how it would stand up. For 16 holes I was cruising right along with a 69, even with some poor putting. Not happy with that, as putting is one of my very strong points. On 17, I screwed the pooch on a 3 footer for a bogey 5 by reading a break that was not there. Still Ok, with a dog leg right par 5 waiting for me. With a par, I am looking at a 79. Then the poor decisions took over.
I had been hitting my 3w, and driver really well, keeping the ball in play. I also had a sizable lead over the rest of our foursome. So I figure if I can hit a fade, I can turn the corner, and be looking at a 3w to a reachable green. Two or less putts, and I have had a very good round of golf. Hitting the fade was my first bad decision. At the dogleg there is bunker, and a pond. Poor decision two by not respecting the hazards. I miss flying the bunker by a couple of inches which left me on the beach, with a high lip, and pond of water between me and the geen. The safe play would have been to hit out of the bunker on the low lip side, and get back into the fairway. Poor decisison 3 is when I think I can clear the lip, and the pond with my 5w, while neglecting the safe play. I hit the lip, and ball winds up wet. After dropping 3, and hitting four, and I am still a ways from the green. Poor decision 4 was not reading the pin placement correctly. I am on the green in 5, but have left myself a long 30 footer, from the lower tier. By not reading the pin placement correctly, I under clubbed myself. 3 putts later, I am writing a snowman 8 on my card for an 82.
Best shot of the day was on a 202 yard par 3 where I just missed an ace by a few inches, and settled for a nice tap in birdie.
Overall, the 82 was a good score since it was under tournament conditions, and on a course I had never played before. Problem was I don't get many chances to break 80 that often, and my poor judgement cost me a great chance to do so. Hopefully I will never forget the importance of par again.
DATE: 10/14/2007 14:02:28 / MOOD: like playing 36 holes
I learned something few years ago that has helped me with my overall game, and how to get more out of my practice routines. Most golfers have a handicap number assigned to their game, but this number covers their entire game. Off the tee, long/short approach shots for a “GIR“ percentage, short game chips, pitch shots, sand saves, and of course putting. It is not a new idea, and certainly not mine, but what if you were to break down the various parts of your game, and assign each part it’s own handicap? Would not that handicap number give you a point of reference to focus on during you practice sessions? Also, when keeping these handicap numbers, would you not see the improvement in those various areas?
This is what I have been doing that works well for me. I play on a course most of the time that has four par 3, eleven par 4s, and three par 5s. Below is an example, and can be changed to anyone’s personal needs.
There are 14 holes that require a tee shot that is supposed to land in the fairway. These same 14 holes require approach shots that are supposed to land on the green. The other four par 3 holes (from the tee box) require me to hit the green in one shot.
Just pulling numbers out of the air here.
14 tee shots, and I miss 6 fairways which cause me to have shots where I can’t reach the green in regulation. That would give a tee box handicap of 6.
Now I have 8 fairway shots to reach the greens in regulation . Of those 8 shots I miss the green 4 times, which means I have to take 4 extra shots to get on the green. This gives me a “GIR” handicap of 4.
Those 4 extra shots become part of my up & down game, which in a perfect world would be 4 chips, sand shots, or pitch shots and a 1 putt for par. If I only get two of these approach shots close enough where I one putt for par that leaves me an approach (U&D) handicap of 2. (This would be the same scenario for all par 3s when the green is missed from the tee box.)
Once on the green I have two putts or less to hole out. If I have a 40 total putts for the 18 holes, then I have a putting handicap of 4.
To recap;
Tee to fairway handicap…………………..6
Approach shots (GIRs) handicap…………4
U & D handicap…………………………..2
Par 3 U & D handicap…………………….2
Putting handicap………………………….4
Total handicap……………………………18
What this tells me is that I am weak off the tee, and my putting is in the toilet. The easier of the two to work on is putting. If I get my putts down to 32 putts per round, my putting handicap will be -4, with an over all handicap reduction of 10. A big improvement just by working on the easiest part of the game.
Now if I work on my off the tee game, and let’s say I improve from a 6 to 4 missed fairways, this will also reduce my GIR handicap since I playing from more favorable lies, more often. With my GIR handicap lower, this will also help lower my U & D handicap since I am hitting more greens in regulation. Lets say from these three aspects of my game I improve by 2 strokes, then my over all handicap will improve from a 10 to an 8. I know from doing this for several months that this overall 8 handicap will equal out to about a 12 handicap on the course.
The one key point to all of this is to use the numbers you obtain while playing an actual round of golf. Then use those numbers as a focal point as to the part of your game you need to practice on. You still need to practice on all the various aspects of your game, but with these numbers you will know where you need the most practice, which will benefit your game the most.
Hope this is of some help to your golf game. ....FHs
DATE: 10/04/2007 19:05:14 / MOOD: like playing 36 holes
Now that first Fed-Ex is over, and done with, I am still wondering why they needed all the points races, and qualifiers. It seems to me that all the qualifiers were already in place. Those qualifiers being the four majors. If they had selected the top 40 money winners (and ties) for the four majors, and put those players in the Fed-Ex tournament, that would have solved most, if not all the problems that have been discussed for this years Fed'Ex. At least all the players would have played every event leading up to the $10 mil final. Another plus would have been that the majors would have grown in stature, not that they needed the extra recognition. JMHO, and of course I am sure I don't have all the info as to why, and what for that the decisions were made for the first event.
DATE: 09/25/2007 12:19:43 / MOOD: like playing 36 holes
I thought I would post a blog on my home town which is Las Vegas, Nevada. I am actually a true native, being born and raised here. In fact the house I was born in is still around, and just down the hill from I now live. Like most big cities we have both good, and bad things going on around the area. Since we are a major tourist destination we get all types of folks visiting from many different countries. I am not part of the tourist industry, but I do run into some very interesting visitors on the golf course. I once bought a set of "Liguid Metal" golf clubs from a Korean gentleman. He flew into Vegas, purchased the clubs, used them twice, and ask me if I wanted them for $50, since he did not want to take back home to Korea. Still have them, out in the garage some where I think. They are probably worth alot less than $50 now.
I have provided a link to the history of the LV area. Also a link listing the many golf courses in, and around the LV area. Over the years I have golfed at all those listed, (except for few private ones) some even before they opened for business.
DATE: 09/09/2007 18:05:12 / MOOD: can't wait for it to cool down
There are some folks who, to bring about more competiveness on the PGA pro tour, are advocating changing the maximum club rule. Right now it is at a maximum 14 clubs per bag, per player. What has been suggested is to drop the 14 club rule down to 10 clubs. Although there are many reasons behind this possible 10 club rule, the major reasoning is to bring back shot making on the PGA tour. The second most talked about reason for the change is that the shorter hitters on tour can no longer compete with the longer hitters, on these longer courses they play on today, as opposed to yesteryear. Beliefs now are that with majority of the course set ups, all the pros need to do (bomb & gouge) is to just hit the ball as far as possible off the tee, with "some, or little" regard for accuracy. We saw this scenario played out often at the USO. Long balls winding up way down the fairway, only to land in the deep stuff. The rough on non majors is much, much shorter, and for the most part the longer hitters are still just wedge away from most par 4 greens.
IMHO, I'd like to see the club rule changed to 15 clubs max per bag, just so I can add another wedge to my bag make up, without taking a longer club out. I'd be agreeable to no maximum club rule. If you can carry 20, or 30 clubs, go for it I say. There was time when there was no maximum club limit. Some golfers of that no limit era would have as many 20-30+ clubs in their bag.
As for a 10 club maximum rule change, I don't think it will happen. The longer hitters on the PGA tour have too much clout. As longer hitters, they enjoy a head start in the race for birdies over the shorter hitters. I myself have played with 10 clubs when walking a course, using what I call a short bag simply to save weight, plus my walking bag is pretty well stuffed with 14 clubs. With only 10 clubs, I had to think about each shot more so than I normally do.
Anyone else with a opinion on this possible but improbable rule change, go ahead , and post up.
