Washington Golf Club, Member-Guest - Washington, CT
On a weekend that was forecast to be by all accounts, washed out, the Washington Golf Club Member Guest Tournament that my Dad and I have played in each year since my handicap has allowed us to get into the championship flight (this being the second of those years) went off as planned. Twenty-seven teams of members and their guests, fifty four total golfers, brought their rain gear in tow on Friday afternoon hoping that they would be able to avoid the torrential downpours that were excpeted throughout the weekend.

For those of you who have never played in a Member Guest tournament before, here is a Member Guest 101. The golfers are divided into flights based on aggregate team handicap. Each flight in this case consisted of five to seven teams of two golfers. Within each flight there is a nine hole match play round robin where +/- holes from each match are cumulative throughout the weekend. For example, if your team lost 4 holes in the first match and won 2, you would be -2 for that match. If in the next match you go +2, your total cumulative score moves to even. This progresses through the round robin style tournament to determine a flight champion. Each match is played in a best ball format net of handicaps, with strokes given off of the lowest handicap in the group.

With the rains that we have had in the Northeast lately, the course was wet but in remarkable shape. The rains however did cause one problem for the tournament, No Carts Allowed on the course. So there you had 54 golfers of varying ages and health walking 54 holes in 3 days on a very hilly and wet golf course. Caddies were available in short supply and those uncapable of walking were allowed carts (about 4 teams rode over the weekend).

Scorecard: 

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | in | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | out | total 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Par  4 4 3 5 4 4 3 4 4 | 35 |  4  4  3  5  4  5  3  4  4 |  36 |  71

Washington Golf Club is a diabolical nine hole course where the shots are blind, the holes are tight, and the greens are as fast and as sloped as you will find anywhere. The first hole requires an accurate tee shot to the corner of a short dogleg and a delicate 80 -90 yeard shot into a tightly gaurded and hard to hit green. Downhill off the tee and dramatically uphill back to the green, the par 4 second hole has a greent hat will drive you crazy. Sloped from back to front, any shot on the back or over the green will take yyou out of the hole for sure. The third hole is a challenging, but straight forward par 3, followed by a dogleg left par 5 with another devilish green. The fith hole is among the tightest driving holes on the course and the sixth has the hardest green to hit on the course. The seventh is a tiny greened 110 yard par 3, the eigth a tight par 4, and the ninth a drivable par 4. The course is kept in immaculate condition and always plays fair.

Friday of the tournament is used to get in a best ball net nine hole tournament as a practice round. My father and I, defending Friday champions went out and fired a 5 under par 30 capped off by a natural birdie/net eagle on the par 4 5th hole when my downhill 25 footer hit the back of the cup for a three. Coming off of that high, and with an extra $200 in our pockets, we felt good about our chances going into the weekend.

Match 1
Our first match was very closely competed. After going down two holes early and not playing that well, we turned it up going to the ninth hole even. My Dad drove the green and while staring down an eagle putt, watched our opponent drain a bunker shot for an eagle of his own. After my Dad missed the putt to halve, we left our first match down one.

Match 2
Our second match saw us play our worst of the tournament. We couldn't get anything rolling and ended up losing 3 when we should have at least won 1. I did manage to drive the ninth green myself this time around only to 3 putt for par and a halve.

Match 3
Our last match of the first day was our best outcome as we took two from the defending champoins once again getting down early and coming back on the last four holes with a flury of wins to put us at -2 for the tournament well behind the first day leaders at +6.

Match 4
Our first match of the second day against the leading team was showcase to soem great golf with birdies winning or halving many of the holes, including the ninth hole, which we lost to lose the match -1 and move to -3 for the tournament.

Match 5
Our final match of the tournament was lethargic at best. Out of the running, we got pushed around by a pair of low handicaps who were playing their best round of the tournament against one of our worst. We ended up down 3 and -6 for the tournament.

Oh....and remember that rain that I was talking about, we did get more than five minutes of it while on the course all weekend!

Overall: B-
Driving: A
Irons: C-
Approach: C
Chipping: B
Putting: B
Course Management: B

Weekend Results:
Qualifing Best Ball Net Tournament: -5, Tournament Winner
Match 1: -1 hole
Match 2: -3 holes, -4 total
Match 3: +2 holes, -2 total
Match 4: -1 hole, -3 total
Match 5: -3 holes, -6 total

Records:
Because of the nature of the best ball format, I didn't keep a running tally of scores for my own ball. I did play 63 holes over the weekend and did have two natural birdies, no eagles, numerous pars, and a variety of bogeys, doubles, and triples.

Sonoma National Golf Club - Sonoma, CA
I managed to sneak in a round of golf during my vacation to Wine Country, CA at Sonoma National Golf Club. Sonoma National is a very nice course that winds around the vineyards of Sonoma Valley. I played relatively well considering I played with rental clubs which I normally hit very poorly. I drove almost every fairway and played well around the greens. However, my iron play from 125-150 was horrible, verging on the shanks. I will chalk this mostly up to the unfamiliarity with the rental irons and move on. My one birdie opportunity was a result of 145 yard 9 iron approach shot from the center of the fairway that I stuck and stopped within 5 feet of the pin and drained the birdie putt.

Overall: B
Driving: A-
Irons: C
Approach: C-
Chipping: B
Putting: B
Course Management: B+


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | in | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | out | total
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Par 4 5 4 3 4 4 3 5 4 | 36 | 4 4 4 5 3 4 5 3 4 | 36 | 72
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Score 5 7 4 5 6 7 3 5 4 | 46 | 3 5 5 5 4 6 5 3 5 | 41 | 87


Records:
Greens Fees: $90
Equipment Expenses: $110.92
Food & Drink: $0
Holes: 18
Shots: 87
Lost Balls: 3
Pars: 4
Birdies: 1
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 10
Doubles: 3
Triples+: 0

Washington Golf Club, One Day Member-Guest - Washington, CT
I ventured down to Connecticut to one of the courses that I learned to play the game of golf on with my Dad as his guest in a one day member guest tournament. The threat of weather, which thankfully and to the credit of Head Pro Fran Hoxie never materialized, kept the field to 6 two person teams. But we ventured ahead hoping for the best and getting it. I started out well. I hit a perfect 4 wood off the first tee and managed a bogey after I missed a par putt by inches on the side. Then duplicated my drive on the par 4 second hole, leaving me with an extremely uphill, 100 yard SW approach that I nailed pin high within 8 feet to secure my first birdie of the year. I continued to hit the ball well, with the exception of the par 4 sixth on my way in to a 42 on the front nine. I tired a little on the back having woken up early to drive down to CT for the round, stumbling home with a 44, leaving me with an 86 for the round. My Dad shot a solid 81 and we took home first place in the tournament coming in with a 75 gross best ball score. Thanks Dad for a great day!

Overall: B+
Driving: A
Irons: B+
Approach: B
Chipping: C
Putting: B
Course Management: B+


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | in | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | out | total
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Par 4 4 3 5 4 4 3 4 4 | 35 | 4 4 3 5 4 5 3 4 4 | 36 | 71
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Score 5 3 4 5 6 7 3 5 4 | 42 | 5 5 3 6 5 7 4 5 4 | 44 | 86


Records:
Greens Fees: $0
Equipment Expenses: $0
Food & Drink: $0
Holes: 18
Shots: 86
Lost Balls: 0
Pars: 5
Birdies: 1
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 9
Doubles: 2
Triples+: 1

Pine Meadows - Lexington, MA
Got off this morning, pumped up after watching the US Open this weekend. I hit alot of fairways today and got on/around the greens in regulation. My highlight of the round was a 30 foot putt for par on the par 3 4th hole. I did nothing spectacular today, but trucked around for a nice round of 41 on a very easy nine holes.

Overall: B
Driving: B
Irons: B
Approach: B
Chipping: C+
Putting: B+
Course Management: B


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | total
------------------------------------------
Par 5 5 4 3 4 3 4 4 3 | 35
------------------------------------------
Score 6 5 5 3 5 4 4 5 4 | 41


Records:
Greens Fees: $18
Equipment Expenses: $0
Food & Drink: $0
Holes: 9
Shots: 461
Lost Balls: 0
Pars: 3
Birdies: 0
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 6
Doubles: 0
Triples+: 0

Leo J. Martin Golf Course - Weston, MA
Well, the golf gods giveth and they taketh away. I couldn't get out of my own way today. I hit the ball poorly from tee to green, although I did putt well. I got off early this morning and was the first one off the back nine at Leo J. Martin. The back nine here is a difficult nine holes. It has a very pretty and challenging layout on a course that is not always the best maintained course around and has a horrible front nine. I had no ability to focus today. My routine was off and I didn't feel comfortable over the ball at all. That being said, it is always nice to get out on the golf course. I did manage to take a few extra chips and putts around the green because I was playing alone with noone in front of me. I was chipping so poorly, I switched up to pitching with my 52 degree Ping sand wedge instead of my traditional 56 degree Cleveland wedge. I found myself hitting better chips, but that was probably due to more focus instead of the club selection. I was fast with my driver today pulling and hooking the ball low and left and slow with the irons, hitting alot fat and pushing the ball right. Chalk it up to a day where I wasn't up to par mentally.


Overall: C
Driving: C-
Irons: B-
Approach: B-
Chipping: C
Putting: B+
Course Management: B


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | total
------------------------------------------
Par 3 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 5 | 36
------------------------------------------
Score 4 5 4 5 6 5 6 4 7 | 46


Records:
Greens Fees: $17
Equipment Expenses: $0
Food & Drink: $0
Holes: 9
Shots: 46
Lost Balls: 2
Pars: 1
Birdies: 0
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 6
Doubles: 2
Triples+: 0

Pine Meadows Golf Course - Lexington, MA
Anxiously waking up and looking out the window, my eyes lit up with the sight of an overcast, but dry sky. Finally, I would be able to take advantage of a break in the weather, wake up early, head out to Pine Meadows for a quick 9 holes (only took 2 hours). I have been looking forward to playing since my two new Cleveland Fairway woods arrived in the mail. Driving over to the course, I fought the negative feelings that come when you haven't had a chance to get out on the course for a few weeks. I got to the course at 7 am, and was able to walk right out with a three-some getting ready to tee off the first hole within five minutes of arriving. With the first hole being a straight and open par five hole, I took out the driver and laced it 270 to the 210 yard mark. The 210 yardage provided me with my first opportunity to break out my newly acquired 7-wood. I put a nice swing on it, pushing it slightly right, but hitting it solidly ending up pin high ten yards right of the green. My first chip ended up coming up short of the green after barely flying the trap in the way. I managed to get up and down for a nice opening par.

After another great drive (265) and another par on a par 5, we headed to the short 241 yard uphill par 4. I stroked the 7-wood nicely off the tee and managed to chip around for another par. As the round continued, I continued to drive the ball incredibly, consistently 260-270 and as an arrow. With the course being so short, not once did I have a full iron approach shot which was frustrating, because my 30-70 yard game is below average. I did manage to make a few nice chips and putts coming home. Overall, I hit the ball much better than the 5 over par 40 that I ended up with. Had I been able to get my 50 yard game in order today, I could have had a slew of birdie opportunities.

While I was unable to break out the new 3-wood today, I can give an initial review of the 22 degree 7-wood that matches it. The club has a great look to it as you stand over it. It is nicely weighted and the Launcher Gold shaft has a nice feel to it. The most interesting thing I noticed today is how much more solid the ball feels on impact than the Callaway Fairway woods that I am used to. The Callaway's have a very explosive, bouncy feel at impact. The Cleveland 7-wood felt much more solid. The only comparison that I can make is to a tennis racquet that has been strun gloosely vs. tightly. I can't wait to get a few more swings with it and get a better read on it. I believe that the yardage that I can hit the 7-wood is about 210-220.

Overall: B+
Driving: A+
Irons: B-
Approach: C+
Chipping: B-
Putting: B
Course Management: B+


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | total
------------------------------------------
Par 5 5 4 3 4 3 4 4 3 | 35
------------------------------------------
Score 5 5 4 4 5 3 5 5 4 | 40


Records:
Greens Fees: $18
Equipment Expenses: $0
Food & Drink: $0
Holes: 9
Shots: 40
Lost Balls: 2
Pars: 4
Birdies: 0
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 5
Doubles: 0
Triples+: 0

Tiger, Golf for Charity, Rain, and other thoughts
Why is it that whenever Tiger goes through a month without wowing the media with another god-like performance, we all start to ask questions like, "What's wrong with Tiger Woods?" On the front door of the hype-machine that is ESPN.com there is a picture of Tiger with the headline "Open Concerns?". Reading a little deeper, Bob Harig goes on to ask the same question about people questioning Tiger's play as of late and answers with a tongue and cheek response:

"All he has done this year is win his first tournament back after a five-week break at the start of the year due to knee surgery. He won again at the Match Play Championship. And then he won the Bay Hill Invitational, his fourth straight victory in that event. But in the "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately department'' ... Woods has now played three straight tournaments without a top-10. Uh-oh. Seems kind of silly, doesn't it?"

Tiger's performance has been lower than years past for only one reason. He has not played as much golf this year as he has in the past. As most great atheletes do in their respective sports, Tiger is planning his season around the four tournaments that he covets the most; the Major Champoinships. His showing at the Masters was Tiger-like, Sunday's front nine withstanding where he was clearly rattled by an early mistake in club selection and I find it hard to criticize his play until Sunday of the upcoming US Open is completed, or at least until his showing at the Memorial this weekend.

On the radio this morning in Boston local morning team on the sports radio station WEEI, Dennis and Callahan, were auctioning off the opportunity for six golfers to play a round with the two of them at the International Golf Club in Bolton. The procceds went to benefit the Genesis Fund charity for children born with birth defects. The winning bid ended up at $2,000 or $333 greens fees per person. Meanwhile D&C are clearly getting the best end of this sitck with a free round of golf at a great course with 6 people who will hang on their every word.

Meanwhile, the chances of me getting out on the course this week took a big hit today. My car is in the shop and this morning there was sun shining in an unexpected break from the rain we have been having. With no car, I was unable to capitalize on the fortuitous break. And you guessed it, the rains are coming back again before tomorrow morning comes around. While I will always hold out hope that I can sneak in nine during a 3 hour break in the weather, this is getting frustrating.

Rain, Rain, Go Away..Don't make me play Golden Tee another day
You would think that a three day weekend with a useless Friday on the front end would yield at least 2 rounds of golf; but when it rains constantly for 4 days, the chances of getting out to the golf course are slim! Normally, rain can't keep me away from the course. But lately I have had plans to hook up with a few buddies and play. For some reason, the let downof people cancelling due to inclement weather sucks all the motivation for going to the course from me. So, instead of hitting the links, we hit a local bar, The Cherry Tree, to play 3 rounds of Golden Tee and complain about the weather. For those of you unfamiliar with Golden Tee, it is perhaps, the greatest bar arcade game ever created. You swing the club by pulling back and slamming forward a roller ball. By pulling the ball back and pushing it forward in different directions you can shape your shots pretty dramaticly. I am consistently around or even par to -8 on the pro level courses, putting me in the "better than average" bucket as far as Golden Tee competition goes. However, as fun as it is, it doesn't compare to getting out on the course. I will play this week, rain or shine!

2000 Golf Diary Reconstructed
I have managed to reconstruct my 2000 golf diary that used to be housed under www.breakingeighty.com, a web domain that I have since lost (dumb, dumb me) and posted it on my server space at AT&T. While tis fun to look back at some of the rounds, it is pretty scary back there as well.

Revist the year 2000 and Breakingeighty.com

Rained Out (at least we've got Annika part II)
I was hoping to get out and play nine holes this morning, but unfortunately, some bad weather scared away my playing partners and I choose to pass on playing on my own in the rain. Usually weather can't stop me from playing a round, but I am heading down to test my luck at the casino tonight and thought that I should spend a little time getting some work done. I was especially looking forward to today's round as it was my first chance to test out my new Cleveland Launcher 15 degree and 22 degree Fairway woods. Alas, the product testing will have to wait until next week.

On the bright side, the bad weather gives me an excuse to watch Annika's second round at the Colonial. In her first round yesterday, Annika played a tee to green game as good as any round that I have seen shooting a +1 71. The most compelling part of watching Annika play is how she manages her way around the course hitting yardages close to those that I hit and having to come into greens without the spin and stick that the male pros have. While her putting let her down, needing 33 putts to get around the course, with less nerves today I expect more consistent play on the greens. It should be another great round today.

Annika Plays with the Men
With Annika Sorenstam getting ready to tee it up at the Colonial tomorrow, I figured that I would record my two cents on the topic and dole out a few predictions. I, for one, am happy that she is pushing herself and seeing how well the best female golfer of our time stacks up against the best men. I think whe will put in a suprisingly good showing, hovering right around the cut line at even par to +4 come Friday night. If she makes the cut, I expect her best round to come on Saturday. Her confidence will be high, momentum on her side. One thing that I can say for sure is that she will not finish dead last.

Here is one statistic for you to chew on as you watch Annika play this week: The Colonial is 600 yards longer than the course she is used to playing on the LPGA tour. Handicap ratings systems would tell you that 600 yards is equivilant to 3 strokes. Annika's current LPGA scoring average is 68, which means that she is likely to shoot on average, a 71 at Colonial. That would put her +2 after Friday and most likely get her into this weekends play. Given that Vegas oddmakers have her over/under at 75, you tell me what the safe bet is? or do the Vegas statisticians know something that we don't? I take the under.

Equipment Purchase - Cleveland Fairway Woods (3, 7)
I finally received my new Cleveland clubs which I will happily review for everyone upon the completion of my next round. They look great and have a nice feel to them. I ended up going with the 15 degree and 22 degree woods with the stock Launcher Gold shaft and Golf Pride Tour Wrap grips. I managed a few connections and got them a little below wholesale cost, which I am very excited about.

Equipment Expenses: $240

SMMcT Invitational - Waterbury Country Club - Waterbury, CT
"In everyone's life a little rain must fall" and if it clears by the 5th or 6th hole we'll keep on playing. Yesterday was our 4th attempt at taking home our high school alma mater's, St. Margaret's McTernan, bi-annual golf invitational. Let me preface this by explaining the term "our" a little bit. Our = our team. Every other year for the past eight years, Ryan Murphy (12 Handicap), Bob Clark (24), Jimmy Clarke (18), and myself (14) lace up the golf shoes, fork over a solid chunk of change to our old high school's parents' association, and try to beat the field at the SMMcT Invitational, which for the second consecutive time was being held at Waterbury Country Club (of which one of our team members, Jimmy, happens to be a member). The first year, playing as the only group of recent alumns of the school, we managed to ham and egg our way around Watertown Country Club to the tune of 3rd place in a best ball scramble format. We followed that up with another 3rd place finish at The Farms Golf Club, then managed to pull down a second place finish in the tournament's first year at Waterbury CC. So needless to say, we entered the day with great expectations.

I arrived at the course about 11 am after visiting my Grandmother for a belated Mother's Day celebration and was greeted by my teammate Bob Clark. Bob is an ex-hockey and baseball player with great athletic ability and a natural golf swing. His only problem is there is a little too much slapshot and a little too much baseball in his swing. With a little work on his setup, he could get very good, very fast. Bob and I exhanged a few pleasantries and ambled over to the registration table where we ran into our team's lowest handicap and team anchor, Ryan Murphy. Murph was the stalwart of the high school golf team back in the day and has a contistency from tee to green that I can only dream of. When his touch around the green is on, he can play like a 5 or 6 handicap. He recently had his first child, a son Jake, who I am sure will have his first club in his hands within the next six months. After registering our team and purchasing a few mulligans for the team. I guess the going rate for mulligans these days is $25 for 2, with a max of eight per team. We talked a little mulligan use strategy (which would later pay dividends) deciding that we would primarily use the do-overs on missed putts from under 15 feet that would have saved the team a stroke. We would eventually use 6 mulligans on putts and make the second putt 5 times effectively shaving 5 strokes off of our score. All in all, that is money well spent.

After putting around the putting green for a little while, we decided to drop another $25 each on the putting contest. Everyone that entered the $200 purse contest had 3 shots at sinking one very tricky downhill, left to right putt. Needless to say, I missed my three badly, as did Rob (also known as Bob, they are relatively interchangable), when Murph dropped his third attempt into the bottom of the cup to share the purse with the only other golfer to make the putt. As we congratulated Murph and ventured on up to grab a pre-tourney meal, our final partner, Jimmy Clarke arrived. Jimmy is most well known throughout our high school for his Mr. Rogers impression and is a member of the Waterbury CC. While he is 6'2", he has clubs built for a 5'9" tall man and a swing that reminds me more of Mr. Rogers than his impression. We all hope that his home course knowledge and strokes he is getting are good for a few holes here and there.

We finish lunch and get to our carts, hit the gas, and head off to the 14th hole for our shotgun start. The 14th is a 210 yard par 3. Starting off a round with a 3 iron approach shot isn't the way I like to get my swing grooved. After the first round of tee shots, there was nary a ball on the green. I started out a little rough, hitting the ball great off the tee and getting to the greens nicely. Unfortunately, my short game got me off to a bogey, double, bogey start. But I was hitting the ball too well not to start scoring. Meanwhile our team, while bombing the yellow ball all over the course, was quickly a few under par with our net score. As we rounded the 18th and made the early turn back to the first, the skies opened and we had to traverse our first of two torrential downpours. But that didn't stop us, as we trucked along and started to catch a little groove. I managed 3 pars and 2 bogeys over my next 5 holes, with a bunch of birdie opportunities that just wouldn't drop. Our team continued its assault on the net score leaderboard. A double bogey on the 6th hole, intterupted my run, but I managed to the next three holes completing the inward nine in 39 strokes. While I struggled home ending up with a 39-43, 82 for the round, our team ended up -14 net and placed 3rd in the tourney thanks to Murph's solid 75 with 2 natural birds (net eagles). All in all, a great day! As we walked off the course, you could see a full rainbow, arching through the air and settling on the 18th green. It was almost like the leprechaun gaurding his pot of gold had hidden it beneath the flag. A fitting end to a day I look forward to every other year!

Overall: B
Driving: B+
Irons: A-
Approach: A-
Chipping: B-
Putting: B
Course Management: B


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | in | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | out | total
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Par 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 5 | 35 | 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 | 34 | 69
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Score 5 4 3 5 4 6 4 3 5 | 39 | 5 6 3 5 4 6 5 4 5 | 43 | 82


Records:
Greens Fees: $250
Equipment Expenses: $0
Food & Drink: $0
Holes: 18
Shots: 82
Lost Balls: 2
Pars: 7
Birdies: 0
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 8
Doubles: 3
Triples+: 0

Leo J. Martin Memorial Golf Course - Weston, MA
I was able to sneak in a quick nine this morning at a course only a few miles from my home that I frequent often. I got to the course 10 minutes before 7 am this morning and got off the first tee straight away without a wait. I was able to play the loop on my own without pressure from behind me enabling me to practice arund the greens after each hole before heading to the next tee. While I drove the ball extremely well and nailed a few fairway woods, my irons were a little loose. I lost the incredible can't miss feel that I had over the weekend. It is amazing how you can see parts of your game excel one day and flop the next and vice versa. Today I was pulling the irons and not getting alot of good looks at birdie. The bright side was that I managed to putt and chip much better than yesterday.

Overall: B
Driving: A
Irons: B-
Approach: C+
Chipping: B
Putting: B+
Course Management: B


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | total
------------------------------------
Par 4 5 3 5 3 4 4 4 4 | 36
------------------------------------
Score 6 5 4 5 3 5 4 5 5 | 42


Records:
Greens Fees: $17
Equipment Expenses: $0
Food & Drink: $0
Holes: 9
Shots: 42
Lost Balls: 1
Pars: 4
Birdies: 0
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 4
Doubles: 1
Triples+: 0

Monday's Daily Golf Site - Golfballs.com
Since I needed to make my first golf ball purchase of the summer in preperation for the SMMcT Alumni Golf Tourney one week from today, I ventured over to Golfballs.com to do some shopping. This site has a great selection of both new and used golf balls at resonable prices. You can usually find what you are looking for at a fair price. If you ever need logo or personalized messages on your ball, this is a great place to start. One thing missing from the site is a golf ball selection tool that could help solve the mystery; what type of ball is right for me? I ended up going with a dozen of my trusty Titliest Pro V1 balls for next weeks tourney.

Records:
Equipment Expenses: $46.59

Hop Brook Golf Club - Naugatuck, CT
Standing over birdie putts are not a feeling that I am used to on a regular basis. This is usually a result of my inability to get on greens in regulation, watching my approach shots nestle just off the green (or worse). But today (Sunday, 5/4), something felt marketably different. I scrambled around the first hole ending with a double bogey 7. Then strung back to back pars together with birdie attempts on each hole. I could feel my putter was going to be trouble all day. The touch and feel that I started the season with was missing. This was never more apparent than my 3 putt bogey on the par 4 4th hole. After hitting a sand wedge 10 feet beyond the stick on the short 112 yard par 3 5th hole, I proceeded to miss my birdie attempt badly, scrambling for par. The trend continued all day long; mediocre off the tee (except for my bomb on the 15th hole), excellent iron play, and horrible short game. I was leaking strokes all day, making "should have been a par" bogeys and "had a solid chance at bird" pars. Then there were the occasional blow ups where I hemorrhaged strokes on a few ill fated holes. All in all I managed my way around the easy and forgiving Hop Brook Golf Course with an 89. A nice warm up for the St. Margaret's McTernan High School Alumni Tournament next Monday.

Our round today was a warm up for 3/4 of our team on Monday; myself, Rob Clark, and Ryan Murphy. In lieu of our delinquent 4th team member, Mike Murphy, Ryan's brother, stepped in. Murph (Ryan) played his usual steady tee to green game and scored well with an 81 highlighted by a 15 foot birdie putt that snaked down a solid hill and into the hole on 12. The older Murphy came in with the shot of the day on the 180 yard par 3 16th hole placing a 5 iron within 2 feet of the cup and tapping in for birdie.


Overall: B-
Driving: C-
Irons: A
Approach: A
Chipping: C
Putting: D
Course Management: B


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | in | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | out | total
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Par 5 4 4 4 3 5 3 4 4 | 36 | 5 4 4 4 3 5 3 4 4 | 36 | 72
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Score 7 4 4 5 3 6 4 6 6 | 45 | 8 4 4 5 3 5 4 5 6 | 44 | 89


Records:
Greens Fees: $23
Equipment Expenses: $0
Food & Drink: $1.00
Holes: 18
Shots: 89
Lost Balls: 2
Pars: 7
Birdies: 0
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 6
Doubles: 4
Triples+: 1

Hangover and Rain
I was totally looking forward to playing 9 holes before work this morning. But unfortunately a solid combination of bad weather and a bottle of wine plus at dinner while out celebrating my birthday squashed those plans pretty quickly. It looks like my next round won't be until Sunday morning in CT. Sometimes, good plans just go bad!

Tueday's Golf Book Review - The Green by Troon McAllister

The Green is a truly classic tale of a municipal course shark, Eddie Caminetti, who wows his way to a captain's selection to the upcoming Ryder Cup competition by beating the US captain, Alan Bellamy, in a $20,000 one-on-one match. As the competition for golf's greatest prize unfolds, you are introduced to an interesting cast of characters (some of whom, you might recognize as having counterparts on the PGA Tour) and an unbelievable sequence of events. Eddie Caminetti is such an infectious character, that you just get the feeling that he may show up in a sequel soon (I'll bet you on that one).

Monday's Daily Golf Site - Cleveland Golf
Through a few connections, I have the opportunity to purchase some equipment from Cleveland for 20% off wholesale costs. I currently have a Cleveland 588 56 degree chrome wedge in my bag. Outside of my putter, I would venture to guess that it is the most used club in my bag. While I have always known Cleveland to be a great manufacturer of wedges, I was unsure of their profiencency with fairway woods. I have been looking for a 3 and 7 wood to compliment my 4 wood for some time. So I figure that i might as well give Cleveland's Launcher Fairway Woods a chance. So today, I will be placing my order for a 15 degree and 22 degree Launcher Fairway Wood with the S-Flex Launcher Gold shaft and Golf Pride Tour Wrap grips.

The Cleveland site does a good job of showcasing their product lines. Although I would like to have a better suite of images to view the clubs from different angles (360 degree rotating image would be ideal) and there are no links out to thier resellers to facilitate a purchase. For a manufacturer's website I give Clevelandgolf.com a B-. What it gets in smooth design and understandable navigation it lacks in content and functionality. The flash Wedge Selection system has promise, but ultimately leaves me still thirsting for more content and information to aide my purchase process.

Pine Meadows Golf Course - Lexington, MA
While I had no plans of golfing this weekend, and the pounding rain and cold weather that destined me to a Saturday of watching the first two rounds of the 2003 NFL Draft, the weather today was too good to pass up. After a morning of errands and watching the Celtics take game 4 of their first round playoff series from the Indiana Pacers to go up 3 games to 1, I decided to call around a few courses close by and see if I could sneak out as a single. I choose Pine Meadows Golf Course in Lexington as it is only 15 minutes from home and doesn't get as much play as many of the other public courses nearby.

I arrived at the course around 3:15 and to my suprise was able to walk right onto the course with three other singles; Jack from Lincoln, Larry from Belmont, and Wayne from Attleboro. The course begins with two 480 yard par 5 holes. Both are long and straight with wide fairways and very little trouble. The greens are medium sized and relatively flat. I hit the ball well to begin the round, walking away from the back to back par 5's with two pars. Unfortunately, the third hole, a measley 240 yard uphill par 4 with little trouble started my downfall. I topped my drive with my usually trusty 4 wood, picked up my head on the 9 iron approach and topped that too. I then completely shanked a 60 yard wedge and ended up "recovering" from behind a tree for a double bogey. The next hole is a 200 yard down hill par 3. I hit a solid 4 iron off the tee, but managed to push it left seeing it trickle into the marsh left of the green. I took my penalty stroke and recovered nicely getting up and down for bogey. My troubles with the 4 wood continued on the next hole as I flopped around taking a tripple bogey. Through the remaining 5 holes, I managed to fight my way through the shanks and with continued good putting managed to get through the round with a 44.

Overall: B-
Driving: C
Irons: B
Approach: B
Chipping: C
Putting: A
Course Management: B


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | total
------------------------------------------
Par 5 5 4 3 4 3 4 4 3 | 35
------------------------------------------
Score 5 5 6 4 7 3 5 5 4 | 44


Records:
Greens Fees: $20
Equipment Expenses: $0
Food & Drink: $1.50
Holes: 9
Shots: 44
Lost Balls: 2
Pars: 3
Birdies: 0
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 4
Doubles: 1
Triples+: 1

Unicorn Golf Course - Stoneham, MA
I was finally able to take advantadge of my more flexible work schedule, with the weather being cooperative enough, to dust off the clubs (ok, I not only dusted them off, but washed and organized them a few weeks ago in anticipation of this day) and hit the links. I woke up around 6 am in an effort to get 18 in at Pine Meadows Golf Course in Lexington, MA. After stopping for my traditional Dunkin' Donuts two donut and tea breakfast, I arrived at the course around 7 am, only to find the course closed because they were behind schedule in paving the parking lot.

Using my quick early morning mental capacities, I sat in my car for a few minutes feeling very perplexed. There was frost on the ground and most courses weren't opening until 5/1. Lucky for me I had my handy Sprint PCS operator to help me track down the number to the Unicorn Golf Course in Stoneham, MA. I called and a very friendly women told me that they were delayed until 8 am due to the frost, but would be allowing play.

I headed North on I95 a few exits, thankfully opposite the rush hour morning traffic, and made my way to the course around 7:30 am. The Unicorn is a par 35 nine hole course. Years ago it was a private 18 hole course that ran from where it now stands to the industrial park that now stands where the missing 9 holes were along I93. The land was parcelled into two pieces and sold off, 1/2 to the forementioned industrial park and 1/2 to the town of Stoneham who kept the 9 hole course in tact and used some of the profits from its operations to build an executive par 3 course. The course is 6,136 yards from the blues tees and 5,804 from the whites. While there is not a lot of natural trouble in the course layout, there are multiple OB lines in adjoining fairways. Most of the holes are pretty straightforward and relatively short. The closest thing to a signature hole would be the par 3 8th hole. While only 155 yards, there are multiple high lipped bunkers surrounding a short multi-tiered green with a ton of break to it.

My name got called at 8:30 am and I was paired up with John (the guy who only plays with a yellow ball and irons off the tees), John (the guy thats aims drasticly left and always hits it right where he aims), and his son-in-law Mike (the novice golfer who has potential). I felt strange stepping up to the first tee, of course I was first off the tee. I hadn't swung a club since last Thanksgiving so I decided to smooth a 4 wood down the center of the fairway instead of trying to handle the driver. As I stood over the ball and waggled my trusty Callaway Big Bertha War Bird 4 wood, I made my mental image of the ball rising in the air and landing 220 out. Unfortunately, my mental game was not nearly as rusty as my actual game and I duffed the ball 25 yards off the tee and sheepishly walked back to my bag. I managed to recover with a few nice iron shots and some deft putting to salvage a season opening double bogey. I started to put it together on two and three, hitting nice drives, some crisp irons, a suprisingly more good putting as I walked off with my first par of the year and a bogey. I nailed the green on the par 3 4th hole and missed my 20 ft. birdie run by an inch on the pro side. I managed to reacquaint myself with the driver on the next 3 holes and had good rolls at par on each of the holes. I ended up with a 43 for the nine with 4 lipped putts that at least a few should have dropped.

Considering that this was my first time out for the year, the only rust that I felt was with my 80 yards and in wedge game and my chipping. That should come with more play and getting my feel for the delicate non-full swing shots. I'll be rating my rounds this year in the following categories; overall, driving, irons, approach, chipping, putting, and course management.

Overall: B
Driving: B
Irons: B+
Approach: B
Chipping: C-
Putting: A
Course Management: B


Scorecard:
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | total
------------------------------------------
Par 4 4 4 3 4 5 4 3 4 | 35
------------------------------------------
Score 6 4 5 3 5 6 4 4 6 | 43


Cumulative Records:
Greens Fees: $17
Equipment Expenses: $0
Food & Drink: $0
Holes: 9
Shots: 43
Lost Balls: 0
Pars: 3
Birdies: 0
Eagles: 0
Bogeys: 4
Doubles: 2
Triples+: 0