Round: The Overlook Golf Club, Hollis, NH

4 Player (Me, Erik, Joe, Bob)

Pre-round practice: Quick pitch, chip and putt

18 Holes

I was looking forward to this round, especially playing with Joe and Bob who I haven't played with in awhile. Coming off a shaky day, I was a bit nervous and anxious to get things going in the right direction. I struggled off the tee the first few holes with weak hits. Once again, my iron shots were not solid and pretty shank-y. I hit most of my iron shots fat, leaving huge gaping divots. I started hitting some fairways around the turn but I couldn't capitalize with my approach shots. I was soon to forget my struggles when I happened to hit a pure 200 yd. 5-wood to a small, uphill green, landing within 10 feet to the pin. It was the very next hole when my life flashed before my eyes. It was a very scary situation where Erik was hitting out the pine-tree hazard. I was sitting in the golf cart next to him not too far way when he was trying to punch it through the trees but instead struck a tree and the ball ricocheted directly at me. The thing was moving a solid 200+ mph, or so it seemed. It whizzed behind my back, hit the cart cushion, and shot out into the fairway. Unbelievable. I could feel the incredible force this thing had as it almost took off my face. Let this be a lesson in safety on the golf course, for I will always act accordingly whenever a risky situation arises. Moving on, the rest of the round included many balls in the fairway but little success on the iron approaches. It was a long day and I had a great time regardless of my reoccurring struggles. The golf course was challenging with a lot of water running along the holes and trees absolutely everywhere, guarding the holes left and right. Looking back, I actually avoided a lot of the trouble, so I should take this as a positive. I think it's time now to stop and reflect on my progress for the season. Hopefully I can come up with a solid game plan and play some good golf for the remainder of the season.

Score: 100

Notable

3-wood tee shots

7th hole, Joe's tee shot

8th hole, Erik and I surveying the signature hole.

7th hole, my 200 yd. 5-wood blast

15th hole

Round: Townsend Ridge Country Club

1 Player (Me)

Pre-round practice: Zilch

18 Holes

Excited about a full weekend of golf. I finally found an open weekend to use both Groupon passes I purchased earlier in the year. My Saturday started at the 10th hole of Townsend Ridge CC with nobody else joining me. I was surprised the starter let me out by myself and that the course was fairly empty. Without any warm-ups I felt pretty comfortable with my swing, but slowly I began to feel uncomfortable with everything. I had no "feel" with any iron shots. Soon I began shanking balls often. I'm now on the verge of a complete meltdown. The shank is the absolute worst thing for your mental health; it completely throws you into the gutter of doubt. I began standing over every shot and praying for the ball to go anywhere but right. I spent the entire previous week working on chipping and ball-striking and all of a sudden it appears I've never hit balls before. Then suddenly, I approached an extreme downhill par 3, 167 yds. Completely defeated, I took my 8-iron and gave a it a full hack. The ball came out hot and on a brilliant line. It never left the flagstick. Landed about a foot from the flag on the left-side and rolled by the flag a few feet on the right. I was so close to my first hole-in-one. I jumped for joy like a child and ran to my cart and bombed downhill to the green. Sadly, I missed the birdie and par putt. Whatever, fuck it, it was an incredible shot, I was still pumped. The rest of the round was bumpy until I tee'd off on the 18th hole. It was the purest I've ever hit my 3-wood. It had a beautiful trajectory and flew about 270 yds. I cleaned up on the last hole and looked at my watch and realized I completed the round in under 3 hours. With time to kill I grabbed a bucket of balls and tried to find my feel again with my irons. I hit off shitty mats and I didn't find what I was looking for. A guy behind me interrupted to tell me I was hitting behind the ball. Thanks buddy, I didn't ask for your input but I'll make note of it. 

Notable

Putting

Practice
Ball-striking

15th hole, downhill 167 yd. par 3

The result!

Round: D.W. Fields

4 Players (Me, Erik, John, Steve)

Pre-round practice: Short-game, short range session

18 Holes

Feeling refreshed coming back from a weeks stay in Cape Cod, Erik and I were looking for some solid play at DW. We decided to play from the blue tees with joined playing partners John and Steve. It was the first round I used my driver on most holes. I felt pretty comfortable with it but I was swinging way too hard resulting in weak pop-ups off the tee. I only used my 3-wood off the tee once but it was evident I should of used it more. I seemed to follow bad shots with good shots and failed to follow consecutive good shots. The putts weren't dropping from within 10 feet until the 18th hole I hit a long 20 footer for par. All in all, I hit some decent shots and the comfort level in my swing is s l o w l y coming back.

Score: 96

Notable

Chipping

Practice

Stop trying to kill the ball with the driver

School of Golf: Uneven Lies

As seen on the Golf Channel's "School of Golf"

LEARN EVERY LIE!
"Pros try to avoid uneven lies whenever possible."

• Uphill lies: Set your spine perpendicular and shoulders should be parallel to the angle of the slope. The ball flies higher, tends to hook; doesn't go as far and requires more club. 
• Downhill lies: Ball should be back in stance. Requires as much loft as possible. The ball flies lower, tends to be pushed and requires shorter backswing.
• Ball above your feet: Stand up more erect; more weight on the balls of your feet. Choke down on the club and play for a ball with draw spin.
• Ball below your feet: Bend over; more weight towards the ball, knees bent, grip full length. Use more of an upright swing.

AROUND THE GREENS
From the bank of a bunker:

• Uphill lie: 
  Weight favoring back foot, swing up the slope. Try using a 9-iron, it will perform like a Sand wedge.
• Downhill lie: Open the clubface substantially, favor weight on front foot. Swing across your body, down the slope.

Round: Bass River GC

3 Players (Me, Bill and Dorothy)

Pre-round practice: 60 range balls

9 Holes

For the second time in two years, I'm back at Bass River GC looking for some redemption (previous round results). I haven't played as much in the last month due to many holiday weekend events, so my ball-striking and other "feel" aspects haven't been all that sharp. In preparation for this week's round, I spent hours in the backyard of our Cape house, chipping and putting balls. A few hours before the round, I got a bucket of balls and didn't hit one shot that made me satisfied. I'm making solid contact but everything is going up soooo high and as a result, I'm losing tons of distance. I'm still waiting for the round where everything clicks and my all-around game is tight. The closest I've gotten to this feeling is when I shot my first 87 at Ponkapoag on my birthday. Anyways, moving on to the round, I got to the clubhouse hoping I'd either be able to go out alone or jump in with another group of young adults. Neither ensued. First I was told that I couldn't play 18 holes because of a shotgun tourney on the front 9, then I was told they don't let out singles, and then to top it off I was assigned to a group of two elderly members. I've got nothing against elderly golfers, I respect there efforts on the course, but we (young adults) play a totally different game. So, I put on my fake smile just as the wife of my other playing partner grabs a seat in my cart. Off we go! as I became her personal chauffeur for the round. With them aside, I hit some straight shots, but just too high. I was able to navigate around the course much better than last year, carding mostly bogeys on all the holes.

Notable

Chipping and putting

Practice

Ball-striking and club lag at impact. I'm breaking my wrists too early and flipping the club.

10th hole, close approach shot from 100 yds!

On this day: Darren Clarke wins the Open Championship, 2011

School of Golf: Hitting It High

As seen on the Golf Channel's "School of Golf"

The Essentials

• Use common sense
• Need tremendous strength
• Need a strategy

The golden rule is...GET OUT! Be sensible and don't go for the miracle, even if you see tour pros doing it.

Two Ways to get out

1. (Most important) Need a steep angle of attack (minimal grass between ball and clubface).
   Put the ball back in your stance. Set your grip end forwards. Caulk the wrists for speed.
   Weight on your front leg.
   
2. (Advanced) If you absolutely need height, aim left and open the club-face. Swing should be more up-right, cutting across the ball at impact.
   
3. Take the safest route possible. Never follow one bad shot with another.

Hybrids out of the rough

• Replace long irons with hybrids for long distance shots. Hybrid heads pass through grass much easier.

Green-side rough approach

• Easier than using a wedge, take your putter and put the ball off the back foot, de-loft the putter and steeply pop the ball onto the green.

Round: Widow's Walk

4 Players (Me, Erik, Lynch, Shipers)

Pre-round practice: 0

18 Holes

An absolute beautiful day for a round of golf and a day that included high scores, many balls in the woods and an appreciation for a beautiful golf course. This was the first time playing Widow's Walk and I had an idea of what I was in for. The fairways were the thinnest and the greens the smallest I've ever seen. This course unfortunately does not setup for the average joe; who likes to pull out driver on every hole except par 3s. This course required conservative strategy, which I seemed to follow in the beginning only to become lazier as the holes followed. One of my best holes was on a par 4 that resulted in a satisfying bogey. My approach was unusual but effective. I hit my tee shot onto the fringe of the fairway to the left-side with 160 yards to the green. Instead of firing a six iron, I chose to hit a wedge and lay-up which left me with a short 60 yd approach for my third shot. Got onto the green and safely 2-putted for a bogey. If only I followed through with this strategy for the remainder of the round, I would of ended with a score in the low 90s, but with my growing confidence and influence from other playing partners, I resorted to risky decision-making. A really fun day overall and I'll be looking to take on this ruthless course again.

Score: 108

Notable

Tee shots

Practice

Shank removal!

Lynch tee shot, 1st hole