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If I ever birdie the par 3s (#5 & 6), no one is likely to catch me . . .
Monday in practice I birdied #7 & #8 -- I do love those back-to-back-birdies -- and came within inches of birdying #9, too . . . .
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I shoulda hadda birdie on #1, but got double bogey instead.
Big Drive over the creek, and boldly tried to hit a 72 yard shot with my 75-yard-club
to the pin on the upper tier that landed hard with a circus bounce just into
the deep rough past the collar. Boldly again (I practice this shot, the chip
out of the rough to a short pin, all the time), and if this one had hit the pin
instead of burning the edge of the hole maybe it would have been ok but it
trickled to the downslope and rolled on down. Took 3 to get down from there.
Even with the solid shots, not an auspicious beginning.
On # 2 my drive faded right of the mouth of the green between the bunkers, to the slope on the right edge of the bunkers. A testy shot that has given me grief over the last year, but this day I successfully lazy-lobbed the ball over the traps so that it rolled down tap-in distance. I used to birdie # 2 all the time, but it has been a while.
On # 3 my high drive plugged below the right front corner of the green. This is where-from I holed out for an eagle a while back, and then for a par, equally astonishing, after hitting a tree, missing the green, chunking a pitch – so confidence was high, but I missed the 6 foot birdie putt. Green is still very stubby after aeration.
On # 4 I gave my t-shot an easy skyrocket up the hill, down the right side, so that I couldn’t go at the green, for the trees on this 90 degree dogleg, so I just dumped an 8 iron down to the middle of the fairway, 100 yds from the green, where I hit a 1/3rd 9 iron high-ish that landed on the collar at the front of the green and rolled up 6 feet from the pin, hole high . . . almost a straight putt uphill . . . but the last missed birdie made me anxious & irate so I moved my feet 3 times before I settled in for that nasty little side-hill knee knocker.
On # 9 I hit a power-launch that flew over the sand trap, even tho’ the tees had been moved back. Because the ball had gone right instead of left, I have to hit a 7 wood, instead of a 7 iron, but this does not trouble me, my 7 wood has become so well behaved. And indeed this attempt was a high rope line drive straight at the left pin. I couldn’t tell where it ended up till we walked up to the green.
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On # 3, Joe birdied again, in straightforward style, while I did not, with the greens still healing from the aeration, it's not surprising . . .
It is noteworthy also that Joe parred 5-6-7, the back-to-back par 3s and the following par 4 infamous for the tree guarding the fairway. We both were able to hit shots that narrowly flew under the tree limbs, with easy and short approaches. Joe got his into a very favorable chance for birdie, left of the pin on the right side of the green, where it's flattish . . . while I pulled mine into the tough rough left of the green. Joe 2putted easily, and I flopped my shot 4 feet away, but missed the comebacker.
on #8, I pulled my drive into the trees on the left, worrying about the stiff breezes blowing left-to-right (same as at Shinnecock this week), with OB looming there. I saftied a 3iron over the trap, and over the green (trying to skip thru the trap, instead), chipped down the length of the green, and missed the 5 footer for par, again, I SAY, because of the aeration holes. Playing well, but not scoring.
on # 9, free at last from the cramped conditions of 7 & 8, I let loose a driver, high, straight and far, flying over the sandtrap in the middle of the fairway, into some tall rough. The wind was right to left and GUSTY , and I keep pulling this particular approach left for some reason, so I aimed as far right as I could make myself, but still pulled it again to the wrong side of the green, 45 feet away. But when it was my turn to putt, I made a confident putt (I seem to have a knack over the big hump in the middle of the green) with just enough speed to get over the top of the hump, before it rolled into the big bowl where the pin was. I was pleased, but still just hoping for a 2putt, watching it like a hawk as the ball turned left over the hump then trickled down the side of the bowl, bouncing left and right off the aeration holes, till it went in. So Joe & I both made 45 foot putts to score.
Joe wound up with a 37-net 27, which was best that day.
Finally Eagled # 3, the shortest Par 4 I've ever played. Hmmmm. Scorecard says 228 Yds, but it's rarely more than 200. . . . but before I get to that . . .
On the first hole I smashed my drive over the creek (a noteworthy accomplishment only in the Over 65 League) and had 66 yards left. Pulled my approach left, babying it onto the green, then lipped out my birdie.
On the second hole I threaded a beelinedrive thru the traps onto the green with my drive, then 3-putted for par from 44 ft. Did I mention the greens were freshly punctuated for aeration?
On the third hole I hit a slicing line drive to the front right corner of the green, in tall rough,just lately growing in nicely. I flop-shot my ball straight at the pin and shouted "GO IN", and it did.
On the fourth hole I hammerooskied my drive down the left hand side, skirting the woods, so far I had a clear shot around the dogleg at the green, without relying on a fade to keep it in play. I equally hammerooskied my 5wood from 230 to 20 yards short of the green in the unkempt rough. One of those situations where its better to be long than chunk it (IMVHO), but I missed the downhill 12 ft comeback slider.
On the fifth I hit a knockdown 8 iron to the front pin, and I swear it rolled by the pin going right to left, such weird bounces on that green, to about 6 feet. but the perforated greens overcame my birdie effort, there, too.
On the sixth I tried to soft-peddle a 7wood in with the wind, but it skittered all the way to the back of the green, and my coping with the pegboard green was futile.
On the seventh I weakly tried to get under the big tree blocking the fairway and just left it sort and right of it, on a good number, for my 7iron, but the shot took a circus bounce of the front part of the dance floor to the back right corner, on the collar. Very small chance of making that birdie putt; took all I could do to 2putt.
No longer in my right mind. Too much grind.
On the eighth I pulled the drive into the trees on the left. My only shot was to make a 3 iron safety, and try to run it thru the sandtrap that guards the whole front of the green, and get up and down, but my 3iron blister carried OVER the trap and ran uphill to the back right of the green. From there I pitched on the green to the one soft spot, apparently, and my ball just set right down, leaving me a tetchy 10 foot downhill putt, which I somehow left just short, in the heart.
On the ninth I put a little west-texas-red-ass on my drive and had a clean look at the green from shortiron distance, but it came up just short, practically plugged in the sodden turf. My chip wasn't very good, and the following putts, neither.
So I got another eagle.
Played my ass off, and came away still with only 38.
Notes:
1) perfect drive to the bottom of the hill leading up to the green. perfect half-wedge to the front pin location. was left with a horrible, downhill left breaker 5 ft. after studying it intensely from both sides (I haven't birdied #1 once this year in competition, but multiple times in practice rounds, grrrr), I left it short. Unbelievable that that ball would stop short. As I said elsewhere I have come to understand that the greens are inconsistent and the pin-placements a little unfair (at times). So with a shrug & a sigh, to the next tee.
2) Hit a bullet at the gap between the two sand traps guarding the green, ball was caught up in the rough between the right trap and the green. handy. but my chip went 12 feet past the pin. forearmed having watched it roll past, I confidently rolled my putt, and to my amazement watched it stop short too.
3) with a little misguided west texas red-ass, hit my drive pin high, but underneath the tee-mounds for #4 . . . fortunately had no tree trouble, but my only viable option since the hole was on the narrow throat of the green was to pitch it short so it would not roll off the otherside. It did stop on the collar, on the other side, so I had 15 ft or so with a hard right break, which stayed up high. My ball and my competitor's were side-by-side, a foot away from the hole, and we agreed with smiles "good-good".
so I had 3 tap-in pars to start, which is a condition I have had a few times this year. It's not a bad start, but in the McGuffin competition, where sometimes one gives more than 1 shot away in handicap, one is unlikely to have a 3-hole lead. We were tied .
4) Hammered my drive up the hill, past the inside of the 85 degree dogleg, but I just hit the easiest shot in golf, the second-shot-5-iron, rather than trying to get close to the green, and had 60-some-odd yds left. I hit my standard half-wedge, hoping for some roll, but it just stopped by it's pitch mark. First putt was short, but I made the 8 footer look easy. My competitor got a shot on this hole, and his third shot was from way back, I think he hit 3 wood, but it carried past the green, and he had to spend his shot getting back, so we were still tied.
5) my nemeses, the back-to-back par 3s follow, and no-matter the 4 pars before, I had shaky confidence going in. Sure enough, I thinned my 9 iron onto the back collar, past the pin on the front of the green . . . My whole game causes comment, from my (lack-of) fundamentals to my my schizophrenic scoring. Among my curiosities is how I putt with irons instead of a putter, from off the green, when that is the opposite of 100% of golf magazine advice and counsel from golf adepts, but I just don't like the way the ball rolls off the collars here (which can be very large at Harbor Lights), so I chip with a 9iron, or a 7iron (the way my daddy taught me), or even a 5 or 3 iron, for very large greens, but I never practice those, never need 'em here. . . So I mis-clubbed, using the 9 and trying to hit it a little longer, rather than just using the 7 iron, so it came up short, but I made this downhill 8 footer also, with an entertaining circle around the rim of the cup, first. So one *could* say that I made this par with TWO lucky breaks, but I would say, I made two 8-footers in a row!
I took the lead in the McGuffin competition, but I hardly noticed. While we waited in my partner's cart for the #6 green to clear, I pointed at the scorecard to my partner and said "Yahtzee! 5 in a row."
6) Both these par 3s are deep in my head. I finally bought a 5-hybrid just for #6, 167 yds, since my 5,4,&3 irons all seemed to go the same distance, short, bringing the water into play. But I don't like this 5 hybrid, it takes all I can do not to hook the holy-macaroni out of it -- I like it when they move the tee to the back, and I can just soft-peddle a 7wood there. So I successfully steer-jobbed it pin-hi, left of the green (90% of the duffers in the O65 league wind up left, between the cart-path and the green, away from the water). Something that has not worked for me much this year is pitching <20yds, even tho' I practice that before every round . . . last year, and even this spring, I holed-out from within this distance enough that I made it a marquee part of my game, confidence-wise, but this shot seemed like a dream the way it pitched into the last of the tall rough by the green, then trickled down a slight mound, next to the hole. Another par, 6-in-a-row. One might call it Luck, but as Mr. Science used to say, "Luck is when Preparation Meets Opportunity".
7) The most notorious hole at Harbor Lights, for the Giant Tree that blocks the left 2/3rds of the fairway. Yeah there are people who can fly it, even from the white tees, but I ain't one of 'em. I haven't seen anybody hit a normal-height hook, either, except me, for a brief period 2 autumns ago, when I suddenly and temporarily had the knack with my 7wood. Sometime last year, I think my partner said I should just hit my line-drive tee shots (my normal shot) under the tree, which I did with success the rest of the summer, making #7-8 birdie parleys as common as my #2-3 birdie parleys. It's a huge mental obstacle to force the ball under the tree limbs, and I haven't really had luck doing that this year, and #7 is one of the holes I haven't birdied this year, in competition -- again, in practice rounds, I have several . . . but on this day, I calmly hit a line-drive, down the middle, short of the traps, leaving me with one of my favorite shots, the 1/3rd PW. The pin was on a plateau on the back-left corner of the green, and my local-knowledge is for a birdie attempt, it's better to be left of that pin, even on the collar. BUT NOT in the deep rough beyond, because of the uncertainty of wedging out of that rough and keeping it up on that plateau, instead of rolling all the way down to the catty-corner. But my shot bounced off the plateau, into the rough. But like on #6, I hit a once-in-a-while chip that trickled down 4 ft from the pin. I easily made that putt. 7-in-a-row.
8) On the tee, my opponent said, "Well, you closed me out, won 3 straight holes, with 2 to play". I was surprised, I don't really keep track other than to know when I might concede a putt, preferring to concentrate on Eagles and Birdies. #8, rather than #7, which people think is harder, is where you give your handicap strokes, so making birdie is essential there . . . but I've only made 2 or 3 birdies there all summer, in the league, for reasons I don't know. On this day, I hit a very customary shot for me, down the right side, avoiding the trees on both the right & left, and the ball will roll downhill to the center, positioning for a nice birdie try . . . unless you go into the trap, which I did. I'd rather not, tho' I still maintain vestiges of confidence in sand traps, and, rather than trying to get close to the pin, in the top-left corner, sloping hard away to the left, I just wanted to get on the green. I wound up short, on the collar. For the long uphill shot, I putted with my 7iron, aimed 3 yds right. The ball barely got up to where the green drops off towards the pin, and trickled down next to the hole, like on #6, for another gimme par. 8-in-a-row.
9) While 9 pars in 9 holes would be a noteworthy achievement, I felt no pressure about it . . . I would rather eagle #9 again than make 9 pars, in this example, but what I did was pop-up my drive off the toe, I think I let myself get ahead of the ball again, for only the 2nd or 3rd time today, I was afraid it had gone out of bounds, making all aspirations moot, but it was still in play. laid up with a 5iron to an awkward distance for myself, 100 yds, between clubs . . . and the wind was against me, making the calculus all the more difficult, so I just hit the half-wedge hard, but in control. It still came up short, on the front of the green, and again, I got 0 roll, I had to fix the pitchmark, before I could putt. This putt was something like 45 ft, over the large ridge that divides the green, and the summer has been hard on this green, leaving it very patchy on top of the ridge, definitely something that could alter the roll. I figgered the distance control and s-curve breaks over the ridge, and let it rip, barely cresting the ridge with any momentum, my partner urging like a horse he had money on, and, minutes-later-it-seemed, it stopped next to the cup. Tap-in par. 9-in-a-row.
Summary:
That birdie on #3 was an inch from being another eagle, which would have been sweet.
maybe I was too pumped-up after that, so that when I hit my approach to # 4, it was like I caught a flyer, boomed over the green almost into the marsh. I was so flummoxed, even getting in for bogie was impossible.
Maybe my problem this year is pin-placement, not myself or the nominal condition of the course in this sporadically very wet and very hot-and-dry year.
Like on #8, another once-reliable-birdie-attempt, where from 8 feet away the putt broke 4 feet . . . I'd guess one could say that I should leave my approach below the hole, instead of above the hole on the edge between the upper and lower tiers, but again, the greens seem very inconsistent to me this year, spottily varying from hard-as-a-rock and mushy, so that the approach is uncertain to 'stick' or to 'run'.
The eagle, once again on #9, almost identical, in that it was kickin distance away . . . I've had a bunch of other makeable opportunities from 6 to 10 ft, without making any of them. The first eagle was after a 7wood approach; this was with a 5 iron. I've also had a bunch of opportunities from 7,8,9 club distances and not only not made the eagle, often missed the green entirely. Go Figger.
Note that in the McGuffin Competition of the League, I lost my point, despite shooting 2 under my personal par.
Updated Status of Aces & Eagles:
So: Some Messy Details:
This wasn't league play, on a Monday.
My playing companion was Dave, also, from the league. I never'd met him but knew who he was: half of the first place team in the league and the owner of the only other Eagle in league play this year (he holed out from 60 or 70 yds on number 2)
This was for the Harbor Lights Club Championship Qualifying round (him), which is two circuits in the company of another competitor (me)
Dave was playing 9 holes this day, to combine with 9 holes next Wednesday, league play for his qualifying 18, if you see how I mean . . . 8^) . . . so, like, a semi-official round . . .
We played amiably around the 9 pretty quickly, not really having to wait for anybody, me better'n him, 41 to 51 (2 under for me and 2 over for him), but he was obviously off his game, I just hope it wasn't me put him off, personality wise, if you see how I mean . . . but there was events to mention
On #1, I ripped my drive over the creek and back up the hill. I only had 60+ yards to the uphill green, and 66 is one of my "numbers". I dialed in and popped the ball up 4 ft from the pin. Made sure of the birdy, which ought to be a winner on #1 in league play, regardless of the handicap-gap . . . 8^D . . .
It was not the harbinger of THE Low Round I am seeking. I muddled around the course leaving makeable putts just-short, even on #7, after 2 perfect shots and yet again on #8 after a miracle shot out of the trees and over the trap.
But i was still confident on #9, where I very recently made an eagle. Well hit drive tailed-off just right of the sandtrap at the top of the hill, which is ok by me, it makes a little launch pad, and I hit another bullet 7wood straight at the pin on a green we couldn't see . I was still pleased when I got to the drop-off and saw my ball 15 ft away from the pin, on the collar. With my 9iron chipping I felt I could make it, but it jumped on me and rolled 4-5 ft past. Which, short-putt, I missed, 3-putt par . . .
Now the Club Championship involves 9 holes from the White Tees, and 9 from the Blue Tees, so we played 1 & 2 again, just to get a familiarity with the Blues. I spanked my drive over the creek again, despite the extra distance, with a confidence I did not completely have. I was 30 yards more away from the green from the first time we played 1, but at another 'number' for me, 90 yds. It landed short of the green going to the short pin, and I thot it would even roll up onto the back tier when I saw it first bounce, but when I climbed the hill it was nowhere to be seen on the green. So i peeked in the hole before I went up behind the green, but there was my ball in the hole.
I have a witness, my new friend Dave from the League . . . .
First eagle at HH, I've missed a bunch on # 9 from 30 ft to 6 ft, but this one was 18 inches.
1. noun The game of nine-holes. from The Century Dictionary.
2. noun In whist, a manner of playing 'either in utter ignorance of all its known principles, or in defiance of them, or both'. from The Century Dictionary.
She was again and publicly invited up to the parlor, and she came, though she said, rather shortly, that she didn't play Five Hundred, but only bumblepuppy bridge, a variety of whist which which Mr. Wrenn instantly resolved to learn. Our Mr. Wrenn, the Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man
And, in performing this task of hers, she has developed a technique of politeness which is to the amateur's technique what the professional golf-player's style is to the form of the mere bumblepuppy. Walter Prichard Eaton, Penguin Persons & Peppermints
The origin of this word is unknown. However, 'bumble' is imitative in origin and influenced by 'bungle' and 'fumble.'
Wordnik Word of the Day for May 18, 2024
So many guys were bailing out right on #11,
away from the water on the left of the green
that my wife and i started calling it "the sissy side".
Then came Sergio, so natch, he went right at the flag,
(I mean, HE HAS TO, don't he?)
and came up short into the water,
proving something-je-ne-sais-quoi . . .
If you make a hole-in-one, but have no witnesses, does it count?
The short answer is “no”, according to the USGA.
The longer answer is “yes”, if you keep it to yourself . . .
Scorecard from Harbor Lights GC, 23-08-21
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Par 4 4 4 5 3 3 4 4 5
Score 3 5 4 6 1 4 6 4 5
#5 is 127 yards, with a smallish green protected by bunkers
both left and right.
In between the right bunkers and the green
that curls around the bunker
which is where the sucker pin was this day.
mainly due to the trough
between those bunkers on the right
and the green,
like an additional hazard,
a grass bunker, itself, almost, since it is so deep,
that catches any almost-errant shot
and buries the ball in deep rough, or
throws it into a bunker.
So I hoped just to plonk the ball
into the center of the green
and two-putt.
I hit what I would call a half-8 iron
because either I’ve lost a club-length
due to my age, or else the ball just doesn’t carry
as far at sea-level.
The trajectory was medium,
with a fade that made me pessimistic
about being in the rough trough, again,
but the ball bounced straightish,
a little rightish, off the frog hair
toward the pin,
but I didn’t see it go in –
I thought it had run off the back of the green,
to where I was trudging,
with only a perfunctory look into the hole,
but there it was.
I looked around,
but on Monday early afternoon,
the course was almost deserted.
So, that’s my 3rd hole-in-one,
depending on how you count
Next in this parade of calamities: the scourge of inflation, a problem so serious that it touched him and his colleagues personally.
“One of our contacts, for instance, mentioned whopping membership fee increases at his golf club,” Harker said, “suggesting this summer may be a good time to play at your local muni instead.”
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/meanwhile-the-feds-golf-gaffe?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=email&s=r
The council in October rezoned the course, 18 holes just west of Loop 101 and south of Camelback Road in west Phoenix, to only allow it to be used for a golf course or open space. Before that, zoning would've allowed homes to be built on the land.
Residents living in the neighborhood around the course, who have been trying to preserve it for years, celebrated the decision. But the rezoning was against the will of the property owner, Virtua Partners, who had plans to build homes on the land. A legal battle now brews that will take time to resolve.
This doesn’t bode well for the neighborhood, since the crime there has been skyrocketing since the course closed in April 2018.
Violent crime has more than doubled in the one-mile radius around the course, increasing from 20 homicides, rapes, assaults and robberies in the first six months of 2018 to 45 in the first six months of 2020, according to The Arizona Republic's review of city crime data. Comparatively, citywide violent crime has increased by about 7% since then.
Councilwoman Betty Guardado says the course's closure has contributed to the increase in crime and the deterioration of the neighborhood since the vacant space is not monitored.
Therefore i propose, golf courses be built, simply as crime-prevention measures until there is no crime . . . funds should be diverted from other areas, in fact to further this ambition.
I mean, Villa del Paz may be an uninspiring track, but even i had underestimated its power.
On Tuesday, the leader of Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, was asked if Trump was headed her way, and what might be her message to him?
At her daily news briefing, Sturgeon said, “I have no idea what Donald Trump’s travel plans are, you’ll be glad to know.” Then she added, “I hope and expect that his immediate travel plan is to exit the White House, but beyond that I don’t know.”
Finally, Sturgeon warned Trump he might be breaking the law if he came: “We are not allowing people to come into Scotland now without an essential purpose, which would apply to him, just as it applies to everybody else. Coming to play golf is not what I would consider an essential purpose.”
on one hand, like so many other knee-jerks, i want to shout HUZZA! to the doubty Scots giving the finger to the Asshole-in-Chief,
but otoh, like how many others, i do not know, i didn't like the golf-bashing when Obama was president, and not now, either.
You have to remember even King James of Scotland made golf illegal.
but there was another time when it was more clearly banned. By decree of a Scottish King. Several Scottish Kings, in fact.
That’s right, way back in 1457(!), King James II was concerned his subjects weren’t practicing their archery enough during Scotland’s ongoing wars with England. Instead, ol “No-fun” James felt people were wasting too much time playing golf and football—AKA soccer to us ugly Americans. So he put a stop to those games by putting it in writing.
so, like, Intemperate Irrationality is kinduva core trait of the Scots Ethos - I don't think that's controvertible, just is - so i am not surprised that some Scottish Virago has used circumstances in order to deliver a low-blow,
and goodness knows, the Scots have been edging back onto the world stage during the whole Brexit brouhaha, asserting their sovereignty, and good on 'em, is what i say, and well done for the snub to the First Cheater.
But as to the golf-bashing denigration as an in-essential activity, i will only submit this example for consideration:
from Wodehouse, an anecdote between The Oldest Living Member of the Club and a young man fallen into the ill-company of lawn bowlers:
When chastised, the young man replied "that bowls is a super game . . . why even when Drake heard the Spanish Armada had been spotted, he said 'We have time for one more game!'"
"If he had played Golf," the Oldest Living Member rejoins, "he never would have gone at all!"
If you see what I mean.
Friday, March 23, 2007
https://thekokopelligolfstance.blogspot.com/
