What'd You Shoot Today? (Golf BBV Thread)

109 (53/56) Just a day when stuff didn't work well.

I knew it would be one of those days when I pushed my drive a little right on the second hole. There is plenty of room there, nothing really to worry about. But there's a little very shallow rock lined ravine they use for drainage. The ball must have hit a rock and shot off somewhere because we never found it. Sigh.

The putter has been by far my best club lately. Only 3-putted once all day.

But it was really the bunkers that got me. It's the one phase of my game I don't work on because I have no earthly idea what I even need to work on. I have a sand wedge but I'll be damned if I can use it properly. My next lesson will be learning this. Anyway, got in a bunker on the 9th and it took 3 shots to get out. Then another on the 10th where I got it out, then right back in the bunker on the other side of the green. Got that one out and put it back in the bunker I started at. Sigh.

Went on to par the next two holes and did OK after that, but the damage was done. Lost 4 balls.

Just one of those days.

If you are Youtube inclined, there are a million videos on bunker play. Not a huge amount of difference among teachers, either, so you are most likely going to get good advice.

The general idea is to contact the sand behind the ball (an inch or two) and have the club slide under it. The clubface should be open - when you set up point it so the face is more at the sky than usual - which produces a higher, softer landing shot. Generally you'll aim a little left of the target since the ball will come out a little to the right with your open club face.

Easy for me to say, though, I am a very inconsistent player out of the sand.

Thanks booker. Yeah, I spent the day yesterday watching videos. This morning I tried to hit a large bucket of balls out of our practice bunker. Only one ball came out properly. At this point I think I'm just solidifying bad habits so I'll just wait for my instructor to give me some hands on training next week before I make things worse.

Fortunately for me our bunkers are quite often hard packed sand that i can just chip out of.

Two things that fail me in the sand are keeping my hands/wrists too rigid so the club doesn't release, and not turning through the shot because I'm scared to death I'm gonna blade it 70 yards over. Whenever I have soft hands/wrists and properly turn, it works well, but definitely a work in progress.

43-45-88. No birdies, 4 double bogeys. 70.3/133/6131

Might be the last round of the season, was nice to get a windless November day even if it was in the low 40s.

11/9/25
Granite Falls South
Par 72 - 69.1/116 - 6401 yards
40/35 - 75

5 bogeys, 2 birdies. A much cleaner round than last week but still started off slow with a couple terrible bogeys on 1 & 2 after good drives on both. I missed some good scoring chances(like being 175 out for my second shot on a par 5) but I also made a couple putts outside 15' so I guess they even out. Charity scrambles this Friday and next Saturday then another round up in Las Vegas the week of Thanksgiving. It'll be fun to play some courses outside my community again for the first time in several months.

40-35 = 75

Arguably my best round start to finish ever, though not my best score ever. About a month ago I posted about a swing change that immediately added a significant amount of distance to my drives. I've maintained and improved on that (from an accuracy standpoint), and it's completely changed my game. It changes every single hole. E.g., there's a par 5 that I'd OCCASIONALLY be able to reach in two with strong, favorable winds; since this change, I've played the hole five times and I've been on the green twice, two yards short once, and one time each to the left and to the right. Another example is a long par 4 where if my drive left me 200 to the green I was happy; since the change, the LONGEST I've had in is 190.

It didn't translate to scoring immediately, but I've also figured out a few things with my mid-irons, so put together with a good feel for the greens yesterday, I saw my potential. My 130 and in clubs have always been the best part of my game, and having more opportunities from those distances translated to more and better birdie opportunities. The 75 included a three hole stretch where I was over par, including a double on a par three. All three of those holes resulted from bad iron pulls. They were rare, but put in me bad spots.

Oh, and "should have been" 74. On the last hole I was frustrated after barely missing a makeable birdie putt, and rushed and missed my one footer for par.

I took a lesson yesterday and he worked only on getting more distance out of my swing. It's going to be a few steps backward with the things he wants me to do. It will definitely make me score worse for a while until I feel comfortable with it. That's a bit of a dilemma for me because I REALLY want to break 100 just to say I did it.

So, I went out this morning not really changing much, hoping for a decent score.

49/50 for a 99! Woot!

I was on track for a better score but knocked two drives in a row into the woods. I really wasn't great at anything but I managed to stay out of bunkers and putt OK. Parred a par 5 that I've never parred before.

Now, back to work on my swing.

Congrats!

So my instructor had me change my swing quite a bit, or so I thought. I didn't really use it my last round but I hit balls yesterday with the new swing and it really came together. Not only did it help distance but my cone of uncertainty really decreased.

My 5 wood previously was about 165 yards. Today I hit one about 195. So the lesson is paying dividends.

Anyway, I played with my father-in-law today from the senior tees. I kinda feel like this is cheating but on the other hand, I'm 68 now so technically a senior.

Anyway, shot a 94 (48/46). 2 personal bests in one week!

What length courses/tees have you been playing? If you're 68, only hitting a 5 wood 165 yards, and have been struggling to break 100, there is no reason for you not to move up a couple boxes. As you get better, your swing improves, and you get longer, then you can move back to challenge yourself. But for now, forget about labeling anything "ladies tees" or "seniors tees". Swallow your pride and move up the tee box that fits your game.....imo.

Played a charity scramble yesterday. We shot -16 and lost by 1, lol. We certainly didn't play a perfect round and left several shots out there, including taking par on 4 of 5 par 3's, but I thought we had done enough to win. There were a few on course gimmicks but no mulligans. The course also has three 9 hole courses and everyone didn't play the same 18. Our round included playing the hardest 9 of the 3...though we did avoid the 9 that was cart path only so that was nice. Oh well. The weather was perfect, the course was in good shape, the beers were cold, and the company was great. My personal highlight was making a 50-60' bomb for eagle, then following it up on the next hole by having the best drive(hard for me to do in this group), hitting a wedge to 2', and making the tap in for a solo birdie.

We're playing another one next Saturday that we're trying to win for the 6th straight year.

Home course posted on FB today was last day to play. 49, six bogies, two doubles. Had the front nine to myself.

42-39-81 (par 35-36-71). 1 birdie, 1 double bogey.

Hard to not play golf when it's 60 degrees in November. Wind was absolutely whipping, especially on the front nine. Hit a par five in two downwind for a two putt birdie and nearly jarred a gap wedge for eagle. Fun day.

Put the clubs away 2 weeks ago, but today was too nice to pass up.

42/46 on a 35/37 I've played a dozen times this year. Much better than I expected.

Clubs get shut down for good now.

Thanks. That's good advice.

96 (48/48) My normally reliable short irons failed me. Got tired towards the end and bungled the last 2 holes. 3 putted twice. All in all I'm happy I'm consistently under 100 now but I know I can do better.

Took a walk around the closed mini. Brought my retriever.

yes, that was solid advice from ec
if not already, start playing from a place that makes it more fun

TremendousSlouch continues to impress

he was probably that kid during all the easter egg hunts

Didn't play. Should have though. Probably the last 60° day.

111(59/52) i just didn't do anything well. Maybe from taking a week off, maybe because I spent the morning in the gym lifting weights. Or possibly I just stunk today.

OK, back in the swing of things. 94 (48/46). Lost one ball. A few mishits and several very makeable putts kept me from breaking 90. On the plus side I did a lot of really good scrambling from bad positions to save total disasters.

I feel somewhat confident I can break 90.

Snow flying in Colorado (finally), I'm relegated to the simulator for a while. Let's see that 85 Biggerboat you can do it

love to see it
minimizing lost balls is a nice step