Played sunday with golfnutjim and mikeburton. Very unhappy with my score. I felt like i played so much better than i did. Still haven't really put it all together in one round yet this year. Putting was OK, but the rest of the game wasn't. I shouldn't be in the 80s anymore. Thats' all there is to it.

Played last Friday and Sunday, Friday shot 86 with 4 double bogeys on the front, that had me really irritated, especially par 5, 8th, 98 yds out in 2, hoseled a PW and then 4 more for a 7, took a good birdie chance and threw it away. Sunday shot 81, including a 38 on the back, could have been lower, had at least 2 birdie putts that I couldn't drop. Surprising thing is that I am still feeling out my new clubs, I don't feel confident with them yet and still having several ugly mishits per round, but my scores aren't reflecting that.

+11, 82. 50% of fairways and GIR, I just sucked at putting. 39 putts is more than I can remember having since I started keeping track. Only one-putted once and that was from four feet. Short putts left short, long putts blasted past the hole for the most part. My old tendency of letting the stroke get long and loose, flared up. When that happens I end up decelerating and that is no way to control distance. Arrrgh I just want to get back out there and avenge my pitiful putting.

[

legitimatebeef wrote:

]+11, 82. 50% of fairways and GIR, I just sucked at putting. 39 putts is more than I can remember having since I started keeping track. Only one-putted once and that was from four feet. Short putts left short, long putts blasted past the hole for the most part. My old tendency of letting the stroke get long and loose, flared up. When that happens I end up decelerating and that is no way to control distance. Arrrgh I just want to get back out there and avenge my pitiful putting.[

]

Beef: We both play in the same general area. (NY/CT) I too feel like you, and attribute my recent putting woes to much faster greens than we have been playing during the cooler weather, where I was putting lights out. You are likely in the same boat. Over the past 3 or 4 weeks, it seems that our greens have gone from an 8 or 9 on the stimp meter to an 11 or 12. This all happened over a short period of time as the weather went from 50s and 60s, to 70s and 80s. In April, a short miss left you a foot or two from the hole. Now, that same slight miss on a read or speed, can turn into a much worse situation as the ball continues to roll, and roll, and roll past, much further than it was doing all season up until the weather got nice. Then, you start to question every putt. Your confidence is lost, and 3-putts are common. (I had seven in one round last week!) It will come back with a bit more time on the faster greens we will be playing for the next 4 or 5 months. Have faith.

The greens around Fargo are sloooow. I played a round yesterday near St Cloud, MN, and the greens were much faster (though still quite slow). Took me most of the round to figure them out.

[

DougE wrote:

]Have faith.[

]

Thank you Brother Doug.

i recently learned that the greens at my 'home' course are some of the fastest in the area (10.5 to 11, usually). I've recently played some other courses and done a little better. i still need a lot of work, but wasn't helping my confidence any putting on very fast greens

Just shot 77 at Blue Ridge country club in Harrisburg, this was the first time I played the course and sure could have used some local knowledge. LOL great day to be out there though. I can't post it because the blue tee's at this course show one of the par 3's at 1910 yards, system won't take my number on that hole, Not bad though shooting 4 on a 1,910 yard hole.

[

Jbeck wrote:

]Just shot 77 at Blue Ridge country club in Harrisburg, this was the first time I played the course and sure could have used some local knowledge. LOL great day to be out there though. I can't post it because the blue tee's at this course show one of the par 3's at 1910 yards, system won't take my number on that hole, Not bad though shooting 4 on a 1,910 yard hole. [

]
I edited the yardage to read 191. Try again?

[

legitimatebeef wrote:

][ DougE wrote: ]]]]]Have faith.[[[ ]]] Thank you Brother Doug.[

]

I think he was quoting George Michael.

40/36 for a 76. Very similar to my last round tee to green but I putted a lot better. Still not feeling all that confident over it but forced myself to trust it and got most of the makeable putts to drop somehow. Did not feel all that comfortable thru the ball in general for that matter but again, relied on my fundamentals and managed some tidy golf. It was a good time out there. Got grouped with a kid who had just re-started playing after a long hiatus, but he actually had some game and that was nice to see.

Very nice Beef. Hope yopur putter gets hot. Mine is ice cold at the moment.

Four pars plus two double pars plus a sprinkling of a singles, doubles, and triples = a score of 103. The final score is right where I've been for the last handful of rounds, but if I can just eliminate the blowup holes, I'll be breaking 100 on a regular basis.

I need to work on my course management and not making a bad situation worse. Here's a great example: On the second hole yesterday I put the ball in a fairway bunker. It wasn't a tough out, but I managed to slice the ball from there into the woods. I wasn't trying to make a hero shot, but apparently I just couldn't pull off the shot I thought I could. If that situation happens again, I vow that I will just take my nine iron or pitching wedge and get it out while trying to move the ball forward 100 yards or so, versus the 165 I was trying for.

[

SteveMM wrote:

]I need to work on my course management and not making a bad situation worse. Here's a great example: On the second hole yesterday I put the ball in a fairway bunker. It wasn't a tough out, but I managed to slice the ball from there into the woods. I wasn't trying to make a hero shot, but apparently I just couldn't pull off the shot I thought I could. If that situation happens again, I vow that I will just take my nine iron or pitching wedge and get it out while trying to move the ball forward 100 yards or so, versus the 165 I was trying for.[

]

That is the single, biggest change I made when my scores started leaving the triple digits. It's not easy to swallow your pride and make the safe, easy play instead of trying the shot you think you can do, but it works.

Now if only the weather would cooperate so I could actually play golf this year.

Shot 82 today at Trail Ridge, Sun City West, Az. Getting closer to shooting my age (79) again. Need one or two more putts to fall.