Weekend recap

Worked Saturday morning and then joined the 'rentals for a game with the gang at Liftlock.  Ended up walking around with Butch and Leigh, they're a great couple and both can flat out play!  Scraped around in 8 over, ok so it's a par 60 course but I had one triple bogey and another bogey on each 9.  At least 4 chances for budgie and could not roll a putt, no idea what's happening there.  Going back to Thursday I had went to hit some balls at the range and played a few holes, hitting it alright but the putting stroke is not there at all.  I think I bent the Sonoma somehow, it's not sitting square with the grip at all...so I brought the Beach off the bench and used it Saturday with still no great success or confidence.  I drove a 280 yard par 4 and 3 whacked it for par....brutal.

Sunday was a club Pot of Golf competition thinger and I put my name in a few weeks ago just to get out.  Brought in a 64, 4 over, had 2 birds including a chip in on 18 for a no-putt!  Hit the ball well, started off a little shaky with the Beach but then made a few clutch rolls and everything started coming together.  The PoG was using a Callaway system which doesn't normally work for me as a higher cappers get more taken off.  I ended up net 62 and in a 3-way tie but due to the 2 handicap from the system I won 60 bones!  Unfortunately that moolah is in the form of a gift card, so I'll have to use it for food or booze.  ;-)

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Crappy day outside, good times ahead though

After a recent flurry of non golfing mixed with exams and getting into the new semester's swing of things, here I am with a recap. 

Played in the GAO Best Ball Qualifier at Bond Head on the 27th of April... what a disaster that was, I didn't play well at all, didn't support my partner very well.  I had a feeling going in that a good result wasn't in the cards but have had that feeling in the past with excellent results.  Rather than get into the boring post round minutiae of how badly I sucked a spark of reason or clarity about how to play golf came to mind.  I won't get into that type of competition again, the partner format doesn't work for me.  If I make a mistake then I'll worry too much about not supporting the partnership's effort.  If they make a mistake then I'll worry about making sure they don't get the same feeling I get... or something like that.   So in the end, if I go into an ultra competitive tourney again it'll be just me against the course and the field.  'Nuff said!

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Club toss? Acts of anger? Poor behaviour on the course?

Sean from OttawaGolfBlog posted a video this morning of Tiger's hissy fit after a poor tee shot.  So what is your story?  Nail a tee block like Craig Stadler?  Apparently he was in Hawaii and after a bad poke off the tee, he took a swipe at one of the tee markers and it was a real pineapple!  Juice and pineapple chunks everywhere! 

My personal best/worst was about 8 years ago at Indian Wells in Burlington, I was playing with a few guys from work and at the time I was a complete chop. You know a guy who liked getting out but never worked at his game, had all the equipment but was there for beers.  So we get through the front 9, probably 7 or 8 over, 3 or beers minimum, we grab a bite and more beer, play 10 so so. I look down from #11 tee's tee deck, wow! cool hole, shortish par 4 (354 yds), all downhill with a pond kind of guarding the front right of the green.  If you don't know this course, it's up on the Escarpment and quite a climb, this hole is on the western part of the property so it's up on the hill. Everyone knocks a drive down towards the flag, when it's my turn I hit it on the screws, of course there's a ton of roll but the white pill ends up 60 yards from the pin.  When it's my turn to hit the approach shot, I take out my "trusty" lobwedge, few waggles, take a smooth swing.... dammit!  bladed the bloody ball over the green!  F&^%!!! Head into the woods, uphill shot over roots, rocks and leaves... steady RJ... Sheet!  hit the stupid ball over the green again!  arrrgghh!  ok settle down Killer... just a chip shot off the edge of the green... this one we practice (different club though) ok, take a few practice swipes... gunk!  bladed it again!  this time to the far side of the green!  Hear a suggestion to just putt it from where it is now... Great idea!  time for the LW to take a nap.... My bag had been dropped off the cart path beside the pond... I'm really po'd so I toss the wedge towards my bag....vwoop vwoop (helicopter noise, duhh!) one bounce, takes a leg out from my bag, bag crashes down, wedge skips across the path into the pond. 

Kerplunk..... I still have to putt.  As the steam clears from my eyes and the red drains from my eyes, I recognize a familiar sound... is that laughter?  I turn around and all 3 of the jugheads who I call my playing partners are on the ground laughing at me.  I storm across the green, not caring if I'm walking in someone's line... proceed to 3 whack the little pill into the hole.  Pick it out, then let it join it's idiot brother, the LW, in the watery grave.  Cart girl drives up, I buy a round for the group and head to the next tee without saying a word to my joker buddies.

The next week I bought some lessons and haven't tossed a club in anger since.  I've hit the ground with my clubs or done the air whiff after missing a putt but no more club tossing.  A few white pills have found watery graves but they had it coming.

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It's almost time!

The weather is getting nicer.. it's about time! The end of the 5 month frost delay might finally in sight. I think we have maybe another 2 weeks before all courses are open, at least 9 holes and hopefully open completely.

Closer to Toronto and down near Niagara Falls more courses are open. I heard from Scott MacLeod of Flagstick golf that Loyalist (near Kingston) will be open tomorrow, Timber Ridge (Belleville) is also open this weekend, a few tracks around Bowmanville are open now....yay!

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I've added a few high quality blogs the past 2 days, all found on Twitter. What a great tool for social interaction! I don't think I would have found these sources in such a short time but with Twitter I was looking for them, found a few and had a few of them find me! How much does that say about the former thought that put something on the internet and people will beat a path to your door? That just doesn't happen, you need to be actively promoting your information/product and be looking for people/customers/business partners. Basically whatever you're doing, waiting for them to knock on your door is a sure recipe for failure.

Thanks to everyone who added me on Twitter, please send me more of your golf related finds there. Also if you're in Ontario I bet ya we can get a game in at some point this summer. =)

more stuff for the new satchel and a sad swing story...

A few weeks ago I ventured down to Markham to check out Swank Studio as Jeff Swain is a good friend of mine and my pal Mike is getting his Callaway driver re-shafted there.  We get down there nice and early, no one there for a change! 

Hit a few balls as I need to get a shaft for a 907D2 that I picked up over the winter.  Seems I have a fundamental swing flaw... coming over the top kind of, more outside in and it's causing a wicked pull hook.  Late last year I had started aiming down the left side or 10 yards left of the left edge of fairway just to fight this super power fade that came out of nowhere. 

A very helpful person who happened to pop into Swank saw what was happening and offered some advice.  He gave me a drill and showed me what I was doing and why it wouldn't help me if I wanted to keep going forward.  This very helpful gentleman is named Billy Walsh, he's one of the Assistant Professionals at Beacon Hall (an absolute gem of a private course in Ontario), Billy is a good teacher as well as a kickass player (he won the Ontario PGA Class A Championship last year and finished 4th on the money list).   I'm trying to get a few lessons booked with Billy, see if he can help ingrain some positive swing thoughts/motions. 

Anyhoo..... Mike got the Cally, he seemed to be happy with it, he's in Texas now fishing and golfing with some buddies (lucky SOB).  He'll be back next weekend and bragging for at least a week or two.  After Swank we hit Nevada Bob's in Pickering, didn't see anything I needed to grab but they did have a Scotty 2.7 in there... very, very nice stick.  Grabbed a bite at Lonestar, decent steak and a very nice lime margarita, only minor ice cream brain freeze but it was well worth it. 

When we finally got to Golf Town in Whitby I had wedges and hybrids on my list. As far as wedges,  I've been playing Vokey 200 Satins for the past 2 years and while they're great, there is a lot of glare on the clubface if it's bright and sunny out.  So I wanted to look at the new Vokey Black Nickel finish wedges and the new Cleveland CG14 Black Pearls.... while both models are very nice, the Black Pearls caught my eye without fail.  Great matte finish, they've improved the face grooves also, the price worked so I wanted them. Turns out they didn't have both models I need, 50' and a 54', so they were great and ordered the 50', which I just picked up on Sunday. 

I've been using no-name hybrids lately and while they're fine, I didn't think I was getting the best result like you can find in OEM gear.  Over the winter I picked up an Adams Pro Gold 18', needs a shaft but not till I fix or feel better about my swing.   On Sunday though I found a nice Nickent 3DX Ironwood with a UST V2 shaft for $70, the shaft alone is worth $50... ?  Easy to hit in the sim, had great results there, as long as I was taking the club back inside and making a relaxed move, plus I've been working staggering my feet to move my right foot back a little, so my stance isn't so squared up.

Oh yeah got a box of Srixon Z-URC's, they're last year's models but they'll last till some time into June.  ;-)  *crosses fingers*

that's it for now, let me know what you guys think and what changes you've made to your equipment over the winter.  Or if there is anything else you're doing differently or working on for this summer.  What is your goal this year?  golf more?  lower scores?  straighter tee shots?  few putts? 

lemme know!  peace!

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New Stuff!

Ok, so I've made a few changes and after someone (me) mentioned they wouldn't buy any new golf gear... since Christmas... new irons, 2 drivers, new bag, shoes... and I don't feel confident that I'm done.

On a better note, I've made a few buy and sell moves... that's how I was able to afford the irons. These bad boys are some awesome Srixon 701 Tours... I need to get them regripped but that would have happened with the old sticks anyways. =)

On the tee deck, I've added 2 new weapons; a Titleist 907D2 which needs a new shaft, and also an Adams Insight XTD Pro. The 907 is a bomber... serious long, I hit the same driver last fall when it belonged to a good buddy of mine, felt just great. The Adams is a little squarish in shape but as much as I really dislike non-traditional shapes, this suits me for some reason. It needs a grip but is ready to go.

I think a Scotty is leaving the stable, it's my Pro Platinum, time for it to find a good home since the Beach is rock solid. I would also love to get a Circa 2.. amazing charcoal mist finish but that's on the backburner until finances change.

On a sadder note, someone screwed me once again. An acquaintance sells clubs that are not completely legitimate, let's say honesty is a grey issue for this person ok? Well I had a set of "factory" clubs from him last year, and the whole time I knew something wasn't right. So I traded them back to help pay off some money I owed and got a wedge in return. Turns out the wedge isn't legitimate either... so I'm stuck as to what path to take with this person now. Part of me wants to shove the wedge where the sun doesn't shine but... another wants me to throw it through his car window.... tough call eh?