Three years ago today, I took up golf. I got an official SCGA number in January 2005 and started posting my scores (including stored up cards from before I had my number). Including those stored up cards from late 2004, I posted 63 scores in 2005. In 2006, I posted 53. I’m not sure how many I have posted so far in 2007 but the total will probably be somewhat lower. Here is the damage:

As you can see from the chart, I haven’t improved much in the way of index since the dramatic change in the first year. However, what you can’t see on the chart is my development in certain aspects of the game. Consistency, for example. That first year had me putting up scores all over the board and some of them happened to be low enough to influence my index. Between January 2006 and January 2007, my index got as high as 18.5 (in May 2006). Since then, I have been playing much more steadily and lowering my index slowly but surely.

Playing smarter?

In that first year, my game was still developing and there wasn’t any one thing at any one time I could put my finger on for an area to improve. It all needed work. Now I have come far enough to know what’s wrong with my game at any given time and try to make up for it on the course in other ways. For example, if my driver isn’t working, I’ll hit 3-wood off the tee. If my approach shots are errant, I’ll lay up short of the green and try to get up and down for par with a good wedge shot, with any luck making it or walking away with nothing more than a bogey. Of course, when I’m not really trying to score (most non-tournament rounds) I’ll try to work on those problem areas while I’m playing since I don’t go to the range much. Perhaps if I treated every round like a tournament my index would have lowered more. But I know I’m improving as a golfer more than the chart shows. Then again, if I hit the range more I wouldn’t have to practice on the golf course.

Steady strengths and problem areas

One annoying problem I have is with my driver. That first year, it was probably my best club. Straight and long almost every time. Since then, it comes and goes and when it goes, it goes slicing off out of sight. I know the keys to fixing it but can’t always execute what’s in my head. Go figure.

Hitting fairway woods (or metals) off the grass also plagues me. I know I can do it so I keep trying but I probably only hit good ones 3 out of 5 attempts.

Long irons weren’t a terrible problem but I got rid of them anyway, in favor of carrying hybrids, two of which are new and I’m still working out their yardages. My longest iron is a 5-iron and is one of my most consistent clubs.

Mid- and short irons have always been pretty consistent for me.

Wedges are my bread and butter. From 100 yards and in I have a pretty good touch. 105 yards is my “money shot” with my pitching wedge, 85-90 is a good full sand wedge, and it’s nothing but sand wedge the rest of the way in. I’m comfortable with a 3/4 SW shot and my feel below that is still pretty decent. 50-70 can be touchy but I still do alright. Under 50 yards is pretty strong for me, but anywhere right around the green is the real strength of my game. I love making delicate little flop shots over bunkers but it’s a little harder to be as accurate with picking a spot to hit. I get really excited when I’m right off the green with a sweet little pitch and run shot. I’d rather have that than a long putt. I read the green, pick my spot and try to hole out. I’m pretty good at getting it at least to my “all day long” zone for putting.

Maturing

Speaking of my putting, it has come a long way and I might even say it’s the most improved aspect of my game. I never used to have an “all day long” zone and would often three-putt (or worse). The better I get at it, the more I enjoy it (duh) and that attitude is the key. I love putting. I love gripping and ripping but I always have. I used to think putting was a necessary evil and boring at best. With that attitude it’s not surprising my putting skills suffered. When I noticed how many strokes I was losing on the greens I started seeing it as my scoring opportunity which made it fun. Why take so much pleasure from a good chip if I can’t get it in the hole with my putter? Reading the book Putting out of Your Mind changed me for the better as well.

I still need to work on my longer putts and get more of a feel for them. Since I so often am working from off the green and tend to get it relatively close with my wedge I don’t get a lot of opportunities to practice those long ones.

Bunkers. Hmm. Well, fairway bunkers aren’t much of a problem. I’m pretty good at picking it clean with my choice of clubs. Greenside bunkers are trickier. If I have a decent lie in good sand, I’m pretty reliable. I still struggle with grainy, rocky and wet sand and need work on difficult lies. Buried or fried eggs, down- or uphill lies, too close to the lip on my backswing… you know how it is.

Summary of areas to improve

• Practice more on the range, score on the golf course
• Driver
• Fairway metals from the grass
• Determining yardages for my new hybrids
• Greenside bunkers
• Long putts
• Shaping shots

Yes, I threw shaping shots in there as well. I started doing that back in my first year but gave up on it in an effort to just get the basics down and be a more consistent ball striker. Time to renew that effort. It should also help with those driver and fairway metal problems!

Goals

Breaking 80 and going into single digits with my index might be a little ambitious to achieve this year. Let’s start with breaking 85 (my current low score) and lowering my index to a steady 13-14 by the end of the year. As demonstrated in the chart, that may be a taller order than it sounds. Especially with only 4 months of scores to change it.

Next post.

It’s bittersweet. But mostly sweet. I’m just glad to bring home a plate.

Here’s the story:

Every year, the president of the golf club I’m in plays in the SCGA Affiliate Team Championship tournament. Every year, he takes a different person to be his partner. (He jokes that he can’t get the same person to play with him more than once – and he is quite a character.) It’s a two-day event for any SCGA Affiliate golf club that wants to send a team to represent them to compete for the title. The first day is a two-person best ball (not to be confused with a scramble – you both play your full round and the best net score between you is the score you take on each hole). The second day is a modified Pinehurst format, where you each tee off then hit your partner’s ball for the second shot, then choose one ball and alternate hitting it until you hole out. It’s a much more difficult format than best ball and can really test a friendship.

Bruce, the prez, convinced me to play with him this year. He won the event in 2000 with a partner he had experience playing with in this format. He loves that plate. I mean LOVES it. I think he polishes it in a daily prayer. Other than that year, he hasn’t earned a trophy there in the rest of the 13+ years he’s participated. They give out plates to the top 5 teams. He desperately wanted another one. They are nice – I have one of my own from the only other SCGA event in which I’ve played. It’s shiny and pretty.

Day One

They gave Bruce 14 strokes and I got 18. On the first day, our scorecard showed me with a 91 and Bruce with a 92. Scores are kept by the other team in your foursome, and when we exchanged cards at the end of the round, we noticed the scorer had inverted a few of our individual hole scores but had the team net score correct based on the dinks we each got for the holes. Bruce and the scorer made corrections to the individual scores and we turned in our card knowing we shot a net 64. When the SCGA officials posted our score on the leaderboard, it said 65. We asked what was up and the official showed us the card. Hole 11 is a par 5 on which I got a stroke but Bruce did not. Our scores showed me with a 7 and him with a 5 but we had a 4 in the net column, so the official had adjusted it to a 5, increasing our score by one stroke. Well, that was MY hard-fought scrambling par with a dramatic one-putt that dropped in on an agonizing final revolution. Oh no! We had missed a correction on one of those inverted scores! So I actually shot an 89 and Bruce shot 94 and our net score really was 64. Thankful they didn’t DQ us for turning in an incorrect card, we accepted the erroneous 65 and hoped it didn’t come down to one stroke. There were five teams with lower scores.

Day Two

Low scores are rare in this format and we figured we’d be in good shape if we finished at 2 or 3 under. We played really well as a team, and if one of us hit a bad shot the other one made up for it on the next one. My putting was in rare form and what I call my “all day long zone” which is usually anything within 5 feet extended to 10 feet. I was draining ’em. I had a confidence standing over putts that I’ve never had before. We finished at 6 under which was the best score of the day, with a 66. Obviously in this format there were no individual hole scores but we checked and rechecked our card a gazillion times before turning it in. No discrepancies.

Our total two-day score was posted as a 131 instead of the 130 it should have been. We waited and watched as we enjoyed the banquet and the SCGA officials updated the board as cards came in. One of the teams with a 62 on the first day shot a 68 on the second, for a total of 130. Damn! It came down to one stroke! They card-off for ties in all places but first, in which case they give co-champion titles. We tied for first place but had to accept 2nd. We got up and graciously accepted our 2nd place plates. I had thoughts of hitting the scorekeeper of the first day over the head with my plate but I knew I had to accept that it was our own fault. We had every opportunity to fix the mistake and just missed it.

We learned our lesson and while disappointed to have the smaller second place trophies, we still felt great leaving there with plates at all and felt really good about the way we played. We’ll always know we tied for first and at least Bruce got his plate and I have more hardware for my own trophy collection, which now includes 14 pieces.

Next post.