More nasty weather for the Las Vegas area tonight, wind, rain and maybe snow! So it was a "no go" for the range. Going to see what the weekend has in store weather wise. I need to get out to the range; I have a bunch of new things I'm working on and I'm dying to see the results.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
No range tonight
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE BREAKFAST BALL
It was one year ago today that I started this little blog. This past year has been a blast. I've played more golf than I have in a LONG time and I'm enjoying the hell out if it. I'm really looking forward to 2011.
I've compiled a small list of things that I want to work on in 2011.
This first year was a rough one. Playing by the rules, counting every stroke and taking penalties is a sure fire way to humble yourself. I feel that I have made some progress. I know my scores don't show it, but I can tell. When I started playing legitimately last February I was horrible with my driver. I couldn't hit a fairway at all. Now, although not greatly improved, I am hitting fairways more. My putting has really come around the last few times out. I'm hitting my putts really pure and have a lot more confidence when stepping up to hit those crucial putts. Have to thank Graham McDowell for that. His putting tip when he was a guest on the Golf Fix was just what I needed to help my putting out.
I've compiled a small list of things that I want to work on in 2011.
- Practice better. I need to start taking full advantage of the time I have at the range to work on more than just smacking balls, I need to work on my chipping and pitch shots a LOT more. I'm going to make a valiant effort to go to the chipping area after I get done hitting on the range and work on my short game.
- Mental Toughness. I tend to make stupid mistakes when I'm playing a round. Most of the time those errors lead to a blow up hole and a score destroyer. It bugs the crap out of me when after I make a poor shot that I know immediately after that I made a stupid play.
- Exercise more. I used to work out so much and over the last six months I just haven't and my body is showing it. I was very excited when I started playing again because I had lost a lot of weight and was in the best shape I had been in since High School. Being in better shape I was sure that it would reflect my golf game. Well, I've blown it and now have to get busy getting my ass back into the shape I was this time last year!
- Home Practice. The past couple of days I've been heading out the back patio and trying to get in at least 50 swings with a 5i. What I like about it is I'm right at home, there is no traveling and I can set up my camera and snap some shots or videos and I have instant feedback. One thing I would like to get is a real mat to hit off of. My homemade version is a joke!
There is so much that I need to work on, but these are the ones that come to mind first.
This first year was a rough one. Playing by the rules, counting every stroke and taking penalties is a sure fire way to humble yourself. I feel that I have made some progress. I know my scores don't show it, but I can tell. When I started playing legitimately last February I was horrible with my driver. I couldn't hit a fairway at all. Now, although not greatly improved, I am hitting fairways more. My putting has really come around the last few times out. I'm hitting my putts really pure and have a lot more confidence when stepping up to hit those crucial putts. Have to thank Graham McDowell for that. His putting tip when he was a guest on the Golf Fix was just what I needed to help my putting out.
My Greens in Regulation stat has been disgusting. This is the part o my game that needs the most work. You can't score low if your ball isn't on the green when it should be. I'm at 11.8% as of today. I'd like that number to be in the 40% range. How long that will take I can only guess.
I do have some goals I want to accomplish before 2012 gets here:
- Play at Bali Hai Golf Club
- Shoot under 95
- Play a round with fewer than 30 putts
- Beat Randy straight up!
- Get my handicap to 20 or under!
So back to the range I go. Tomorrow will be the last range session of 2010. I've been working on some new things and before I talk about them and jinx the shit out myself I'm going to see how it goes tomorrow night at Callaway. Maybe I'll talk about it on Thursday, maybe not!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!
Got a nice gift from my Brother In Law:
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
Going to have my Golf New Years Resolutions Blog up in a few days. Think about yours and get ready to leave a list in the comments!
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| High number balls, nice! |
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
Going to have my Golf New Years Resolutions Blog up in a few days. Think about yours and get ready to leave a list in the comments!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
It'd difficult to play in this, that's for sure!
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| Yuck! |
It's been like this for two days, almost three! It's hard to remeber the last time the rain came down for nearly three days straight in Las Vegas. There is flooding everywhere and even parts of Mesquite, where we were this past Saturday, have been evacuated.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Videos, videos and more videos...
Be sure to check out The Breakfast Ball on YouTube. There is a link to the left in the "Golf and Other Website Links" tab, but here is a link too:
The Breakfast Ball Channel on YouTube
Added a bunch of new videos today from Rio Secco and there are more from Desert Rose and a couple from Conestoga.
The Breakfast Ball Channel on YouTube
Added a bunch of new videos today from Rio Secco and there are more from Desert Rose and a couple from Conestoga.
Monday, December 20, 2010
and that's a wrap!
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| Taken from the green on #16 |
Today we had the pleasure of playing Rio Secco Golf Club. If you have read this blog then you know I have a ton of Love for Rio and I'm glad we finished on this course today.
The weather again wasn't ideal. Not as windy as yesterday but, it was breezy at times and the rain came and went several times. Had to break out the umbrella a few times because everything was getting wet!
I was really happy with the way I played today. My score doesn't reflect it at all but I made a change in the way I grip the club today and it was a change for the better. I was hitting my irons probably the best I have ever hit them. The driver was erratic most of the day, but I did connect on a few that made me grin! My best hole was the ninth. I hit my drive kinda high but with the wind at my back it carried 240 yards and it was dead center in the fairway. I had 170 to the green and put it about ten feet from the pin with my 5i. I was left with a slight downhill, straight as a ruler putt that I nailed! BIRDIE!! WOO HOO. That was my first birdie in a LONG time!
My putter was FANTASTIC today too. The hole seemed like it was eight inches wide. I was all over it! Made some really great reads. The ten footer on number nine was great because it was for birdie, but I had a better one on number 12 that was very difficult and that putt felt awesome. I hit at least 6 putts from the fringe or just off the fringe (not counted as putts, but I did use my putter) that missed by an inch. I had a great day with the putter!
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| The tee box on #1 |
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| Looking at the green from the #1 fairway |
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| Randy with the Million Dollar Hole sign |
This was something new that they have added since the last time we played here. From what I understand you have to make a hole in one (obviously) and then on a certain date in the future all of the players who hit a hole in one come back and try it again. If they hit one on that date, then they win the Million.
So the final result form the Breakfast Ball Golf Fest 2010 are as follows:
Pat - 96 - 94 - 94 = 284
Randy - 91 - 94 - 101 = 286
Matt - 98 - 110 - 109 = 317
A big congratulations to Pat for winning the scratch game!!
Now to what matters (HA) the winner of the first ever Breakfast Ball Golf Fest is......
Matt - 66 - 83 - 78 = 227
Randy - 72 - 79 - 83 = 234
Pat - 82 - 83 - 80 = 245
Funny how handicap works. Pat wins scratch and loses handicap. I win handicap and lose scratch. The round I played at Conestoga was the round that won it for me. Shooting some pretty bad scores the next two days didn't hurt me as much as it should have.
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| The tee box on #11 |
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| Pat swinging away on #18 with me and Randy watching |
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| Me on #14 |
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| Randy putting on #14 |
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| Pat putting on #14 |
So the final result form the Breakfast Ball Golf Fest 2010 are as follows:
Pat - 96 - 94 - 94 = 284
Randy - 91 - 94 - 101 = 286
Matt - 98 - 110 - 109 = 317
A big congratulations to Pat for winning the scratch game!!
Now to what matters (HA) the winner of the first ever Breakfast Ball Golf Fest is......
Matt - 66 - 83 - 78 = 227
Randy - 72 - 79 - 83 = 234
Pat - 82 - 83 - 80 = 245
Funny how handicap works. Pat wins scratch and loses handicap. I win handicap and lose scratch. The round I played at Conestoga was the round that won it for me. Shooting some pretty bad scores the next two days didn't hurt me as much as it should have.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Day 2, the day I'd like to forget.
Terrible, disgusting, humiliating, embarrassing and frustrating. Those are five words I would use to describe how I played today. Nothing was working. I would hit a bad drive, a great second shot, then another terrible one. Next hole, great drive, terrible second shot, then a terrible chip, then a great putt. I did manage to get it all together on one hole, and that was it.
110 is an embarrassment, especially after what I did yesterday at Conestoga. It would be easy to blame it on the weather, but that would just be an excuse. I just sucked ass today. What was really frustrating was I had a phenomenal range session. Was hitting the ball crisp, clean and straight! Hole one I connected on my tee shot, but I was aimed a little left so it carried in the waste area to the left of the fairway. I hit a bad second shot and followed that up with a 9i that ran up and over the green. I made what I thought was an excellent chip, great placement and speed, I was about sixty feet from the hole going downhill and landed the chip right where I wanted it to be. Then it just kept rolling and rolling and rolling AND ROLLING! All the way across the green and I still had a ways to the pin.
The next hole was worse. Tee shot in the water, that was the result of a very bad slice (where it came from I had no idea). Second shot was OK, left myself with a nice pitch shot to the green. Well I shanked that back into the lake, the second water ball on that hole.
Third hole I hit a very nice iron to the green from the tee box, it rolled through and was in a decent spot. Putted through the rough and left myself a nice little three footer for par. Three putts later my day was officially wrecked and I never recovered.
The weather was bad. It was cold and very, very windy today. Every tee shot I hit seemed like it was spinning off either to the right or to the left. To further explain my misery check this out. I hit my tee shot on number twelve, it was straight but a bit left. I was sure it was OB and so was everyone else. So I hit my provisional shot and just tattooed it. The ball flight had a slight draw to it and it ended up dead center about 260 yards away. It felt amazing. On the way up the fairway I found my first shot! Don't get me wrong I was happy I didn't have to take the penalty but DAMN that was a great drive. I hit a very nice 7i out of the rough and had a nice little 50 yard wedge to the green. I hit that shot FAT and ended up with a six!
The only good news of the day for me was after tallying up the NET scores I still have a two stroke lead over Randy. With Rio Secco to go tomorrow.
Here is the standings after round two:
Scratch:
Randy - (91,94) - 185
Pat - (96,94) - 190 (-5)
Matt - (99,110) - 209 (-24)
Net:
Matt - (66,83) - 149
Randy - (72,79) - (-2)
Pat - (82,83) - (-16)
Pat's Dad Butch had an Eagle from about 13 yard out on the par five number six hole. That was really cool to see, I was about half way between him and the hole and watched it hit the green, roll for about 50 feet and drop in. That was cool to see.
110 is an embarrassment, especially after what I did yesterday at Conestoga. It would be easy to blame it on the weather, but that would just be an excuse. I just sucked ass today. What was really frustrating was I had a phenomenal range session. Was hitting the ball crisp, clean and straight! Hole one I connected on my tee shot, but I was aimed a little left so it carried in the waste area to the left of the fairway. I hit a bad second shot and followed that up with a 9i that ran up and over the green. I made what I thought was an excellent chip, great placement and speed, I was about sixty feet from the hole going downhill and landed the chip right where I wanted it to be. Then it just kept rolling and rolling and rolling AND ROLLING! All the way across the green and I still had a ways to the pin.
The next hole was worse. Tee shot in the water, that was the result of a very bad slice (where it came from I had no idea). Second shot was OK, left myself with a nice pitch shot to the green. Well I shanked that back into the lake, the second water ball on that hole.
Third hole I hit a very nice iron to the green from the tee box, it rolled through and was in a decent spot. Putted through the rough and left myself a nice little three footer for par. Three putts later my day was officially wrecked and I never recovered.
The weather was bad. It was cold and very, very windy today. Every tee shot I hit seemed like it was spinning off either to the right or to the left. To further explain my misery check this out. I hit my tee shot on number twelve, it was straight but a bit left. I was sure it was OB and so was everyone else. So I hit my provisional shot and just tattooed it. The ball flight had a slight draw to it and it ended up dead center about 260 yards away. It felt amazing. On the way up the fairway I found my first shot! Don't get me wrong I was happy I didn't have to take the penalty but DAMN that was a great drive. I hit a very nice 7i out of the rough and had a nice little 50 yard wedge to the green. I hit that shot FAT and ended up with a six!
The only good news of the day for me was after tallying up the NET scores I still have a two stroke lead over Randy. With Rio Secco to go tomorrow.
Here is the standings after round two:
Scratch:
Randy - (91,94) - 185
Pat - (96,94) - 190 (-5)
Matt - (99,110) - 209 (-24)
Net:
Matt - (66,83) - 149
Randy - (72,79) - (-2)
Pat - (82,83) - (-16)
Pat's Dad Butch had an Eagle from about 13 yard out on the par five number six hole. That was really cool to see, I was about half way between him and the hole and watched it hit the green, roll for about 50 feet and drop in. That was cool to see.
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| Butch & Pat driving up after Butch holed out. |
Added something new over on the "PAGES" box. Its a link to a YouTube page I set up for the blog. Check it out.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Day 1 is done!
Wow that was fun, but my ass is exhausted! I'm so tired I can't wait to get into bed tonight!
I had a major break-though today. I broke the 100 barrier!! By one stroke. A 99 at Conestoga. I was too excited. I had a four footer on the last hole for what would have been a 98 and I pushed it just a inch to the right of the hole. 98 would have felt better, but I'm glad I finally broke 100, and on a difficult course!
The weather luckily didn't have a factor on our play. It was chilly when we got there, but after spending about 20 min on the range we were all a lot warmer and never really felt the effects of the cold temps.
So after day one of The Breakfast Ball Golf Fest 2010 this is the Standings:
SCRATCH:
Randy - 91
Pat - 96
Matt - 99
NET:
Matt - 66
Randy - 72
Pat - 82
Tomorrow is The Rose and it's an early tee time 7:20am. I think Advil is going to be my best friend on Tuesday, we've already have a great start to our friendship!
Here is a couple of videos from Conestoga. Click on the the "YouTube" button and you can see the videos in full screen HD 720p! Love the iPhone!
I had a major break-though today. I broke the 100 barrier!! By one stroke. A 99 at Conestoga. I was too excited. I had a four footer on the last hole for what would have been a 98 and I pushed it just a inch to the right of the hole. 98 would have felt better, but I'm glad I finally broke 100, and on a difficult course!
The weather luckily didn't have a factor on our play. It was chilly when we got there, but after spending about 20 min on the range we were all a lot warmer and never really felt the effects of the cold temps.
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| We started on #10, Randy's checking the yardage |
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| Pat on the #2 Tee box |
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| Bill & Randy waiting to tee off on #2. |
So after day one of The Breakfast Ball Golf Fest 2010 this is the Standings:
SCRATCH:
Randy - 91
Pat - 96
Matt - 99
NET:
Matt - 66
Randy - 72
Pat - 82
Tomorrow is The Rose and it's an early tee time 7:20am. I think Advil is going to be my best friend on Tuesday, we've already have a great start to our friendship!
Here is a couple of videos from Conestoga. Click on the the "YouTube" button and you can see the videos in full screen HD 720p! Love the iPhone!
Friday, December 17, 2010
TBBGF2010 Eve
The good news;
Tomorrow starts three days of golf with two of my best friends.
The bad news;
It’s been raining most of the day today, and doesn't appear to be getting any better. The forecast for tomorrow at Conestoga is cold and rainy. Sunday is supposed to be the same and maybe even Monday too! NOOOOOO!
I’ve been waiting for this weekend for what seems like forever and now that it's here mother nature is doing whatever she can do to keep my handicap in the upper twenty’s! Bitch! HA, just kidding. Guess we'll just have to see how it goes.
Even though the weather is not going to be ideal conditions for golf this is still going to be a blast. I haven’t played in rainy weather in forever so it’s going to be interesting that's for sure. All that I’ve played in this entire year was ideal conditions so playing in nasty weather should be a good test. One good thing about the rain and Conestoga, at least the greens will be softer!
We head out first thing in the morning, and it’s going to be an early start. Tee time is 9:30am, and Conestoga is two hours away from my driveway. Throw in a least forty five minutes to an hour for warm up and that puts me leaving the house around 6:30am which means the alarm clock is set for 5:30am. Damn early to be up on a day off.
I’ll try and get the results from round one tomorrow when we get back, but everything might not get updated until Monday night, again, I’ll see how it goes!
Wish me luck!
Tomorrow starts three days of golf with two of my best friends.
The bad news;
It’s been raining most of the day today, and doesn't appear to be getting any better. The forecast for tomorrow at Conestoga is cold and rainy. Sunday is supposed to be the same and maybe even Monday too! NOOOOOO!
I’ve been waiting for this weekend for what seems like forever and now that it's here mother nature is doing whatever she can do to keep my handicap in the upper twenty’s! Bitch! HA, just kidding. Guess we'll just have to see how it goes.
Even though the weather is not going to be ideal conditions for golf this is still going to be a blast. I haven’t played in rainy weather in forever so it’s going to be interesting that's for sure. All that I’ve played in this entire year was ideal conditions so playing in nasty weather should be a good test. One good thing about the rain and Conestoga, at least the greens will be softer!
We head out first thing in the morning, and it’s going to be an early start. Tee time is 9:30am, and Conestoga is two hours away from my driveway. Throw in a least forty five minutes to an hour for warm up and that puts me leaving the house around 6:30am which means the alarm clock is set for 5:30am. Damn early to be up on a day off.
I’ll try and get the results from round one tomorrow when we get back, but everything might not get updated until Monday night, again, I’ll see how it goes!
Wish me luck!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Something new
Added a new feature.
Over on the "Pages" link, to the left of this, you'll see "The Leaderboard"
That will take you to the leaderboard for the The Breakfast Ball group on ClubSG from SkyGolf.
It's a really cool ap. So check it out!
Over on the "Pages" link, to the left of this, you'll see "The Leaderboard"
That will take you to the leaderboard for the The Breakfast Ball group on ClubSG from SkyGolf.
It's a really cool ap. So check it out!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Motivationally speaking...
A few years ago I was a fat, out of shape disaster waiting to happen. Through lots of hard work and dedication and an entirely new way of eating I was able to overcome that era of my life. One thing that I fell in love with was running. Never in my life did I ever imagine that I would be interested in running, but it changed me in way that I’m grateful for. Getting off your ass and deciding to go out and bust out five to ten mile runs is not easy by any means. There is a strong mental game that you have to play with yourself to accomplish it.
I was never a person that looked at motivational quotes and applied them to my life, but when I started running and started seeing results I had to dig down deep inside to keep it up, and it was a struggle. I then started seeing these quotes in a different manner than I ever had before. All of the quotes that I read there were two that have stood out and I still use for my motivation. They are:
I was never a person that looked at motivational quotes and applied them to my life, but when I started running and started seeing results I had to dig down deep inside to keep it up, and it was a struggle. I then started seeing these quotes in a different manner than I ever had before. All of the quotes that I read there were two that have stood out and I still use for my motivation. They are:
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
-Thomas A Edison
“Winners are simply willing to do what losers won’t.”
I don’t know who wrote the second one. It from a sign in the gym in the film “Million Dollar Baby”.
These two quotes helped me get through some tough days and I just wanted to share them with everyone.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Oh no he did ent.
In honor of the first "The Breakfast Ball Golf Fest" Pat went out and pick himself up a new driver. Well maybe it wasn't just because of TBBGF2010, but it makes me feel good to think so.
This could work to my advantage. How, well anyone who has ever bought a new driver will know that there is a learning curve a so called break in period where you teach yourself how to hit the new club. For my sake I hope Pat figures it out on hole fifty three Monday afternoon. With my luck though he'll have it dialed in before he even steps foot on the plane!
That driver sure looks familiar.....
Now who's could that be???
This could work to my advantage. How, well anyone who has ever bought a new driver will know that there is a learning curve a so called break in period where you teach yourself how to hit the new club. For my sake I hope Pat figures it out on hole fifty three Monday afternoon. With my luck though he'll have it dialed in before he even steps foot on the plane!
That driver sure looks familiar.....
Now who's could that be???
Thursday, December 9, 2010
The Breakfast Ball Golf Fest 2010! Its on!
Just got confirmation that Pat IS coming into town on the 17th and we have quite the golf weekend planned.
First off we will be hitting the links at Conestoga Golf Club in Mesquite. That’s on Saturday the 18th. Then we’re playing at the course that we all grew up on, (that's Me, Randy and Pat) Desert Rose Golf Club. That will be on Sunday the 19th. The finale will be at the Rio Secco Golf Club on Monday the 20th. What a weekend, two amazing golf courses and Desert Rose, HA!
Randy will be playing too of course and Pat's brother in law is going to play with us on Saturday. We’ll be playing Desert Rose with Pat’s Dad, Butch, on Sunday and I'm not sure who’s going to be our fourth for Monday.
Really looking forward to this, and Pat can’t wait to get here. The three of us played last year when Pat came into town and those rounds we played are what got me back into golf, and inspired this blog. My game has improved dramatically since then, scores not reflecting, and I can’t wait to play together again. When we played at Desert Rose last year I shot a 99, but that wasn’t a legit 99. I took a bunch of mulligans, played really bad and only counted the good shots. Would have probably been a 120 if I played true! I played better the following weekend, but still I wasn’t taking it serious until at least the 10th hole or so.
I've spoken a bunch about Conestoga and Rio Secco, so for this entry I'm going to focus on Desert Rose or
what we call; "The Rose"
Desert Rose isn’t the nicest course in town by far, but it has some fantastic sentimental values that no other course, well maybe Las Vegas National for me, could compare to. It’s less than a mile from the house I grew up in and for years it was the only course that I played. This is the course where I always had to borrow Pat’s clubs because I didn’t have any of my own yet. I have a ton of great memories playing there but the two that stand out the most for me are these;
Pat and I are playing and we're on the 3rd hole, it's a short par 3 that has and elevated green. Back in the day, the front nine and back nine at The Rose were swapped, so today it’s actually hole number 12 that I'm talking about. This will show you how “green” I was when it came to golf, I think we were maybe 15 or 16 at the time. I step up to the tee box,drop my ball and hit my shot. The results were pretty bad, It went way right down the hill, far from the green. Pat steps up, proceeds to place a tee in the ground and tee his ball up just above the grass, like you’re supposed to. “What are you doing, you can’t do that!” I spouted out. “Uh, yeah you can.” So he goes ahead and hits his ball, I don’t remember where it ended up but I was so ticked that I didn’t know that you were allowed tee your ball up on a par three I grabbed a tee and went to hit another shot, this time teed up. I swung away, it was so pretty, beautiful contact, amazing air time, it was… perfect. The ball hit the green and landed seriously within 5 inches of the hole. “YES!!” I was too excited. I had just missed a hole in one by five inches. Pat looked over at me and said this “Nice shot, too bad it doesn’t count.” Excuse me. What? He then went on to tell me that my first ball I hit was my tee shot and that’s the one that counts. I could hit as many tee shots as wanted but the first one is the ones that counts unless I wanted to take a penalty stroke. Yeah, I was pretty bummed but I do have to thank him for that though, otherwise I would have to look back and say that my first ever birdie was from a mulligan!
My fondest memory took place later on, and this one is forever etched in my mind. Pat and I are playing at The Rose and we’re having one of our best rounds ever. Everything was falling into place. When we finished up and tallied the scorecards we both had broken 100 for the first time. It was a crowning achievement in our young golf careers. Both of us were very excited and Pat couldn’t wait to go tell his dad, Butch, what we had just done.
Something that you have to know about Butch is that he’s from the old school. You really can’t describe Butch in a way that does him justice. So this attempt I’m about to make my fall flat but I’m going to give it a shot anyway. When I think of Butch, I visualize him as a cowboy in a John Wayne flick whose only purpose for being part of the gang is to jack someone up in a bar fight! Butch played The Rose what seemed like everyday, everyone knew him from the grounds keepers to the cart girls. He was a permanent fixture at The Rose. Pat was always referred to as “Butch’s Kid”, it was pretty cool. I don’t think I can remember a time that we played out there that if he wasn’t on site when we were; he had been there earlier in the day.
What follows is how I remember what took place; Pat may have a different perspective of it so I’ll ask him and if he does and if he wants to, I’ll have him post his version. We set our club down outside and headed into the Lounge to look for Butch so we could tell him what we had just done. There he sat, with all his buddies, cigarette in one hand a drink in the other. They had played earlier in the day and were relaxing in the lounge over some drinks. When Pat told him what we shot he perked up, eyes got wide and a rarely seen grin was being carved out of his stone face. “Drinks on me” he hollered out “My boy just broke a 100 for the first time!” the crowed that was there hooted and cheered like we had just shot 65 on Sunday at the Masters. A “way to go here” and a pat on the back there, it was a great feeling. After the initial commotion had settled down a bit Butch leaned in and asked the most devastating question ever asked of us as players. “So where did you hit em from, the Whites or the Blues?” referring to the middle and back tees. “Oh no, we played from the Reds.” Pat replied, and within milliseconds the entire moment was over. God forbid Butch has any whisky in his mouth because if he had, it would have ended up on everyone in the place. The grin was gone and embarrassment set in fast! “GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE GOD DAMN IT, NO BOY OF MINE WEARS A SKIRT.” and he was as serious as anyone could be! We hurried out with our heads down in shame and got the heck out of there. That was the last time I ever hit from the Ladies tees.
To say that The Rose or Desert Rose has a place in my heart would be an understatement. You can have a ton of memories in golf and the best ones do stand out more, and for me I would have to say the majority of them have taken place at The Rose. Midnight Frog Tossing just wouldn’t be the same if it was held anywhere else!
First off we will be hitting the links at Conestoga Golf Club in Mesquite. That’s on Saturday the 18th. Then we’re playing at the course that we all grew up on, (that's Me, Randy and Pat) Desert Rose Golf Club. That will be on Sunday the 19th. The finale will be at the Rio Secco Golf Club on Monday the 20th. What a weekend, two amazing golf courses and Desert Rose, HA!
Randy will be playing too of course and Pat's brother in law is going to play with us on Saturday. We’ll be playing Desert Rose with Pat’s Dad, Butch, on Sunday and I'm not sure who’s going to be our fourth for Monday.
Really looking forward to this, and Pat can’t wait to get here. The three of us played last year when Pat came into town and those rounds we played are what got me back into golf, and inspired this blog. My game has improved dramatically since then, scores not reflecting, and I can’t wait to play together again. When we played at Desert Rose last year I shot a 99, but that wasn’t a legit 99. I took a bunch of mulligans, played really bad and only counted the good shots. Would have probably been a 120 if I played true! I played better the following weekend, but still I wasn’t taking it serious until at least the 10th hole or so.
I've spoken a bunch about Conestoga and Rio Secco, so for this entry I'm going to focus on Desert Rose or
what we call; "The Rose"
Desert Rose isn’t the nicest course in town by far, but it has some fantastic sentimental values that no other course, well maybe Las Vegas National for me, could compare to. It’s less than a mile from the house I grew up in and for years it was the only course that I played. This is the course where I always had to borrow Pat’s clubs because I didn’t have any of my own yet. I have a ton of great memories playing there but the two that stand out the most for me are these;
Pat and I are playing and we're on the 3rd hole, it's a short par 3 that has and elevated green. Back in the day, the front nine and back nine at The Rose were swapped, so today it’s actually hole number 12 that I'm talking about. This will show you how “green” I was when it came to golf, I think we were maybe 15 or 16 at the time. I step up to the tee box,drop my ball and hit my shot. The results were pretty bad, It went way right down the hill, far from the green. Pat steps up, proceeds to place a tee in the ground and tee his ball up just above the grass, like you’re supposed to. “What are you doing, you can’t do that!” I spouted out. “Uh, yeah you can.” So he goes ahead and hits his ball, I don’t remember where it ended up but I was so ticked that I didn’t know that you were allowed tee your ball up on a par three I grabbed a tee and went to hit another shot, this time teed up. I swung away, it was so pretty, beautiful contact, amazing air time, it was… perfect. The ball hit the green and landed seriously within 5 inches of the hole. “YES!!” I was too excited. I had just missed a hole in one by five inches. Pat looked over at me and said this “Nice shot, too bad it doesn’t count.” Excuse me. What? He then went on to tell me that my first ball I hit was my tee shot and that’s the one that counts. I could hit as many tee shots as wanted but the first one is the ones that counts unless I wanted to take a penalty stroke. Yeah, I was pretty bummed but I do have to thank him for that though, otherwise I would have to look back and say that my first ever birdie was from a mulligan!
My fondest memory took place later on, and this one is forever etched in my mind. Pat and I are playing at The Rose and we’re having one of our best rounds ever. Everything was falling into place. When we finished up and tallied the scorecards we both had broken 100 for the first time. It was a crowning achievement in our young golf careers. Both of us were very excited and Pat couldn’t wait to go tell his dad, Butch, what we had just done.
Something that you have to know about Butch is that he’s from the old school. You really can’t describe Butch in a way that does him justice. So this attempt I’m about to make my fall flat but I’m going to give it a shot anyway. When I think of Butch, I visualize him as a cowboy in a John Wayne flick whose only purpose for being part of the gang is to jack someone up in a bar fight! Butch played The Rose what seemed like everyday, everyone knew him from the grounds keepers to the cart girls. He was a permanent fixture at The Rose. Pat was always referred to as “Butch’s Kid”, it was pretty cool. I don’t think I can remember a time that we played out there that if he wasn’t on site when we were; he had been there earlier in the day.
What follows is how I remember what took place; Pat may have a different perspective of it so I’ll ask him and if he does and if he wants to, I’ll have him post his version. We set our club down outside and headed into the Lounge to look for Butch so we could tell him what we had just done. There he sat, with all his buddies, cigarette in one hand a drink in the other. They had played earlier in the day and were relaxing in the lounge over some drinks. When Pat told him what we shot he perked up, eyes got wide and a rarely seen grin was being carved out of his stone face. “Drinks on me” he hollered out “My boy just broke a 100 for the first time!” the crowed that was there hooted and cheered like we had just shot 65 on Sunday at the Masters. A “way to go here” and a pat on the back there, it was a great feeling. After the initial commotion had settled down a bit Butch leaned in and asked the most devastating question ever asked of us as players. “So where did you hit em from, the Whites or the Blues?” referring to the middle and back tees. “Oh no, we played from the Reds.” Pat replied, and within milliseconds the entire moment was over. God forbid Butch has any whisky in his mouth because if he had, it would have ended up on everyone in the place. The grin was gone and embarrassment set in fast! “GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE GOD DAMN IT, NO BOY OF MINE WEARS A SKIRT.” and he was as serious as anyone could be! We hurried out with our heads down in shame and got the heck out of there. That was the last time I ever hit from the Ladies tees.
To say that The Rose or Desert Rose has a place in my heart would be an understatement. You can have a ton of memories in golf and the best ones do stand out more, and for me I would have to say the majority of them have taken place at The Rose. Midnight Frog Tossing just wouldn’t be the same if it was held anywhere else!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
How fun is this game...
I watched the Golf Channels “12 Days at the Academy” the other night when Sean Foley was the guest instructor. He’s Tiger Woods new swing coach for anyone that was unaware of that. It was really eye opening for me they way he approaches teaching, not that I fully understand his coaching philosophy from a 30min segment on TV, but after the show I felt inspired to practice better. In the program he mentioned that practicing on the range like you’re playing a round of golf will help you on the course. Instead of swinging 10-15 7I’s, then hitting another 10-15 5i’s, which is something you would never do on a course while in the middle of a round, play out a hole on the golf course from tee to green. Like this; Driver, 3W, SW, then Driver, 7I, then Driver, 3W, 8I. It was very interesting. It’s something I’ve done before but never really focused on as a practical way to practice.
So taking what Mr. Foley was talking about from the show, last night Randy and I played a pretend round at Conestoga at the Callaway range. I brought with us the scorecard from “The Stoga” so we had all of the yardages from the tee boxes and after we warmed up and had some swings in, we teed it up and went though the 18 holes.
Since both of us over the last year have a putting average of two putts per hole we decided that if we hit out target with the approach shot we would count two putts from there. If we missed the target and were close to it we counted a chip and two putts for three strokes. Of course if we missed badly you had to take another swing to get it close. Callaway from the grass has plenty of flags to aim at. There are flags at 75, 108, 111, 112, 120, 150, 168, 185, and 205 and on and on. So we had plenty of targets to aim for. Each hole we set up boundaries on the range where out of bounds would be and aimed accordingly. We even took in to account penalty strokes for how the course is laid out. For example, I hit my second shot on the par 5, 6th hole really poor. Randy says “That’s in the ditch” so I dropped and swung again counting the penalty stroke.
With those rules and that type of scoring I ended up shooting a 93! I know, I know. It’s not a real 93, but what I was excited about was I was hitting my targets. I think I only had two or three bad shots that didn’t go where I was aiming. All of my drives landed where I was aiming and my slice, well it was nowhere to be found. It was a very, VERY good night for me on the range. When I got done with the 18 holes I still had about fifteen balls left so I thought back to which shots I didn’t execute on and worked on them. That was an awesome feeling. It was like going to the range AFTER playing a round, that’s something I’ve never done!
The game took a lot longer than a normal range session. Randy had to leave after the 11th hole, and for the record, I was up by one stroke! Taking so long I didn’t get in any putting practice, but I’ll take care of that next week.
I did make a change to my grip last night. The most recent Golf Magazine came out last week and the main topic of the issue is grip. After I read the article I started looking at the way I grip the club and saw right away I was doing a couple of things wrong. To sum it up I wasn’t “folding” my left thumb far enough to the right, and in turn I was doing the same thing with my right hand, not folding my thumb over enough. The magazine has an image of your hand and it says if you have wear in these areas of your glove you have a grip issue. Sure enough I did. The lower part of my left palm on the pinkie side of my hand is where I wear though a glove and quick. Obviously that’s a result of an incorrect grip. I never new that, until I read it. Another part of the article talked about the three types of grips; strong, neutral and weak. There was a little test to determine how fast your hips come through at impact and the results of the test determined which grip you should use. My results were for a neutral grip. Now I have no clue what I would have determined my previous grip to be, but I will tell you this, after I changed to the neutral grip and held the club the proper way my swing felt amazing. My drives were very accurate and didn’t slice. My 3W from the tee was very pleasing and I was finally, yes FINALLY hitting my 5i with some velocity and distance. So I highly recommend anyone reading this that is unsure about the proper way to grip a golf club to read the January 2011 issue of Golf Magazine.
So taking what Mr. Foley was talking about from the show, last night Randy and I played a pretend round at Conestoga at the Callaway range. I brought with us the scorecard from “The Stoga” so we had all of the yardages from the tee boxes and after we warmed up and had some swings in, we teed it up and went though the 18 holes.
Since both of us over the last year have a putting average of two putts per hole we decided that if we hit out target with the approach shot we would count two putts from there. If we missed the target and were close to it we counted a chip and two putts for three strokes. Of course if we missed badly you had to take another swing to get it close. Callaway from the grass has plenty of flags to aim at. There are flags at 75, 108, 111, 112, 120, 150, 168, 185, and 205 and on and on. So we had plenty of targets to aim for. Each hole we set up boundaries on the range where out of bounds would be and aimed accordingly. We even took in to account penalty strokes for how the course is laid out. For example, I hit my second shot on the par 5, 6th hole really poor. Randy says “That’s in the ditch” so I dropped and swung again counting the penalty stroke.
With those rules and that type of scoring I ended up shooting a 93! I know, I know. It’s not a real 93, but what I was excited about was I was hitting my targets. I think I only had two or three bad shots that didn’t go where I was aiming. All of my drives landed where I was aiming and my slice, well it was nowhere to be found. It was a very, VERY good night for me on the range. When I got done with the 18 holes I still had about fifteen balls left so I thought back to which shots I didn’t execute on and worked on them. That was an awesome feeling. It was like going to the range AFTER playing a round, that’s something I’ve never done!
The game took a lot longer than a normal range session. Randy had to leave after the 11th hole, and for the record, I was up by one stroke! Taking so long I didn’t get in any putting practice, but I’ll take care of that next week.
I did make a change to my grip last night. The most recent Golf Magazine came out last week and the main topic of the issue is grip. After I read the article I started looking at the way I grip the club and saw right away I was doing a couple of things wrong. To sum it up I wasn’t “folding” my left thumb far enough to the right, and in turn I was doing the same thing with my right hand, not folding my thumb over enough. The magazine has an image of your hand and it says if you have wear in these areas of your glove you have a grip issue. Sure enough I did. The lower part of my left palm on the pinkie side of my hand is where I wear though a glove and quick. Obviously that’s a result of an incorrect grip. I never new that, until I read it. Another part of the article talked about the three types of grips; strong, neutral and weak. There was a little test to determine how fast your hips come through at impact and the results of the test determined which grip you should use. My results were for a neutral grip. Now I have no clue what I would have determined my previous grip to be, but I will tell you this, after I changed to the neutral grip and held the club the proper way my swing felt amazing. My drives were very accurate and didn’t slice. My 3W from the tee was very pleasing and I was finally, yes FINALLY hitting my 5i with some velocity and distance. So I highly recommend anyone reading this that is unsure about the proper way to grip a golf club to read the January 2011 issue of Golf Magazine.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
It was a cold winter's night...
It's funny how weather affects people. Back in the middle of the summer when I headed out to Callaway, it was a freaking ghost town. 115° temps will do that to a driving range. Now, months later, a rare cold front and the end of daylight savings have created the same summer atmosphere. There were maybe fifteen people at the range last night. This cold front has been nasty, some real low temps that's keeping people indoors, that's for sure.
I had a positive outing, and I really wasn't bothered by the cold. I recently scored some major discounts at Golfsmith on some winter golf outerwear. Every now and then they have some really good sales, and when you pair the sale with some closeout merchandise, you can get some really expensive things on the cheap. One of the items I purchased was a NikeGolf thermal that is amazing. I wore it a couple times to the store and around the house, but this was the first time I had a chance to use it for its intended purpose. It was incredible. I think it was normally priced at $75, but it was on closeout for for $41.97, and then they took another 50% for the special sale. Ended up paying $27.98 for a $75 piece- a smoking deal if I don't say so myself. It was VERY comfortable to play in and it was amazingly warm; I didn't feel the cold at all.
Back to the golf. I changed up my routine from what I've been doing the last several time I've gone out. There were some things that I wanted to work on more, so the normal ten balls per club wasn't going to work. What I've been thinking about working on is lengthening my back swing some and getting my driver more square at impact with the higher velocity of a swing. When I go all out, 100%, I have an incredible slice. Of course the more I slow it down the straighter it gets, but the distance suffers. So last night I just wanted to feel what it was like taking the club farther back and see what the results would be. I'm glad I did. It opened my eyes up a bit, and it was nice to see myself positively adapt to something new without having a complete mental breakdown. I hit some really good shots, even some that surprised me a bit. Work in progress.
I had a nice long talk with Pat afterwards. I always call him after I'm done at the range and talk about what I was working on. He has a great perspective on the game and that allows me to learn new things almost every time we talk about golf. We were talking about practice routine and how you work on your mechanics on the range and not on the course. Another thing we were discussing was confidence. Having the confidence in your abilities to make the shot. I can honestly say with the changes I've made in the past few month, getting ride of 90% of my fat shots and hitting my low irons better, my confidence has skyrocketed. I just need to take that confidence to the course and perform with it!
EBL
I had a positive outing, and I really wasn't bothered by the cold. I recently scored some major discounts at Golfsmith on some winter golf outerwear. Every now and then they have some really good sales, and when you pair the sale with some closeout merchandise, you can get some really expensive things on the cheap. One of the items I purchased was a NikeGolf thermal that is amazing. I wore it a couple times to the store and around the house, but this was the first time I had a chance to use it for its intended purpose. It was incredible. I think it was normally priced at $75, but it was on closeout for for $41.97, and then they took another 50% for the special sale. Ended up paying $27.98 for a $75 piece- a smoking deal if I don't say so myself. It was VERY comfortable to play in and it was amazingly warm; I didn't feel the cold at all.
Back to the golf. I changed up my routine from what I've been doing the last several time I've gone out. There were some things that I wanted to work on more, so the normal ten balls per club wasn't going to work. What I've been thinking about working on is lengthening my back swing some and getting my driver more square at impact with the higher velocity of a swing. When I go all out, 100%, I have an incredible slice. Of course the more I slow it down the straighter it gets, but the distance suffers. So last night I just wanted to feel what it was like taking the club farther back and see what the results would be. I'm glad I did. It opened my eyes up a bit, and it was nice to see myself positively adapt to something new without having a complete mental breakdown. I hit some really good shots, even some that surprised me a bit. Work in progress.
I had a nice long talk with Pat afterwards. I always call him after I'm done at the range and talk about what I was working on. He has a great perspective on the game and that allows me to learn new things almost every time we talk about golf. We were talking about practice routine and how you work on your mechanics on the range and not on the course. Another thing we were discussing was confidence. Having the confidence in your abilities to make the shot. I can honestly say with the changes I've made in the past few month, getting ride of 90% of my fat shots and hitting my low irons better, my confidence has skyrocketed. I just need to take that confidence to the course and perform with it!
EBL
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