Snowmen in May, not what I wanted to see.

What an incredible day. The weather was perfect, the course was in great shape, met a really nice old timer (that smoked us all!) I had a really great time.

Ok, that was the good. We had an early tee time which was nice. It wasn’t hot at all. It actually felt really nice out. I was curious how Randy was able to get us a Saturday morning tee time at Aliante, and when we were directed to the #10 tee box I now knew how. I the last person who can complain about anything on a golf course, I’m not at that level of a player yet but, I do not like starting my round on #10. Don’t know why, I just don’t. The good thing about starting early on #10 was there was no one behind us and no one in front of us. Just a wide open golf course, woo hoo.

My first tee shot went way, way right. It actually landed on the 18th fairway, real bad. I got to the ball and had a really nice lie. Got out my I had about 185 to the middle of the green over a ditch and some trees. I used my 7W because I wanted to be sure to clear the ditch and give myself a decent 3rd shot. I sliced that shot too. Worse off it went into the ditch and I couldn’t play the ball, penalty stroke. Hit the green with my next shot and 3 putted for an opening hole 7!
Not a lot went well on the front (the back). Out in 57, the only good thing can remember was my tee shot on #9 (#18) I smoked it dead center about 260 yards! I’m not going to tell you how I managed to take 7 strokes from 146 yards out to finish that hole but, it’s a feat not too many people can accomplish.

The back nine (front nine) went much, much better. I pared hole #10 (#1) and got off to a good start. I ended the back (front) with a 51 for a grand total of 108. That’s three rounds in a row where I have shot lower than the previous round, all be it 1 stroke each time, it’s still showing improvement. Some other positive notes, only 4 penalty strokes, that’s way down. My putting was less than desirable at 42 putts for the round. I hit 5 out of 14 fairways. I just have to work on those “blow up” holes. I had three holes where I scored an 8. Snowmen suck. I don’t like them at all.

All in all it was a great day. I got to play a round with my Friend and golfing brother, Randy. The weather was AWESOME and I’m proud of my progress, like I’ve said before, it’s not as fast as I’d like it to be, but it is going to take some time, and I know that.

With failure comes success, right?

So after my less than stellar performance at Conestoga I have decided to quit golf. HA, yeah right. No I think that I just need to play more. That’s not going to happen anytime soon so I just have to take the time that I have and work on making my swing better and more consistent.

I didn’t get a chance to go to the range the week following my round at “Stoga” (from now on I’m referring to Conestoga as “Stoga”) one of the guys from work was on vacation so I had to work late all week, makes for an even longer day if I would have thrown in a range day. I was able to break away for a while on Sunday the 25th and get to Callaway for a couple of hours.

I was really hoping that my driver would be coming around by now. I don’t remember it taking this long to figure it out back when I was playing a lot more. I’ll have a session like yesterday where I’ll hit two or three really good balls then the next fifteen minutes I’m in a complete downward spiral. I’ve brought the video camera the past couple of times and as soon as I figure out how to post them o here I will. I think the most difficult thing about watching yourself on video is not knowing how to correct what’s causing the bad swings let alone determining what’s causing the bad swing in the first place. I have a problem where my left knee floats in on my back swing that causes my left foot to rotate in. That I know is a problem, because I watch a lot of golf and I don’t see any pro doing that! How to correct that? I have no idea. I’ve been trying to focus on my balance and keeping my left foot still. I know I have to really work on my weight shift and get my body moving forward at impact. Practice, practice and more practice.

I think I’m going to start exploring the idea of an at home driving range.

We’re playing Aliante Golf Club on Saturday. This will be another course I’ve never played before. We got an early tee time so it should be a good time. Not too hot.

Conestoga "The Stoga" Golf Club

I was fortunate to be able to play the famous Desert Inn Golf Course before it closed. It is by far the best golf memory I have. That course was impeccable. Not a flaw on it. The greens were the best greens I have ever had the pleasure of putting on. The staff was amazing and the clubhouse was a step back in time. By far the best day on the golf course I can remember. I bought a bag tag from the pro shop and proudly displayed it on my golf bag for years. It was stolen from me and I don’t know when or what course for that matter, that’s the bad part. Can’t blame anyone but myself, I let a treasure go, should have been paying closer attention. I realize that now. The scum also stole my Hilton Country Club tag too, and it had my name engraved on it. Anyway, the D.I. course is still there, but it has been redesigned now that Steve Wynn has control of it. That course was a Las Vegas legacy and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to play it.

So how does that relate to me playing Conestoga today? It doesn’t. Seeing such an awesome golf course just made me reflect on my day playing the D.I. Once the clubhouse gets built out in Mesquite that course is going to be a joy. We arrived about an hour early, got our carts and headed out to the range. Awesome place, I appreciate any course that gives you free range balls to hit. Callaway range balls at that! My warm-up went ok, not great. I wasn’t making good contact and the only place my irons were going was up and to the right. The day was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky, no wind and a brand new golf course that stood before us.

The starter was fantastic, he had a speech that I’m sure he had repeated in his head a hundred times, it was flawless, and very entertaining. My tee shot off number one was a good shot. I made great contact and didn’t slice the ball at all. It was a little left of the fairway, but for sure playable. I had a decent approach shot that I should have made, but I didn’t. I chunked it, and then repeated that chunked hot again. Fourth shot was short of the greenside bunker. A bad chip over the bunker and two putts later I was done with hole number one. A seven, not a great start but a few positive things to build on, a nice two putt and a decent 260 yard drive off the tee.

The second hole is a spectacular one. I have a picture of Randy on the tee box on the photos page. I hit a beautiful 8I right where I was aiming and watched in amazement as the ball landed in the middle of the green and rolled all the way off, passed the fringe and into the first cut. WTF! New course means new greens and boy were they new. Elevated tee box, really elevated tee box that is and I nailed it. When I got to the green I was looking for my divot to repair it but it was no where to be found. All I could find was some smushed grass where my ball had landed. New greens mean HARD AS A ROCK GREENS!



Randy on the lower tee box at #2, in the background is #3 tee box.


I won’t go into all the details of the round. It wasn’t that good of a round. Shot a 109. That was a 60 on the front and a 49 on the back. Go figure. Once again I play another round where I shoot a whole lot better on the back nine vs. the front nine. Twelve penalty strokes absolutely killed me. The par 5 sixth hole is a beast of a hole. It chewed me up and spit me out. Don’t miss left whatever you do, that’s the land of no return.



Me teeing it up on #5



After four consecutive terrible tee shots to wrap up the front I decided to try what worked last round and switch to my 3W. Two really good tee shots off 11 & 12 had me rethinking my driver. I had made a slight correction to my swing and decided to give it a go on 13. It worked. The best tee shot of my life took place just two holes later on 15. Number 15 is a par 4, 414 yard hole that’s downhill two the left a bit. I got to the tee box and just crushed my drive left of the fairway. I don’t know how it happened, cart path, rock, small animal picked it up and dropped it where it lied, but it was 370 yards from where I hit it last, and it was in the fairway. So I have on record a 370 yard drive. I had a nice sand wedge into the green that I made. Putt was about 40 feet. I got it close enough to make my par and walked away happy knowing I pared that hole after my great drive. I wrapped up the back with bogey on 18 for a 109. Like I said before the twelve penalty strokes killed me.

Me on the tee at #10



Randy on the tee at #10



It was an awesome day on an awesome course. I look forward to playing it again as soon as I can. Randy’s got the hookup so hopefully it will be sooner than later. With three rounds in the books, a 113, a 110 and a 109, my scores are showing an improvement, how much I think is too hard to tell so far. More range time is in my future that I know!

He shoots... HE SCORES!

Today was a great day. Got up early with the wifey and hit up some the yard sales that our neighborhood was putting on. At least twice a year the HOA’s put on a community yard sale. They try to get everyone to do all on the same day. They’re pretty successful. I didn’t go to the last one, but the wife did and found a lot of good kids books for our girls and some other trinkets and stuff.

I went this time with one thing in mind. Golf clubs! We had already been to several sales and I hadn’t found one thing worth picking up let alone buy. About four houses later I struck golf yard sale gold. We came around the corner and I could see the “tables” from five houses away, yes tables. I parked the car and hopped out. This guy had been a player for years and was always buy new clubs to try out. Well his age had caught up to him and he was retiring from golf. He must have had 100 clubs out. He had a lot of TaylorMade and Callaway. Most of the clubs were probably 5-6 years old but he did have some newer ones too. Prices reflected the newer items. Wisdom still had a place in his mind, if he was going to get rid of it he wasn’t going to give it away that’s for sure. He had three hard travel cases laid out and opened with drivers and woods in them, he had putters and wedges on the tables also and boxes of golf balls, head covers all over the place. You name it, he had it. There were also three or four golf bags standing up with clubs in them too.

After I looked at all the woods and putters and balls I made my way to the bags. I was certain that I wasn’t going to find anything. I had already seen a lot and wasn’t going to spend what he was asking on the better items. I saw an old Ping club, probably 20 years old. Just for grins I picked it up to take a look at it, and there and behold tucked neatly under that 20 year old club, almost deliberately, was a brand new 52° Ping Tour Wedge. The icing in the cake, it was a black dot. I almost shrieked when I saw it. I didn’t even get that old ping half way out of the bag before I had completely forgotten about it. This had to be a mistake. The club face was perfect. I think I was the first person to touch the grip it was that new. This surely had to be an error. I looked at the shaft and there was the price tag. $15.00 Oh my God, this is no error. WOO HOO I thought. I walked over to gentleman who was responsible for placing this fine piece of Ping craftsmanship in my hands and within the rules of “yard salesmanship“ kindly offered him $10, which he accepted. I was too happy. Got a new club, got a smoking deal on it.

After the yards sales we went and did some more shopping around town. We have a camping trip planned in the near future so we went in to Bas Pro Shops to price out some things for the trip. I wanted to go over to the golf section and see if they were selling the club I just bought a bit ago. There it was in all of it 52° of glory. Price tag $110.00 Man that made me feel good. Saved a hundred bucks on one club! As I was walking around the golf section I was looking at some the bags they had on display. My bag is tattered to say the least. It’s a Ping bag that’s probably 25 years old. Chuck gave it to me when I was working at LV National, I think out of pity. My bag before that I think came over on the Mayflower, no shit. I found a really nice OGIO bag that was on clearance (my favorite word, it’s even better when Golf is included with it). It was normally $149.00 on clearance for $90.00 I thought it was a good deal. I asked what wife what she thought, and my beautiful, loving, adoring wife said that she would buy it for me for my birthday! How cool is she? Way cool!

So tomorrow I’m playing Conestoga. I got my new 52° wedge and my new bag to go along with it. It’s nice to have new stuff. Looking forward to hitting the links, hopefully I can show some improvement over my last round.

Does this 5i make me look FAT?

So I found out today that Randy got us booked out at a new course that just opened up last month in Mesquite. It’s called Conestoga Golf Club. Those of you, who aren’t familiar with Mesquite, think Las Vegas circa 1940. Very small little town between Las Vegas and St George, Utah that has become quite the little Golf Mecca out here in the southwest. I think there are six or seven courses out there now, one of them being Wolf Creek, CAN NOT WAIT TO PLAY WOLF CREEK!

I definitely looking forward to playing there, I’ve been hitting the range at least once a week and feeling more confident, it seems, every time I go. I did have a change in golf strategy that didn’t quite plan out the way I wanted it too. I decided about two week ago that I was going to forego my weekly range time and instead play a round at Desert Willow (the executive course I‘ve talked about before) twice a month and still play my full 18 par 70/72 round too. My rationale was that getting on course time would help me work on the problems that happen when I’m on the course. Can’t practice on the course if you’re not playing on the course right? So I played Willow on April 4^th. I decided to play on the Saturdays that I have to work (which is every 3^rd) the course is on the way home and its light out for so long now there shouldn’t be any issues with getting all 18 holes in. Joining me was Shay, a friend of mine since High School. Shays a good player, he has one of the fastest swings I think I have ever seen. If you blink, he’s hit it already.

We were paired up with a guy from Korea, I think, he didn’t talk at all. The one thing I remember about him was that he had to have what was at least a 6” tee. That ball was so high off the ground when he teed it up I don’t know how he hit it! The other player had a friend with him that didn’t play was just along for the ride (sorta). I played ok, had some good shots, and of course had some really bad ones too. Shay made, I think, three 40 foot plus putts. Ass hole. I had a really nice Par on 18 which made the round for me. It’s a par 60 course I think I shot 90, don’t remember I have to find the scorecard. I’m not keeping my stats when I play Willow, it’s too short of a course to compare with a par 70/72 course.

It turns out that the friend that was just tagging along, was a, or is a nationwide player that had been injured and was in the process of rehab. He had just started swinging again. He took some swings on a couple of the holes, some of the Par 3’s. Was he a pro? Maybe, I’ve never played along side a pro to tell the difference. He very well could have been. I googled his name when I got home, but never really found anything credible.

The problem I was having that day was getting my irons up in the air. I asked him to check my grip and let me know what he thought. He suggested a couple of things and to tell the truth it felt good what he recommended, we’ll have to see how that pans out. He did mention to me that my weight shift was non existent and that is what was leading to me hitting the ball fat so much. All of my weight shifts to the rear on my backswing and stays there on my downswing. That’s bad! I asked him what he thought I could do to work on it. His suggestion was to get my left shoulder to drop down (towards the ball) on my downswing by rotating my shoulders more. Keeping the majority of my weight on my front foot and not allowing my weight to transfer to the rear and therefore not have to worry about getting it back in place at impact.

Needless to say I “googled” the shit out of “stop hitting it fat”. I had always assumed that hitting it fat meant that you just got too much of the ground when you hit the ball. Which I guess it is, but now I have a better definition of what it is and with that I have something to work on, and that means more range time. So my small little theory of more on course time vs. range time lasted all of one round. HA, at least I learned something that might help my game.

There is one more thing that I learned from that round of golf that was a true life lesson. Check the rules of the course before you start your round! I have to remember this. After I got home I was looking over the scorecard and saw on the back the rules of the course. The one rule that caught my eye and immediately pissed me off was this one:

3. Free drop out of desert landscape and planters, no nearer to the hole. No stroke penalty.

That little bastard of a rule cost me about 5 strokes. My dumb ass played three shots out of the desert landscaping that went absolutely nowhere! So another lesson added to the memory banks! Check the course rules.