Fore! Who's playing golf, yo-

[wyeaster]

had my lesson: over the top, open face. ugh. she gave me some stuff to work on.

heading for s.d. this afternoon. the driver stays home, not because i can't hit it straight but because the shaft is several inches longer than anything else in the bag even with the head off and since i don't have a proper travel case i don't want to risk it. which is fine. i hit the 3hybrid almost 200 on the trackman and i hit it comparatively straight for the most part. i average 230ish with the driver but it's all over the place so i'm frequently playing out of trouble from my tee shot. i'm going to adjust the hybrid to a 2 to give myself a little more length off the tee.

well, first, i'm going to look at the course maps and see what i need. my goal is to play bogey golf. 3 to the green, 2 putt. it may not work, but that's the way i'm trying to get my mind to think. i also think i maybe should have waited for the lesson until i came back. i thought maybe i could get enough info to straighten my driver out a bit but i need to practice a lot more. i don't practice with the driver much because i can't afford the range very often. now i'm thinking too much about my swing in general. i may go practice for a little bit today to try to shake out the uncertainty. i was feeling pretty good about things a couple days ago.

i picked up raymond floyd's "the elements of scoring" used for $5 yesterday. i have a long wait at the airport and a 2plus hour flight so that will be the reading material

i love practicing at redtail, but it seems that a lot of people don't give a shit about etiquette or rules.

and for the tiresome folks who will raise the issue of me getting kicked out of the rich boy club in south america, in retrospect, i made 3 mistakes.

first, i didn't know the rules at that course (4somes always have priority. singles have to wait or skip holes, regardless of pace of play. that's why it's for rich guys so they fuck each other's rounds, which is the opposite of the play through and pace of play rules at the shitty public courses i play);

second, i should have dealt with it in english instead of spanish. i was thinking in spanish and in general always speak spanish when i'm in latin america unless there is some reason not to. my brain short-circuits in physical confrontation and i get rattled because i expect to have to defend myself, which i know i can, but with my history and decades of physical conflict avoidance i struggle to speak. the asshole in question definitely spoke english.

i should have confirmed that they were letting me play through while they dug through the bushes in english after i thought i had confirmation in spanish. once the confrontation started, i should have stuck to english instead of trying to deal with somebody screaming in my face in spanish.

third, i thought because i was more respectful of the help and the rules and the course than 98% of the monied assholes who were members there and i had a sponsor and that i was a gringo (which i would never think other than in this situation) somehow made me an equal to other members, which of course, was not the case. i showed all the deference and respect in the world to everybody at all times except that 1 hole to the wrong guy after i made a mistake complicated by language, who as it turned out was one of the biggest assholes at the club according to several caddies.

anyway, i found a couple bob rotella books in spanish and sent them to my sponsor and the head caddie who i became friends with. i got a nice letter back from my sponsor. he is a unique individual and i probably won't see him again since it's doubtful i'll be returning to ecuador.

anyway, back to redtail. it's a public non-smoking facility and i get that people do their thing on the course, but it's not acceptable on the practice green and management doesn't give a shit. there is one guy in particular who is there all the time with headphones smoking a cigar and it's horrible. i have complained several times. they came out once. i went and talked to someone and they said it's just a regulation and they can't enforce it. i talked to the guy myself first before i complained and asked him if he knew it was a smoke-free facility and he said he didn't and didn't care.

i saw the asst. gm coming screaming obscenities down the 18th fairway heading toward a player and thought there was a physical confrontation about to happen. there was a kids tournament happening and kids and families everywhere. i thought he was dealing with a serious security issue. as it turned out, he was playing for money with the guy he was screaming at and they were arguing over a rule interpretation for $5k.

they closed the pitching green for the winter, so people would come to the chipping green and hit these high lofted shots that just fucked the shit out of the green.

yesterday, i was on the pitching green hitting 50 yard wedges. that's where the bench and the seed buckets were and they move it so the turf can regrow. i was there alone. another guy shows up, and goes 10 yards behind me and over 5 yards and starts chunking wedge after wedge, 20 yards. i think this is nuts, because it's obviously dangerous. i figure i'll wait until he sends one my way before i say anything so i have evidence rather than "opining" as he might think since he obviously doesn't get it.

after he chunks 15 balls and puts 5 on the green, we go up to pick up our balls and instead of coming back, he stays 5 yards off the green and starts hitting chips. i'm standing back at the 50 yard mark and i ask him "are you really going to hit from there?" oh sure, you won't hit me.

i hit maybe 4 balls and sliced one that headed his direction but not close and just said fuck it. picked up my stuff and left. i stopped and said "i could be wrong and i don't mean to be a jerk, but standing that far behind me and still so close is not appropriate because it's dangerous. chipping onto this green when the other green is for chipping and there is already somebody here pitching when you get here is not appropriate." he just stared at me and i left.

i could go on and on.

if i start to get annoyed about something at the course, i think of tiger's dad tossing pebbles into the bucket behind him while he was practicing so he would learn how to focus. that's how i try to deal with it because i don't like confrontation. at the same time, i don't feel like i should have to deal with some of this shit because they are basic rules or etiquette.

anyway, i'm going to go practice a little today to relax and stop thinking so much. aterrizando en san diego a las 9.

[wyeaster]

wow that was longer than i realize.

tl:dr

i swing over the top, open face. leaving driver at home because it's too long for the bag. landing in s.d. at 9pm. crossings at carlsbad tomorrow at 10am. woohoo!

edit: anybody have any issues with fingers splitting open from friction on the right hand (i'm a rightie). i hit 200-300 balls a day and my hands are not soft. no matter how think the callous gets on my right side of my middle finger, it eventually starts to crack open and it takes forever to heal. i'm going to use tape on it, but i'm just curious if i'm not gripping the club firmly enough or if happens to everybody from time to time.

[4matic]

I walked 36 today in less than five hours. Second nine of second 18 was in a foursome but two of us ditched the other two slow guys. 78-77. I'm spending a lot of time hitting 6 foot putts on a chalk line; seems to be helping. I have a league match on Wed. and playing with a GHIN 5.

[AdironRider]

imho Links for $379 walking-

great course to walk, way more interesting than Spudgusta and requires a ton more course management than the Reserve. I'll probably be playing there next wednesday or friday, shoot a pm if any interest...
No range, but just copy this warmup and you'll be fine...

Thats a more involved warmup than I usually do. Heh.

379 makes that a no brainer.

[wyeaster]

[wyeaster]

[PassTheDutchie]

After considering it for years, I finally pulled the trigger on getting my clubs regripped with some oversized grips for my huge monkey hands. We'll see how this works out... Picking them up tomorrow. First round of the year on Thursday. Could be interesting...

[wyeaster]

Golf is hard to play with a heavy heart and a scrambled brain but good friends are always just right.

[4matic]

My home course is par 69. 37-34 for 71 today. First under par nine in quite a while. One mistake for a double and another three putt bogey. Team match tomorrow.

[legallyillegal]

man i was terrible today

couldn't drive for shit

no 3-putts though

[RockChalk]

Any recs on courses in/around San Antonio?

Staying at the JW over Memorial and playing each of the courses there at the TPC but have Friday and Monday open.

[Steven S. Dallas]

My home course is par 69.

Nice.

[4matic]

Shot 75 in my match. Made some putts. Still tentative on pressure shots around the green.

[Aldo]

27 tuesday after work, 36 tomorrow one day, 27 friday outing, outing on monday, liver is already trying to get out of my side.

[wyeaster]

[Game Over]

You in SD? Wish I was down there but the remodel nightmare (16 month and counting) is ongoing

[wyeaster]

i got home last night. the courses were all beautiful and the weather was great. i'm pretty sunburned. it was also wonderful to hang with my longtime golf buddy and his wife and two little kids for the first time since october.

unfortunately, my heart and mind are pretty messed up right now and i was walking around in a daze, totally out of sync with life. other than the greens, i played like i'd never picked up a club. having a lesson right before i left didn't help. i overthink everything anyway and until the lesson to work on my driver i had been hitting my irons better than ever. i have never played worse tee to green and as much as i would like to say that courses beat me, when you top, shank, hook, slice, chunk honestly 80% of your shots, it's going to be a long day.

on the positive side, i putted and chipped better than ever and since i have worked hard on that i felt pretty good about that, particularly considering how demoralized i was about coming completely apart in the rest of my game and how fast the greens were compared to anything i play in portland. i think i might like fast greens better than slow greens.

my friend will be down there for a while so i'm sure i'll go again in the future someday and hopefully things will have calmed down for me personally by then.

[Gcooker]

First round of the season, and first round since my Tennis Elbow eased up, been bugging me since October. Shot an 84 with 3 lost balls and a couple missed short putts. Not bad considering. Left arm is tender today, hopefully it eases up again quickly.

[wyeaster]

You in SD? Wish I was down there but the remodel nightmare (16 month and counting) is ongoing

i had my own remodel nightmare for 3 years and then a complete system nightmare ever since. good luck.

[4matic]

Shot an 84 with 3 lost balls

Playing lost ball as lateral penalty or full stroke and distance? I'm a big supporter of lateral penalty for regular play.

[bourbonisgood]

Playing lost ball as lateral penalty or full stroke and distance? I'm a big supporter of lateral penalty for regular play.

This. I think weekend rounds at busy courses would speed up considerably and overall people would enjoy the game more.

[philth]

Playing lost ball as lateral penalty or full stroke and distance? I'm a big supporter of lateral penalty for regular play.

So this is interesting. Just had this debate with golf buds. Lost ball is Stroke and distance. Thats the rule. For the sake of pace of play on a busy course nobody goes back to the tee (or last lie) to re hit. So....when you take your lateral penalty and drop..from where you think it was lost....are you laying two or laying three? ( lets assume it was off the tee)

[wyeaster]

aren't you supposed to play a provisional from the tee so you don't have to go back?

[philth]

Yup, you should if you suspect it is OB or if you think you will not find your ball but,z most people don't. Most folks head off the tee thinking they will find their ball.

[shroom]

I've always played 2 stokes & drop or re-hit depending on obvious it is. hmm