Tell us about your game today...

First topic message reminder :

As one of the more popular threads on the dark side, a place to tell us about your latest game

Mercurio wrote:

BlueCoverman wrote:

Mercurio wrote:Still, at least my handicap hasn't gone up.

Your weight might have done though Merc, after all that booze!

What went in on Friday night more than came back out again on Saturday!

I didn't eat from noon on Friday until 5pm on Saturday (which I suspect is part of the reason for the mega-hangover). I was well and truly emptied.

The lengths some people will go to fit into a pair of strides.

I trust they are not white strides after this weekends expulsions!

Interesting after work game today.

Over the weekend I bought another set of irons (Wilson's in good nick and very chirpy chirpy cheap cheap) and decided to make up another complete bag.

So played today with every club changed from last week and it was not bad at all. I was hitting the new irons quite sweetly, considering the first time I had even swung the clubs was on the first tee, my Benross v8 compressor was a very capable stand in for the Cobra zl and my putting was comfortable with the Wilson putter that came with the irons. the only stand in club that will never get in my bag again is a nasty Rogue 5 wood!

I do tend to do this quite frequently - does anyone else chop and change on a wholesale basis?

Having totally sickened myself with an inept display in two medals last week, I self diagnosed a problem with my grip and an alignment issue. I have weakened my grip slightly and now step into the ball right foot first. Managed 16 holes today, skipped 2 and 3 due to a slow 4 ball that we were behind. Racked up 38 stableford points, which makes the medal performances last week all the more disappointing. Hopefully I can put that right on Saturday afternoon.

oldshanker wrote:Interesting after work game today.

Over the weekend I bought another set of irons (Wilson's in good nick and very chirpy chirpy cheap cheap) and decided to make up another complete bag.

So played today with every club changed from last week and it was not bad at all. I was hitting the new irons quite sweetly, considering the first time I had even swung the clubs was on the first tee, my Benross v8 compressor was a very capable stand in for the Cobra zl and my putting was comfortable with the Wilson putter that came with the irons. the only stand in club that will never get in my bag again is a nasty Rogue 5 wood!

I do tend to do this quite frequently - does anyone else chop and change on a wholesale basis?

Forgot to add that I hit the driver off the deck for the first time in probably 20 years on that day as well. Interesting, I have never tried it with a 9 degree 460cc before, but it went very well indeed, although had a bit too much fade at the death. Will have to remember that if I try it again.

What game today? Can't get out on the course, it's flooded due to this drought

Same here D4 - not played for about 3 weeks now! I was taking a bit of a rest anyway as I'd had a recurrence of a foot problem that kept me out for a while last winter but I was looking forward to getting out again soon. Will be another 10 days now as I'm otherwise occupied next weekend

We've had a little cold spell after some glorious weather. Played yesterday in cool temps and some breeze but very nice in the sun. Drained a 30 footer on the first for birdie, had another on the 8th and 13th. Missed a very make able one on 17 too. Very unusual for me to make so many birdies, normally have about 1 every other round.

Ended up with an 81, 1 over for the 10 par 4s and 10 over for the 5 par 3s and 3 par 5s. Crazy game!

Heading out for 9 holes with the missus this afternoon. Bright sunshine again but still cool.

Completely forget this, also had a ball end up in a groundhog hole.

After a wait on the 10th tee, managed to hook one into the bank on the left. Saw it bounce near a bright green patch of stuff on the bank so I'm fairly confident of finding it. Get over there and realise it is a bramble bush and now I'm not so sure I want to find it. I look all around this bush, spot the hole in the ground, find a couple of other balls but can't find mine. For shits and giggles I manage to move some of the brambles to look down the hole. See a ball and using one of my playing partners ball retriever I manage to pull it out and find that it was mine. Must have been about a foot and a half down there, totally unexpected.

Shot a net 65 on Friday without hitting the ball too well. Scrambled and putted very well though. Yesterday I hit the ball really well for the most part but only managed 34 stableford points. 4 blobs (2 of them on par 3s) proved costly as 35 was leading my category. Left an 8 footer 3 inches short on the last too, and lipped out for a magic 2 on the 6th also.

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Completely forget this, also had a ball end up in a groundhog hole.

After a wait on the 10th tee, managed to hook one into the bank on the left. Saw it bounce near a bright green patch of stuff on the bank so I'm fairly confident of finding it. Get over there and realise it is a bramble bush and now I'm not so sure I want to find it. I look all around this bush, spot the hole in the ground, find a couple of other balls but can't find mine. For shits and giggles I manage to move some of the brambles to look down the hole. See a ball and using one of my playing partners ball retriever I manage to pull it out and find that it was mine. Must have been about a foot and a half down there, totally unexpected.

I suppose you wanted a free drop as well

Of course Blue

This is great that I get to keep posting about my rounds whilst you lot were rained off. I have to suffer this all through the winter so my turn to rub in golf in the sunshine.

I didn't play with the usual crew on Saturday as I wanted to watch the Arsenal game so I ended up playing with one of the very good golfers at the club. My chatty friend says he can be a nightmare to play with, I thought that was one of the best pot, kettle comments I had heard for a long time and ha to hold my tongue.

Anyway to get back to the golf, I lose a ball from the opening tee shot but make a second ball par with the provisional. It seemed as if our golf balls were attracted to each other, 5 yards away from each other on the fairway, 5 feet away on the green. I played pretty solidly on the front nine making a few pars with some nice putting and short game when I missed the green. 3 puttedthe last to be out in 40, my partner was out in 37.

Missed a tiddler on 10 for birdie but my excuse was the aeration marks not fully recovering. Still playing well until I get to the par 3 14th. I don't trust the club selection so try to hit it hard and carve it into the tree line on the left. It is easily found and not a real difficult shot however I get cute and end up semi blading it over the green and down a huge hill into bushes and brambles. Drop another one and play onto the fringe. Another chip and a putt sees me walk off with a 6. My partner stuffs up the following par 3 and gets a 6 too, I think to make me feel better but the steam coming out of his ears told me otherwise.

By this point we have both played the par 3s horribly with one par, three bogies and a triple. He pars the last three and I go one better by making amends and holing a 3 footer on the last. He had a 78 and I had a 79. I had two 6s that cost me 5 shots but very pleased with the round overall.

I also got a tip to help with my putting as I tend to raise the toe of the putter. I seemed to be rolling the ball a lot truer but raced one 6 feet past on 17 as I made proper contact with it. Made the comebacker so I didn't mind too much.

Going to play some more with this guy as I think he can encourage me to play better and in return he wants some competition to help in his quest to break 70.

Well I finally got out today for the first game in about 3.5 weeks mostly due to the weather although I'd been struggling also with a recurrence of a foot injury

The good news is that my foot has apparently come through it just fine (it's a little tired now but no real problem - the acid test will be how it feels when I wake in the morning!)

The day started relatively badly when I realized the comp I'd entered was a midweek medal and not the less pressurizing Stableford that I thought I'd entered - I figured after the layoff that I'd be a bit rusty and that stableford would be a bit easier but it wasn't to be!

Started OK and apart from a sloppy 3-putt on the 4th I was playing OK. Then 5 and 6 which are slightly bogey holes for me proved to be so again and I slipped to three over my h/c. A nice recovered par on 7 after a lousy second shot got me back on track. After that it was all going approximately to h/c until I reached the par3 17th where I failed to carry the pond in front of the green by about a foot and then proceeded to put my next shot into the pond too and ended up with an 8

And 8 up the par 5 last too spoiled what was otherwise a not bad day and I slipped by another 0.1 to go up another shot on my playing handicap

Disappointing to lose another shot on the h/c though it could have a silver lining as I still feel I'm playing better than I had been and today was partly down to ring-rustiness. I'm trying to stay positive in that when I do eventually put a round together in a qualifier I now have another shot under my belt and so any cut I get will be greater than if I'd hit the buffer zone today

Surprisingly after a bit of a layoff my short game wasn't too bad - chipped and putted well apart from the aforementioned nasty 3-stab on the 4th and I did miss a bit of a tiddler later in the round but generally it wasn't too bad and the putting was generally pretty steady (something like 31 putts total)

Overall it was just great to be back out on the course and hopefully the foot won't give me too much gyp tomorrow!

A break in the weather meant I could play in a mixed team charity event yesterday at Alsager GC. Consistency has been a bit of a problem as I'm trying to bed in a new swing, but weather has seen me play hardly any golf for a month, Our team only scored 87 points, and the winners came home with 101, but 3 of us put up a good show and I'm pleased to say I weighed in with 4 pars and a birdie but should have parred more. Only one blob yipee.

Going through the card, I played just under my handicap on a soggy track, so very pleased.

Very mixed feelings today. Mid-game just wasn't there but I drive the ball well and chipped and putted nicely to finish with 36 points (and take the money in our little bounce game) but I really felt like I left a really good score out there despite the mid-game being off

19 pts on 1st nine including a NR on my own personal bogey hole. Started the back nine strongly and was looking at a nice score; my nearest rival was 3 pts behind after nine and proceeded to NR 10 and 11 - and I figured I was home and dry. Then he started playing really well and after I failed to score on 15 (lost ball) and 16 (3 off the tee) he was suddenly getting closer. I got a little lucky on 17 after almost going OOB again but scrambled well and I commented to him on the 18th tee (par 5) that he needed a birdie and I needed to "blob" for him to take it. Sure enough he birdied it with a putt from just off the green and after only having a 9-iron to the green for my 3rd shot I managed to duff a couple of chips and needed a 2 footer for my 1 pt that was just about enough - the 2 footer suddenly looked about 6' after making such a mess of it! Just scraped home in the end but it should never have been that close! I shouldn't be upset with 36 points I suppose but it could have been so much better

Still not playing.

Off to bournemouth for the scratch open soon and I've not hit a ball since I was at Woburn.

I sense a carcrash coming. Or possibly a runaway win through fear of hitting anything longer than a 5 iron and not visiting the trees once!

First round of the summer 4BBB knockout today - and a day to forget to be honest

My partner and I were getting 7 and 9 shots off the low handicapper and his partner was gettting 8 so it's fair to say there were 3 of us that were fairly evenly matched and one guy considerably better

To cut a long story short we lost by one hole but frankly none of us played terribly well. I had a shocker of a first nine (though with a couple of pars on holes that are quite tough for me) and after being 1 up for a while and the lead swinging one way and the other we were one down after nine. Mostly thanks to my partner or we could have been dead and buried already by that point.

Then a sausage bap at the halfway hut and I woke up a bit. Halved the 10th with the low handicapper (with a shot) but he played it very well so I was quite pleased with that, then I won 11 and 12 with pars (11 was a net birdie) and my partner chipped in on 13 to take us 2 up with 5 to play

Isn't there an old saying that 2 up with 5 to play never wins? Always seemed a stupid thing to say to me but 14 saw us all 3-putt I think (my partner from no more than 8 ft) so instead of being 3 up with 4 to play we were still 2 up

Lost 15, and on 16 with us all getting a shot, the opposing higher handicapper suddenly woke up and won it with a net par - 17 was a bit of a car crash for all of us and won by the higher handicapper on the opposing team after a heroic shot from out of a pond!

One down going up the last and I was the only player getting a shot - had a 30 footer for a net birdie which just shaved the hole and stayed out - a par from the opponents took the match by one hole

Oh well there's always next year but to be honest we really didn't deserve to win and it was only some rather average play from the opponents that got them though

Despite everything I've said I'm almost a little disappointed not to nominate it for the eceltic - although the end result was poor I got some decent pars on holes that are quite difficult for me - far to many NRs for eclectic purposes but the unexpected pars would have set me in good stead for improving on the easier holes! Oh well....

Edit later: I've just gone through my card and though there were a few pickups and/or gimmes it was actually around 33 pts Stableford - really surprised at that as it felt much worse - the good scores on holes I don't usually score well on certainly helped but that's 4 or 5 points better than I thought I'd got

Ok... still not played but went to the course today with the little boy to mess around on the green and chipping area. That was great fun and he's coming along well.

Later I did a range session. I actually think the break did me good. Apart from a few dodgy ones I was nutting it. Time to get back on the course methinks!

Well - back from my 5 day jaunt up in Scotland and everyone had a fab, sooper, smashing time. Me especially as I won the little competition by one shot over 5 rounds, so it was very tight and all came down to a birdie putt on the 18th at Gullane 2.

Anyone who has played this course, will know that any putt on any of the greens can be.....slippery to say the least. So, 10 footer with at least 12 inches of borrow that needed to be dead weight with my history of putting....squeaky bum time covers it, but wonder of wonders, I actually holed it with real panache!!

So the courses played and my brief thoughts:

Slaley Hall - Weather - rain! Very wet Parkland course that is quite tight, with rather patchy greens. Has that typical Hotel course feel, both on course and in the pleasant enough facilities. Bloody cheek, I was chastised by I presume a greenkeeper for not replacing my divot....I was actually in the semirough, so no need I said. Not bad, but really needs another look when in better condition.

Turnberry Kintyre - Weather - rain again! As Doon has said, quite a tight course, especially when fairways are lined by gorse, but the condition, even taking into account the considerable amount of recent rain was excellent and the greens were holding and true. Fantastically atmospheric facilities that are worth the trip alone!

Dukes St Andrews - weather - rain yet again!! S_R, you were absolutely right, the greens were very shabby. But not only that, the course condition was very disappointing indeed, to the point that I feel it should not have been open at all. Maybe after an extended dry spell, this might be a pretty good course that is huge off the blacks, but when I played it, I felt hugely let down.

The Glen - weather - overcast but dry. Played on Saturday afternoon and what a difference. This is a magical course, with outstanding views, hard and true greens, very friendly members, good facilities, excellent course condition. Exactly what links golf should be like and a course I would be exceptionally happy to be a member at, especially with fees of £553p/a and no joining fee, a real bargain.

Gullane 2 - weather - sun (huzzah). Last played this course about 40 years ago and it is still a fantastic test of links golf. I loved it then and still do! greens were actually a little slower than I remember them, but the recent rain is now drying out, so they are apparently speeding up day by day. Well worthwhile staying on the fantastic fairways, because the cabbage is a nightmare to get out of and will cost you dearly. New visitors clubhouse is not really my cup of tea, but I suppose the members wanted it that way.

All in all - the links courses were far and away the better of the courses played, with The Glen being everyones favourite and Dukes by a long way, the least favourite.

Enduring impression - How very unstuffy the Scottish courses were, with even Turnberry clubhouse having a spikes anywhere system and no visible dress code. English clubs who are totally up themselves, please take note!

Sounds like a great trip OS - congratulations on the win!

Finally got myself out on the course today, after 4 months without hitting a ball. Got off to a good start - 7 points for the first 3 holes. 3rd shot on the next (par 4) went into the greenside bunker - played the shot out very nicely, but had trouble climbing out of said bunker and managed to "tweak" my back. Played on for one more hole, but began to feel nauseous with the pain, so had to call it a day. Am hoping it's just a temporary problem which will disappear a.s.a.p.

Still, at least I know that I can still hit the ball!

Sorry to hear that Mary...nothing a nice little back massage from Mr Howell won't sort out I'm sure!

I'm sure a rub down with the sporting life from nurse David will have Mary back on her feet in no time. Hope you feel better soon Mary

Interesting day today - a Bank Holiday "fun" competition - mixed teams (3 men and one lady in most teams, some teams were 2 men and two ladies depending on the mix of entrants)

Stableford rules (off the ladies indexes for some reason - so I was getting extra shots on a couple of holes where I wouldn't normally, but losing shots where I would usually get them)

My own card was approx 31 pts, so not great but not too disastrous either - but the comp was best two scores on each hole multiplied together.

No idea what won it - we were 102 points which wasn't very good - I wouldn't be surprised to find that the winning score was something around the 150 mark!

The other guy in our team was an 8 h/c and played almost flawlessly from tee to green but couldn't buy a putt to save his life - he told me afterwards that he reckoned he had something like 12 reasonable birdie chances and made only one - and his putting wasn't bad, just nothing dropped for him

Biggest disappointment for me was the almost total inability to hit a fairway wood - and over the years that has been my fallback shot - always been quite decent with a 3 or 5 wood off the fairway and it's kept me in may a game where the rest of my game has been off key - today I couldn't hit them to save my life. The 18th (par 5) summed it up - hit probably my best drive of the day - long (by my own standards) and dead down the middle. A 3 wood from a perfect lie went short right into semi rough and a the next 5 wood was skyed and left into all sorts of rubbish that I didn't even bother looking for it.

I can live with days when my mid/long irons aren't working - it happens and I get over it - but when my stock shot goes to crap then it's pretty disappointing

Played the par 3s well though - 3 pars out of 5 including 2 very good birdie chances - only one of them wasn't so good and that was only because I missed the green right into thick rough and duffed the chip

Good fun comp though

Played today on a local public track.

It wasn't bad. Putting sorted itself during the round and holed a lot of nice clutch putts. The driver was a mess at times but all in all not too shabby.

Was very happy with my iron and wedge play.

All in all... at least I won't come last in bournemouth!

Glad to hear you've managed to get your 'bats' back in hand LJ. That's only the 2nd or 3rd time this year isn't it?

Give my regards to D4S when you see him.

Popped out for 9 holes early doors this morning. Played the Orange 9, which is links style and covers the highest points of the course - but luckily it was not too windy today. Managed 17 points (shot 50 - nett 36) - my undoing was the 2nd par 5, which dragged 9 shots out of me before the ball dropped!

It took a couple of holes for my driving to get sorted, but I was quite pleased with my shots around the green. A few too many three putts, but hopefully will get the feel of the greens again soon.

oldshanker wrote:Glad to hear you've managed to get your 'bats' back in hand LJ. That's only the 2nd or 3rd time this year isn't it?

Give my regards to D4S when you see him.

I shall Shanker! Although having seen this I'm sure he has that warm fluffy feeling he gets when he knows he has made an impact on someones life as much as he has yours seeing as how you remember the man so fondly.

D4S is a MAN!!!

Played Mar Menor on Saturday, on our Murcia trip.

After a heavy session on Friday night, the look on the 20 guys faces was this was not going to be a high scoring game.
Having played with a hangover before was not expecting a lot from my game.

I was first off, cracked one right down the middle, wedge to the green, 2 putts later, a 4. off to a par start. Bogeyed the par 3 second, but I started to swing well.
Swing well is an understatement, everything I aimed at I hit. I never left one single approach shot short. On the green in regulation nearly every hole.
My only bad swing was at the 14th, with a 5 iron in my hand I chunked the ground instead of the ball, & it slowly crawled into the water.

I believe this was my best swing round ever. If it wasn't for all the bunkers I hit with my driver in the first 9 holes, it would have probably been my lowest score ever.

But 39 points is not too shabby.

matching your 39-points setup Played Malton on Monday and did nothing spectacular as I only hit 3 greens in regulation, but short game was on fire. Hit the ball really well, although a strong breeze shoved the ball either just left, just right or just short of target. Putting could have been better but I was going for par on every green except 3. 1 birdie, 1 blob, 1 1 pointer, 4 pars the rest 2 pointers. Played to 13 so happy enough with the swing and the strike. If only I could drop some putts

Sounds like playing after a skinful could be the way forward!

It sure can Blue, you just have to get the right amount of aiming fluid and swing oil inside you. Too little, no effect, too much, tits up.

I've had a couple of good rounds whilst suffering a hangover. I think I was concentrating more on not throwing up than my game.

Sounds good Grumps, think I might try it for next weeks Fantasy League...

I wish I could add some funny zinger about the fantasy league but I can't as I'm crap at that game.

The golf in bournemouth was as I expected. A waste of effort.

However convincing D4S that cocktails were a great idea in a bar was excellent!

So D4S was there but didn't play? Where is the old bugger - haven't seen him on here for a while

Work related Davie. He's nose to the grindstone.

Doing good however. Looking far too healthy. Must be the sea air or something

Well he IS scottish isn't he? All this "drought" down here must be making him feel quite at home

Presidents Mid Summer Cup this morning. A pretty blustery wind on the course and like most places our rough is really long and so missing the fairways is extremely punishing. Played pretty solid, 8 bogeys and 1 birdie for a gross 79 nett 74 which was best gross and good enough for 2nd on countback. Not surprisingly there were some very high scores and a few no returns so standard scratch was 75 which got me a .1 cut down to 5.1

Nice going Blue. How did you get on in that Thornton Cup match?

Thanks Grumps. We got absolutely stuffed at Colchester in the Thornton Cup, they were a very talented young side and they were far too good for us on their own course. We lost 14 and a half to a half so it was a real pasting, I managed our half in the singles in the afternoon to save us the ignominy of a complete whitewash, not that in itself was much consolation!

It is funny how it goes in peaks and troughs with players, in 2009 we had a really strong side and got to the final where we lost to West Essex at Thorndon Park. Seven of the ten in our team were teenagers or in their early twenties and I was our highest handicapper. Now three of those boys have turned pro, a couple are away at university and a couple more have moved to a different club, so we have been pretty weak for the last couple of years. However, our Junior section is very strong at the moment with four or five very promising 15 and 16 year olds who no doubt will be very welcome in our side in a year or two.

Did you play Thornton Cup/Leslie Wood back in your Essex days?

Oh well Blue. I'll spare your blushes by not asking which club you belong to. I've been there on the end of a complete drubbing too, we lost 8-1/2 to 1/2. The other team thought they had won 8-1 cos I was 4 up with 5 to play, 3 putted the last to lose that hole and the extra half point.

Never got low enough to play those matches. Started playing the Jubilee Cup in its first year, in the second year I got upgraded to Curry? Cup. I then changed clubs at the start of the following season and we moved over to the states a few months later.

Really miss the competitive side of golf here, we play one competition a year at my club and that's the championship. We do play some inter club matches imaginatively called Ryder Cups but it's nine holes of scramble, best ball and alternate shot and the team numbers vary depending upon how many want to play. That's a big change from a Saturday medal, Sunday medal, midweek medal. Same again for stapleford not to mention all the other comps that get fitted in and around those.

Straying off topic for a second and to give you a smile. I saw Scott Barrett score against Wycombe at Adams park.

I'm at Five Lakes Grumps. Both The Jubilee Cup and the Curry Cup are still contested, in fact I'm playing in the Curry Cup next Sunday at Stoke by Nayland.

I was at Adams Park on that day as well to witness that legendary Scott Barrett moment!

Were you the bloke that ran on the pitch to give Barrett a kiss? Loved how the crowd closed ranks after he jumped back in and the rozzers were looking in vain. Missed seeing it on Saint and Greavsie as I traveling to the next game at Layer Rd.

Never played Five Lakes, although I did play the captain? One time in the second round of one of the county matchplay events. Seemed a nice bloke, flew medical supplies in his plane or someone like that.

I was well pleased with him, but not that pleased to kiss him! Had some great fun following Col U in those days.

Not sure who that Captain was, might have been before my time. Could have done with some of his medical supplies at the Thornton Cup the other week, to help stop the bleeding!

BlueCoverman wrote:Thanks Grumps. We got absolutely stuffed at Colchester in the Thornton Cup, they were a very talented young side and they were far too good for us on their own course. We lost 14 and a half to a half so it was a real pasting, I managed our half in the singles in the afternoon to save us the ignominy of a complete whitewash, not that in itself was much consolation!

It is funny how it goes in peaks and troughs with players, in 2009 we had a really strong side and got to the final where we lost to West Essex at Thorndon Park. Seven of the ten in our team were teenagers or in their early twenties and I was our highest handicapper. Now three of those boys have turned pro, a couple are away at university and a couple more have moved to a different club, so we have been pretty weak for the last couple of years. However, our Junior section is very strong at the moment with four or five very promising 15 and 16 year olds who no doubt will be very welcome in our side in a year or two.

Did you play Thornton Cup/Leslie Wood back in your Essex days?

So you were the hero, well done! I saw that result and immediately wondered who the half was. Feel sorry for your opponent, who presumably will be dropped for the next round?

Not much of a hero but I am now being referred to as 'legend'! Presumably he will, the way he reacted when he holed a 15 foot putt on the last to halve the match suggested that he desperately did not want to be the only loser!

See your team had a good win at Upminster.

BlueCoverman wrote:Not much of a hero but I am now being referred to as 'legend'! Presumably he will, the way he reacted when he holed a 15 foot putt on the last to halve the match suggested that he desperately did not want to be the only loser!

See your team had a good win at Upminster.

They did, which is bloody good to say that we've only got 2 players under 3. Leslie Wood ought to be much stronger but apparently is badly run, hence a 1st round home thumping by Braintree.

Always impressive to win away, a home draw is usually such a huge advantage