Shakes, how in the hell does that even happen? 48 to a 39? I have done that so many times it's not even funny. Is it because you fuck up the front so badly that the "who gives a shit" mindset takes over? My last round before today was 56-44. Maddening.

yea I don't know. I don't usually have swings that big. I really think the front nine today was much harder than the back. Also, playing by myself really helped, I ALWAYS play better when I'm by myself. My concentration level goes way up. When I play with others I tend to socialize/joke around quite a bit, even if they are total strangers. But, when I play myself all I do is think about my next shot. I think that makes a huge difference. For instance, today when I was by myself I spent a good 3 minutes meticulously lining up a putt from all angles, somethingI would never do in a group. And of course I drained the putt. Also, spent more time over chips and all the shots thinking about all the possible factors and variables till I was satisfied wtih my decision.

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Yeah, Bittersweet is just a poorly designed course. If you can score there you know you have your
distances dialed in and you are hitting the ball right where you want it. I have never played well there.
It is target golf at its worst.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Was up in Michigan this weekend and played a course called The Lynx. Pretty scenic, on the Kalamazoo river, lots of elevation changed and some blind shots. The fairways were in really nice shape, the greens were lighting quick and average at best. Lots of bare spots and ball marks so much so that on 2 greens we took a max 2 putt, and on other green we each moved our shots so we did not have to putt thru the mindfield of ball marks. Shot 93 which isn't that great on the surface, but with the greens, blind shots, and some really, truly unfair pin placements it wasn't that bad.

On a 150ish yard, down hill par 3, I put a 7 iron about 15-18' from the pin just off the green on the fringe. The pin was right on the downslope near the top of a hill. So unless I sank the birdie putt, there were going to be 2 outcomes. Leave it short, or have the ball end up rolling down the hill and off the green...the latter of which is what happens. It was brutal. I don't even think a professional could have gotten the ball to stop. There were a few pins like this on the front 9, they were a little easier on the back. Played much better then final 6-7 holes or so. I was pretty on with my irons all day, but putting wasn't real good and my driver until the last few times I used it was awful. All that said, this was a very pretty course that I would play again provided the greens were in better shape.

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Heading out golfing this afternoon. Had to work a show this weekend so not sure how the body will respond
after being on my feet for the last 4 days straight.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I've passed by that place like 8-10 times on the way to LG for golf. Never would have imagined it was that level of course.

Picked up an old Orlimar Trimetal Plus 4 wood for cheap on eBay. Had these FWs (3/5/7) back in the day and loved the head/shaft combo. Shallow face probably not ideal for tee shots, but we'll see.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Gonna hit the range after work and see if I can get my draw back off the tee. Ever since I got back from Israel my back has been really sore, more so than usual. Coincidentally, I've been playing a ton of golf. Hoping its not related, but I'm starting to think that golf may be worse for me than even hockey. Got so bad that yesterday morning my fiancee had to help me put my socks on. That's never a good look. Got my big golf trip/tournament in two weeks so I'm torn between wanting to practice as much as I can and wanting to rest up my back for what will be 90 holes of golf in 3 days.

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I wish we had a good range here because I could use some work. My parents brought me my old 60 degree wedge
from the set they have down at their house in South Carolina. Took out my 3 wood and have 4 wedges now. I had
a chance to use it a few times and nice not to have to open the face on my sand wedge to try to flop it on the green.
Shakes, I would just say for you to err on the side of caution with the back, especially if you have your big trip coming
up. Maybe just do some intense and focused range sessions but don't hit more than 50 balls at a time, at least not
full swings with the driver. You can use the golf meetup as a nice warm up to see where you are at.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

The way you hit it off the tee and hit your long irons I imagine the 3wood doesn't get that much work anyway.

Yea, gonna try and take it easy. Even when I'm feeling good, I don't hit too many balls at the range cause of my back. Getting through a large bucket is difficult for me, but I usually take some short wedge shots to help empty it. A good practice session for me is 45 minutes on the range and then 45 minutes at the chipping green/short game area. Sometimes I'll push that chipping time and stay out there longer depending on how I'm holding up. You could practice your chipping for 5 hours a day and it still wouldn't be enough.

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I have a question for the golfers here...

What do you like to do from 40-60 yards out in the fairway? Assuming you have the option of any club or shot including bump and runs. I've been trying a quarter swing to half swing sand wedge with inconsistent results. I have a hard time getting good ball striking with that swing and sometimes I can get it fat and it goes 20 yards. If I strike it clean I seem to have the distance dialed in so basically its a question of ball striking.

I know the "correct" play is to pull out my 8 iron and bump it up there, but my distance control with that shot is not good due to lack of practice. I tend to err on the side of hitting it too hard and sending it through the green.

The other option would be to take a full 60 degree shot, but I'm not a fan of using that club for a full swing shot unless its a flop from the rough with a fluffy lie.

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Work on a dead arm(or all arm) swing so that the ball should fly at a lower trajectory and take 1 skip and stop. You hit it fat or thin because you are breaking down with your wrist. If you dead arm it you will hit the shot more consistently solid and with practice become much better at those distances.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I'll give it a shot, thanks.

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If I have the choice, lay up so I can take a full swing with my PW or 9iron.

I choke up on my sand wedge and take a regular swing. I'll skull a couple here or there, but I've had that really dialed in for the most part.

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Starting to get really excited for my bachelor party Saturday. Starts out with a school bus picking us up at my place in the city at noon, then taking us to Steeple Chase golf course in Mundelien. We've got 16 golfers which works out perfectly. Going to play a sorta scramble where each 4some is a team, but on each hole one guy has to play solo and the rest play scramble. The scramble score and the solo score are added together to give the team its score for that hole. One caveat, if the guy playing solo goes OB or loses his ball its an automatic quadruple bogey and the entire 4some must chug a beer at the next tee box before teeing off.

We've also got a friend who doesn't play golf, but wants to tag along so my brother called the course and told them that our friend is slightly disabled and can't play, but wants to hang out so the course said they would give him his own cart with a handicapped flag and he can just drive around and hang out with us. We weren't lying that much since the guy is Canadian which is a kinda disability.

After golf the bus takes us back to Chicago and the Abbey Pub where we have a private room. About 10 more who aren't golfing will be joining us there and we've got a poker tournament lined up plus food and drinks. We also have several strippers and nude waitresses showing up. Gonna be an epic affair!

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Shakes, some people are "feel" players on partial shots and some have more mechanical approach (Pelz school - taking club back to 9 o'clock, etc.). The dead hands approach is good advice - also try playing the ball further back in your stance. Committing to the shot is huge - be confident in club selection, visualize ball flight and let it go.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

So I went to the chipping green and gave this a try and really liked it. In the past I had tried a straight armed approach, but had always kept my arm stiff which resulted in sometimes the club getting stuck behind the ball and resulting in a fat shot. Using the dead armed swing kept the grip on the club loose so when it hit the ground it would slide through the shot rather than get hung up in the turf. I liked it a lot. Gonna try and get out on the course in the next couple days and give it a whirl. Thanks for the help.

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Also, you want to try and keep your knee level the same, and just turn your body faster. It is a sweet shot, but takes a lot of practice. But really fun, especially when you have deep pins and you don't want to fly it all the way back there. Hit that low skipper where you control trajectory and spin.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Going to get to the range and then work on my short game with a buddy. I need to go shopping tonight to
find some yellow or orange or pink golf balls. We play play closest to the pin and gambling games for a quarter a
shot. Miss the green from 100? quarter. Anyone know where to get some pretty cheap? I was going to
look at Dicks, Target, MC Sports and maybe Wal-mart but would like to just make one trip if possible.

Going to make an early tee time for Sunday before it gets too hot, just not sure where I am going to play yet.
Taking a half day on Monday to play a course out in Harvard called Oak Grove with 2 friends and their dad. I
have heard good things about this track but never played it before.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Pretty much everyone carries yellow balls. Look for Srixon ZStars on closeout if you play a urethane ball. Tons of options, really.

Oak Grove is sweet. Bent-grass fairways, conditions are usually superb and nice staff/no pretension. Check the scorecard/layout for a couple of quirky holes - one par 5 has a 200+ yd. forced carry of the tee, but the fairway runs out really quick.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Yeah I figured most places would. I'll try MC Sports since it is closest to me. They are just practice balls
for the purpose of being able to see who is closest to the pin from longer distances. I usually play Pro V1
repurposed balls. At MC Sports I can get a dozen for $20 and they have been repainted and marked. Way
better than $45 a box for brand new.

Good to hear about Oak Grove. Fortunately one of the guys has played it before so he should be able to point
us in the right direction. I heard there is a goofy dogleg hole too but looking at the photos online it looked like
a great layout, too bad it is way out in Harvard. I've played Plum Tree National out there as well which is a pretty
decent track. The father in the group is getting us out there for free as he is a former course superintendent and
still has a lot of friends in the biz so I can't beat that deal.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Going back to ol' Coyote Run tomorrow at 7:30. Hoping to get the score back into the mid 80's. Gonna get there early to hit a large bucket. Last weekend in Michigan, I noticed I wasn't following thru on all of my shots, especially the driver, and I was losing a lot of them right. About the 13th hole I noticed this and most of the my shots (4 of the 5 drives) went pretty much dead straight as I was concentrating on making sure I follow thru. Hopefully that solves part of my poor shots over the last few rounds.

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Oak Grove is even sweeter when it's free. Nice!

Good that you're playing it when someone who knows the course, as the insider knowledge will help. It's definitely a course you play better the 2nd time around. The goofy dogleg you mentioned is the hole I was talking about.

Volvik is a Korean brand of golf ball that is played on the LPGA tour and their tour-level balls get a lot of buzz because some places deeply discount them. Just in case you want to play a pink, purple or lavender ball.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Never played it, but I've heard really good things about Oak Grove. Let us know what you think of it.

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Assuming terrain isn't an issue...

Close the club face slightly on P-wedge and play bump/run. Grip it slightly tighter than usual and plan on landing the ball a little past halfway to the pin. There is a lot more margin of error playing this shot than a semi-full swing with any other wedge.

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Target has yellow, orange, and pink balls for $6.99 or $7.99 (I forget) per dozen.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Practiced chipping and pitching for 3 hours on Saturday and didn't play yesterday. Today is going to be a
scorcher out at Oak Grove. I hope we have carts.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

101 on Saturday. Bru-Tal. 47 on the front with only 1 par and an snowman. So all things considered, I wasn't happy with that score but I had some good enough shots to save bogeys where I still gave myself a chance to break 90.

Then the wheels really fell off. Start off the back with a 7, a 6 (par 3), a bogey but my approach shot was about 10' from the pin, 3 putted, an 8 (on a par 3, two balls in the water), a 6 on a par 5 with my drive going out of bounds, a 6 with another ball in the water. I did go par bogey par to end it but that 6 hole stretch was the worst sober golf I have played in 2 years. It was not fun.

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Yikes Frank. Could you just not seem to hit the ball at all? Penalty strokes to compound it hurt but
that is what is sounds like to me.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Just a lot of bad shots and bad swings. Sliced almost every drive, must have been jumping at the ball with my irons because I worm burned a lot of those. The few I did hit well were off on direction. And my putting was pretty bad. I don't think I sunk anything longer than a few feet, but I did have a couple of nice 2 putts from 50'

Just one of those days. Can't be any worse next weekend.

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Shot 78 at Woodbine on Sunday with a 7(!) on the par-3 17th hole. I was less than pleased.