Played yesterday qat 6am. I have never tried to play when it was that foggy. Couldn't see a green
from further than 150 yards until the 13th hole. I've played the course enough to have an idea
where the greens were and actually not knowing exactly where the pins were seemed to help. I
was just aiming for the middle and often found myself pretty close to the pin by chance. Hit the
ball better after saturday practice session but still made 3 double bogeys including one on #18
when I was even par on the back nine to that point. Finished with an 80.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

42- 44 86 at River Oaks on Saturday.

5:15 tee time, drove up, took 2 practice swings and went off. Played 2 balls the first two holes just to get warmed up. Drove it pretty well, had a few decent iron/approach shots along with a few bad ones. Did not chip very well overall, but putted quite well. Only one 3 putt and that was one that I putted from off the green anyway. 7 pars, 2 double bogeys, everything else was single bogey. On the back 9 I missed 3 par putts by a grant total of about 8". Pretty frustrating.

The place is a dogtrack. Parts of the fairway and some tee boxes were pretty beat up. Its a decent course though, lots of trees on the back 9 so straight off the tee is a must, and a good amount of water on the front so while its short, there are challenges. Best greens I have ever putted on believe or not. Being that I was the first guy out for the day, the greens were freshly mowed and rolled. Outside of a few rogue ball marks that were not fixed, they were impeccable. The greens alone made it worth getting up early, not the mention the $15 price tag. All in all felt pretty good about my game, I think only the 2nd or 3rd time I have broken 90 this season.

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Anybody taking next Thurs (july 3rd) off? If so, anybody interested in going out for a round mid-late morning?

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This one I could probably do.
Maybe.
Let me check.

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That's my birthday, but I'll be up in Wisconsin for the weekend starting on the 2nd. Tempted to treat myself to a round at Erin Hills while I'm there, but not sure if I will go through with it. Concern isn't the cost since its a special occasion, but the time involved since I'll have to drive an hour to get there and basically spend the whole day there while my wife and dog are at the lake house all day.

Another thing I'm tempted to do is call Erin Hills and ask if its ok to bring a non playing guest to walk the course. I'm sure the answer is no, but can't hurt to ask. My wife would love to just check the course out. I'm sure she would rather play it, but dropping $300 for a beginner to play a US Open course is a pretty big waste of money.

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I am really hoping to get out there this fall.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I'm playing there for sure the week after Labor Day when my Florida buddies come up for our 5th annual Kringle Cup. Gonna be epic this year, added an extra day to celebrate the 5th anniversary. Here is the lineup...

Washington County
36 at Lawsonia
Blackwolf Run River course
Erin Hills


That's called doing it right.

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Wow, that would be a Glorious few days of golf, that is for sure.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

spany and I gonna play Big Run around 8:30 on Thurs July 3rd. In Lockport, basically 135th & I-355. Its a tough track; http://www.bigrungolf.com/

Looking for 2 more if any of you want to join.

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I reserved a foursome for 8:28 and it is $45/person with a cart.

Bring it, chumps.

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Have fun at Big Run. Really long, uphill challenging course with a great layout that would be a great course if it wasn't in such bad condition. Really a shame too. They keep the greens shaggy on purpose cause they feel that if they were fast or even normal speed the pace of play would be too slow. Fairways and tee boxes can get a little shaggy as well.

That 9th hole is ridiculous. Uphill, twisting tree lined nearly 600 yard par 5.

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I haven't played there in 10 years.
It's in bad shape now? That sucks. It's always been a course that you have to have a cart at - way too many hills.

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All of the recent reviews on golfnow bemoan the pace of play, but say the course is in pretty good condition.

You are right, shakes. That 9th hole is probably the toughest hole I have ever played. 7 is not a bad score on that hole.

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Real excited, got invited to play Skokie Country Club this afternoon. Rated as one of the 10 best courses in the state, its a former host of the US Open! Gene Saranzon won the 1931 US Open there (wasn't called the US Open back then). He was down 1 on 18, 230 yards out on a par 5, hit a driver off the deck to the middle of the green and 2 putted for birdie to win the tournament. It was recently ranked as one of the 10 best shots in US Open history alongside Hogan's 1 iron at Merion and Watson's chip at Pebble. They have a plaque on 18 commemorating it. Gonna see if they'll let me try and recreate it today.

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That sweater is going to be awfully warm today, shakes.

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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

41-46 at Woodruff on Saturday. Pretty good front 9. Had 2 bad chips that cost me, but parred the last 4 holes in a row. Off the tee and irons were really good on the front. On the back....not so much off the tee. Was in trouble several times, and had the Waterloo hole on 16 duffing my drive, the following shot, and putting my third in the bunker. It was not pretty. Still though, probably the best I felt overall about my game from the 2nd hole until about the 11th. Hit a number of good iron shots, a few decent chips, and only 3 putted once on the day.

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Great weekend of golf. First of all, Skokie Country Club is amazing. Bobby Jones designed most of the holes and you can see his signature all over the place. The big feature is large mounded bunkers strategically located in the fairways and around the greens. End up in those and you might as well just write down the double bogey. Got to the course and my buddy was late so I met up with the member who was treating us. Great guy, had lunch with him while we waited for the other two to arrive. I wasn't sure what he did for a living, knew it was something in radio, but turns out he is the head honcho at a major network's radio department that owns several high profile radio stations around the country including the Score. So he is the boss of the Score....didn't press my luck and try and get any annoying radio personalities fired

Went to the range and he informs me and my buddy that we are walking and taking caddies. Me and my buddy were like huh? I had a big playoff hockey game at 8:40 so the last thing I wanted to do was walk a round of golf, but what was I gonna say? So we walked. Ended up shooting a 90 which was best in our group and not a bad score for the frist time playing the course. Shot a 47 on the front, getting used to the walking and also getting some bad advice on the tee and green from my caddy. Hit driver a couple times and ended up in fairway bunkers when a layup would've been the wiser play. Settled down and shot 43 on the back. Had a great finish on the famous Gene Saranzon hole where he won the US Open with the driver off the deck. I was partners with one of the guys I just met, we were down the whole match in 6 point scotch scoring system. Down 11 on the last hole and my partner working on a quad bogey, I went driver, hybrid and then I was 50 yards out, blind green 20 feet over my head. Hit a sand wedge to 6 inches that lipped out. Gimmie for birdie and a 12 point hole to give us a 1 point victory! Won 25 cents at the quarter a point system!

Played Naperbrook the next day and shot a 87. Not a bad course, wide open. Missed almost every fairway but still broke 90 so not very punitive.

Yesterday played Thunderhawk. Really tough course, shot a 93. Hit 71% of the fairways, but over the last week I've developed a brand new problem where I now hook every single iron shot I take between 5 and gap wedge. Not a draw, but a really nice 40 yard left turn. Never had this happen before, but can't stop it or figure it out for the life of me.

Going in tomorrow for an emergency lesson at lunch with my buddy who's a golf pro.

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Golf sucks.
Been many, many years since I felt bad enough to walk off the course.
Today was one of those days.
I stuck it out because....I'm not sure why.

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We both had our struggles on the back 9. 5 and a half hour round doesn't help, but a lot of bad swings and trees hit isn't gonna get it done either. I should mention that spany had the shot of the round with a chip in for birdie that had to be at least 50'. Unless you count Jason nearly murdering a groundskeeper

I enjoyed the front 9 even though it was 3 hours. Didn't do much right on the back. I putted fairly well most of the day. First 7 holes were pretty decent given the course for me. After that, the wheels kinda fell off. Despite the storms and trees down on almost every hole, Big Run was in pretty good shape. Aside from jerkoffs who don't fix their ball marks, the greens were in excellent shape and weren't all that slow. I'd probably never, ever play that course again on a weekend or holiday though. Leaving the house at 645am and getting home at 3 to play 18 holes of golf at a course thats only about 10-12 miles from my house is really pretty poor.

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Somewhere I missed the scores of you 2.

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2018
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10 More Wins

I think I ended up with 102 or 103? Maybe 105. spany...well, lets just say that the back 9 was very unkind to him and his score quite a bit higher than mine.

It wasn't the best round for me by any means, but when it takes 3 hours to play the front 9 and another 2:40 to play the back it does fuck with me a little bit. After 7 holes I had 38 so I started decent...then the wheels fell off. Obviously I wasn't going to put up an 85 or anything, but I'd like to think I might have at least kept the scores in the double digits with a better pace of play. Two par 5s that are uphill and over 600 yards, and another 2 or 3 par 4's where I have almost no chance at reaching the green in 2 so its a pretty tough track.

I played yesterday at Meadows, which is a dog track in Blue Island, $28 on golf now. Ended up with 88, which is just bleh for me. 42 on the back 9 was pretty good though.

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Great weekend of golf in Wisconsin. Had my low 9 hole score ever, a 37. Combined that with a 46 on the front for a 83 that day at Mascoutin.

Played Lawsonia Links course twice to see if I could replicate my 81 from Memorial Day. Ended up shooting 81 and 81 both days. After that 37 on teh back at Mascoutin by next 9 was a 38 at the Links so basically I shot a 75 over 18 holes

Other round was at the Lawsonia Woodlands with my wife and dad. Shot an 86 with lots of distractions as my dad is very bad and slow plus he can't see so good so I had to locate all his shots as well as my own and my wife's.

Great weekend, can't complain about posting 83,81,86,81. Getting closer and closer to that elusive 79!

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I haven't touched my clubs in over 2 weeks and the county open starts up here on Friday afternoon. Going to
attempt to try to work myself back into some semblance of form but I don't have real high hopes. I have played
some pretty awful golf since I last played with Hawg. I haven't broken 80 since late May. My goal once again
this year will be to break 80 all three days. Last year I think I shot 82-84-86 with the low light being the fact
that I carded an 11 on a 300 yd par 4 in the second round. In fact I ran into a guy that was in my group out
at one of the courses about a month ago. He says, " I'll never forget that hole, I felt so bad for you. You were
playing so well and then that happened. I tell everyone that story. " Great, I am a local legend for all the
wrong reasons

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

It's better to be remembered than forgotten.

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Appears I tee off at 11:07 Friday and Saturday and play with 3 former college players. Great.
Last year's champion is in the group ahead of me. Going to the range after work tonight to try
to work out the rest of the bugs. Not playing for 2.5 weeks is making me a little uneasy, I am
just going to have to suck it up and play my game I guess. Sunday will be reshuffled after 36
hole scoring.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Spent a glorious weekend on the golf course in the Irish Hills of Michigan. Played http://www.grandegolfclub.com/ - 18 on Thursday, 36 on Saturday, 36 on Sunday. Shot 88, 92, 86, 90, 87. Course was in pristine condition, $70 for the all day rate with cart and range balls. Greens are huge and each one is tiered and effectively plays like 2 different greens. You are screwed if you hit the wrong side of the ridge. Way too many three-putts trying to play the perfect shot. I was hitting fairways and greens all weekend but could not score.

Switched out the Super Stroke Ultra 1.0 for a Winn Pro X 1.18 putter grip.



The SS 1.0 has a sort of reverse-taper to it and I just never got used to it. The Winn is a little wider and longer but really feels great, almost like a counterbalance grip. Took me a few rounds to get comfortable, but I really started nailing putts from inside 10 feet. Still on the fence with the oversized grips – I picked up my old Cleveland w/ a Winn midsize pistol grip and it felt really solid.

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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

Sounds like a great weekend Furious. Nice shooting too.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Nice job Furious, sounds like your game is coming around.


I snuck out Tuesday and played Bridges of Poplar Creek in the afternoon with my usual golf partner. Love/hate playing with him cause we have a great time with constant trash talking and joking, but I always lose focus and play like crap. Had my usual round with him where I played 6 holes at 16 over and 12 holes at 5 over for a 93.

Had my 9 hole league last night and shot a 41. Still fighting the hooks with my irons, its really starting to drive me crazy. NEVER had this problem before, now all of the sudden I'm hooking just about every long iron shot and some of my short irons as well. Still scoring well because of my short game, but last night I hit 11% GIR which in the long run isn't going to lead to a lot of 41s. Got up and down from the sand 2 holes in a row, easily the two best back to back sand shots I've ever had in my life.

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Still haven't swung a club this year but I'm hoping to sneak out of work early enough tomorrow to make it down to Silvis for the John Deere...looks like my guy Zach had himself a nice first day.

7:03 tee time tomorrow at Coyote Run tomorrow morning if the rain holds out.

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