Three day weekend for a lot of folks, anyone else getting out to chase the little white ball? Weather looks decent up by me with a small
question mark on Monday. I have three early morning tee times and with the in-laws in town I am playing rain or shine.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I plan to but lots of rain to dodge in the forecast here.

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Elections have consequences.

The Big Bertha Alpha has earned a temporary stay.

Found an adjustment I wasn't aware of, closed the face just a tad and suddenly the setup resembled my Razr Hawk. Grabbed 1/2 dozen shag balls and headed over to the forest preserve. Noticeably more control and a predictable ball flight. 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

Will be getting out there this weekend. The when and where's has not been determined.

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CSFMB: Home of the small minded

Did you almost hit anyone walking their dog or riding a bike? Good news on that adjustment. My boss told me to bug out of here early
today so it appears I will have a 4 day golf weekend.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

You're not far off, T-Bone.

I'm fairly judicious about hitting there. After 7pm the soccer/flag football/baseball teams are usually clearing out. Plus, it's a pretty wide target area, so I can hit driver.

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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

BREAKING NEWS. I broke 100.

Further BREAKING NEWS. I broke 90! 89 with my Dad this morning at Inwood in Joliet. On the Range he noticed a couple of hitches in my setup and swing, and once I stopped that I started hitting the ball much better. Four pars but five 3 putts...yeesh. Still it felt good to get out there and hit some nice shots. We actually played two extra holes as there weren't many people around in the morning. Total of 97 for 20 holes. That is a 15 shot improvement from my score on 18 last week!

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Good to hear Franklin!!

Very helpful day at the range. Was bombing(aka popping up) the driver enough where I feel the need to turn down the loft. Currently at 12' in an effort to turn down the elevation, and turn up the distance.

Wore out 10 small buckets at the chipping range. I feel that is the weakest part of my game. Running a close second is just plain old contact consistency. Hole was about eye level and 15 yards away. Found a perfect spot in the shade to hit from, it was GLORIOUS.

Got a solid feel and swing motion, hitting the pin about a dozen times and even rolling one in. Back on the range, ball striking was a lot better when feeling the transfer of balance in my thumbs. Was really whacking the new 3 hybrid. I knew it was a good swing just ny the sound of club hitting ball.

Gonna hit up Carriage Greens on Monday. I hope they bought seed this year and the place doesn't look like the dog track it did last year. WOOF!

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CSFMB: Home of the small minded

84 at Ruffled Feathers yesterday. Friend from the Golf Channel in town. Most fun round I've played in a long time.

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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

Four straight days of golf. Even got a round in on Sunday when it was supposed to rain as my buddy and I teed off by 5:45 and
wrapped up by 8:30, right before the skies opened up. Striking the ball much better but my short game and putting are holding
me back. Glimpses of hope though. I'll continue to put in the work and try to shore up those weaknesses. Going to add up my
stats from my first 24 rounds later this morning, I don't think I am going to like what I see but it will be good to know where I
stand. I know no one gives a shit but I will post the numbers below

Edit - Early season stats End season goals

80.2 stroke avg
42% fairways over 50%
39% greens over 60%
31.3 putts per round under 30
37.1% scrambling over 50%
14.3% sand saves over 40%

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Great 4 days of golf at Lawsonia. both courses were in spectacular shape as always. Apparently Mike Davis, head of USGA, was in Wisconsin a couple weeks ago to prep for the Open and everywhere he went he kept hearing about Lawsonia. He decided he had to see it for himself so he drove to Green Lake and played it. Afterwards he said the Links course had some of the best greens he had ever seen.

I had an odd weekend with my game. Played fantastic out of the shoot Friday morning, but couldn't adjust to the steep learning curve of the greens and had 8 3-putts. Led to a 43 on the front when I felt like I struck it well enough to shoot 37 or 38. Back nine, the bad putting started affecting me mentally and I played like crap and shot 48 on the back for a 91, my first round in the 90s since 8/8/16 (not counting Whistling Straits which I didn't finish). Hit 8/13 fw and 6 greens, but 41 putts including a couple missed putts inside 3 feet.

Next day was much better, shaved 5 strokes off and shot a 86. Struggled on the back again after shooting a 40 on the front. Hit 8/13 fairways again and hit 7 greens with 35 putts.

Next day hit the Woodlands course. Had a really bad day with my back, the kind of day that would cause Dustin Johnson to take a month or two off to recover. But, because I'm not a coked up pussy, I soldiered on. Shot a 46 on the front, had to have my wife pick the ball out of the hole cause it was too painful. On the back I moved up to the senior tees (2960 yards on the back) and shot a 42, playing the last 3 holes at 4 over. 6/14 fairways, 4 greens and 33 putts.

Next day was the members scramble. Got paired up with a 75 year old who walks and carries his bag, pretty impressive. He was good for his age, but not good for the tournament. Other guy was about 60 and pretty bad. I actually played really well, almost holed out 2 chips that would've gotten us eagles and probably skins. As a team we finished even par for the day, but it was a great time getting to meet some of the members.

bad news is my golf elbow flared up after being dormant for a few years. Gotta get back in to see the doc for a cortisone shot. Couldn't even brush my teeth this morning with my right hand. Had to go with the stranger and use the left.

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Looks like weather will work out for morning golf both days this weekend. I put the backup putter in my Jeep and I don't think I have
anything to lose trying it out tomorrow. Anyone else playing?

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Playing in a Ketel One outing at Cog Hill on Monday. Likely with a few Blackhawks players. Should be fun.

Played Carriage Greens on Memorial Day. The course was in much better condition than it was last year when Mr. Styles and myself played a round.

My game was brutal. Topping a lot of shots, then over correcting and making chunky divits in places I shouldn't have. The former 10th tee is now officially the 1st tee. The Markers/signs on the course are changrd, but they are still using the same scorecards from last year. smh.

Shot a 123 with 12 of the holes having a 7 or higher on the card. Was getting off the tee box well, just a horror show getting to the green. The horror, the horror...

Going to Vegas this weekend, but will be back on the range and playing a round or two next week.

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CSFMB: Home of the small minded

Finally played well in my golf league and shot a 40. Missed a couple short putts, but did roll in a 40 foot bending birdie putt so it evens out. Was great off the tee and around (not on) the green, but my irons and hybrids were pretty off.

Got an elbow injection this morning. Also got a new brace. Not sure if I should get out this afternoon or go home and rest the elbow. Hmm.

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Played the hacker course known at Willow Run in Mokena yesterday with my boss. Continued to make some progress. Shot 44-45 (9 hole course, par 35, obviously we went around twice). I finished with back to back 7's which really killed the back 9. I sprayed my driver quite a bit but hit the irons pretty solid aside from a couple of shots. Place was dry as a bone so the roll in the fairways helped. The anomaly was that the greens were painfully slow. I only had two 3putts, but I could not get the speed down and left two birdie putts and several par putts about 4' short. Chipped 5 or 6 shots to within 2' for tap in pars/bogeys which saved MANY strokes. Happy to see that I've figured out a couple of things with my swing and am actually able to move the ball more than 80 chunked yards at a time.

Weather was glorious. Considering the amount of old people and hackers that play the course, it was in pretty good shape. While slow, the greens were really nice.

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Put the long time putter in jail and used an old one that I regripped with a counter weighted grip. Tested it yesterday and thought it was a little light so I put some lead tape on the bottom. Worked well this morning. One three putt but 28 total and some nice lags. I now have a bit more confidence on the greens for once. We will see if it holds up.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Hit up Sportsman after work yesterday. 40-42-82. Hit 10/13 fairways. Its amazing the progress I've made with the driver over the course of a month and a half and two lessons. Irons have been unreliable with misses left and right. Trying to draw everything, sometimes I hook and sometimes I leave them out to the right. But, not nearly as many fat shots as usual. Struggled with hybrids for a few weeks now, but around hole 9 I figured out a huge problem with my takeaway, fixed it on the fly and hit the hybrids much better.

My putting has been atrocious. Thinking about going in for a putting lesson. On the other hand, 60 yards and in with my 60 degree wedge has been remarkable, as good as anyone out there not being paid for it. Last night I chipped 5 to within 1 foot and one to within 5 feet for 6 up and downs. Actually figured out how to get really good spin on the ones 40 yards and out. I'm good at hitting ball first, but on those I started making a much faster swing than I usually do and heard a nice click of the ball and then the ball got up there, took one hop and came to a dead stop. Did it twice and it was really cool to see and feel.

Getting back out there today at 1 after a few hours at the office.

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Tremendous range session.

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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

Got sucked into a program I saw a commercial for this weekend called My Golf Locker.com. I remember when this concept first started I
thought it was a stupid idea but the older I get the opportunity and interest in going to shop for new clothing just isn't there for me.
I set up a profile, determined how often I wanted to receive product and what I was willing to spend, and chose the brand names that
I would be interested in. Every month I should be getting a package from them with golf shirts, shorts and pants or some combination
of those. Anything I don't like I return for free. I'm interested to see how this works out. When I do go out and buy shirts or get them
online, a lot of them are very similar styles and colors and so I think this will be interesting to see if they send me some thing I wouldn't
normally be interested in.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I actually do this with Stitch Fix for casual and work attire. It's not bad. Definitely spend more on items I normally wouldn't pick up, but I'm not the best with buying items that go well with multiple outfits so this is helpful.

after Friday's good round, went back to Sportsman the next day for another go at it. Night and day. Went up 9 strokes to 91. Only hit 5 fairways and didn't get up and down 6x like the day before. After that, decided to take yesterday off.

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Played a clean round on Saturday and scored well. Yesterday I had 4 doubles on my card ( including 3 in a row ) and shot an 82.
Hit the ball well for the most part but the doubles stemmed from shanking one out of bounds from the middle of the fairway on
the first one, taking three shots to get out of a bunker on another, taking two to get out of a bunker on the next and the final double
stemmed from hitting it long out of a greenside bunker just because I was getting sick of leaving them in there and not being able to
get up and down from there. New putter was still working better than the old one but missed a number of putts I thought I should have
made inside ten feet. Golf is a nutty game sometimes. Not sure what the deal is with the sand trouble. I am 90% sure most of it stems
from decelerating in the downswing and trying to get cute with the shot rather than popping it out with some authority.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Another 89 yesterday at Coyote Run with my Dad and Uncle. 50 on the front 9 which was not real indicative of how well I struck the ball. I flubbed two chips and lost two balls having the wrong club which really cost me. Also had two three putts in the first three holes. The back 9 was the best stretch of golf I have played in probably a year..maybe even two years. 39 on the back with 4 pars, zero 3putts, two 1putts, and a 2putt birdie on the par 5 #17 after a great drive and a 3 iron onto the green from ~200 out. Absolutely crushed my driver most of the round, and hit some really solid iron shots. Topped a 4 iron on #12 and it rolled into a hazard. Fortunately the water level was low and it was sitting up nice on some tall grass, so I took a hack at it with a 60 degree wedge, and plopped it about 18" from the cup for a terrific par save. Ended on a poor note with two bad shots and a double bogey on #18.

Really pleased with the way I am hitting the ball the last few times out. I made a minor adjustment to my setup, and am slowing down my take away along with having a slight pause at the top of the backswing. So far, its made all the difference in the world. I actually have confidence on the tee and am not thinking "oh boy, here comes another 7."

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on a whim, joined up for the Sportsman Cup, a handicapped match play tournament at Sportsman. 26 golfers, pairings just came out and I drew a guy with a 6 index. They have me as a 12 even though I'm listed on CDGA as a 11, but I'm not complaining. I'll take the extra stroke, probably gonna need it vs a 6. Now trying to arrange the match which might be difficult since the guy sent me his dates and they only work for the unemployed and Cubs fans.

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Just made a big purchase/life change. Retired from hockey a couple months ago and am desperately looking for a new workout so decided to at least get one of these and do some walking. I already walk every week in my 9 hole league so at the very least this will save me the $2-3 per week I pay to rent a push cart.

Playing 18 on Saturday at Glencoe with my orthodox jewish maccabei teammate who can't use electricity or ride in a car till sundown so figure that will be a great chance to try it out.

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shakes, I have two of the ClicGear models and love them. They fold up small for easy storage in your trunk as well.
If you find you are getting tired I think they even sell some kind of a foldup seat that attaches to the frame. I love
walking and have lost about 8 lbs since golf season started thanks to the exercise. The cup holder is large enough
to bring a Hydroflask or some other kind of thermos for cold water. I've had zero issues with mine. I will say that
my older models brakes are not as good as they once were but you can buy replacement parts for everything including
the wheels when they wear down.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I've been invited to play in the World Amateur Golf Championship in Myrtle Beach in late August. I'll likely go down as more of a playing media member, but definitely seems like a fantastic opportunity to play a few great courses.

Good grief. They must be more desperate than JORR to fill the field.

All kidding aside, that is great! What an opportunity, how did you qualify for it?

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CSFMB: Home of the small minded