Yeah I know it’s a long shot. Season is dwindling and schedules are hard to coordinate

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Give me a week or two to work out the kinks and I'll join a group.

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I plan to play more frequently through mid-October, at least. Pushed back my NOLA/Gulf Coast trip until then. Something in Lake County should be easy enough.

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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

All three of the other rounds I had on this trip got killed for a variety of reasons. Rain on Thursday, my friend I was going to play with tomorrow coaches soccer and his kid's game got moved to when we were going to play, and I managed to catch up with an old friend and his wife and will have lunch with them on Monday as they are on my way home.

And no golf this week coming up. The challenges of fall golf and late sunrise.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Kind of last minute, but went out and played 9 holes with my old man yesterday. Not the longest course but fairly tough with some small and undulating greens with water in play on five of the holes. Scored OK (44, par 34 course) but hit the ball much better than I did earlier in the week. Also two-putted every green which was pretty nice. Took a few beers with me and decided I really wasn't going to worry about the score, I just wanted to hit some good shots so it was a very enjoyable afternoon. A little Breezy but playable, 100% sunshine, and a course that was in near Immaculate shape.

Kind of a Hidden Gem in the southwest suburbs if anybody out this way is ever looking to play a quick yet challenging 9 holes. Overall the its not very long, but the two par-fives are monsters, and two of the par threes require a carry over water.
https://www.oakhills.com/

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Aerated greens on the 18 we played and it was a shit show on the front. Bumpy and sandy and the didn’t cut the greens so full of dew. I hit a couple long putts really hard and was ten feet short still. 44 front. I had enough and beared down. Got it to -1 on the back going to 16 with a two missed birdie putts within 15 ft. Took a double on 16 and limped in with a 38 on the back. Playing the 7000 yd course tomorrow but at least the greens will be great until early October

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Aerating greens is a necessary evil. They punched ours on Monday.

A few of our regular group got to go up to Rockford today to play Forest Hills Country Club (I worked in the bag room there 30 years ago). Great course layout with lightening fast greens. Lot of false fronts and if you are above the hole you are dead. Hit the ball great, but MANY three putts and two bad doubles adds up to an 85.

I play to a 9 at my home course but was an 8 there...all of us were a stroke or two less in our handicaps. That is a harder course slope wise, but our index is higher. I'm guessing because they are par 72 and ours is 70. Two less par 5's makes the difference?

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I keep a handicap but it’s mostly to support the state golf association and to ensure that if I ever wanted to enter a tournament I could. I haven’t had to use it in years. I’m just not cut out for tournament golf but will likely play in a scramble next month with my regular crew. They have a 27 hole event at our course with the winners taking home a free pass for next year. I won with some buddies probably 8 years ago now. The guys I play with Now are in their 50s and 60s so it’s a tough one to have a chance in. It usually brings out the ringers and young college guys. Winning score the last few years has been like -22 or so. I wish they would either group two teams together or have a marker to keep their eyes on things. I think we carded a -17 but that’s well out of the mix. Nobody knows the greens better Than my guys so that can keep us in the mix.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

With golf winding down and a chance I will hang the clubs up in a few weeks I thought I’d total up my stats for the first 65 rounds. I know no one cares but I have been keeping stats for years now and it’s interesTing To see how I’ve improved or not improved.

77.9 average
38% fairways hit ~ I’d like to see this closer to mid 40s. I felt like I got off the tee better this year with the driver and was close to the fairway a lot. Likely going to sell my 2 iron and buy a hybrid.
47.2% greens hit. I have to find a way to get this over 50%
30.4 putts a round and averaged 1 three putt a round.
56.8% scrambling ~ I’d like this above 60%
33.3% sand saves. This was a big improvement for me.
121 birdies and two eagles. I’d like to get to two birdies average

It’s been a good year overall. I really wanted to go low a few times and had my chances but could capitalize. I shot even par 4 times so there were chances and was one or two over another 7 times.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

How much do you think course repetition helps your stats? I've played about ten rounds since late June, on ten different courses. I figure that at my double bogey level of play, course knowledge costs me at least 1 shot out of every 25, and I'm not precise enough to say "this shot needs 80% of a lob wedge" and be able to execute it yet.

For you, if there is a 4% differential on an unfamiliar course, that's the difference between +2 and -1.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

T-Bone Dechambeau

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I suspect it helps quite a bit. I play 95% of my golf on two courses so I know where to go, where to miss and a generally good idea about the breaks on the greens. I am not sure how to rationalize how much of an advantage it is but you are likely in the ballpark.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Not quite but I do enjoy tracking that stuff during my round and looking for trends. I don’t work on my game like I should which is why I don’t see drastic changes. I did make some swing adjustments in the sand and it paid off this year. I also got rid of the big sweeping hook which has kept me in play a bit more often. I’m also older and probably not as strong or flexible so that is working against me. I walked almost all those rounds so I can admit that my body is tired after that. I guesstimate at conservatively 5.5 miles a round that I’m over 350 miles walked.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Managed to have most of my game working, albeit not at the best levels. Shot a 93 at Coyote Run yesterday with four lost balls. My short game was better and even though I had two 3 putts, I managed to one putt a few greens as well. Did not hit many GIR (three, all pars), but chipped well enough to save par a few times and kept big numbers off the card on the others. The lost balls were very frustrating and kept me out of the 80s, but hitting good shots and enjoying well kept courses with nice weather the last few of times out has been a very enjoyable time here during the waning golf season.

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Wasn’t planning on playing but went this morning after a late night invite. Doubled the first hole and shot 76. Aerated greens were hard to get a feel for. Dunked one on 18 going for the green again.

My course is taking used clubs at 150% of PGA book value towards a new club. I think I’ve been trying to fight it but my 2 and 3 irons are not clubs I can count on anymore and I think I need to get a hybrid. The 2 is 17 degrees and 3 is 20 so if I can find a 19 degree 3 hybrid I like I’ll probably be in better shape. This would also allow me to go back to a 52-56-60 wedge lineup rather than the 52-58 I have now. Something worth considering anyway.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I need a new putter. Mine is literally 40 years old, we bought it on a vacation when my dad and I split my bag into two, but we needed a second putter. It's a PING Zing blade style, but over the years I'm pretty sure that the shaft and the face have become misaligned and my putting this season has been shit. Lots of decel as a result, and I'd like something with adjustable weights in the bottom while keeping the blade style.

I'm looking at dropping $$ on a 2020 Scotty Cameron Newport 2 and spending the winter working on my putting stroke when it's a little too cold to play a 3 hour round (mid 50s). I'm at an age where I won't need to buy a putter again, and I'm a firm believer in building my game from the hole backwards. I have a bonus from work for my 25th anniversary that will cover most of it.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

That’s a nice putter. Would be a great gift to yourself.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I got about $110 for my Taylor Made UDI driving iron. Ended up getting the SIM 19 degree hybrid. Ended up using it three times during my round. Twice off the tee and once from the fairway and overall I think it will be a nice add to the bag. I hadn’t used the 2 iron that much in the last half a dozen rounds or more as I’d list all confidence in it and it was a damn hard club to hit.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I played a course with potential today. Design was nice even through a subdivision as they used a lot of fescue to force you to shape your shots. But the greens were just starting to recover from heavy damage, as the course was right in the path of the hurricane a couple of months ago. They are going to need the winter to reach acceptable again, there were sand patches and hundreds of divot-sized fills which looked like weeds but were just extra grass covering the underlying seed like a bandage.

I had my first birdie of the year, on a par 3. Totally legitimate, 3/4 of a 4 iron from 120 to get it over some water, and somehow it held and rolled to 11 feet. I was stunned that I made the putt.

$22 riding, so given the greens I treated most of the round like an extended range session and worked on hitting my 3H and PW from various lies without decelerating and rotated through four different clubs off the tee. Tough to figure out a score given the greens, but I was hitting the front third of the green in 3 on most of the par 4s and then skidding off the back. So, progress.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

The Rockford Park District is closing Elliot Golf Course. That's the course I grew up on playing in the late 80's. Trees were small back then. I would still get up there about twice a year to play. They had a shag-bag field next to it. Couple friends and I would go out there all day in the summer hit shag balls then play 18 if not more. One of our Mom's would drop us off and the other would pick us up. We always had a quarter to use the pay phone when we were done playing for a ride home. I'm playing there one last time next week. I'm going to bring a 40oz to pour on the 18th tee.

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Nice Bird, Chet!

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Hard Rock is going to be building a casino where the Clock Tower Resort used to be. I think they are hoping they will buy it to offer some "stay and play" type packages. I've heard there might already be a wink and nod agreement for that. Obviously they would need to pour some money into the course to make it resort ready, but the layout isn't bad and it certainly has the length. And the trees have grown up. It's not as wide open as you may remember.

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Is that Indian land then? Hard Rock wanted to build here in Kenosha where the dog track used to be and they never were able to.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

No. It's a private ownership group lead by Rockford's own Rick Nielsen.

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I figured Elliot would be the one to close for the land.

Didn't they redo the greens in the last 5-7 years?

Always liked holes #8 & #10.

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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

well, that makes perfect sense actually.

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@audioidkid

Howard Stern referred to him as the guy in the band with the "I Want You to Want Me" money.

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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

His kid Aaron was a hell of a golfer back in high school. I used to run into his other kid (and now Cheap Trick drummer) Daxx every now and then. I haven't for a while now but I've been wanting to ask him what Howard is like in person.

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They didn't redo them, but they were the best greens in Rockford around then by a mile. Then they quit spending any money on the course a few years ago. This has been their plan for a while now I think.

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Yeah, I'm not sure how many years ago I was on the practice green and remarked how nice it rolled. The starter mentioned they had a new greenskeeper who really knew what he was doing.

I walked the last round I played there a few years ago. It was late in the season and temps were in the 40s. Starter didn't charge me since I was the only one out.

I grew up playing Sinisissippi - riding my bike with a pull cart across the Auburn St. bridge. #westsidebestside

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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