Opening day scramble was on Sunday. I played pretty well and made a lot of putts. Our "A" player was just okay for him, we had a decent "D" player, but our "C" player had a rough day. We finished 2 strokes out of the money. If our "C" played even average for him we would have been in the money. He felt bad and apologized throughout the round. We kept telling him don't worry about it we are having fun, but we've all been in his shoes and know how it is. Finished in the middle of the pack - at least not DFL!

Our "A" player works at Sub 70 - John Daly is playing their clubs. From what I have read they have no deal with him, Daly just likes the clubs. He confirmed that. Pretty cool.

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So did you get randomly drawn with other people from your club? That would be kind of a fun way to do it if so. How is your course coming around early in the season? Our courses were pretty wet until last weekend when the ball started bouncing more and they sped the greens up significantly.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Yeah, it's a computerized random draw that (I think) tries to even out the full team handicaps. Course is in good shape and was a lot dryer than I thought it would be. They have been aggressively cutting down trees so it looks quite a bit different. Mostly big old trees around tee boxes and greens that make it harder to maintain those areas (shade, roots, steeling nutrients). They are finding that a lot of them are hollow and were already on their way to dying.

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Doing many of the same things at our courses as well. They have cut a few large ones down over the years which has taken some of the character away from some of the holes but in the grand scheme of things it has been a benefit to the overall conditions.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Looks cool but should be a nice weekend overall. Started the season with an older driver I bought in the off season hoping to hit more fairways, and it was working fine but was still cold out and was looking for more distance so moved back to the driver I've been using the last 5 years. Putting the older one back in this weekend to see if I can find the short grass a bit more often and still give me enough distance to reach spots I need to be at. I think I am going to find that the newer model will give me that extra bit of distance but the way the super has the course set up and the rough being gnarly at times, I'd rather be hitting an extra club in from the fairway a bit more often.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I had some time off for Passover so I was able to get out twice during the week. Tuesday the 23rd was chilly and breezy. Started out pretty rough with a 47 on the front, but rebounded nicely for a 39 on the back with 5 GIR. Greens had been recently aerated which isn't fun to play on.

This past Tuesday played Coyote Run which was wet, but in great shape. I putted pretty well, but the ballstriking was not good. Shot 96, but did have a birdie and chipped in for a par at the last.

Playing tomorrow for our coveted Mustard Jacket. Hopefully I don't have my head up my ass and I can defend the title.

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Good luck Frank. Where is the big event being held?

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Stony Creek in Oak Lawn. Par 65 dogtrack muni, but it has huge and diabolical green complexes. You will not have a straight putt on anything longer than about 4-5ft. We've done this for 15+ years. It started out as 3 of us playing there in early March-- you know, that first sunny 40 degree day of the season-- because we all lived nearby and it was one of the few courses open early. Priorities have shifted a bit as we have gotten older and procreated, but there is generally a field of 6-10 guys and we get together and do this every year so its pretty special. Four of us have been friends since pre school and another two guys have been in the group since high school so its a close knit bunch.

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Third time out later this afternoon for nine. Will be disappointed if over 50.

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Elections have consequences.

Just went to the range during lunch break. Might be the absolute best weather to get out and play today. Sunny, but not hot, low wind.

I played really well today - 76. One of my best rounds in a while. Two 3 putts and a chunked shot from 60 yards kept me from going low for me. I bogeyed the last two holes. On 17 I just got out of position off the tee but didn't get stupid and took my bogey. On 18 I hit a good drive and cold shanked my approach shot. I said to the guys I was playing with "really? I played so well today and I am going to walk away with a shank!". Hit a solid third shot and almost saved par. What a goofy game we play!

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-76?!
KimJong Franky

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Nice Frank. I was 48 Friday so improving.

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Elections have consequences.

After a ridiculous string of bad weather luck and stupid things like getting type A flu during a string of 75 degree sunny days, I was finally able to get out both on Thursday and Saturday with a relative who was visiting from Illinois. I didn't push it, played about 14 holes each day by skipping some holes with forced carries and just chipping and putting on them. I was just counting "very good for me" shots, ended up with about 25 each round, including a rare birdie on a relatively easy par-3 hole. Both days we were playing off the tee boxes at 5800-5900 yards and roughly 68/120, which is at the high end of what I would subject myself to these days.

The disturbing thing down here is how poor the fairways are for what is considered "high season." Granted I'm not playing expensive courses - Thursday was a course in a gated community an hour south of Raleigh for $38/each riding - but it's like fairway grass just isn't growing. I'm hoping to play out west of Winston-Salem later this month and I'm expecting better conditions there.

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

Snuck in for my first nine yesterday at the little (yet not easy) 9-holer down the street after hitting a bucket at the range. It was perhaps the best 53 I ever shot - including making a 30-footer for double on the par-4 9th .

I was hampered by tendinitis in my elbow last year, and my last round was an 18-hole scramble in a charity event in Canada last August that I barely was able to finish because my elbow was on fire. After about four range sessions over the last couple of weeks and the round yesterday, elbow feels great, so I am optimistic.

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Not a mult.

My head was squarely up my backside for the back 9. Had a 7 and a 4-putt double bogey on the front 9, but still shot 44. That one was off the lead. The duffs and shanks returned for the latter half of the back 9, and I limped off with a 93 for the day, which is not a good score at all for that short of a course. I was 3 strokes ahead on the 14th tee, and finished 3 shots back. My driver was dialed in even though you only use it for about 6 holes, and outside of one hole my putting was very good-- zero 3 putts.

As somebody who is a lot better player than me once said, what a goofy (stupid!) game we play.

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golf trip to South Bend next weekend. I've decided to go in completely cold with no rounds/swings under my belt since August and instead focus the next week on making other improvements to my game. On that note yesterday I bought the top rated golf cart speaker and a few pairs of shorts, elastic waist of course cause no fucking way I'm ever going to break my long time boycott of belts.

Today I'm gonna look at shoes.

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Youre gonna be that guy huh ?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

How is your wedge game? I read an article this week about breaking 90 and 80. It said the key to breaking 90 is make sure you hit the green when you are within 50 yards of it. I see it all the time with a buffy I play with a lot who usually hovers in that 90-95 range. From even 20 yard he only gets the ball on the green about half the time.

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Nice, where are you playing?

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There is a guy on youtube that I watch , Not A Scratch Golfer ( I think he's a 8 hc) who has one of the ugliest swings , isnt terribly long but ( as Im sure Frank knows) from 100 and in he's dialed in. His chipping and lag putting is what saves him countless strokes. Now granted, the weekend /rec golfer doesnt generally have time to practice for hours on end to really sharpen that up but thats the passe-partout for sure.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Lag putting is definitely an area of my game that needs improvement.

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There is always room for improvement, but overall my wedge/short game has kept me in double digits MANY times over the last couple of seasons.

I'm thinking back to saturday's round and I believe I had wedge shots from 80 yards or less 6 times. Only one of those did I hit a poor shot to cause more trouble. I hit the green with 4 of them, and one was just off the fringe by about a foot, maybe 8ft from the hole. I two putted for bogey. I'll take that ten times out of ten. I was hitting solid irons (for the most part) the first rounds of the season, but now its two in a row that are no gouda. Sucks!

Kinda busy the next couple weekends so other than possibly taking my little guy to the range, no golf for at least the next 10+ days. Maybe taking a short break will help.

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I can see that for sure. Very important to hit that green. Some days I am playing ping pong rather than golf.

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Elections have consequences.

BR, if guys like us could guarantee to 2 putt every time I think we should take it.

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Elections have consequences.

So by miracle of a change in work schedule yesterday, I was able to get back there in the morning for a quick 9. Started par-par (both par 4s) by getting up-and-down off the green…then it was sharply downhill from there. Driver and 3 wood off the tee were complete dogshit, as were long irons. If not for a decent short game and only one three putt, my score would have been worse than…

53

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Not a mult.

the guy with the best and loudest speaker on the course blasting country music for all to hear while also smoking copious amounts of weed all while shooting in the low to mid 80s? Yea, I'll happily be that guy.

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my buddy is a member at South Bend CC so we'll be playing there all day Friday and then Sunday morning. For the Saturday round we are playing the Warren Notre Dame course because one of our guys is observant orthodox Jew so he can't ride in a car on Saturday. Warren course is 4 miles from my buddy's house so our Super Jew friend can ride a bike to and from the course and then walk along side our golf carts during the round. Never played the Warren, but hear its nice.

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I mean, someone has to bring the white trash to the course.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

the course in Wisconsin I used to play all the time, Lawsonia, has a very famous Par 3. It's called the Boxcar hole because the green was literally built on top of an old train box car. Needless to say, its elevated about 20 feet straight up and down and is a peanut shaped green which is not very wide. On one side there is rough and on the other side it's a big bunker.

We used to tell newbies that playing Boxcar ping pong till you just pick up your ball and walk to the next tee box was a right of passage at Lawsonia.

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