Catching Up On The Last 2 Months

It's been a couple of months since I've posted anything; I guess I can thank tax season, Pesach and a little laziness for the time there after for not getting to this sooner. But I've got the time now, so I figure it's a good time to catch up with the start of the season. I need to catch up on a couple of posts I want to do, one for my round at the Blue Monster and another for Ballyowen, but I'll save those for another time.

First off, good news! I no longer am feeling any pain in my wrist when playing golf! I've been able to play 3 rounds this year pain-free, and look to play a lot more than that in the coming months.

Now to the bad news; I suck. Boy, am I ever rusty! It's been hard shaking off the cobwebs, and I'm certainly not scoring well. A lot of that has to do with inconsistency with my ball contact, but mostly, my short game is just atrocious. Skulling chips, hitting them fat, can't seem to catch them clean like I want to. I know everyone says its the short game that takes the longest to come back, but I've had just about enough of chipping the ball over the green.

So from my 3 rounds, I'll tell you where I basically feel that I stand. I know I have the ability to hit good shots, to use every club in my bag effectively, but I need to work on my consistency and my mental game. My last round was at Ballyowen, I was puring everything on the range before the round, but it fell apart on the course. And that's really on me needing to be mentally stronger during the round when standing over the ball, and having confidence that I can execute the shots. Something to work on.

I'll tell you what I missed the most over the last 8 months of not playing... there's really nothing like hitting that ball that feels so pure off the clubface, it feels like you're hitting nothing, you get that beautiful ball flight, and the ball lands where you want it to go. Best. Feeling. Ever! It brings you back for more every time, and leaves you wanting more & more. Here's hoping I can do it more often.

Sunday's round is at Bethpage, probably the Yellow Course. They're calling for some showers, but we'll probably get it in. Yellow isn't very difficult so hopefully I can execute my game plan and score well. Keep the ball in the fairway and make good contact and everything else should fall into place.

I'll let you know Sunday how it goes.

Blue Monster

Isn't she a beauty?

PGA comes to play here next week, and I will hopefully get the chance to play the Blue Monster over Pesach this year, at least thats the plan right now.

Tax season is pretty brutal these days, even writing this is setting me back. But the thought of playing a course like this is the light at the end of the tunnel.

44 Days til the I see that light!

Summer in February

Short and to the point.

How I can be stuck at work on a day like today is a travesty.

Boo, tax season! (Hooray Beer!)

57 days til Florida!

Shaving Strokes

First off, I want to preface this post with saying that I'm not referring to anyone in particular with this blog post. Just something I see in general that I would like to share my two cents on.

I play a lot of golf. I'll play rain or shine, early in the AM or twilight til its dark, whenever I can get out there. Sometimes I go with friends, but often I'll end up out there as a single golfer, grouped together with 3 other guys I've never met. I guess you could say that I play with a whole bunch of different people over the course of the golf season, and one thing I've noticed is that some of the people I play with (I shouldn't say most, but its really happens more than it should) don't really play to their true score, whether its by playing a "mulligan" here or there, taking gimmies on the greens, or by shaving a stroke off their score when no one's looking.

So I have a question? Who are these guys fooling when they do this? Do they think that the people they play with don't realize that they are not counting all of their shots? Trust me, people aren't that oblivious. Its actually pretty comical to see how people try and fake count their scores after a hole and leave off a stroke or two. I usually get a good chuckle out of it when the guy ends up with a better score than me at the end of the day.

I don't mean to be thumbing my nose down at anyone. I used to do this stuff, when I was younger and wanted to impress my friends that I was playing with, or to convince myself I was better than I was actually scoring. After all, I was the guy who was obsessed with the game, and I had to show that I was better. Right? Wrong... I grew out of it. For one, I wasn't fooling myself, or anyone else for that matter. And when my game really started to progress and come around, I wasn't scoring any better because in the past, I wasn't counting every stroke.

When it came time to compete in actual tournaments, all that crap went out the door. There are no redos, no gimmies in golf. (Except for one past teammate of mine in school who would come up with some pretty interesting ways to cheat... I heard that he once threw a ball out of a deep trap when he thought no one was looking; someone was). And the only thing you can count on in that instance is the experience you have, and the confidence that you can make the putt, or get up and down for bogey after you spray a drive. Its been known to happen to me from time to time. Hell, I've 4-putted a few times when I've half stood over a 2-footer with one foot out and missed, and then missed again coming back. Never 5-putted though, as far as I can remember. (Although I came pretty close with a couple holes in South Carolina this year; those greens ate me up.)

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't really understand the point of it. Golf isn't a game that you play against other people, at least not at the amateur level. Be proud with the score you have, what you actually did without any help, and then try and top it the next time. Sometimes its gonna hurt; I can't tell you how many putts I missed inside 5 feet last year, and it cost me a round or two in the 70s; didn't break 81 all year. But at least I know that when it happens (this year, I have confidence) it'll be the real score, and I can honestly see my improvement as it happens.

You play against yourself, and why fool yourself into believing that you are better than you are. No illusions, just play the game to the best you can, each and every time.

The "White-Out" Event at Golfsmith NYC

The circumstances that lead me to be at the unveiling of the new Taylormade driver today were pretty interesting. Normally, I don't take the train to work, I get a ride; and even if I do take the train, I take the F train and get off at 63rd St, and then walk to my office on 58th. But I was running a little behind schedule this morning and took the express train and transfered to the M, which lets me off at 53rd street. As I got out of the train and turned the corner, I couldn't help but notice the gigantic net that was being constructed in the middle of 54th street. Not your everyday occurrence.

Turns out that Martin Kaymer and Sergio Garcia were in town to promote the new R11 driver, and that Trump would be MC'ing the event. Pretty cool. The event was called "white-out" because the clubhead of the new driver is colored white; it actually looks pretty out of place.

So I managed to go back on an extended coffee break, and see both Kaymer & Sergio (who is actually a pretty small guy, but can certainly kill the ball for his size) demo the clubs. Also got a chance to demo it myself. Turns out the white head doesn't bother you standing over the ball like I had thought. And I should say, it felt pretty solid hitting it; good contact, no pain in the wrist, just some discomfort. Mind you it was indoors into a net a few feet away, but the swings felt good. Does it mean I'm gonna drop $400 on the R11? Hell no... my R5 still has plenty of pop left in it, and I don't have the $$ to throw away on it. (Go figure, but I have never carried a driver from anyone other than Taylormade. Started with the 250 series Supersteel and moved onto the R5 a few years back.)

Also managed to pick up a couple of giveaway Taylormade hats and a sleeve of Burner golf balls too. Too bad I missed out on some autographs from the pros, but it was still cool to see them. All in all, a pretty solid day for something that I had no idea was going on, had I not stumbled upon it.

New Putter Debut

One of those annoying things that resulted from getting hurt last year was that I did not have a chance to use my new putter out on the course. I had just bought a new Adams Golf A7 Select 64 series putter the day before i messed up my wrist. And now I'm still waiting to break it in.

2010 was not a good putting year for me. This is not to say that all the blame should go on my old putter, my Odyssey White Hot 2-ball; in fact, I doubt any blame should be put on the equipment. At first, I just wasn't hitting that many putts from 10 - 20 feet, which made me start to press a bit. And at a certain point, I stopped feeling confident standing over the ball, which led to too many missed putts inside of 5 feet (1 is too many, but unfortunately, we're not talking about just 1). Not the reputation you wanna make for yourself.

The tipping point for me came in South Carolina where I felt I struck the ball pretty well, but my putting let me down. Couldn't hit anything, not even a 3-footer for eagle on the Par 4, 313 yard 16th hole at Moorland. When I got back from the golf trip, I started futzing around with putters at Golfsmith, trying to get a feel for something I might like; definitely wanted to move away from a mallet-type of putter, although I'm not sure if a 2-ball is technically a mallet or not. I liked the feel of the Adams 64 series the first time I picked it up, and the feeling it gave me on contact was pretty pure. It also helped that it didn't require me to break the bank.

After testing it out for about a month, I decided to pick it up, only for it to sit in my golf bag over the last 6 months. But I'm pretty excited to use it when I get back out there, and I'm hoping my short game may drop a few strokes per round this year.

Coming back from Injury

I haven't blogged since my Excel class in 2007, but I was inspired by a friend to start up a blog to track my progress with my golf game during the year. This way I can record my rounds and use this blog to remember all the minute details that I'd inevitably forget with my old age, and also to over-analyze when I'm not playing. And on the plus side, maybe this will allow me to stop being a pack-rat and throw out all my old scorecards... or not.

So I guess the best way to start this off is to state where I currently sit with my game, and set some goals for the year. Here we go...

I'm dying to play. 163 days have passed since my last round of golf. Too long... WAY too long. But injuring my wrist playing softball (I know, I'm disgusted with myself) made me shut down my golf season at the end of August. My wrist wouldn't allow me to swing a club without feeling pain when rotating my wrist. I felt like Adam Banks in D-2. I got the wrist X-rayed and everything came back negative; the doctor said the only thing I could do to help it heal was a little R & R. So I shut it down for the rest of the year, hoping to come back fresh and pain-free. Definitely was not an easy thing for me to do.

So it's now been a couple of months since I've really felt any of that same pain rotating my wrist. That's not to say that I don't feel anything. It's hard to describe, but I still feel something there; not pain, but the best way I can describe it is residual pain. I tried hitting a few balls last week at Golfsmith, but felt a little something on contact. Nothing too painful, but it still gave me the feeling that I can't test it out more without worrying that I'm going to cause some damage. So my plan is to wait it out two more months, try and keep off my wrist and continue to let it heal. Not necessarily a bad thing with tax season approaching.

But I'm feeling it... this is the year I'm finally going to break through the hump, and start scoring low. This is the year I'm gonna start playing a little more conservatively and limit the big numbers, start swinging lighter, limiting my errors.

My goal for the year is to shoot consistently in the 70s, with at least 1 round under 75. I know I have the skill to do it, and I know I have the passion to do it. The challenge is going to come from the mental aspect of it, believing in myself that I can do it. That, and hoping that my wrist will allow me to take on my goal... Here's hoping!

72 days til Florida!