Back In the Hunt on Day 2

June 11, 2015 / The Grateful Golfer / 17 Comments

Hitting it straight off the tee

I am back in the hunt after day 2 of our 3 day, 54 hole military golf tournament. As previously posted, the current stroke-play event is to determine who will represent our Wing at the Ontario Regional Golf Championship in July. So after two days, I am tied for third. Top 5 make the team.

Yesterday was a round of, well, it was hard to describe. I actually played well for 14 holes. The other 4 holes, I was 9-over! Up, 9-over! I finished the day with an 86. Not my best day. The weakest part of my game was driving, long irons, and chipping. My putting was quite good and it saved me from scoring my higher. We also used the lift-clean-place through the greens local rule. It had rained a fair bit and the course condition warranted this decision. Unfortunately, this helpful rule did not help me.

For those who do not know the lift-clean-place rule

“Adverse conditions, including the poor condition of the course or the existence of mud, are sometimes so general, particularly during winter months, that the Committee may decide to grant relief by temporary Local Rule either to protect the course or to promote fair and pleasant play. The Local Rule should be withdrawn as soon as the conditions warrant.”— Rules of Golf, Appendix I; Part B; Section 3b. As this article outlines, the USGA does not like it, but it is a rule nonetheless.

Basically, we were allowed to pick up the ball, clean it, and place the ball within 6 inches of its original condition; no closer to the hole. Additionally, if you are in the rough, you must stay in the rough.

Today, I was the best round of the year. Except for the triple on the 5 hole, I shot even par. Yup, I shot a 75. Everything was smooth; I was in play all day; and my approach shots were deadly. I shot a 41 (with the triple) / 34 with 3 birdies and a bogey. The ball was on target most of the time and my misses were close. Overall, I am extremely happy with the results.

Tomorrow I will play in the last group. I am right in the middle of the 5 players required to make up the team. I am 4 strokes behind first place and 4 strokes ahead of fifth place. The plan tomorrow is to follow what I did today. The goal is to make the team so taking needless chances is definitely not in the books for tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone who sent me positive comments, great tips, and quick notes of encouragement! I am grateful for the support and tomorrow will be a day to play well and continue to have fun.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

Military Golf Competition

June 8, 2015 / The Grateful Golfer / 18 Comments

On Wednesday, I am entering a stroke-play tournament to hopefully make the team to represent my military Wing at the Ontario Regional Golf Championship in July. This tournament is a three-day combined stroke event where the top five male and top two female players will move on to the next level. The Wing golf tournament will be played at my home course of Roundel Glen Golf Course in Astra, Ontario.

The Ontario Golf Regionals, played at the Petawawa, Ontario, is a three-day stroke-play event with several competitions in one. First, there is the overall team competition. Each day, the lowest 4 scores of the seven players are used to determine the total score for the Wing on that day. (For those who think that the female scores do not count, think again; they are usually used a couple of times during the tournament) After three days of competition, your total team score will be used and the lowest team score wins the event and crowned Ontario Regional Team Champions. They receive a pennant which is proudly displayed at their home Unit.

Another event inside of the team competition is the singles competition. The person with the lowest gross score after three days is crowned the Ontario Region individual champion (men and women). Additionally, the lowest five male and two female gross scores make up the Ontario Regional team that represents their region at the Canadian Forces National Golf Competition.

The National Competition, played at Shilo, Manitoba, is the same format as the Regional Competition except the players are significantly better. It is an exciting time of military golfers and believe me, bragging rights are as important as the hardware.

I am excited to start for the upcoming competition and my GAF (Golf Attitude Factor) is extremely high!

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

Golf Strategy: 2-Man Scramble Pt2

September 21, 2014 / The Grateful Golfer / 7 Comments

Warming Up in the Rain!

Our strategy for the 2-man scramble worked! Two posts ago, I put up a strategy on how to play the 2-man scramble at my home course Roundel Glen. It started out very wet with rain coming down like there was no tomorrow. Scheduled to tee off at 1030 am, our tee time was pushed until 1115 am to give the storm cell a chance to clear the area. As the rain started to wane, we teed off on the short par 3 first hole.

The weather was a factor for about 30 minutes. After the storm cell blew through, it was windy, but warm. After the third hole all the rain gear was put away. After the sixth hole all the outer clothing was stuffed back into our bags. And by the 10th hole we were looking for sunscreen. Overall, the weather was fantastic for this fun tournament.

The First Tee – Playing in the Rain!

Our group had three teams because of the odd number players in the tournament. Each team I played with today was completely different. The first team was Dave and Dale. These two gentlemen are in their mid-sixties and were up for the challenge right from the start. Dale did not hit the ball farther than 150-yards and could not see distances very well. However, his drive was always in play on the fairway and he could putt like Jack Nicklaus! Dave hit the ball a long way, was very accurate with the second shot and was a chipping demon. They ended up shooting par with a net score of 69. It was very nice to watch.

The second group was Steve and Paul. These were younger guys in their late 30s. Both could hit the ball a long way, chip well and putt fairly decent. Unfortunately, both players were in sync today. When one hit their ball into the woods, so did the other. When one had a poor chip, usually the other player did as well. So, they had a tough round and did not score as well as Dave and Dale.

Number 9 Green. The Sun is Shining so Brightly!

Jean and I started strong. I hit the ball to six feet off the tee on the first hole. Our positive start quickly turned to disappointment quickly as Jean’s putt veered off to the right with about one inch to go. Under close inspection of the hole, the edges were pushed up and made it very difficult to sink any putt. Forgetting our bad luck, Jean and I focused on each shot at hand with very good success. When one person hit a poor shot, the other was there to pick up the pieces. Overall, we played very well and shot a net 66. Good enough for second place!

A couple of other highlights from our round are worth mentioning. On hole number 10, I made a mental error that I had never made before. There is a rule in match play that if you putt your ball out, that is the score that will count, regardless if the rest of your teammates have putted or not. Makes perfect sense to me. However, in other scramble tournaments to speed up play, if a player putts his ball and leaves it within a couple of inches, that player would normally walk up and tap their ball in the hole. The next player would putt from the original spot and if they sink their putt, that is the score that would count. Well, I was the first to putt a 12 foot putt. I left the ball two inches from the hole, so I walked up to my ball and tapped it in for a bogey. Then the light went on about my mental error! Our playing partners said not to worry about it, but fair is fair and Jean did not take his putt. This cost a stroke because I was not paying attention…did I mention we came second, losing by only one stroke!

17th hole. 135 yards long. Hit to two feet for a tap in birdie!

The second highlight was on the 18th hole. It is a long par 5 and the wind was blowing stiffly from right to left. Jean hit a monster of a drive to about 215 yards from the green. He confidently pulled out his 3-wood and hit his ball 35 feet from the pin on the right. His second shot was perfectly played considering his ball fought the wind the entire way. He was first to putt and lipped out for his natural eagle! After watching his putt, I aimed a bit more to the right and stroked a solid putt. To our amazement, it hit the back of the hole and dropped in for eagle! This shot capped off a very strong finish of birdie, birdie, eagle! To make it more exciting, we cut someone off for a skin!

At the end of the day we had 1 eagle, six birdies, 8 pars and 3 bogies. It was a pretty solid round for a 2-man scramble. The important part is we followed our strategy most of the time. We mixed up who teed off first, chipped first and putted first to match our strengths. This worked very well. But more importantly, we focused on having fun and enjoying a great round of golf with our four new friends.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

Golf Strategy: 2-Man Scramble

September 16, 2014 / The Grateful Golfer / 11 Comments

Helping Align Putts in a 2-Man Scramble is legal!

Golf is a great game for strategy, gamesmanship, and psyching out your opponent! One of my favorite tournament formats is the 2-man scramble. The format places just enough pressure on players to perform, but offers that little glimmer of hope if your game comes off the rails for a hole or two. This weekend I am playing in a 2-man scramble tournament with my friend Jean.

Roundel Glen Golf Course is closing this year’s golf season with a series of fun tournaments. This is the first of several that will help reduce the anxiety of golf season slowly coming to an end. The rules for this tournament are pretty simple. The handicap of the two players is added together, divided by two and multiplied by 75%.

What this means is: my handicap is 3.1, Jean’s handicap is 10.4, combined 13.5, divided by 2 is 6.75, multiplied by 75% is 5. Therefore, our handicap for this tournament is 5. For those non golfers, this means we are awarded one stroke on the 5 toughest holes on the course. So if we shoot a 4 on the toughest hole, we would record a 3 on our scorecard. This method of using your handicap is golf’s way of leveling the playing field. If everyone is honest, the system works very well.

This Sunday Jean and I tee it up at 9 am. This tournament will be very interesting because Jean and I have complimenting games. We both hit the ball well off the tee. He hits his long irons better than me. I hit my short irons better than him and we both chip and putt well.

Unlike the strategy in a 4-man scramble where the more novice players shoots first all the time, Jean and I are of relatively equal skill. The strategy is a bit different and depending on how we decide to play the round, the difference could be a couple of strokes. In a 2-man scramble, those two strokes could be the difference between winning and losing. So here is what I am proposing as our strategy for the tournament:

Jean tees off first on all par 5s and short par 3s.
Jim tees off first on all par 4s and long par 3s.
Jean is first to hit our second shot inside 175 yards.
Jim is first to hit our second shot outside of 175 yards.
Jean chips first by all green.
Jean putts first on all greens.

My logic is simple: the first player always ensures he is in play and by doing so leverages the stronger skills of the other player!

I do not believe that our strategy needs to be any more complicated than that. I am, however, looking for comments if any of you golfing fanatics see a flaw in my logic. If you do, I am all ears! Feedback is always welcome!

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

Grinding in Golf

June 14, 2014 / The Grateful Golfer / 9 Comments

I finished the first round of the Wing Playdowns yesterday. This golf tournament is a three-day event to select a 5 man – 2 woman team to represent 8 Wing Trenton at the Ontario Golf Regional competition in July. Due to inclement weather, the second and third round will be played next Wednesday and Thursday. After two days of heavy rain , about 100 mm, the course played tough, long and unforgiving. We played from the tips (blues) and between the hot sun, sprinkles, puddles, ground under repair and casual water everywhere, all the players had to be on their game to score well. I am grateful for my two playing partners; they were very pleasant which really reduced any stress that might have mounted as the round progressed.

Shooting an 81 was a great score. Given the conditions, I felt very good about my result; let me explain. The very first shot was into a 200 yard par three. Using a 3 hybrid, I struck a smooth shot that tracked straight for the pin. As the ball landed 2 yards short of the green, it kicked straight right and finished 4 yards from the green, but still on the fringe. I could not believe it! When I arrived at the green, I noticed my ball hit the side of a sprinkler head! And so the games began.

I was short on most chips. For some reason I could not adjust to the wet conditions and could not hit the ball hard enough on my approach shots. Uncharacteristically, I only chipped the ball within 10 feet once all day. No matter where I was located, I could not seem to adjust. Having said that, my putting was very good. I made at least 5 putts from between 10-15 feet. Most of those were in the side door!

I am not a long hitter, so I do rely on the extra 10-20 yard roll from my woods and long irons. Well, during this round there was no roll! Therefore, I was hitting many long irons on my second shot. Everyone knows that hitting long irons into the green is not conducive to scoring low! As a result, I walked off with an 81.

Our round took about 4.5 hours. It was a bit slow considering we were a threesome, but we spent quite a bit of time looking for balls in the long rough. Our course has decided to let some of the grass grow along the course. Normally, this grass is not really in play, but yesterday it was. In some cases the grass is up to your knees and if you find your ball, it was likely you would call an unplayable lie. This change in routine definitely impacted how we played. Focus and concentration was definitely tested!

Some of the things that was very helpful during my round that helped me grind out a good score was:

pre-shot routine – this allowed me to stay focused on the shot at hand regardless of other results;
mental concentration – I worked both physically and mentally during the round. I found that the use visualization and positive mental focus prior to my round really helped; and
being grateful – stuff happens on the course. Good breaks and bad breaks, regardless I was grateful for the opportunity to play golf and hopefully represent my Wing at the next level. This positive attitude kept the negative thoughts from creeping in and really affecting my score.

For those players who understand that you can score well and play poorly; score poorly and play well; and really work on the course keep your score down, yesterday was the latter. I felt that I really worked at playing golf yesterday. My score is a bit higher than normal (about 4-5 strokes) but I am very happy with the result. I am encouraged and excited for the next Wednesday!

Currently, I am tied for 3rd place with two other players. Our moving day will be Wednesday and my strategy is to play my game and shoot my handicap. If I do that, I will be well situated to move on to the next leg of the competition.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!