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!

The Golfing Nun

September 20, 2014 / The Grateful Golfer / 2 Comments

I borrowed this from Funny and Interesting Stuff People Have Sent Me. It made me laugh and I thought it might make you laugh as well.

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

**************************************************************************************

A nun walks into Mother Superior’s office and plunks down into a chair. She lets out a sigh heavy with frustration.

‘What troubles you, Sister ?’ asked the Mother Superior. ‘I thought this was the day you spent with your family.’ ‘It was,’ sighed the Sister. ‘And I went to play golf with my brother. We try to play golf as often as we can.
You know I was quite a talented golfer before I devoted my life to Christ.’

‘I seem to recall that,’ said Mother Superior. ‘So I take it your day of recreation was not relaxing ?’

‘Far from it,’ snorted the Sister. ‘In fact, I even took the Lord’s name in vain today !’‘Goodness, Sister!’ gasped the Mother Superior, astonished. ‘You must tell me all about it !’

‘Well, we were on the fifth tee – and this hole is a monster, Mother -540 yard Par 5,
with a nasty dogleg right and a hidden green…and I hit the drive of my life. I creamed it. The sweetest swing I ever made.

And it’s flying straight and true, right along the line I wanted…and it hits a bird in mid-flight !’

‘Oh my !’ commiserated the Mother. ‘How unfortunate. But surely that didn’t make you blaspheme, Sister !’
‘No, that wasn’t it,’ admitted Sister. ‘While I was still trying to fathom what had happened, this squirrel runs out of the woods,
grabs my ball and runs off down the fairway !’

‘Oh, that would have made me blaspheme !’ sympathized the Mother.
‘But I didn’t, Mother !’ sobbed the Sister. ‘And I was so proud of myself, eh. And while I was pondering whether this was a sign from God, this hawk swoops
out of the sky and grabs the squirrel and flies off, with my ball still clutched in his paws.’

‘So that’s when you cursed,’ said the Mother with a knowing smile.
‘Nope, that wasn’t it either,’ cried the Sister, anguished, ‘because as the hawk started to fly out of sight,
the squirrel started struggling, and the hawk dropped him right there on the green,
and the ball popped out of his paws and rolled to about 18 inches from the cup !’

Mother Superior sat back in her chair, folded her arms across her chest, fixed the Sister with a baleful stare and said . . .

‘You missed the darn putt, didn’t you ?’

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!

Course Management in Golf

September 12, 2014February 10, 2017 / The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

Play the shot that makes the next shot easy.

Tommy Armour

Course management is a familiar topic in golf. To manage your golf game is challenging, depressing and rewarding all at the same time. We have all played rounds of golf where nothing seemed to go well and others where mistakes could not be made! Most of the time, the difference between a final score of 75 or a 78 is course management. Like chess, playing golf requires a player to think at least two shots ahead before taking a swing.

Hitting the best club to set up his next shot.

Focusing on your shot at hand is obviously the first step to course management. Proper execution of this shot is critical to low scores. When I talk about execution, I do not mean contact of the ball (although this is very important also). What I mean is executing the shot that best sets you up for the next shot. Sometimes that means hitting your 3-wood as close to the green as possible on a par 5 or laying up to 100 yards to have a full shot over a hazard. The most interesting aspect of course management is that it is different for every player! The reason for the differences are that each player shapes the ball differently and hits each club different distances. Therefore, their course management has to be different.

Trying to advance the ball too far usually spells trouble!

However, before hitting the first shot, determining what the next shot should be will help with club selection, how to play the shot, whether to punch the ball out of the woods, or try to hit the ball 75 yards down the fairway around a tree. Every shot has infinite variables that are hard to list. The most important thing to consider is what you are planning for the next shot. This part of course management is really what sets up how a round of golf is played. Not staying focused on the next shot is where most amateurs run into trouble!

Under a Tree on the 15th Hole. Managing this shot properly will be the difference between par and double bogey!

There are three simple rules I follow to make my next shot easy. I use these rules as the basis to scoring well or at least trying to score well.

When in the fairway, always go for the green if in range! Greens In Regulation or GIR is the most important statistic in golf. Personally, I would rather play a short chip or out of the sand then to have a 30 or 40 yard chip to the green.
When hitting from the rough, I use my hybrids. I cases where players are not using hybrids, then use an iron. I know many players will suggest that if the lie is good then hit a wood, but the higher percentage shot is to hit a hybrid or iron.
When playing out of the woods, do not get greedy! The moment I try to squeeze an extra 10 or 15 yards out of a difficult shot, disaster strikes! Taking my medicine is the safe play! This does not mean that I do not try and find the most advantageous exit from the woods, it means that I have to be smart about setting up my next shot!

I am sure there are many other rules that players use to keep their score low. Depending on the competition, others rules will come into play, but for most amateurs trying to break 100, these three rules are plenty.

This is my approach to course management. Do you have anything to add?

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

Adopt the Foot Wedge in Golf

September 6, 2014September 6, 2014 / The Grateful Golfer / 4 Comments

Caddie, hand me my foot wedge!

The foot wedge is the most used shot in golf! There is little question that every golfer has used this shot outside competition to speed up play or to improve their lie. Most, if not all players, don’t count the foot wedge because it is not considered cheating; it is just improving their enjoyment on the links.

The concept of a foot wedge is nothing new! Many great players have attributed the foot wedge to their success and consider it an essential part of their game. Here is what a few sites are saying:

“Golf slang for the 15th club every golfer takes onto the golf course. Used to secretly tap your ball out of a fairway divot when no one is watching!” (Leaderboard.com)
“Foot wedge” is a slang term for a “club” that helps a golfer cheat his way out of trouble. Specifically, “foot wedge” is what a golfer uses when he kicks his ball or nudges the ball into a better position for the next stroke. He used his foot to improve his lie – hence, “foot wedge.” (About.com)
“When a golfer cheats his way out of trouble using a club, it is in slang called foot wedge. Foot wedge, is specifically speaking a condition when a golfer kicks his ball or probably nudges the ball in a slightly convenient position for the next shot.” (Buzzle.com)

The foot wedge, not to be confused with a “hand wedge’ or a sandwich, is very popular. It is so popular, there are lessons on how to execute a perfect foot wedge. Here is my favorite:

Scan your surroundings for other players.
Place foot to obscure current ball location from onlookers.
Rotate foot edge so it is perpendicular to your target.
Gently slide your foot wedge to push ball.
Cough audibly during shot and mutter something about winter rules.
Proceed with game. (wikihow.com)

If the golf industry is trying to make the game more fun, then it is time to legally adopt the the foot wedge. It is time to allow players one foot wedge per hole! Why not, it will only make the game more fun!

Alright, I will stop! Right about now everyone is thinking I have gone over the bend. Actually, the intent of this article is to provide a bit of parody for all the recent suggestions on how to make golf more fun. There is no question that golf continues to evolve and it is important to attract young players to the game. However, I would suggest that most people will make the game fun anyway without trying to change the rules of the game.

Golf is the game of kings! It is meant to teach honesty, integrity and sportsmanship. Is it difficult to learn? Most people would say yes! However, the sense of accomplishment from hitting that perfect shot is really worth the challenges to learn the game.

I was taught golf at an early age. My father was the first to put a club in my hand and for that I will always be eternally grateful. Golf has the potential to bring out the best in everyone if people would only give it a chance.

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