Justin and I played 12 holes at Robe yesterday. It was cold and windy, but we both enjoyed the challenging course. No course records were harmed in the playing of the game. I can report that it is possible to fade the 19 degree Wilson Fywood club, despite it being draw biased.

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Can break 80

I played consistently this morning. I started and finished poorly! The weather was terrible, cold and windy around 35 kph, Over night rain had made the surface soft and soggy in places.

I scored 6’s on the first four holes ( 3 doubles and one bogey) and a five on the 18th ( double bogey)when the rain really started to come down. In between I recovered and scored in a bogey golf fashion . OTS 48/45= 93 total. Short game worked quite well, long game not so much.

I hit 6/14 fairways, 4/18 GIR, 3/14 up and downs, 36 putts.
6 pars, 4 bogeys, 8 doubles.
Why so many doubles?
1) 3 putts:2
2) poor tee shot positions: 4
3) fluffed chips; 2

Two steps forward
1) considering the conditions my putting was petty good
2) I chipped close a few times
One Step back
Tee shots in play was below my usual game level. WInd? trying to hit too hard? Lack of concentration?

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Can break 80

I am sure that I have been colder than I was this morning, but it was probably when we were skiing in Canada.
It was bone chilling cold as we played the first few holes, but luckily the wind was slight. I hit a triple bogey on the first hole after pulling my approach shot into the trees. I followed that score ( 7) with a double bogey 6 on hole two after I hit my bunker shot too hard and 3 putted. I followed that with a descending numerical progression of 5,4,3 ( all pars) . On hole 6 it would have been a miracle to hit a 2, but after pulling my 3W tee shot under the trees and having a blind shot out and then having to chip form the pine tree needles ( hate that soft stuff), I scored a bogey 5, followed by another bogey on 7 then two pars to finish the front 9. OTS 43.

On the back 9 I hit one birdie on the par 5 16th after a 165m approach shot finished 10 cm from the hole. I scored a par on the 18th too. 4 bogeys and three doubles for a OTS 45.

88/ 33 points; Good short game , average approach and tee shots. ( distance wise)

FAirways hit 10/14
GIR 5/18
Up / down 3/12
31 putts.

CB80 will ask about the doubles. so here is the info;
Hole 1 I was cold and went for a long approach shot ( hero) with 7 W and pulled it left and hit a tree.
Hole 2 I over faded my approach shot with 6H and ended up in the bunker. The sand was firm and I hit it too far over the green and took 3 putts.
Hole 11 I tried a LW chip to get up and over the green lip and hit it thin.
Hole 13 my second shot to the corner I aimed left and the intended fade shape didn’t work; I had to chip out sideways.
Hole 17 I anticipated it was softer on the green than it was and the PW ran through ( club selection error) leaving a long down hill putt ( missed) and missed the up hill second putt by ” that much”.

Two steps forward.
I got better after a disastrous start.
putting was good for me

One step back
Too many errors with starting line for shots ( I need to aim further left for fade shots)

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Can break 80

There is a break in the weather, so I am going to play this morning. Winter has arrived! I will be trying to keep my drives out of the wind for sure.

Can break 80 wrote:

your are lucky Xrman, I haven’t played for 3 weeks due to rain and saturated courses.
I will be back in Danland next week and will be getting in lots of games over next 2 to 3 months..

Welcome back 80 CB. I am not sure it will be known as” Danland” after November, pending the short memories of Melbourne residents , of course!

I took my mate Geoff (from Adelaide) up to Heywood this morning to play 9 holes. The greens up there are faster than at Portland.
The rain has yet to set in, as yet. There isn’t much run on the fairways and cold/ damp air has dropped carry distances about 10 m.

I played bogey golf up there. Geoff is good off the tee and good on the green. He needs to link up the two zones.

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Can break 80

I played in the Veterans inter- zone Challenge match between Lower South East and Glenelg zones yesterday in Casterton. The weather Gods smiled on us with a chilly start , but a sunny calm day. We had 90 players, which is a big field for us. Two of the fairways were closed for renovation. This resulted is lengthy bottle necks at several locations. The company was good. The LSE guys were at a disadvantage last week playing on scrapes. This week they did a lot better score wise.

Without any warm up facilities, I managed to hit the first two tee shots into the weeds. My starting line with the 3W was too far right on the first tee and over corrected on the second. So I started with two double bogeys! I found the bunkers three times in the round, but luckily they had sufficient sand in them, so I got out O.K. Putting was fine, despite the patchy greens. A local rule allowed the player to move the ball to have a patch free line. The fairways were in good condition for a country course at the end of summer. Once I warmed up, my tee shots with Driver and 3 Wood started to finish in the preferred position.

OTS 89 strokes; 6 pars, 8 bogeys, 4 doubles.

Two steps forward
1) Driver worked well
2) chipping was reliable

One step back
I should have hit fades off the early tees. I am better at controlling that shape. At worst they go left and don’t fade much. Poor decisions cost me 4 shots or more, if I include the time I aimed away from a bunker, not realizing that there was another one on the opposite side.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by xrman.

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Can break 80

Fail! Yesterday I had my worst game for ages. 16 points.

I played the Vets competition challenge match between the Lower South East, Wimmera and Glenelg associations held at Harrow Golf club yesterday. Weather was cold and windy and wet, on and off. There were 59 golfers ( two females).

I was walking, so I decided to play a half set of clubs that I use when caravanning. My rationale is that playing this scrapes course would need a change of plan. I took a Cobra F7+ Driver, a 19 Wilson FY-brid ( 7 wood-ish) , a Cobra F7 4-5 hybrid, SL Milford 6 iron and SW, a Tour Edge PW, a Wilson chipper and a Wilson Putter. My plan was keep the tee shot in play, advance the ball to about 130-100 m, then try to get close to the scrape and chip it on and putt at the hole firmly.

What went wrong? I didn’t start well with my first Drive an attempted fade disappearing into the sun glare ( weather was fine at the start) No-one saw where it went and we could not find the ball, so I elected not to replay the shot. Next the fairway surface was very friable. it has not rained up there ( 150 km inland) for quite a while and the grass was thin and in effect we were playing on sand. I took deep divots without even trying and lost distance on all my shots. I tried a more shallow attack angle, but even with wider hybrid soles the clubs dug in. The chipper got the ball on the scrapes OK, but with variable depth of sand on each scrape, putting was unpredictable. The grass around the scrapes was soft and the ball didn’t run much at all. In effect , you had to get your approach shot close to the scrape and chip on which added one shot to each hole. Scrapes courses take a lot of practice to master.

The challenge result surprising. I thought Wimmera would wine easily as they play on more scrape courses than the Glenelg group. The LSE players play on all grass courses, so they bombed out as expected. Glenelg won by the finest of margins.

So were there any positives? Well I think on a more predictable surface the half set would have been effective.
I worked out that the Cobra F7+ Driver tends to draw slightly, rather than fade unless I really try to make it fade. This explains why I could not find my first shot. It would have gone through the corner left side, not where we were looking. I hit the FY- Brid quite well a few times, and I managed to alter distance with the other clubs well enough. I will try the set at my local course to see it here is a gap that I need to fill.

I managed to walk the 18 holes on my dicky right hip. It warmed up after a few holes and I didn’t notice much discomfort. It was great social day.

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Can break 80

I won B grade yesterday!

This morning I went out for my pre-breakfast work out clearing the sweet pittosporum from the 12th hole rough. I am making windrows to burn as they dry out. On the way back to the car park I often play a couple of holes. Today I wanted to see if I could get better results with the Tour Edge Hybrid-iron 29 degree club. It is a super game improvement design with a fair bit of offset. I tend to hit it left too much. my distance control is good but lateral dispersion is poor. I set up at 135m out from the pin and hit a few shots , until I felt I had some control. Time will tell!

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Can break 80, Madam, Weetbix