2023 Annual Thread of 3 Putting

[TXSooner518 2438]

Loved Coyote Moon in Tahoe. Headed back next month and playing Gray's Crossing and Toiyabe (and Red Hawk in Reno).  Have played RH but not the other two. Love golf there. 

[orange dream 1250]

I heard that Coyote Moon is one of the best courses in that area.

[heso 2794]

The lessons are starting to pay off.

[tx 3 putt 76934]

Where are you getting lessons ?

[heso 2794]

3 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

Where are you getting lessons ?

Doubt it’ll be of much use for anyone here, but Kevin Shields at Nevillewood country club just outside of Pittsburgh. 

[TXSooner518 2438]

Had a video evaluation and my head was moving way off the ball on the backswing, I was too far back onto my heels at address, and I was too far from the ball. The last two had crept in as "hosel defense."  

I also had really gotten good with 30-80 yard shots (good for my level), but the last several rounds, they were terrible. Had two range sessions working on keeping head centered, standing closer, and more on the balls of my feet. Worked well on range. Took it to the course yesterday. Played a tee box back from normal, so only ended up with two 30-80 yard shots.  Hit the first one to 7 feet from 55 yards, and the second one I had 70 yards in on my 18th hole and just dunked it for eagle. Uh, that seems better than skulling it all over the lot!

Ball striking was mostly quite improved, I had the first +SG approach round (compared to 15hc) in Arccos in the 42 rounds I've used it. Had my 3rd worse SG putting round, which I'm writing off to flukiness, putting has been really really solid. Hit the last 5 GIR, went par-birdie-3putt bogey from 20 feet-par-eagle to close. Exciting!

[heso 2794]

On 8/5/2023 at 7:59 PM, heso said:

The lessons are starting to pay off.

Still dropping. I didn’t have a lot of time to play recently so I was expecting a little bit of regression, ended up with my best round to date. I’ve dropped almost 4 strokes in 5 rounds from a 19.7 to a 16.0. Round on Sunday was worth a 12.7

[huge 3793]

Incline Village is also fun if you are in the Tahoe area.

Playing Highland Pines (NE Houston) on Sunday.  Its a great new course, wish it wasn't halfway to Shreveport.

[dieucla98 2942]

Putting has been a shit show of inconsistency lately so I went to try a new putter with less toe hang, thinking that would help me stabilize the face a bit but still let me swing on an arc. Hit 3 putts with my putter, 3 putts with the new putter, and repeated about 5 times.

In the most unsurprising news of the day, turns out the putter isn't the issue.

[conVINCEd 21469]

1 hour ago, dieucla98 said:

Putting has been a shit show of inconsistency lately so I went to try a new putter with less toe hang, thinking that would help me stabilize the face a bit but still let me swing on an arc. Hit 3 putts with my putter, 3 putts with the new putter, and repeated about 5 times.

In the most unsurprising news of the day, turns out the putter isn't the issue.

 

not

 

 

[HouTex 1867]

On 8/21/2023 at 8:44 PM, heso said:

Still dropping. I didn’t have a lot of time to play recently so I was expecting a little bit of regression, ended up with my best round to date. I’ve dropped almost 4 strokes in 5 rounds from a 19.7 to a 16.0. Round on Sunday was worth a 12.7

That was my trend until about two weeks ago.  I went from a 7.6 index to 10.7 index in 3 or 4 rounds.  Some low scores rolled off and were replaced with some low 90’s and high 80’s.  Just when you think you’ve got something figured out the golf gods put you in your place.  

[heso 2794]

9 minutes ago, HouTex said:

That was my trend until about two weeks ago.  I went from a 7.6 index to 10.7 index in 3 or 4 rounds.  Some low scores rolled off and were replaced with some low 90’s and high 80’s.  Just when you think you’ve got something figured out the golf gods put you in your place.  

The inevitable 97 after 6 consecutive rounds in the 80s will be disheartening. 

[TXSooner518 2438]

haha yep, amazing how golf loves to humble you. I followed up my last round (concluded with 5 straight GIR, including a birdie and hole-out eagle) with hitting 4 of the first 5 GIR of the next round, including a first hole birdie. Sitting +2 on the 6th tee, having hit 9 of my last 10 GIR, on an 18-round streak under 100 (though that was not close to my mind, 79 was more on my mind than 99), and that streak did not survive. Didn't have another putt for par until the 18th hole. Driver was quite bad, irons still were pretty good, chipping was poor, putting was mid. 

[TXSooner518 2438]

Went out for an afternoon 18, shot a clean 87 (par 70) in like 2:20. They had a tourney on the front 9, back 9 is open, I'm hitting it well, LGLG, let's fire the back again. First hole I have 20 feet for eagle, tap in bird. First 6 holes I either hit a GIR or get up and down, one ridiculous up and down, E through 6. Miss a 7 footer for par on 7 and a 4 footer for bogey on 8. Finish with a +4 38. Well, can't let that just sit there!  

So then I battle heat, fatigue, pressure, darkness, and having to jump around to dodge the tourney (played the holes on the front 8-9-6-7-1-2-3-4-5). Had a pretty brutal triple on 1 with a bad break and bad chip. Got it home in 82 total. 

So 169 for the 2 rounds, best ball for the rounds was 76. Zero penalties for 36 holes, and second round was my first round with +SG in all 4 areas (compared to a 15). Would have been beyond tilting for anyone playing against me in a net match at the start of the 2nd round ha. Fun - this should drop me to a career low 17.8 index, so for the first time in my life, I'm better than a bogey golfer. LFG

[TXSooner518 2438]

Played Bandit today, was E through 5 again, turned in 42. Hit the wall a bit, had a gross triple from 70 out in the fairway involving a penalty on a greenside bunker shot ffs. Still got home in 88 total. First time ever with 3 straight sub-90 rounds, drops the index to 17.6. 54 holes in less than 24 hours in August with pretty intense self-pressure is exhausting!

[heso 2794]

96. Fuck this game. 

[heso 2794]

[Lurch 5930]

Golf.

[Beantown Express 2.0 6559]

Yeah.  I played twice this weekend.  Shot a 84 Saturday and a 91 Sunday.  Short game killed me on Sunday.  Nothing like being 50 years away from the pin, middle of the fairway after 2 shots on a Par 5 and triple bogeying the hole cause I blade a wedge into the sand trap.  

[Lurch 5930]

Walked four consecutive days this weekend: 88, 80, 80, 84. ~25 miles, ~6500 calories burned, 3 birdies, 1 eagle, 127 putts (1.7 per), 1 very sore ankle/planter fascia

[TXSooner518 2438]

Speaking of walking, Bandon trip part II is booked for Jan 9-16, 2025!

Jan 10 - Sheep Ranch 9, 910, 920
Jan 11 - Old Mac 9, 910, 920
Jan 12 - New Shorty's 9, 915, 930; Preserve 215, 230, 245
Jan 13 - Pacific Dunes 940, 950, 1000
Jan 14 - Bandon Trails 1030, 1040, 1050
Jan 15 - Bandon Dunes 9, 910, 920

Nothing booked on travel day in or out, though obv could work in some Punchbowl or Preserve pending flight schedule etc.

We grabbed 6 Forest Double rooms at the Inn. Any insight on how those compare to some of the other rooms on property and if it's worth swapping them out even if the whole group won't be at the Inn? I've only stayed in a Chrome Lake Double.

[HouTex 1867]

On 9/2/2023 at 10:38 AM, heso said:

Reversion to the mean.  In the past month I’ve gone from a 7.9 index to a 10.7 and now a 10.1.  Course handicap went from a 10 to a 13 and now 12.  With 8 rounds now counting your handicap can move pretty quickly if you play often. 

[crash_davis 23108]

If you guys follow golf on youtube, you've probably heard of or seen Peter Finch's videos. He's normally a scratch golfer. He plays the Ryder Cup Course. Long story short, he hasn't hit his driver well and was using 3 wood to find the fairways. He starts hitting driver. Well, you know the rest.

This is one of the funniest golf sequences I've seen in a long time. I was laughing my ass off. 

Watch the drive and the ensuing shots.

 

[crash_davis 23108]

funniest comments.

garyco766

For god sakes man, TAKE A DROP! As soon as I saw him line up to try and hit that out I was like "oh god... tell me he's joking!", then the second time I was like "surely no... take a drop, TAKE A DROP!", than all I could do was laugh.

 

Nicknkp

 @garyco766 same, I’m like dude take an unplayable walk it back to some short grass and stop kidding yourself that you’ll ever chop it out of chest high rough. No wonder they didn’t pick Bryson.

[Lurch 5930]

I'd guess the "right" play would be two consecutive unplayable lateral drops.  Should be enough distance to get him a decent lie 

[Lurch 5930]

Ah, yeah, it looks like he could have gone backwards towards that parallel fairway too for just a one stroke penalty 

[crash_davis 23108]

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/topics/unplayable-ball.html

When you decide that your ball is unplayable, you have three relief options, all for one penalty stroke. Your first option is to go back to the spot of your previous stroke and play again (stroke and distance relief). Your second option is to go back as far as you’d like and drop on the line from the hole through the spot where the ball lies (back-on-the-line relief). Your third option is to drop anywhere within two club-lengths of where your ball lies, no closer to the hole (lateral relief).

 

I think he could've used the 3rd option with the 2 club (driver) relief.

[huge 3793]

I went from hitting my driver great in a 4 man scramble (not that important) to basically missing 12/14 fairways a week later playing my own ball (not ideal).

GOLF

[Lurch 5930]

44 minutes ago, huge said:

I went from hitting my driver great in a 4 man scramble (not that important) to basically missing 12/14 fairways a week later playing my own ball (not ideal).

GOLF

Same intent in both situations?  For me, scramble drive is necessarily different than an own-ball drive.  In scramble, I'm either swinging out of my shoes "because we already have a ball in play, so no risk" or I'm being super conservative "because we need to get a ball in play, even if short".  An own-ball drive for me is typically somewhere between the two.

[Lurch 5930]

What’s your move when a regular in your group develops a freeze over the ball while struggling to get their swing back and now, routinely, takes an excessively long time to pull the trigger?

I only see him immediately before our weekly round and don’t want to get in his head pre round or during it. I’m thinking I need to bring it up immediately post-round this weekend. Another regular took a video a few weeks back and sent it to him “to help evaluate his swing” but he completely missed the point and his only takeaway was that he was over swinging. Face palm.

[Lurch 5930]

I actually stopped watching him because it bugs me so much, but another in the group last weekend later told me he counted TWENTY SEVEN waggles before one of his tee shots

[HouTex 1867]

If he’s delaying the foursome time to more than 4 hours for a round then he needs a gentle nudge—or maybe not so gentle.  If he’s not causing a delay, and unless he’s an asshole, I’d let it go.  We all have issues at times on the course.  

[heso 2794]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:05 PM, Lurch said:

I actually stopped watching him because it bugs me so much, but another in the group last weekend later told me he counted TWENTY SEVEN waggles before one of his tee shots

That’s got to be in the range of a full minute of waggling on every hole. That’s adding at least 15 minutes to the round, just watching the wiggling his club around on the tee box. And that if it’s only on the tee. 

I’d let it slide for 9 holes at the MOST then I’m saying something. I’d probably wait until after the round if he’s got a great one going. But if he’s having a rough day I’m saying something by the 3rd or 4th time. 

[Mileslong 4727]

Need some help from you Austin guys. GF and I are going to Austin to visit daughter and celebrate my birthday.

We are playing golf three days and she wants to book the courses. My ACC plans fell through so we are looking at courses.

We’ve played all the courses at horseshoe and Barton Creek so looking for something different.

She found a package that includes the following tracks and I want to make sure they aren’t goat ranches.

Avery Ranch
Terre Vista
Star Ranch
Falconhead
Lost Pines

Need three of these or other recommendations. Thanks!

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

Haven't played the north ones on that list in a while.  Falconhead is usually pretty good.  Lost Pines used to be my absolute favorite in the area.  It's gone way, way downhill IMO.  I played their last spring.  $185 and it was not in good shape and the service sucked.  Plus they ding you for parking which is just annoying.  

My votes would be Avery, Star and Falconhead.  

[TXSooner518 2438]

Star Ranch is currently good. Avery is a good layout, but I had heard about a month ago the greens were terrible with two temp greens. I drive by Hole 11 most days and the green looks good from the road. Teravista is usually slow pace-wise. 

Have you played Delaware Springs? I pretty strongly recommend that. Plum Creek in Kyle also in good shape and fun track, last I played. I'd go Star/Delaware/Plum and skip the package unless it's really really good value. 

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

I heard the same about Plum from one of my employees.  Haven't played Delaware in ages!  Not on the list, and a bit of a drive, but Vaaler Creek in Blanco is a fun, affordable track that's usually in pretty good shape.  

[Lurch 5930]

Haven't played the north ones on that list in a while.  Falconhead is usually pretty good.  Lost Pines used to be my absolute favorite in the area.  It's gone way, way downhill IMO.  I played their last spring.  $185 and it was not in good shape and the service sucked.  Plus they ding you for parking which is just annoying.  
My votes would be Avery, Star and Falconhead.  

They charge you for parking now? If so, holy shit no

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

1 hour ago, Lurch said:

They charge you for parking now? If so, holy shit no

Yep.  That entire experience was one kick in the nuts after another.  I got invited to play with a buddy that was staying out there.  Guy at the front desk was a dick.  Overpriced even if it was in pristine shape, but course was tired, worn and unkempt.  5+ hour round with no marshal to be found and beverage cart was MIA on the entire back 9.  The $15 to leave the parking lot was salt in the wound.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Spaulding Smails

[Steel Shank 9424]

cold-blooded

[Lurch 5930]

That’s incredibly fucked up. Only justification from a business standpoint is that you know you’re not winning any return customers so milk them all you can one last time.

[4th and 5 4914]

On 9/14/2023 at 8:04 AM, Mileslong said:

Need some help from you Austin guys. GF and I are going to Austin to visit daughter and celebrate my birthday.

We are playing golf three days and she wants to book the courses. My ACC plans fell through so we are looking at courses.

We’ve played all the courses at horseshoe and Barton Creek so looking for something different.

She found a package that includes the following tracks and I want to make sure they aren’t goat ranches.

Avery Ranch
Terre Vista
Star Ranch
Falconhead
Lost Pines

Need three of these or other recommendations. Thanks!

Kissing Tree in San Marcos

[crash_davis 23108]

lulz!

 

[4th and 5 4914]

I haven’t played since April 1st. Played 9 at Kissing Tree this afternoon and shot 4 over. Four pars and a birdie on 5-9. 

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

14 hours ago, 4th and 5 said:

I haven’t played since April 1st. Played 9 at Kissing Tree this afternoon and shot 4 over. Four pars and a birdie on 5-9. 

How was the course?  My folks just bought a lot there.  I'm thinking about going out there in two weeks to play.  Haven't been out there in 2+ years.  

[TXSooner518 2438]

How was the course?  My folks just bought a lot there.  I'm thinking about going out there in two weeks to play.  Haven't been out there in 2+ years.  

It’s a nice track and was in great condition in July. They are pretty proud of it and have some kind of confusing policies. I wouldn’t hesitate to fire it again.

[huge 3793]

I lost yet another rangefinder.  Bought a cheapo Chinese one off Amazon but going to return it.

I have had Leupold and Bushnell in the past.

Anyone have any opinion about them or are they all the same/commodities?

[Lurch 5930]

I’d have to assume commodity at this point. There’s nothing sophisticated in a base model (don’t really need slope or vibration reduction) and I’d assume even the cheapo brands do their single task well enough? That said, my bushnell is like 15 years old and behaves/looks identical to when it was brand new.

[crash_davis 23108]

Fess up, which one of you is this?

 

[59 Burst 434]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:02 PM, Lurch said:

What’s your move when a regular in your group develops a freeze over the ball while struggling to get their swing back and now, routinely, takes an excessively long time to pull the trigger?

I only see him immediately before our weekly round and don’t want to get in his head pre round or during it. I’m thinking I need to bring it up immediately post-round this weekend. Another regular took a video a few weeks back and sent it to him “to help evaluate his swing” but he completely missed the point and his only takeaway was that he was over swinging. Face palm.

Long time Texas golf coach Harvey Penick’s, little red book address’ this very issue. Establish a simple trigger, same as swinging a baseball bat.
 

I am a right handed golfer. Once I address the ball and I am in proper position. I apply a slight amount of pressure on the ball of my left foot to initiate the swing. Don’t think of anything else. If you want to think go to the driving range.