Fore! Who's playing golf, yo-

[BackCountryNC]

Mostly college or former college players. One guy was a former NCAA champ in the 90's. -8 won.

74-72 gets you 12th ?
Who are you playing against ?

[DasBlunt]

played in a fun charity tournament today at Valley CC, a sweet Centennial private club with pimped out conditions and fast, perfectly true greens. I never had a bad lie anywhere on the course, and we did find some deeper rough! The protege of Donald Ross designed half the course, and the other half was well integrated. You know they love their course cutting walking paths straight off the greens for walkers and stimpmeter readings on the first tee.

They had some special betting holes, and a speed golf hole where you could knock off strokes with the fastest through the hole. Under 90 seconds, automatic eagle, under 2 min, birdie. Someone drove the 390 hole, and their group finished in 44 sec.

Someone I know bought two foursomes, and we were made up of mostly work mates and avid golfers plus a recent NCAA div 1 grad and trying to get on the mini tour (good fucking luck). This kid was fully fit as any sports athlete should be, and he hit some great 400+yrd drives. Putts and short game set the best apart. We also had a former SF Giant first baseman.

Please donate to the Bright Beginnings Colorado http://www.brightbeginningsco.org/index.php?q=donate, a dynamic org, changing lives by supporting low income families to enable their children 0-3 years old. A new approach to education that has found through data and research that kids who do not have the proper educational development from the years 0-3, they generally fail. Mostly these kids come from poverty stricken homes and both parents work, 3-4 or more jobs. This family life of poverty does not promote the parental interaction that teaches infants the skills they will need to succeed in the world.

I should have bought more mulligans for charity too. damn.

[TahoeJ]

Joined Schaffers Mill...so stoked to get the handicap down. After a dismal ski season (missed all the goods in March due to some family emergencies), golf fever is high...very high.

That course is underrated, probably because it's new. Played up there nearly 2 years ago when it was first called Timilick and was seriously impressed, although the greens were running so slick that some of the pins got a little goofy US Open style. I had a 6 footer for birdie from above the hole, missed the putt and it rolled about 25 feet away.

Really enjoyed that closing par 5 too...

[guroo270]

Coal creek is $44 Saturday morning, but I can get it for $37 for the first one in.

[wooley12]

League Night!! We're in 1st place! Playing the 2nd place team tonight. I'm giving 6 strokes and my partner is giving 9 to an opponent that shoots in the high 60's.......for 9 holes.

[skiballs]

You just don't get scenery like that ( golf with a ski run in the background ) on the east coast , very nice .

[Steven S. Dallas]

Unless you're playing at Killington, Sugarloaf, Jay, half the courses in Southern Vermont, or a whole raft of other places.

[hawkgt]

frontrange bump..... open spots at 2:10 thurs at Hyland Hills...... holler

[Art Shirk]

Hoping rain stays away, but anyone up for super twilight at Jackson at 7 pm tonight? I'll bring the aiming oil.

[skiballs]

Unless you're playing at Killington, Sugarloaf, Jay, half the courses in Southern Vermont, or a whole raft of other places.

Sometimes I forget they have skiing in New England .
How does one fix a borked sarcasm meter ?

[spook]

i've gone from bad to worse. it's bizarre. without any coaching, i was hitting pretty consistently at home. hit pretty well at the driving range here, then went out and tried to play and it all fell apart. went to the driving range today and topped almost every single ball. after 30 balls of that, i went and asked for a lesson, which may end up being the best deal for spending all the money to join. lessons from the club pros are $15 for 45 minutes, so rather than hacking shit up for the next month, i'm going to take 2 lessons a week and practice my ass off.

basically, i'm super high strung and try to kill the ball all the time. i have no swing in my swing. beyond that, i've lost a lot of flexibility in my upper spine from athletic injuries and other more complicated stuff. i'm not turning my hands over. may be casting, we're speaking spanish, so that's not what he said, but based on what he was showing me that may be what it is. my left wrist is not doing nearly as much as it should be (breaking early) and my right hand is doing way too much.

but mostly, i just can't relax when it comes time to hit the ball.

and physically, in addition to the flexibility problems, i think my core muscles are really weak from trying to muscle things (not just in golf) for so long overcompensating for injuries. yoga will help.

anyway, it was pretty demoralizing, but i'm sure once i'm completely over the food poisoning and have more energy, it will help. it's actually great that relaxing is the first thing i need to do, because that's exactly what i need most and actually what i thought i was getting out of it.

[guroo270]

Yes, now that you mention it, I believe Torrey is as well.

Spook, I mean this with no ill intent whatsoever, but you sound like a really tortured soul. I just sliced my Achilles a little, and I think the ganglion cyst on the top of my wrist is coming back, and I love golf as much as anything else, and I think you worry about this stuff too much.

Feel free to try to kill the ball, but kill it in a downward motion. Pinch the shit out of it. Compress the ball and take a divot. It sounds like you are making too much of a sweeping motion. That's the only way I think u can top 30 in a row. If you have to, stand closer to the ball and swing DOWN at it.

[MotherFucker]

Just drop the hammer.

Guroo, we should take the GoBro to the range and make a video lesson. Would be fun AND educational.

[spook]

Yes, now that you mention it, I believe Torrey is as well.

Spook, I mean this with no ill intent whatsoever, but you sound like a really tortured soul. I just sliced my Achilles a little, and I think the ganglion cyst on the top of my wrist is coming back, and I love golf as much as anything else, and I think you worry about this stuff too much.

Feel free to try to kill the ball, but kill it in a downward motion. Pinch the shit out of it. Compress the ball and take a divot. It sounds like you are making too much of a sweeping motion. That's the only way I think u can top 30 in a row. If you have to, stand closer to the ball and swing DOWN at it.

haha. well, i was exaggerating a little about the 30 in a row. let's just say that i knew after enough of them that i needed some help. tortured soul? probably. a shooting many years ago left me with a lifetime of ptsd and everything that comes with it as well as chronic muscle spasms, and it gets frustrating to continually be limited by it. i'm basically stuck on all out all the time, which is one of the reasons i love golf -- because it is forcing me (unsuccessfully for the most part so far) to recalibrate things that i'm not sure can recalibrated. it's also the main reason i love snowboarding even more. the flow and rhythm of snowboarding is the opposite of my daily experience. i think golf can be, too, but i'm struggling to reconnect to relaxed and slow. i don't want to kill the ball. i am by nature a technician, at least when it comes to athletics, so i don't enjoy muscling things even though i can when i have to.

and yes, i do overthink. lifelong habit. don't know where it came from and the frequent result is finding all kinds of interesting nuance and missing the thing right in front of my face. at the same time, i learn a lot thinking a lot, but it's not always productive thinking or learning. it's hard trying to make up for lost time, especially when i don't want to be in the frame of mind of trying to make up for lost time. you can't be in the moment with that approach.

[RockChalk]

You're over thinking it

[spook]

it's hard to figure something out like a golf swing when you've never had any significant instruction and only been doing it for a total of maybe 7 months over 3 years and you're 45. well, it has been for me so far. now i'm having to unlearn all the habits that i "figured out" myself. i read a lot, but translating it into physical mechanics without being able to see what i'm doing is a challenge. i pick things up quickly generally, but golf tweaks many of my weak points so that makes it a bigger challenge.

but like snowboarding, i just like talking about it, even if i'm not talking about my own success.

[RockChalk]

Read Penick's Little red book, that's my best advice for self improvement.

[spook]

i am. thanks. interesting read. i actually had a good lesson with the pro. i understand a lot of the concepts, i just don't know what they feel like, so he's giving me drills to ingrain in muscle memory. but the thing he kept saying over and over was "relax." even when i thought i was i was.

on a side note, i had no idea there were so many world class players out of texas.

[wooley12]

BSA Golf Hand book.Step 1.

I took a golf lesson. Once. I have done business with golf pros. I remember telling one that if they tried to teach people to walk in the same way they taught golf, there would be bodies sprawled all over the sidewalk.

The golf swing is a natural movement.

[4matic]

79 at Oakland Metro today. Wind not too bad. 1 penalty shot a few mental mistakes. My putting does not hold up for the round. I was a pussy and laid up from 217 to a par 5 and got bogey.

[cranked]

That course is underrated, probably because it's new. Played up there nearly 2 years ago when it was first called Timilick and was seriously impressed, although the greens were running so slick that some of the pins got a little goofy US Open style. I had a 6 footer for birdie from above the hole, missed the putt and it rolled about 25 feet away.

Really enjoyed that closing par 5 too...

The first guy built an incredible course (see all the accolades) and tried to finance it with real estate development...his timing was not good, at all. He went belly up, and now new owners are throwing money at it. They are actually selling many of the lots, and broke ground on the clubhouse/pool area (will open spring 2013). I am pretty stoked.

The wife and I played it on Saturday, we were by ourselves. Playing Friday with a bunch of buddies during afternoon "member hours" (before 10AM and after 3PM), and we are the only tee time booked...fuggin love private golf.

On another note, I played Stone Tree (http://www.stonetreegolf.com/) today...fun track. Haven't played there in years.

[DasBlunt]

79 at Oakland Metro today. Wind not too bad. 1 penalty shot a few mental mistakes. My putting does not hold up for the round. I was a pussy and laid up from 217 to a par 5 and got bogey.

Watch Tin Cup again. "You need to quit thinking about immortality and start thinking, hit the seven iron" Cheech says.

Headed to Telluride this weekend. Should be rad to get out of Ozone city Denver.

[lionelhutz]

in 2008/09 I finally started shooting most of my rounds in the 80s. Then I broke the head off a driver and stopped playing till last week.
Damn does it feel crappy to get back on the range and hit a push, then a slice, then a hook, then a push, then a slice, then another hook...
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

At least I can still score with the putter.

[TahoeJ]

The golf swing is a natural movement.

This is a myth. Anyone who says so-and-so is a natural just doesn't understand the game at a higher level. Tiger Woods always hated it when people said that because it dismissed how much he worked his ass off. Not that someone like Bubba Watson can't legitimately be a feel player, but there was a lot of technical work put in to obtain and understand that feel contrary to what some would have you believe. He's just not as crazy obsessive about his swing as some players, but it's still technical.

Oh, and Spook - welcome to golf. Sometimes when you just don't have it, it's best to put down the club and walk away for a few hours or days.

[guroo270]

This is a myth. Anyone who says so-and-so is a natural just doesn't understand the game at a higher level. Tiger Woods always hated it when people said that because it dismissed how much he worked his ass off. Not that someone like Bubba Watson can't legitimately be a feel player, but there was a lot of technical work put in to obtain and understand that feel contrary to what some would have you believe. He's just not as crazy obsessive about his swing as some players, but it's still technical.

Couldn't agree more. There ain't nothin natural about the golf swing. Can't tell you how many times I've heard, "I would aim more left, but if I do that it just goes more right!" If anything, a baseball swing is somewhat natural, and still, naturally there are many little things that can be worked out, but hitting a baseball is fairly simple. Hell, even how you hold the damn club is extremely unnatural. It took me a month to make me think I could ever hit a ball holding a club like that.