I played today and..(Rolling) -originally created by JohnnyDee

Had a strange situation this morning of the Betterball handicap match as one of our opponents had cried off injured, leaving his teammate to face us on his own. Of course that put all the pressure on us, but we made it through - just about.

A good start saw us 3 up after 5 but then it slowed right down and we remained 3 up at halfway as our opponent had started playing very well. Then we started getting worried when he won the 10th and 11th with nice pars on each! We just about kept our noses in front, winning the 13th but he once again got it back to 1 up winning his shot hole on the 16th. Thankfully we finally put him to bed 2 & 1 winning the 17th.

I was having an unusual battle with driver all the way round - it was like I was hitting it too well as I aimed down left side of the fairway for my fade, then striped it there dead straight and end up in the left rough. Happened 3 or 4 times. Did hit some good drives as well, and one slice when I finally stopped aiming left and aimed up the middle - was always going to happen.

I didn't really sink a putt all day either, no three-putts so I obviously didn't putt badly, just didn't make anything outside of a few feet. Still, nervy one out of the way and on to the next round.
 
9 holes this evening. 3/9 greens in regulation and 14 putts total, 2 sand saves 5/7 FIRs .. was bit miffed with the double bogey on the 9th. I stood on the tee thinking a 5 here would be good considering it’s 440 yards up hill and into the wind. I then hit a 248 yard drive to position a, then 4 hybrid which wasn’t caught clean and left me short .. and I am still miss striking my chips ( I can play the practice ones clean but if they are to go on my card .. I can’t 🤯 ) I have been working on them in my garden but it really hasn’t improved the issue. The putting though was just an alignment thing, I have a slight right to left path, so standing level means pulling putts. I now set up like a weak draw and that straightens me out .. I wasn’t missing much at all tonight. So maybe a new putter is not required ( but I may still indulge 🤭)
 
I was rubbish today in the board comp today.
I did enjoy getting on the 526 yard 17th in two shots for an easy 2-putt birdie. Second shot was 20° hybrid. Wind assisted. The highlight of a very poor round.
Next comp is 2 days time and I will be losing my best score. A SD of 1.0
An increase to 4.6 is the worst case scenario. :(
That would give me a PH of 6 for the next comp however. :)
 
Played in the club Bogey 'board comp' off back tees set right back and with tricky pin positions. I was rubbish (pretty much standard stuff of last couple months)

However interestingly (perhaps), when my group finished others told us that 9 Up was in and currently winning by 6 holes. Now 9 Up in Bogey takes some doing...but can be done - usually by a higher handicapper having a good day. Sure enough - the score had been posted by a 15 handicapper. Fair enough. But what got to us was that it had been posted by a 30 something lad off 15 - but who we all know as a 5-8 handicap SF player. So what on earth was he doing playing off 15? Quite a few disgruntled competitors. And then word spreads that he doesn't have the requisite number of scores on his record - you must have eight posted in the last year - so though he could play he can't win anything. Now I don't know if he's been made aware of this yet - will be interesting how he'll react when he does...and whether he feels he has some mitigating circumstance or other rationale why he should be able to win - if indeed it turns out he does - highly likely given Bogey is usually won with 4 or 5, maybe occasionally 6, up.
 
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Played yesterday morning when it was probably better not to as I was out Saturday from 2pm till 1am for a colleague’s leaving do. 8:28 tee time so not a lot of sleep and feeling a bit rough.

Started well, was -1 after 3 but then I had an 8 on the 4th which is the easiest hole on the course. Also threw in a double on 11 and a blob on 13 when I lost a ball. Ended with an adjusted +9.

Another raise incoming.
 
Terrible one for me today in the June medal, one of those where nothing clicks at all. Had a front 9 score of 48, which felt like it should have been 54 with how well I was hitting the ball. Started bogey, bogey, double, double, double. Inside 100 yards I was  hopeless. I thought, I'll be lucky to break 100 today.
You played the June medal in May?
 
June Stableford yesterday - started with a birdie, then a bogey on one of our more difficult holes. Found a fairway bunker on 3 (par5) with a lie giving me next to no chance of making the green in reg. Should have laid up before the water across the fairway and taken 4 to the green but tried to squeeze an 8 iron as far up the hole as possible and obviously hit the lip - straight over my head back into the trap.
Doubled that, and the 4th with a 4 putt - steadied the ship on 5 with a par then played like a 'tard for the rest of the round - 29 points after walking off the 2nd green with 6 already in the bag was not good.
 
All bar 1 hole, another solid round of 36 points...
My bogey hole, 6th, became my double hole after a poor drive, OK 2nd, pants 3rd, so-so 4th and a meh 5th.........no shot so no score...
It's a par 4 that you can, generally, put me down for a 5 before we even tee off....
19 out, 17 back and a small cut....
The course is still pretty firm despite some rain...more due this week so that may halt the unbelievably bad bounces that we can still get....
 
Played at Stanmore with the fam today. Hit first two greens in reg and three-putted both because I can't read a green to save my life. Then the two-way miss with driver started - left pull, slice, left pull. Put driver away for a bit and had a couple of decent holes. Somehow finished the front nine with 19 points. 🤷🏻

Don't worry though, the worst was still to come. Doubled the 10th taking two blows to get out of a bunker. Blobbed 11 when my ball just disappeared right of the green - I'm sure one of the old codgers teeing off nearby must have nicked it. Ripped my best drive of the day down 12, then miss green left and knifed a chip out of the sticks and stones - double there. Horrendous slice with driver on 13, another blob. Left the driver in the bag for the rest of the round and finished bogey, bogey, par, par, par. 88 gross, 34 points - but I get 17 shots here off the yellows, which once again shows me how stupid course ratings are; that I can play that badly and come away with 34 points, whereas at my home course I have to play very well for that.

There was, as usual, a match between me & dad vs my uncle and cousin (different cousin this time though, it's the younger brother who doesn't play much, so we just gave him the same number of shots as my dad). First six holes were halved but it went a bit mad after that. We went 2 up after the 8th, then they won 9, 10 & 11, we won 12, they won 13 & 14 to put us two down. We won the 15th and also the 17th - a long par 3 where I hit a cracker of a 7 wood onto the green. Then on the last hole, a short par 5, my uncle had given himself an 18 inch birdie to putt to win the match - and missed it. A friendly and honourable draw. 😂
 
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9 holes last night, everything was okay 18 Putts, 5/9 GIR and 5/7 FIR .. sadly I popped one out of bounds and then clocked up an 8 on the par 5 🤯.
I think the error was I didn’t warm up my driver .. just 2 shots would have been enough but I got carried away as I hit the 150 stake on the range and then I spent several shots proving it wasn’t a fluke 😎 ..
 
And so my foray into playing almost all of the summer KO comps came to an end this afternoon. A total disaster, quite frankly.

Seven comps and out of the lot before the first week in June is out - and I'm supposed to be a good matchplay golfer - I've certainly helped the rest of the club that know me revise that assessment. Yet again played like a Rodney...a total...a bit depressing if I let it be - which I occasionally do. But it's not the end of the world, and at least I no longer have the pressure of sorting out dates for matches and can concentrate on just playing and getting cards in.
 
2nd round of the Seniors Doubles yesterday. Really good match with all 4 playing well in tough conditions. Went 1 down at the 2nd after a great 2 from one of our opponents. Got it back on the 4th then won the 5th to go 1 up. Very tight thereafter, had to sink a number of decent putts to keep them at bay.

My partner won 14th, then I won the 15th with another clutch putt to put us dormie 3. We managed to close it out with a half on 16.

Very enjoyable match and nice to get the win.
 
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