Thanksgiving Week 2012, Rare Birdwatching!

Thanksgiving week 2012 - I had most of the week off from work so got in several rounds of golf.  By far the best week of great shots in my golf career.  Eagle, Eagle, Albatross all in one week! And even better, I had witnesses! Before the week started I had only had 4 lifetime Eagles, and all of those on par 4's.

A short description of each score.

Wednesday, 11.21.12.  Mirror Lake Golf Club - The Mountain Course #15, Par 4- Gold tees.

This hole plays downhill off the tee, than back uphill to the green.  After a solid drive I had exactly 150 yrds left to the back center pin placement.  I pulled a 6 iron to account for the uphill shot and hit a shot tracking right on target.  The ball bounced once, then I heard it loudly hit the pin.  I could not see the bottom of the flagstick from where I was at in the fairway due to the uphill slope so didn't know for sure that it had gone in for the Eagle 2 until I got to the green and looked into the hole.  Witnessed by my 17 year old son.

Thursday, 11.22.12 - Mirror Lake Golf Club - The Lake Course #7, Par 5 - Blue Tees

This par 5 is the definition of a risk reward hole.  The tee shot is very narrow but not very long.  There is OB right of the fairway and hazard left of the cart path.  From the blue tees a fairway wood or long iron is all that is needed. I take my 3 wood from the tee it hit to the right side of the fairway.  I have 210 to the middle pin and pull my 3 hybrid and put the ball on the front of the green.  The green has shelves on the front and back with a sloping area from each toward the water in the middle of the green.  My ball is just on the shelf and I have a 25ft down hill with about a 4 foot break.  I'm just trying to get the ball close for an easy shot at birdie but I hit a perfect putt and the ball drops for Eagle!  The first I've ever scored on a par 5. Witnessed by two golf buddies from my regular golf group, Sam and Larry.

Sunday, 11.25.12 - Mirror Lake Golf Club - The Lake Course #7 Par 5 - Blue Tees

The same hole as above.  I hit a better 3 wood this time around and was just 2 feet from the edge of the fairway to the left side of the landing area.  I had 206 yards to a back left pin.  I take my 3 hybrid again and am aiming for the front left of the green.  I hit a great shot but none of us see what happens to the ball after it lands as we are looking into the sun.  We all assume that its on the green.  We get up to the hole and my ball is nowhere to be found. I start looking in the trap long left assuming it went there.  My buddies start looking right in case the ball took the slope and headed to the water.  I don't see the ball in the trap so walk back and check the hole to see my yellow Bridgestone B330-RX sitting there.  Celebration ensues for the Albatross!  Witnessed by 3 buddies in my regular golf group, Bryan, Gary and Carlos!

My scores for the 3 rounds was about average for me with 85, 84, 82 respectively, but what a week of bird watching!

Goal progress: 4 months as a single digit!

Its been a while since I posted about my progress toward my goal of a single digit handicap.  I dropped below 10.0 on June 15th.  At the time I thought I would bounce up and down above and below the 10.0 line through the summer.  I surprised myself though and have played the best golf of my life.   I've stayed below 10.0 for 4 months now, and even got down to an 8.4.  The chart below shows my GHIN hdcp history for the last 6 months.

Well, where do I go from here?  My short term goal for the winter is of course to keep my index below 10.0.  That's going to be a easier said than done.  The cold weather and the wet course conditions that reduce roll out will be tough. I want to dedicate more work to my short game, putting and greenside bunker play.  These are my weakest areas and with improvement will contribute to achieving my short term goal.

I haven't even begun to think about long term goals.  The first one that comes to mind goes back to my childhood.  My dad was a very good golfer.  He took up the game late in life at age 38, which was about the time I was born.  He took to the game, fell in love and quickly improved.  He maintained a HDCP index between 4 and 7 throughout the years he taught me the game and until his early death at age 60, when I was just 21 years old.  It would be an honor for me to say that I played the game at his level, so I guess that's my next goal, get to "7".

We-ko-pa: Cholla course

The last day of our Scottsdale, AZ trip had my son and I heading back to We-ko-pa to play the Cholla course.  My daughter and wife hung out at the pool so I don't have as many pictures.  Cholla plays very different than Saguaro but is just as enjoyable.  A LOT of dirt was moved to make the Cholla course - Scott Miller was the architect here, so it looks very different than the Coore-Creenshaw designed Saguaro.

The first par 3 on the Cholla course.

My son's favorite hole on the course. Dog leg, risk reward par 4.

A gorgeous par 4 at Cholla

And a lovely par 3

The 18th

Again the 18th, which was my favorite hole on the course.  A long par 4 

View of the green from the 18th fairway.  

So that's it from Saguaro.  If you are ever out in Scottsdale the two We-Ko-Pa courses should not be missed.  We were able to get good rates by doing their "36 hole package".  It enables you to play the courses on separate days with a discount on the green fees for buying two rounds.  I hope you enjoyed the pics!

We-Ko-Pa

Well, sorry for the neglect to the blog the last few months.  I never got around to posting pics from the two rounds at We-Ko-Pa from our family golf vacation to Arizona back in late June.  

We-ko-pa has two course - Cholla and Saguaro.  Both are unique and well worth playing.  This entry will be for our day spent on Saguaro.  The next will focus on Cholla.

This is the opening hole at Saguaro

Saguaro is a Coore-Crenshaw design.  Their style is to move very little dirt.  You feel that you are really playing the "land" on this course.  Very nice contours and an extremely natural feel to the entire course.  Beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife.  I swear I saw a Jackalope while at We-Ko-Pa.  It was the largest Jack Rabbit I've ever seen.  Easily the size of a Cocker Spaniel.  He took off before I could get the camera on him though.

Easy to see how the Saguaro course got its name. Mucho Cacti!

Beep! Beep!  A road runner speeds by our golf balls.

Daughter, Son and I walking off a green at Saguaro.

Just natural contours.  I love Coore-Crenshaw designs.

Their designs allow for run up shots, which make the course playable for all skill levels.

Split fairway Par 5.  Yes I drove my ball right in the middle ditch!

We had a very enjoyable day at the Saguaro course at We-ko-pa.  Highly recommended.  Alright, now to the next entry which will be the Cholla course at We-ko-pa!

Day 2 & 3 - Wigwam Patriot & Kierland

This is what I look like on vacation!

Its the happy golfer dance!

Day 2 of our Arizona trip was sort of a bummer for the rest of the family.  The kids came down with food poisoning from a bad dessert they had at a local restaurant near the Wigwam.  They were up most of the night.  They were still under the weather in the morning and would end up sleeping all day.  So I ended up playing alone the Wigwam Patriot (Blue) course.  This was the shortest of the three Wigwam courses but made up for it with very challenging green complexes.  Most were raised and surrounded by traps on all sides.  The tips only played 6,001 and the white tees were 5,572.  My intention were to play from the tips but I was paired with another golfer that was playing from the whites, so I joined him there for the round.  I played very well, shooting a 76, but I don't consider that a "true" breaking 80 round due to the short length.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring a real camera with me, but I did get this one image from my phone camera.

Wide fairways again, but plenty of bunkers around the green. 3 in front and two behind that you can't see on this one.



In the evening of Day 2 we leave Wigwam and move over to Scottsdale and the Westin Kierland Resort. This would be our home for the rest of the trip.



On Day 3 the kids are feeling a bit better and my son feels good enough for golf.  My daughter is still not quite up to golf so she and my wife ride along with us while we play.  The course is the Kierland Golf Club at the Westin.  This is a Troon managed course and they always do a top notch job in upkeep.  They have 27 holes and our 18 holes were the Mesquite/Acacia nines. Aeration had been done 2 weeks prior so the putting surfaces don't look as pristine as normal, but they putted fairly true.

The clubhouse & putting green above.

The first hole.  Wide generous "resort" style fairways.  Plenty of traps on the course though so there is trouble to be found. See an example on the 3rd hole below.

A few action shots below.  Even a view of my lone birdie putt of the day about to drop!

We found a local!

Father & Son on the tee box!

 A few more shots below, showing off the extensive bunkering around the greens.



The signature 7th hole on Acacia. 20 bunkers on one hole!  I missed them all!



Our 18th hole (Acacia #9), headed back to the hotel.



Later that evening at dusk, a piper plays at the 18th green.  Very cool!

The piper and the signature Acacia 7th in the background.

 I shot a very nice round of 81! I highly recommend the Keirland Golf Club and the Westin Kierland Resort. A wonderful place to stay with great restaurants, a fantastic pool area with a large lazy river, and the 27 hole course.

Next blog posts to cover the two We-Ko-Pa courses: Saguaro & Cholla!

Arizona Day 1 - Wigwam Heriatge & Father's Day

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from my family trip out to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area from back in mid June.  We went out for 7 days/6 nights and I played golf 5 times.

Our first stop was Wigwam for 2 nights and 2 rounds of golf.  Our first day of play was on Father's Day, and it was one of my best Father's Day yet.  Getting to play golf with my kids, age 17 & 16 was a real treat and we all played well too!  The course was Wigwam Heritage (Red).  A little about Wigwam; it was built by the Goodyear company as a corporate retreat in the 1930's.  Three golf courses were added in the early '60's all initially designed by Robert Trent Jones. The Heritage course was great for my kids.  Fairly wide fairways, and only 1 forced carry.  Almost every green allowed for a run up shot as well. If more courses were like this today it would be easier to bring new players into the game.  The course certainly reminded me of "Florida" golf moreso then the desert golf you think of for Arizona.  My son has just been playing for 2 years and my daughter 1 year so this was ideal.  I shot a very nice 80, while my son shot his 2nd best score at the time of 96 (he has since posted an 88).  My daughter shot her 2nd best score as well.

Well now for some pics:

Son, Daughter and me on the putting green.

This was the one force carry on the course and it was right off the tee box.  We all got over without any issues since it was not much distance to carry.

Florida or Phoenix?

A few holes were tight, but even an errant shot into the trees usually allowed several options to get back to the fairway.

Now some family action shots!  Thanks to our staff photographer - my wife!

9.7 - Goal reached!

I finally have a moment to record my thoughts on my latest GHIN handicap revision.  Revisions come every two weeks here in Georgia so I was pleasantly surprised when my June 15th email from the Georgia State Golf Association showed my new index at 9.7!!!!!  My number one golf goal for the past two seasons has been to reach a single digit handicap. I actually achieved a 9.9 for one two week revision period in mid-November last year but it was gone just as quickly as I climbed to a 10.0 the very next revision.

I'm hopeful that I may actually stay in the single digits for a bit this time around. My game feels very good right now with my driver, fairway woods, putting and iron play clicking along very nicely.  I've turned in a few lower scores from my family trip out to Arizona so I think I'll drop a few more decimals with the June 30th revision.  

Speaking of the Arizona trip, I have tons of great photographs from the 5 courses I played out there.  I'll post some of the pics and review the courses here in the next few weeks.

Day 6: Coyote Springs Golf Course

I checked out of the Casablanca Hotel and headed to Coyote Springs Golf Course for a round.  This was a course I was really looking forward to playing.  It's a Jack Nicklaus design that was not on my course rotation for the Mesquite Am but is likely to be on the Men's rotation for next year.  What a fantastic course!  I received a very nice Mesquite Am attendee rate of $65. I decided to give myself a break after playing at distances averaging over 6,800 for the tourney and moved down to a more fun 6,215 yards.

Here are pics of the Par 5 Second.

The number one handicap hole is the Par 4 Fourth.  From the white tees it played a very manageable 359 yards.  I hit a very good drive and had 114 yards left to the pin.  One of the guys in my threesome knocked his approach to 5 feet, and I was just trying for the center of the green.  My approach was dead on line landed about 4 feet short, took one hop and jarred the hole for an Eagle two.  Here is a pic of the green.  Sorry you can't see my ball, but it's in the hole!

This was my fourth all time eagle, all of them coming on par 4's from the fairway.

I really enjoyed my round at Coyote Springs.  Here are a few more pics of this wonderful course:

From the friendly short yardage I shot a very nice 81 to end my trip.  6 courses in 6 days.  What a fun trip!  I'd rate the courses I played in this order:

1.  Wolf Creek
2.  Coyote Springs
3.  Conestoga
4.  Paiute Snow Mountain
5. Casablanca
6. Palms

If I come out next year I doubt I'll even overnight in Vegas and just head straight to Mesquite.  The courses are cheap.  Hope you've enjoyed reading!