2013 Golf Year In Review

2013 Golf Year In Review

Looks like I've played my last round of 2013 so it's time to put the year into review.  I'm a golf stats geek and keep all my stats through my Skycaddie SGX and their on-line stats program.  So here are

some highlights of what was my best year of golf.
 

Fairways: Best 92.9%, Worst 28.6%, Average 59%
GIR's: Best 77.8%, Worst 11.1%, Average 38%
Putts: Best 28, Worst 42, Average 33.5
Low Round: 74
High Round: 100
average round: 86
3 Eagles
91 Birdies
774 Pars
691 Bogies
403 dbl Bogey+
21 OB penalties
175 Penalty strokes
Average score on Par 3's - 3.64
Average score on Par 4's - 4.85
Average score on Par 5's - 5.81
Only 18 sand saves
291 sand shots (does not differentiate between greenside and fairway bunkers)
Scramble Percentage - 21%

3 Putt Percentage - 12%
GHIN high 11.8
GHIN low 7.3
GHIN on Jan 1, 2013:  10.9
GHIN on Dec. 15, 2012: 8.9

 Here is my courses played list for 2013.  Number or rounds are listed for courses that I played more than once

Total Rounds played 115

Mirror Lake Golf Club: Lake Course - GA        29 rounds
Mirror Lake Golf Club: Mountain Course - GA  27 rounds
Chapel Hills Golf Club - GA                          7 rounds
The Frog Golf Club - GA                              7 rounds
White Oak Golf Club - GA                            3 rounds
Bay Hill - FL                                                  3 rounds
University Park - FL                                      2 rounds
Stone Creek - GA                                          2 rounds
Oasis Canyons - NV                                     2 rounds
Falcon Ridge - NV                                        2 rounds
Monroe Golf & Country Club - GA             2 rounds
Trophy Club of Atlanta - GA                        2 rounds
Bentwater Golf Club - GA                            
Sun City Peachtree - GA                            

 Bear's Best Atlanta - GA

Wolf Creek (Atlanta) - GA
Planterra Ridge - GA
Olde Atlanta - GA
River Pines - GA
River Forrest - GA
Long Bay Club - SC
Preserve at Verdae - SC
Coosaw Creek - SC
Charleston National - SC

The Links at Stono Ferry - SC
Wolf Creek Golf Course - NV 
The Chase at Coyote Springs - NV

Oasis Palmer - NV
RTJ Magnolia Grove- Falls - AL 
RTJ Magnolia Grove- Crossings - AL
RTJ Capitol Hill- Judge - AL
RTJ Highland Oaks - AL
Old Fort - TN
Greystone - TN
Reunion - Watson - FL
Reunion - Nicklaus - FL
Reunion - Palmer - FL
Shingle Creek - FL
Waterlefe - FL









ACCOMPLISHMENTS  -

• New Personal Best - 74
• New low GHIN - 7.3
• First sub par round for 9 holes - 35 on a par 36
• Bracket winner for flight in Canongate Golf League
• Flight winner for Canongate Golf League
• Team winner at The Hackers Paradise Atlanta Invitational
• Team winner at unofficial The Hackers Paradise "The Gauntlet" event
• Played in The 2013 Mesquite Amateur in Mesquite Nevada
• Contest winner for The Hackers Paradise #theking event for team spot in the April '14 event

Thanks for reading!

Index watch 2013: Back into the singles!

Just a quick update to note that as of the June 15th USGA GHIN update I'm now back in the single digits!  Hooray!  Officially a 9.2 after a couple of weeks of real solid play in early June, which included setting a new personal best of 76.  Lets see how long I can keep this going!

Mesquite Am 2013 Day 5: Oasis Canyons

My second Tourney round of 2013 took me out to Oasis Canyons, a course I had never played before.  This course really fit my eye!  Here are a few pics from the course.

Bryan and I arrived early and took advantage of the full length driving range and I felt like I worked out a few of the kinks from my swing the day before there.  I started on hole number 1 this round and was playing with two other guys, one from Washington state and one from Ohio.  We were all at the very bottom of the flight so we just encouraged each other to have a good time.  We all started off with drives down the middle but then proceeded to show why we were at the bottom.  Two of us hit shanks on our approaches and the other hit in the water.   I managed to salvage bogey with a nice 5 footer.   The first few holes were ok for me and then I had a big number on the somewhat tricky par 4, 6th hole.  I got into a rhythm on the 8th hole and except for an OB drive on the11th, played very well the rest of the way.  Shot a respectable 86.  I missed a lot of fairways and even more greens but scrambled very well.  Short game was very good with great chipping and solid putting. One of my playing partners shot an 89 and the other a 99!    I improved my standing a bit but was still in the bottom third of the flight after round 2 of the Mesquite Am.

After the round I went over and played in the Texas Hold 'em tournament that was set up for Am participants at the Eureka Casino.  65+ players were in the tournament but I only lasted about an hour.  Had pocket Queens and got beat by a pocket King pair.  A lot of fun though, and recommended. The Eureka is newer and really seems like a nice place.

Mesquite Am 2013 Day 4: Opening round of Tournament play

Opening Round: Falcon Ridge

Tuesday arrived and it was time to head back to Falcon Ridge for the second day in a row, this time for the first round of the tournament.   This was a shot gun start and my round started on the 7th hole, a long par 5.  Here is my scorecard from the round:

The tees were back on a few holes from the day before so yardage was probably closer to the rated distance.  I went in feeling confident from the round before.  I started with a nice par, then bogey on the next 2 holes.  I had a miraculous par on the 10th hole.  The 10th has a creek that runs right down the middle of the hole dividing the fairway into two. (See picture below).  My drive was drawing and looked like it landed right in the creek.  The one time, not to hit it up the middle!  Getting to the creek, I find my ball resting on some grass just on the edge of the creek.  It's in the hazard and there is water seeping through the grass.  I take care not to ground the club and use a 7 iron and chip it out and up the fairway.  I took a 5 iron and hit a great shot to about 5 feet and then made the putt for par.

Par 4 10th

I played pretty well on the round expect for four holes.  The 12th, 16th, 4th and the 6th hole. The 12th I wasn't too concerned about, it was a triple bogey on a par 5 where I had a penalty stroke.  The 16th hole hurt badly.  Its a narrow par 5 with out of bounds on both the left and right side of the hole.  My drive was short of the fairway and rolled back down the hill toward me and I hit a decent second shot to get to the fairway.  This left 260 yards to the green.  I planned to hit my 3 hybrid to get  down the fairway a bit.  However I pulled it left OB, dropped then hit another left and likely OB, dropped again and finally kept it in the fairway.  In hindsight, should have just taken a 7 iron and got down the fairway a bit playing for bogey.

I bounced back ok from the bad hole but had another on the 4th.  My approach plugged in a bunker.  My attempt to get out stayed in the bunker and rolled back into my foot print.  I again failed to get out from there.  On my third bunker shot I finally escaped.  On to an 8 for the hole!

The 6th and my final hole was a total disaster.  Sliced my drive into the water right of the fairway.  Took a drop, then proceeded to bump the ball through a couple of bushes.  My 6th shot finally got near the green, but found a fairway bunker.  Took 2 to get out, another shot to get on the green, and 2 putts.  Finally in for an 11.  Just a case of losing focus.  I felt uncomfortable with my club selection after the drop and should have changed clubs, but didn't.  Yikes!  Not the start I wanted to the Am.  

The good news was Bryan had a great start to his Am and was tied for 3rd after day 1!

I witnessed something I'd never seen before on the 18th hole.  One of the players in my pairing hit two OB off the tee, then hit a greenside bunker.  On his shot out of the bunker he skulled it over the green, took one step then snapped his wedge over his knee!  Wow...talk about uncomfortable.  Was not sure what to say.  He apologized a few holes later and bought a round of drinks in the clubhouse.  

Mesquite Am Day 3: Skins Game at Falcon Ridge, Am Registration and Opening Dinner

Day 3: Falcon Ridge Skins Game

Memorial Day 2013 arrives and Bryan and I grab a quick coffee and a light breakfast in the Casablanca coffee shop.  We head over to the local Walmart and purchase a couple of American Flags to decorate our cart with for the holiday.  We are playing in a practice round / skins game at Falcon Ridge, which will also be the host course of our first tournament round of the Mesquite Am the next day on Tuesday. 

This was our first time playing this course and we were paired up with a brother/brother team Greg and George.  With Bryan and I both having names with "B's", I dubbed us the BeeGees!  Here is a picture of the four of us at the 10th hole of Falcon Ridge.  

Falcon Ridge was featured as the host course on Golf Channel's Big Break Mesquite so you may have seen some of these holes before.  There are several with large elevation changes.  The Skins Game this year was the first of an annual charity event to celebrate the life of a multi year attendee of the Mesquite Amateur that passed away from cancer in November, Bruce King.  The event raised money for a scholarship in his name that will go to a local Mesquite high school student.  Bryan and I had little expectations for winning skins as neither of us make a lot of birdies and looked at the round as a chance to see the course.  We started on hole number 4.  Bryan hit a decent drive, but his approach faded just right of the green.  So what does he do, he proceeds to chip in for Bird!  What a great start!  I birdied, hole #5 a par 3, then birdied the difficult Par 4 6th hole, pictured below.

I hit a solid drive to wear the cart on the left is in the above photo, then hit a 9iron just right of the pin and made the 15 foot putt for bird.  We found out after the round that this birdie would end up winning a skin for me, and Bryan's birdie on Hole #4, our first of the round would win a skin for him.  What a great start to our week!  $$$$ money! This round was my best of the week.  Here is my score card:

Here are a few more images of Falcon Ridge:

#7 Par 5

#12 Par 5

 #15 Par 4

 #3 Par 3

After the Skins game we head back over to the Casablanca and register.  We receive a good amount of tourney swag.  A Mesquite Am golf shirt and hat.  A Mesquite Am glove and switchblade repair tool with Mequite Am ball markers.  We also received a $25 coupon good for merchandise in any of the tournament course pro shops during the week.  Golfer's love free stuff!

Later that evening we went to the welcome dinner for the event.  This featured a buffet style spread with salads, entrees and sides.  The dessert spread was even better!  Christian Anderson, the Tournament director gave a welcome address and went over tournament details.  It was a great start to the week.  Bryan and I hung out in the Casino for a while after dinner then called it an early night so we'd be ready for the opening round at Falcon Ridge the next morning.

Mesquite Am 2013 Day 1 & 2: Travel & Wolf Creek Golf Club

Day 1

Saturday, May 25th finally arrived. Time to head to Mesquite! This was a travel day with no golf on the docket.  I finished packing and drove over to pick up Bryan and then we head to the airport.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 1:50pm but the flight attendants for our plane were late arriving so we had a 45 minute delay.  I snoozed a bit on the flight, spent some time browsing the internet with the expensive in air WiFi ($14), and read a couple of golf mags. We finally arrive in Las Vegas!

We pick up the rental car, then drove up to Mesquite, Nevada and checked in to the Casablanca hotel and casino, which will be our home for the next 5 nights.  The Casablanca is an older property but its clean and very economical.  The room ran $80 for Sat night, then $60 a night for Sun - Thurs.  The total bill at check out was $425 with tax, which Bryan and I split.  We spent the evening checking out the hotel and the casino and called it an early night.  This was the view of the Casablanca sign from our hotel room.  

The town of Mesquite welcomes the Am with banners all over town!

Day 2

We got up early and I have a huge breakfast (pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns) for $3.99 in the Casablanca Cafe, then we head over to Wolf Creek Golf Club for a round.  I played this course last year and said then that it was tied as the most scenic course I've ever played. That still stands after a second playing.  Every single hole could be a signature hole at other courses.  The course was in fantastic shape.  The fairways were perfect and the greens were very nice.  You can check out my blog post from May 2012 to see several images from Wolf Creek http://seekingasingledigit.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-2-part-1-wolf-creek.html and here are a couple of photos from this trip.  This is the par 5 17th taken from just off the 16th green.

This was Bryan's first time playing Wolf Creek so it was real fun playing it with him.  I know the "wows" I heard him say on every tee box were exactly what I was saying last year.  I've heard some say the course is not "real golf" but I don't feel that way at all.  It's fair with reasonably large fairways.  There are several holes with big elevation changes, but several courses in the Mesquite area also have similar elevation changes.  They are just part of the local topography.  Our round cost $125.

I shot an 86 on the course in 2012, and this time a 92.  I struggled with my Driver some and hit some poor approach shots on others.  Here is my scorecard from the round.Note the high slop rating even from the seemingly short distance of 5,820 yards.  Again, lots of elevation on this course so it plays longer than the yardage.  Well worth playing if you ever get a chance.  Mesquite is just an hour and 15 minutes north east of Vegas.

Mesquite Amateur 2013: There and Back Again

It's been a year since I started this blog, which began as a way for me to preserve my own thoughts on attending the 2012 Mesquite Amateur golf tournament in Mesquite, Nevada   www.mesquiteamateur.com .  If you'd like to refresh your memory of how last year went for me, my blog posts start on this page:  http://seekingasingledigit.blogspot.com/2012/05/14-days-til-nevada.html   I'll be flying out to Vegas tomorrow, then driving up to Mesquite to compete in the 2013 edition of the tournament.  483 golfers are in the field this year, which is down a bit from the near 600 that participated last year.  There will be 30 golfers in my flight.  Prizes go to the top 10 in each flight. One difference this year is that my golf buddy and friend, Bryan, will be joining me!  We play in our golf league and a regular Sunday golf group together.  I'm excited about having someone to share the events with this year!  I'm playing in the Woods flight while Bryan is in the Mickelson flight.  This is so fitting because I'm a Tiger fan while he is a big Phil fan.

Tomorrow is a travel day for us as we fly out in the afternoon, arrive about 3:00pm then make the 1 hour and15 minute drive up to Mesquite.  We are playing 6 rounds of golf:  Sunday morning at Wolf Creek, Monday morning in a 140 person skins game at Falcon's Ridge, the tourney starts Tuesday at Falcon's Ridge, Wednesday we play at Oasis Canyons, then Thursday at Coyote Springs.  If either of us finish in the top 4 in our flights we'll play in the Friday Championship round at Casablanca.  Otherwise we'll play elsewhere in Mesquite or Vegas.

My game has been up and down over the last five months.  It started with a very rough putting stretch in late November through December.  I've since got that back in order but my game has been plagued by periods of poor ball striking.  Sometimes lasting for an entire round or just part of one.  Here is a look at my most recent rounds on my index.  Scores from 79 to 98 and all in between.  Just a bit inconsistent.  Hopefully the good golfer shows up.

This year the Mesquite Am is using the 12 month low index for golfer to cut down on sandbagging, so I'll be playing to an 8.4 index.  Personally I feel like this punishes the honest golfer whom keeps honest scores in his index year round.  We'll see how it works out in practice.  To me why not just watch for exceptional scores and adjust the index of those golfer retroactively to all rounds played in the tourney.  

We'll time to go wash up the clubs and finish packing.  Have started sorting and scripting this afternoon.  Here is a look at what I'll be wearing for the golf rounds.  Going to be bright as usual!  

The tourney is supposed to be placing a widget on the home page that will allow viewers to see how golfer are performing after each round, so if you'd like to follow along visit the Mesquite Am website starting Tuesday night.

Golfing with "The Dude", the Social Aspect of the Game

Golf can be an enjoyable solitary experience.  We all enjoy a late afternoon walking nine, all by our lonesome.  Peace, quiet, nature, solitude. Just the course and yourself.  However, I believe golf is best as a social game.  A good 18 with friends can rarely be topped.  Doesn't matter whether its a serious game for a big pot, or for who's buying at the 19th hole, or for no stakes at all.

In February of 2012 I was invited to join a regular weekly group at my golf club.  The cast of characters in this group is varied.  All types of personalities...from comedian to serious. At first my rounds with this group were all about the golf.  In just a short month though I was fitting right in. We really have a good time out there.  There have been times I've laughed to the point of tears.  We do play for a little dough each week but that's almost secondary to getting together and having a good time.

One of the guys I really enjoyed playing with recently had to drop his membership at our club.  The social aspect of golf can be summed up in what it was like to play golf with this guy...let's call him "The Dude".  He earns that name because of his voice and mannerisms.  Since the first day I met him he has reminded me of Jeff Bridges' character in the film "The Big Lebowski".  Anytime I mentioned the similarities to him he responded with the classic line "Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." without missing a beat.

"The Dude" has an all or nothing golf swing.  Lets just say he never gets cheated.  He swings with all his might, and it sometimes works!  "The Dude" might be from Alaska originally but 'm not sure.  I say Alaska because I think I only saw him wear pants once.  Every other time he was golfing, it was in shorts.  Even in weather in the 30's and 40's.  "The Dude" golfed in sandals too.  I don't think they were golf sandals either, just regular sandals.

"The Dude" always had a either a beer in hand or one nearby.  I've witnessed him consume amounts on the course that would drop a lesser man, yet he still golfed pretty well.  He was a story teller too.  I think the longest story I heard him tell lasted a full three holes.  From tee box on #12 to green on #14.  I heard many of his stories multiple times, but I never seemed to mind as they were always entertaining.

I have my own story to tell about "The Dude".  It was my last round of golf with him before his membership ended.  I brought with me that day a few cigars and a bottle of single malt Scotch.  "The Dude, another friend and myself, had a bit to drink during the round, but had more in the parking lot afterwards.  We stayed until darkness had fallen and the bottle was empty and we were the last one's there.  About that time we thought it would be a good idea to hit balls from our shag bags toward one of the practice greens....in almost complete darkness.  I drove over the next morning to see balls all over the place.  I really need to work on my 120 yard pitch black shot. That was a fun night.  I really do miss playing golf with "The Dude" on a regular basis.  I'm happy to say I'll be playing another round with him in early May.

To sum up, as much as I do enjoy the occasional solitary round, I think I'm going to try to play as many rounds as possible with other golfers...even if I don't know them prior to meeting on the first tee.  The next guy I meet may be just as enjoyable as playing a round of golf with "The Dude".  

My 2012 Golf Stats & Courses Played Review

I spent some time last night going over my golf stats for 2012.  It cemented my thinking that improving my short game is what I need to focus on for 2013.  I use a Skycaddie SGX while playing and I record my stats for FWY's hit and putts on it and then upload them after the round is done.  I have to input sand traps, and penalties after the upload.  It's a very handy way to keep track of whats going on in my game.

These are for roughly 103.5 rounds played.  There were one or two partial rounds in the data where I quit early due to weather.

Fairways: Best 100%, Worst 14.3%, Average 56%
GIR's: Best 77.8%, Worst 11.1%, Average 40%
Putts: Best 27, Worst 43, Average 34
Low Round: 77 (3 times)
High Round: 105 (was on New Years Day 2012, 1st round of the year)
1 Albatross
3 Eagles
75 Birdies
720 Pars
674 Bogies
393 dbl Bogey+
15 OB penalties
80 Penalty strokes - .12 per hole
Average score on Par 3's - 3.77
Average score on Par 4's - 4.84
Average score on Par 5's - 5.79
Only 21 sand saves
278 sand shots (does not differentiate between greenside and fairway bunkers)
Scramble Percentage - 19%

3 Putt Percentage - 14%
GHIN high 12.6
GHIN low 8.4
GHIN on Jan 1, 2012:  10.0
GHIN on Dec. 15, 2012: 9.5

Really need to get that Scramble Percentage higher and the 3 Putt Percentage lower!  Working through a couple of books right now that I think will help.  Dave Stockton's "Unconscious Putting", and Dave Pelz' "Short Game Bible".  (I only read books by guys named Dave!)

My sand play is really bad too.  A greenside bunker is an almost automatic double bogey.  

Here is my courses played list for 2012.  Number or rounds are listed for courses that I played more than once.  

Mirror Lake Golf Club: Lake Course - GA        43.5 rounds
Mirror Lake Golf Club: Mountain Course - GA  23 rounds
Chapel Hills Golf Club - GA                          10 rounds
The Frog Golf Club - GA                              4 rounds
Bentwater Golf Club - GA                            2 rounds
Sun City Peachtree - GA                             2 rounds
Braelinn Golf Club - GA                                2 rounds

Canongate 1: Roquemore course - GA            2 rounds

Kinderlou Forest - GA 

Bear's Best Atlanta - GA

Flat Creek Golf Club - GA 

The Links at Stono Ferry - SC
Las Vegas Paiute: Snow Mountain - NV
Wolf Creek Golf Course - NV
Palms Golf Club - NV
Casablanca Resort - NV 
The Chase at Coyote Springs - NV 
Wigwam Golf Club: Heritage "Red" - AZ 
Wigwam Golf Club: Patriot "Blue" - AZ 
Kierland Golf Club - AZ 
We-Ko-Pa Saguaro - AZ 
We-Ko-Pa Cholla - AZ
RTJ The Shoals: Fighting Joe - AL 

Thanks for reading!