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.