Hey everyone, it’s been a couple weeks since I have updated, but I have been grinding on the course. My game is currently in the best shape it has ever been and I have been consistently shooting low scores. My iron game has been spot on as of late and I have been working a lot on my short game, my chipping and pitching game in particular and the results are starting to show. My proximity to the hole with my wedges has greatly decreased, sticking it in close lately. My putting is still not anywhere close to where I would like to see it, I’m continuously tinkering with my grip/set up and just have not felt comfortable with any style in these past few weeks. I’m still 3 putting way too often and I am not taking advantage of my better wedge play by making many birdie putts. I have missed a ton of great birdie opportunities from inside 15ft during the past few weeks and it has cost me my first under par round on more than one occasion.
With the exception of today, I have been regulated to going out and playing by myself over the past month as my friends have been unable to really get out and play recently. As a result, I have mostly just been going to my favorite courses, the Vineyard a few times a week or the executive Oaks North. The rates are extremely cheap, the conditions are amazing and I’ve figured out great times to go when it’s pretty wide open, so I know the pace will be quick.
I’ve been making a conscious effort to play with better course management and that means not hitting many drivers off the tee. My driver has still been pretty inconsistent, I am hitting it pretty solid each time, but just can’t consistently trust that it will go straight and my miss has been both ways. My 3 and 5 woods have been awesome however, I have just been crushing those and so for right now, unless I really need to hit driver, I’ll go back to those and it has helped my scores. I have been hitting my 3-wood anywhere from 270-300 yards at the moment, it’s crazy to think it can go that far, but it is and with a ton more accuracy than the driver, so I’ll stick with it for now, until I figure out this driver.
Today, we played the difficult Eagle Crest golf course (Par 72 71.7/133 6,537 yards). I’m very disappointed in my putting performance today, but overall I’m very happy with how I hit the ball, I continued to strike the ball well. I shot a 77 (+5) with four 3-putts and 2 out of bounds off the tee on par 5’s. To still shoot +5 total with those stats is impressive in my book. My lag putting was just really bad, I didn’t have any 3 putts until the back 9, but my lag putting ability just disappeared and I was leaving it a good 8-10ft short…just not keeping my head down and striking solid putts.
I’ll be playing again tomorrow at The Vineyard with my buddy Andrew Le who is coming into town, his brother and another friend. I’m excited to see them all again and it should be a really fun round.
Since it has been awhile, here are my scores and stats from my last 5 rounds, including today’s Eagle Crest round.
The Vineyard Escondido Par 70 71.0/126 6,531 Yards
6/5/14: Score: 71 (+1) FW: 7/14 GIR: 10/18 Putts: 30 Up/Down: 3/6 Sand Save: 2/3 Penalties: 0
6/9/14: Score: 72 (+2) FW: 7/14 GIR: 13/18 Putts: 33 Up/Down: 3/5 Sand Save: 0/0 Penalties: 1
Oaks North Executive Par 60 East/South 56.4/89 3,527 Yards
6/3/14: Score: 58 (-2) FW: 2/6 GIR: 14/18 Putts: 30 Up/Down: 3/4 Sand Saves: 0/0 Penalties: 0
6/10/14: Score: 60 (E) FW: 4/6 GIR: 13/18 Putts: 30 Up/Down: 3/5 Sand Saves: 0/0 Penalties: 0
Eagle Crest Par 72 71.7/133 6,537 Yards
6/11/14: Score: 77 (+5) FW: 8/14 GIR: 10/18 Putts: 34 Up/Down: 2/4 Sand Saves: 1/1 Penalties: 2
My Journey 2 Scratch 