9/19/14 – Played a round over at Carmel Highlands Doubletree and shot a 78(+6). I was (+6) alone on the front 9 as I had a triple bogey on the 2nd and a double on the 7th. I birdied the 9th hole par 3 after sticking it to ft and went on to shoot even on the back 9. I had 4 birdies on the day, so it felt good to actually make some birdies for a change, but I just couldn’t avoid the big numbers on the front 9. Shooting +6 with a triple and double isn’t terrible though. Final stats for this round where:
Carmel Highlands Doubletree 6,428 Yards Par 72 (71.4/129)
Score: 78 (+6) FW: 7/15 GIR: 12/19 Putts: 33 U/Down: 3/5 San Save: 0/2 Penalties: 1
9/24/14 – Got to test out my new putter as I played a round with a few friends at the Vineyard. I started off rough again, hitting my first two tee shots into hazards on the 1st and 2nd. Also 3 putted the first after hitting my drop onto the green for a nice opening double bogey 6. The new putter is and feels slightly heavier as it has 15 gram insert weights whereas my previous putter only had 10 gram insert weights. It took me a few holes to adjust to the heavier weight on longer putts, but my only 3 putt of the day came on the first…so I did putt well overall on the day and I continued to confidently roll and make my 2-5 foot putts, which is a great sign.
My ball striking was solid on the day, I hit a ton of really good shots, but I still had too many bad shots mixed in. I don’t mean bad as in shanks or fat or thin, but blocks. I’ve been working a lot on the plane of my swing this past week really trying to stop getting so steep on my downswing. I just want consistent contact and strikes and getting the club more on plane will certainly make that easier for me. The only miss I see right now with that is leaving the club too open on the downswing, causing me to block a few shots badly. The positive is when it does occur I can certainly feel it and that is the key. The more I work on it the more consistent I’ll get with squaring it up.
So I shot a 75 (+5) overall on the round, (+1) 36 on the front and a (+4) 39 on the back. Had 3 penalties that cost me from having a really solid score, but again I need to eliminate the bigger mistakes of penalties, I’m hitting plenty of FWs and Green in regulation to be shooting close to under par each round, but I must eliminate these penalties, 3 putts and maybe roll in a few more birdies while I’m at it…much more easily said than done I’m afraid.
One highlight of the round is I did drive the 296 yard Par 4 7th hole in one during the round to about 15ft. I lipped out the eagle putt, but did get a much needed tap in birdie.
The Vineyard Golf Course 6,531 Yards Par 70 (71.0/126)
Score: 75(+5) FW: 7/14 GIR: 10/18 Putts: 32 Up/Down: 2/4 Sand Save: 0/1 Penalties: 3
had a few scratches in it so it was time to put her to pasture and enjoy retirement. One of my friends, who I play golf with regularly on Wednesdays now, is a manager of a golf shop and he was nice enough to give me a great deal. I got the brand new Scotty Newport studio select 2.0 for only $150 instead of the normal price of $350…you just can’t pass up that type of deal. I’ll go putt with it for a few today and then put it into action tomorrow when we play a round. The only thing is that it has the standard scotty thin grip on it currently, but I’m used to a more midsize grip like I had on my old putter. I’m so used to a bigger grip that this standard one feels unbelievably small and thin! So I’m not sure how well I’ll putt tomorrow, but that’s ok, I’ll probably get it re-gripped to a midsize grip later in the week.
My Journey 2 Scratch 