Short Game Skills Evaluation #2

Today was the first day of the second Short Game Skills Evaluation. We had the lag putting, short putting, and chipping portions today, just like the first time we went through this. My partner Petey and I decided to change things up and do the putting portion first (we did the chipping first last time). So we started at the lag putting circle. 2 Attempts at 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 ft putts, and they have to be inside a 9 ft. circle or else you lose 1 pt. My first putt from 20 ft was one revolution short of going in, so it was a good start. The second putt from 20 ft went in. So a VERY good start. First putt from 30 ft was again one revolution short of going in. The second putt DID go in. So I made 2 and missed the other 2 by 2 revolutions. The rest were all inside 3 ft. So I completely dominated the lag putting. Then we moved on to the left to right and right to left breaking short putts (see awesome illustrations further down in the blog for reference). I made a bunch of putts, and you only get points if you make them. So once we moved on to the chipping portion, I already had 35 pts for the evaluation (I ended up with 57 TOTAL in the first evaluation). The chipping was awesome as well. I made 2 chips from 30 ft and put the other 3 inside the circle. On the 60 ft chip, I put all 5 inside the circle. So when the first half of the evaluation was all said and done today, I walked away with 50 pts. Yes, you read correctly, 50 pts. My partner Petey was the winner of the semester-long Order of Merit race, he had 400 pts or something around that. I only had 76 for the semester. He ended up with 34 pts after today's eval, so I was pretty happy I just smoked the best golfer in the school this semester. After the evaluation, we had to high-tail it back to school in time for fundamentals class, and I was the last one to make it back into class, and when I sat down everyone asked how many points I got at the evaluation. I said 50, and the room just went silent. Pretty much everyyone said in unison "FIFTY??" The second highest total was 39. HAHA. So I enjoyed that moment in the sun. So the week we get back from Thanksgiving will be the bunker and pitch shots portion of the evaluation, and that's the part that I did the best the first time, so I'm looking forward to improving on my score from last time.

I have a lesson tomorrow morning after Rules class, and then we have the priviledge of going to a presentation from one of Golf Digest's Top 100 teachers. I guess he's been trying to come to the school for a while but he usually comes into town on weekends and the school doesn't want him in here on weekends, so he made it down here on a Friday so we can listen. It's voluntary, but I can't imagine why people wouldn't wanna go and listen to what he has to say. I signed up today, and the list of people going is so small. So I'm excited to attend that.

Stroke Play Championship

Yesterday and today was the Stroke Play Championship tournament, 36 holes over two days. Yesterday was a little on the chilly side, the temp never reached 60. I played a course called Wild Wing Golf Plantation, and I'd never played there before yesterday, so I didn't know what to expect. I played pretty bad starting out, played well through the middle, and played pretty bad at the end. I shot 89, but the leader only shot 82, so I still had a shot going into the second round today.

Today, I played Man O' War Golf Club, definitely one of my favorites in the rotation. It's the same course where I played my Match Play Qualifier back in September. So I said the tournament two weeks ago in the mini tropical storm was the hardest conditions I've played in, but today trumped that day. Today the temp never reached 50, and the wind howled and howled the entire day. When I left for the course, weather.com said it was 43 and it felt like 35. When I got home, weather.com said it was 41 and felt like 34. So I was freezing cold the entire round. Once again, I started out pretty bad, played decent through the middle, but played pretty well on the entire back nine. I was making most of my short putts, I even had a 15 foot birdie putt do a 360 degree lip out, I couldn't believe it when the ball came out. My short game was definitely the strongest part of my round. I shot 86, and my target score going into today's round was 85 because I thought with the conditions as bad as they were that an 85 would be right around the lowest of the day. I was wrong, someone shot an 80, but only a few others beat 85. So once all the scores came in, I ended up in 7th place, and I won 20 bucks. So I'm happy.

We have our second short game skills evaluation this week, and I'm looking to improve on my score from the first time. After seeing my short game do so well today, I'm expecting to do better. When I went bowling last Friday night, one of the kids who was with us is someone who I'd never talked to even though he's in my classes. He put his arm around me (partly because he was a little intoxicated) and said "Andrew, you and me, we're gonna be the valedictorians of our class." I guess he's overheard the teachers telling me my grades. I thought that was a pretty cool comment, and I must admit, after high school, I never thought I'd be valedictorian of anything, but if I keep my grades where they are right now, that would be pretty easy to do. I can't believe there's only 3 more weeks till the semester is over...

Golf Clinic #3

Today was the third installment of our golf clinics with the third-semester students at the driving range for golf fundamentals class. The focus was on our positions in our backswing. So they were looking at where the club was halfway back and at the top. I wasn't hitting the ball very well at the start of the clinic, and the student who I was paired with asked what my handicap was. I told him it was a 10 (in october it was 8.2, but in november it dropped to a 10, no biggie). So he tried giving me a few pointers to help me out, and then he had to leave early to go set up another clinic. There were some third semester students who didn't get paired with anyone because some of my class didn't show up, so another student stepped in to help me out. I met this kid when I came down here in July, so we just talked for a little bit about my swing. He asked me my handicap, and I told him it was 10, and the third semester student giving a lesson at the spot next to me stopped his lesson and came over to my area. He was like "You are not a 10 hdcp." I didn't know if he was joking, mad, serious or what, but I told him that I was indeed a 10. He said he'd been watching me swing the whole time and that I'm better than a 10 hdcp. He threw a ball at my feet and told me to hit it. So I had 2 third semester kids and another first semester kid standing behind me watching me hit this ball. I hit a beautiful high draw. The kid looked at me and again told me I'm not a 10 hdcp. He proceeded to tell me I'm sandbagging for gift cards, order of merit points, etc., but I kept telling him I'm really a 10 and that I'm not purposely bringing my handicap to such a poor level. His comments didn't make mad, on the contrary, it was a huge compliment to hear him tell me I'm a lot better than a 10 hdcp. So the two third semester kids told me to hit a ball at one of the targets. I lined up my shot and hit another perfect, high draw right at the target. Both third semester kids called over the two PGA pro's who were supervising the clinic. So now I have 5 people standing behind me watching me hit balls. The pros walked over, one of them is the same one who I played with earlier in the year, and the kids told them that I was a 10 hdcp and to watch me swing. I hit another flushed 6 iron right at the target again. The pro looked at me and was like "what's the problem?" So I told him that my miss has been to hit my shots a little thin. He had me hit another one, and he got a different view of my swing, and again, I hit a perfect shot. The third semester kids were just laughing in disbelief that I'm really a 10 hdcp. So the pro took note that my stance was a little wide, and that I have a little slide forward with my hips that could cause me to get ahead of the ball and hit it thin. So he had me put my feet together and hit some more shots to see if I could stay in balance. That worked, and then he had me take my normal stance and then move my feet a little closer together. So I hit some more shots and they all turned out really great. The pros walked off and I continued to talk with the two third semester kids. The one who started this whole fiasco told me he really enjoyed watching my swing. Again, that's a huge compliment. The kid who was actually supposed to be "teaching" me told me to schedule lessons with the pro who came over and gave me the pointers. All the third and fourth semester guys use him and he's supposed to be really helpful. So the clinic ended and I was walking back to my car and the kid who enjoyed watching me swing ran and caught up to me just to shake my hand and introduce himself. So even though my hdcp is a 10, I'm not in panic mode and worried about if I'm ever gonna get better. I know I have what it takes, it's just a matter of becoming consistent. I still have 3 more semesters to figure things out, and now I have another pro who knows my swing and I'll be getting some lessons from him in the future.

Gotta get this off my chest

I know you've heard just about as much as you can take about the Election. But since I have my own blog, I'm going to put in my two cents.

Disclaimer: These are the reasons for my decision not to vote. I am not trying to force these issues on any reader.

I've told everyone that asks me that I'm not voting this year. I've received much grief and criticism, but thankfully I'm stubborn and don't care what people think about what I say, believe or think. Just because we have the right to vote doesn't mean that we have to exercise that right. We have the right to bear arms yet I don't hear anyone yelling at me for not owning a gun. "Oh but our troops are fighting overseas so you can vote! You're a bad American!" Well guess what? They're also fighting for our right to own a firearm, our right to a fair and speedy trial. I'm not implying I don't support our troops in their efforts abroad, I do support them and I admire them for being able to put themselves in harms way for the good of our country, no matter where they are or the basis of why they're there.

"If you don't vote, you have no room to complain." I want to punch everyone in the face who has ever told me that. Why should Obama supporters get to complain when Obama starts turning our country on the path towards socialism? Why should McCain supporters get to complain when he digs the country an even deeper economic hole? Why shouldn't those who stood against these candidates get to complain? Politics is such a dirty, corrupt monster and I'm sick of hearing about all the lobbyists and "pork-belly earmarks" and scandals going on in Washington. Neither of the candidates will change the corruption.

"Vote for the lesser of two evils." Why vote for any evil? How can someone willingly vote for an "evil?" The two-party system is dead, and we as a country need to do something about it. Supporting a candidate who you feel is going to hurt this country is not the answer.

There's a lot of talk from Obama about our national debt being doubled since Bush took office. Has anyone taken into account that Bush had a war to fund? I don't remember Bill Clinton having wars to fund to take money away from the taxpayers. I know there was a little thing in the Balkans but that's nothing compared to what's going on in Afghanistan. Say what you will about how we shouldn't even be in Iraq so funding that was wrong, but going into Iraq was the right move, weapons of mass destruction or not. So shut up already Barack! Let's see how much money you spend when you let the terrorists attack our country again, because I don't hear you preaching about what you'll do about protecting our country. Ok, I think I'm done venting about this laughing-stock of an election.

Tournament in the Wind and Rain

Today we had our own mini tropical storm blow through just in time to have to play tournament golf. It was windy, and it was pouring rain. The temp was around 60, and the rain was coming down sideways. Definitely the hardest conditions I've had to play in yet, but I somehow persevered and tied for 7th. Due to the conditions, everyone played only 9 holes. I shot 42, and the leader, in my tour, shot 39. Even though my putting was horrendous, I'm still happy with the way I played in such hard conditions, and I'm happy I got more prize money. I played with some pretty cool fourth semester kids who kept me laughing the entire time. One of them was this big burly southern kid with a big southern drawl, and he was having a horrible day playing. He hit his tee shot so bad on two occasions that they didn't even leave the tee box. It was that kind of day for him, but he was just laughing about it and making jokes about how bad he was, it was a good time. I think he kept me from getting too upset with the way I was putting, cuz we'd walk off the green and get to the next tee and he'd already have me laughing with something he said, so I never had time to get mad at myself. Here's hoping I win more prize money next week...

36-hole Tournament

Today was the second day of the Playing Abilities Test. It was 36 holes over 2 days, and we had to shoot 156 or better for the two days. My Tour was assigned the hardest course of our rotation, and the conditions didn't make it any easier. Monday was about 65 degrees and windy. Today was 55 degrees with a constant 30 mile an hour wind. So it was cold and brutal to play golf in. I played pretty bad in all facets of my game yesterday and shot 89. The lowest score was 79, so that's an indication how hard it was to play. So after Day 1 I was in 20th out of 35 golfers. Today was just not fun to play in. Most of the holes were either straight into the wind or straight across the wind, never downwind. I focused on keeping the ball low so it would penetrate through the wind, and I was able to do that for the most part. My putting was good at the start, but it deteriorated as the round went on. I shot 85 for a two-day total of 174. The lowest score today was only 83, so I played one of the best rounds. So the final standings for the tournament have me in a tie for 9th. I passed 11 people today, so I'm pretty happy about that. I played with 3 kids who are in their fourth semester here at school, and they were all really cool to play with. One of them didn't say a word to me until our 15th hole. It was a 150 yd par 3 over water with the wind straight into our face. The first 3 guys hit their shots and they were all short of the green, and I stepped up and just hit a smooth 7 iron low enough to get through the wind and it landed on the middle part of the green. I picked up my tee and as I was walking off the tee box the kid who hadn't said anything to me said "You're gonna be really good when you graduate." I was so shocked he even said anything to me I just kinda stumbled and said thanks. But I'm really stoked about all the compliments I'm getting about my swing/golf game from everyone. So even though I'm not playing my best golf, I'm confident that things will start clicking. So even though today was extremely cold and windy, my group had a blast playing with each other. My riding partner was always complimenting me on my shots or the putts that I made. Most of the people I play with act like you don't exist and don't acknowledge a good shot or putt. So today was fun despite the conditions. Next week is just the standard 18 hole stroke play tournament, 1st place here I come.

I didn't get anything less than a 96 on all 6 mid-terms, so my grades are awesome, FYI.

Wow...

So today was the first tournament in our newly organized Tours. I was really excited to be playing with better competition compared to the other tournaments when I was in the lower Tour. So the best way to summarize my first 9 holes is with two words: Murphy's Law. Whatever could have gone wrong DID go wrong. My first 4 scores were 8-7-6-5. That's a grand total of 9 over par through 4 holes. Not good. The dumb kid who I was riding with kept trying to help me out and calm me down, even though I never lost my temper or hinted that I was going to, and I really wanted to punch him in the face. I never acknowledged anything he said to me regarding my game. I found out after the round that he got Disqualified, not sure why, and he shot 80! I was satisfied with that information. So I shot 48 on the front nine, 12 over par. NOT GOOD. On the tenth tee there was a considerable wait and my playing partners all decided to go inside and get a snack. I stayed behind and gave myself a good verbal beat-down. And it worked. I birdied 3 of my last 6 holes, including 2 putts of 35 feet. I shot 38 on the back nine, with a nice double-bogey 6 on the 18th. So I shot 86. It's one of those rounds where you look back on it and think of what could have been. If I shoot 40 on the front, which isn't asking too much, I shoot 78 and win my Tour. If I don't double-bogey the 18th, I shoot 84 and win 30 dollars in gift cards. But alas, I did not do any of those things, but to my surprise, I tied for 8th, and won some money after all. My first prize money as a golfer!! A random side-note, one of the kids I played with told us on the first tee that he is taking the PGA Playing Abilities Test next Monday. It's the test all golf professionals have to take and pass, and it's extremely difficult. It's a 36 hole tournament, and you have to shoot a total of 15 strokes over par or better for the two days to complete it. It's like the Bar Exam, because hardly anyone passes it on the first attempt. Well, he carded a 15 on the first hole and shot 94. That made me feel a little better about my round... Next Monday we have the Golf Academy Playing Abilities Test. They do this each semester so we get a feel for what the real Playing Abilities Test will be like. I'm excited to see how I do when I actually have a score ceiling going into the round that will determine if I suceed or fail.