7/12/13 Los Verdes Golf Course: +1, 72
http://www.losverdesgc.com/
This is a detailed account of my Los Verdes Golf Tournament through the Marshal Canyon Men's Club.
I was fairly nervous waking up this morning for my first golf tournament in a long time (about 2 years), but I felt well prepared leading up to it. I had been working on a few faults in my long game (see My Golf Swing), but I was very confident with my short game (from reading and studying Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible). I have always prided myself on a great short game, and it's true that what happens within 100 yards or so says a lot about your score. My career best score, a -2, 70 at Lakewood Golf Course (back in July 2011) had a lot to do with my wedge game and putting. This most recent tournament I wedged and putted almost as well as that day, and I am fully satisfied with the result.
On my equipment side, I have switched off my Odyssey White Hot XG #1 putter because I have lost the feel and the connection I look for in a putter. I have worked a lot with it, in attempt to grow accustomed to it, but I feel that since it has taken over two years with little results to show for it, it is time to retire the putter. In my mind I agree with Dr. Bob Rotella in his book Putting Out Of Your Mind that "if you think the putter you're using will help you, it probably will." I've put a lot of time and money into it, and I just don't see much value in it right now. Hence the switch. So I have gone back to my trusty Bullet putter (model shown below) that I just love! Now I don't worry about the putter and I just worry about setting up my mind for the putt. Without a doubt this process has been working because I have recently shot -3, 32 on the Mountain Course at Whittier Narrows (9 holes) with only 10 putts. I haven't calculated the strokes gained putting yet, but I know that it was a great statistic on that day. As for the Los Verdes Tournament, I took only 28 putts while missing a one and a half foot tap in for bogey (oops!). Next time I know now to mark and give myself comfortable standing room to putt instead of just trying to get out of everyones' way quickly.
The course was playing from the white tees, but on some of the holes, the tees were up, so it played only about 6,100 yards (par is 71 with three par 5's and four par 3's).
On the 12th hole, a 137 yard uphill par 3, I tried to muscle a 9 iron there, but I came up on the front fringe. I hit a beautiful chip shot from about 10 yards away, the back of my stance with a LW, to about 3 feet. I committed to my target, and again I sank the putt in the middle of the cup.
On the 13th hole, a straightaway hole with an elevated green, I hit a 3 wood that was slightly pushed right of my target line, but straight and with a piercing ball flight. It went a good 260 yards with the roll, so that was awesome (I only had about 117 yards from the right rough). I only used the driver once all day, and it was a good game plan for me since I had been eratic with that club of late. After coming up just short on the approach, I hit another nice chip from the back of my stance with a SW. It bounced and then checked a bit as it rolled out nicely to about 3 feet away. Again I picked out my target and calmly rolled it in the middle.
The 14th hole was one to forget, so I don't want to remember it haha. Jack Nicklaus had a very selective memory, and I think that it definitely is good to forget the bad holes and focus on remembering the great ones.
The 15th hole is the signature hole at Los Verdes, and it certainly is beautiful (see below). I hit another great push draw 3 wood off the tee that ran out to about 192 yards away. I hit a four iron (pictured below) that wasn't struck very well, but it trundled just over the back of the green. My putt was from the back left portion of the green downhill towards the pin, another very fast putt. I picked out a spot about 6 feet short of the hole on my intended line and again went through my routine, stroking with confidence. The putt just missed and rolled on by about 3 feet. I read the putt with my feet while standing over my marker and became confident that the putt would break slightly right to left up the gentle slope. I picked a spot just right of the center of the hole I thought the ball should enter and stroked it nicely right where I was intending.
http://www.losverdesgc.com/
This is a detailed account of my Los Verdes Golf Tournament through the Marshal Canyon Men's Club.
I was fairly nervous waking up this morning for my first golf tournament in a long time (about 2 years), but I felt well prepared leading up to it. I had been working on a few faults in my long game (see My Golf Swing), but I was very confident with my short game (from reading and studying Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible). I have always prided myself on a great short game, and it's true that what happens within 100 yards or so says a lot about your score. My career best score, a -2, 70 at Lakewood Golf Course (back in July 2011) had a lot to do with my wedge game and putting. This most recent tournament I wedged and putted almost as well as that day, and I am fully satisfied with the result.
On my equipment side, I have switched off my Odyssey White Hot XG #1 putter because I have lost the feel and the connection I look for in a putter. I have worked a lot with it, in attempt to grow accustomed to it, but I feel that since it has taken over two years with little results to show for it, it is time to retire the putter. In my mind I agree with Dr. Bob Rotella in his book Putting Out Of Your Mind that "if you think the putter you're using will help you, it probably will." I've put a lot of time and money into it, and I just don't see much value in it right now. Hence the switch. So I have gone back to my trusty Bullet putter (model shown below) that I just love! Now I don't worry about the putter and I just worry about setting up my mind for the putt. Without a doubt this process has been working because I have recently shot -3, 32 on the Mountain Course at Whittier Narrows (9 holes) with only 10 putts. I haven't calculated the strokes gained putting yet, but I know that it was a great statistic on that day. As for the Los Verdes Tournament, I took only 28 putts while missing a one and a half foot tap in for bogey (oops!). Next time I know now to mark and give myself comfortable standing room to putt instead of just trying to get out of everyones' way quickly.
The course was playing from the white tees, but on some of the holes, the tees were up, so it played only about 6,100 yards (par is 71 with three par 5's and four par 3's).
Preparation
Warming up for the round, I hit maybe 40 balls on the range. I started out with my PW and worked my way up to the 3 wood. I used my balance balls a lot in order to keep my early extension under some control. I also used my swingyde (mostly with the 7 iron) in order to keep my arc a little bit wider going back, as I have a tendency to get a bit wristy on the backswing.
I then hit a few putts on the practice green focusing on letting the speed happen. The greens were about a 10.0 in the morning and maybe an 11.0 on the stimp meter in the afternoon. I hit some putts with my eyes on the point where I wanted the ball to enter the hole (my target) as this gets me target oriented on my putts. This way I also don't have to worry about my stroke, rhythm, etc. especially since focusing on those things are detrimental to putting anyways. I told myself before going to warm up and before going to the first tee to focus on my game and to keep a calm and neutral attitude because that's when I seem to perform at my best, whether it's a college test, a golf game, or refereeing hockey. In my putting and wedge play I also told myself frequently to what Dave Pelz prescribes as "dead hands," which is where you feel the centrifugal force (outward pulling) and natural motion of the swing powering the shots, rather than "hitting" shots with your hand and arm muscles. And you hold your finish, retaining the feel of your swing until each shot lands and you can see how far it flew.
Play By Play Highlights
The first hole is a par 5 dogleg to the left (you can see the tee box in the above picture on the right) and I was very nervous when I went through my routine and addressed the ball. I took a 3 hybrid as my club of choice after consulting my strategy book and after taking a few conscious breaths, swung, and hit the ball (with a beautiful medium height ball flight) straight down the fairway about 210 yards away. After another hybrid for a layup, I was about 40 yards away lieing in some thick rough, so I used my finesse swing, trusting my feel to gauge the exact distance, and I hit another beautiful shot with a low trajectory that hopped on the front, took a hug bounce, and bit about 5 feet from the hole. I nervously went through my routine, consciously telling myself to just focus on my target (a spot on the edge of the hole) and as I looked back at the inch in front of the ball that I was going to putt over, I still could picture the hole and my target in my mind. Then I calmly released the stroke as per se my routine and it found the center of the cup with a medium pace, taking a gentle right to left break. Off to a great start with a birdie!
On the second hole I had to layup out of a fairway bunker because I was behind a tree. I hit the ball from the back of my stance and I nearly didn't get back in play (next time I'll approach this type of layup with normal bunker setup and swing). I hit a beautiful PW shot from about 130 yards that took off right at the flag and didn't budge one bit. I ended up about 15 feet from the hole and two putted for bogey.
On the third hole the yardage was 169 yards playing uphill to a back pin, so I figured it was playing about 180 yards. I hit a solid 5 iron draw that started out right of the pin about 30 feet and drew back to 10 feet right of the pin, about 18 feet from the hole total. Hopefully I won closest to the pin on this hole! All day I was focusing on keeping my butt against the tush line (I figured out that making swings against the side of the cart seemed to help my early extension midway through the round). At this point, about 9:45AM, the weather was still overcast with the marine layer and fairly cool, about 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I had a slightly uphill, left to right breaking putt, that I stroked smoothly into the left center side of the hole for another birdie!
On the fourth hole I made a nice finesse sand wedge from about 70 yards with my 9:00 swing that went slightly right of the hole, leaving a downhill 16 foot putt from right to left. I had a 6 foot return putt for bogey that I calmly refocused myself through my routine, focused on a spot on the cup and then stroked it right into the middle.
On the fifth hole I had a tricky downhill putt from about 18 feet that broke sharply from left to right (about 3 feet). I lined up my alignment line on the golf ball for this putt so that I could give myself some confidence about where I was aiming this slippery fast putt. I gave it a bit too much break and tapped in for a par. By this time the sun was coming out, and the temperature was a lukewarm 72-74 degrees.
On the sixth hole I had a brilliant little flop shot from about 7 yards away with the pin shortsided from my position and running away from me downhill. I picked out a landing spot about a 6 feet short of the hole that I would land on with spin. I opened up the face to about 45 degrees and put the ball in the center of my stance aligning myself a few feet to the left of the flag. I executed it nicely, bringing my arms to just past the 7:30 position and it landed with a little spin and stopped about two and a half feet left of the hole. I calmly aligned myself neatly and made the putt in the center.
On the seventh hole I hit a great, piercing, push draw 3 wood about 250 yards down the right side of the fairway. My approach was just to the left of the green and I chipped on with a LW (at the back of my stance) to about 3 feet. I calmly stroked in the par putt.
On the 8th hole again I hit a great push draw 3 wood that found the center of the fairway. I made a great return putt from about 7 feet down a slippery slope that dripped right into the center of the hole. I picked out a spot about halfway to the hole, and that became my new hole that I would roll it to (as if the green were flat).
On the 9th hole again I hit another great 3 wood that again had a nice piercing flight (although it was a bit pushed out to the right). I practiced my butt against the cart drill, and I hit a 6 iron right where I was aiming to the middle portion of the green (the pin was at the back right portion).
On the 10th hole I hit a great putt from about 18 feet that was downhill breaking about 3-4 feet from right to left. My thoughts before I stroked this putt were to keep on focusing on my target, and to have dead hands (so I wouldn't consciously try to hit the ball into the hole--I tend to do this when I really want to make a putt, I just give the ball an extra hit so I can ensure the ball to get to the hole, but it usually results in disaster).
On the 11th hole (shown below) I hit a nice 3 wood down the hill (about 50-60 feet downhill). I had about 25 yards to the pin just to the left of the green (I had to go over the bunker shown below). My wedge was hit nicely and it landed just about where I wanted it, but it hit a downslope that shot it forward to the fringe of the green about 30 feet away. I proceeded to pick a spot on my line about 6 or 7 feet short of the hole which became my new target I was putting to. I was very calm as I stroked the putt, and it took a tantalizingly close run at the right side of the cup. The speed was drop-dead gorgeous and I tapped in for par.
On the 12th hole, a 137 yard uphill par 3, I tried to muscle a 9 iron there, but I came up on the front fringe. I hit a beautiful chip shot from about 10 yards away, the back of my stance with a LW, to about 3 feet. I committed to my target, and again I sank the putt in the middle of the cup.
On the 13th hole, a straightaway hole with an elevated green, I hit a 3 wood that was slightly pushed right of my target line, but straight and with a piercing ball flight. It went a good 260 yards with the roll, so that was awesome (I only had about 117 yards from the right rough). I only used the driver once all day, and it was a good game plan for me since I had been eratic with that club of late. After coming up just short on the approach, I hit another nice chip from the back of my stance with a SW. It bounced and then checked a bit as it rolled out nicely to about 3 feet away. Again I picked out my target and calmly rolled it in the middle.
The 14th hole was one to forget, so I don't want to remember it haha. Jack Nicklaus had a very selective memory, and I think that it definitely is good to forget the bad holes and focus on remembering the great ones.
The 15th hole is the signature hole at Los Verdes, and it certainly is beautiful (see below). I hit another great push draw 3 wood off the tee that ran out to about 192 yards away. I hit a four iron (pictured below) that wasn't struck very well, but it trundled just over the back of the green. My putt was from the back left portion of the green downhill towards the pin, another very fast putt. I picked out a spot about 6 feet short of the hole on my intended line and again went through my routine, stroking with confidence. The putt just missed and rolled on by about 3 feet. I read the putt with my feet while standing over my marker and became confident that the putt would break slightly right to left up the gentle slope. I picked a spot just right of the center of the hole I thought the ball should enter and stroked it nicely right where I was intending.
On the 16th hole, a dogleg left short par 5, again I hit 3 wood, but I hit a straight push about 10 yards of where I was aiming. Thankfully the 3 wood's distance kept me right in the middle of the fairway, so I had a clear shot into the green. From about 244 yards, I hit 3 wood again. The ball was sitting above my feet a little bit, so I was a bit concerned about not topping it, but I mustered the courage and picked out a tree limb well into the distance and went through my routine. I hit a low running draw that started right where I was aiming, and it drew back towards the green. I thought it may have gotten onto the green with the right bounce, but it ended up just on the right side of the green about 13-14 yards away, on a little downslope (it was pin high though!). I put the LW in the back of my stance, and opened up the blade slightly in an attempt to gain more loft to counteract some of the downslope. I hit it just a tad too far, and it rolled about 9-10 feet by. But my putting was just so solid, I picked out a spot about 8-10 inches short of the hole on my line and stroked it beautifully into the left center portion of the hole (the putt broke slightly from left to right). I gave a little fist pump there!
The 17th hole was an all around sloppy hole and I don't care to recall it.
The 18th however was played just how I drew it up in my mind standing on the tee. I aimed down the right side of the fairway and creamed my 3 wood about 260 yards down the hill right at the palm tree I was aiming at in the distance. Again it was a beautiful piercing medium height ball flight that sort of hissed as it took off. I was left with about 151 yards to the hole and I hit a nice controlled 7 iron from a fairly severe side slope with the ball above my feet and a bit downhill too. I made more of a conscious effort to get to my left side solid contact through the swing and I hit it right on the nose. It left the club face a few yards right of the flag, landed in the middle of the green (about 20 feet from the hole) and rolled to within 7 feet of the hole. I stared down my putt with confidence and a bit of will. The putt broke gently from left to right (about 6 inches) and I putt the alignment line of my ball on the apex of the line I was going to take. I picked a spot on that line about 5 inches short of the hole and with my dead hands stroke, I smoothly rolled it right in the middle! What a day, and what a round! I was pleased with my round, especially my wedge game and putting!
If I want to buy these beginners putters for golf from where i get it.
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