Tell us about your game today...

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.. or yesterday or whenever your last game happened.

I played this morning - just a bounce game with one of my regular partners.

There had been a big competition yesterday at the club so the course was a bit quieter today than one might expect for a Sunday. 11:20 tee off as a two-ball and lots of other two balls out there with a couple of quick 4-balls so pace of play was brisk.

Those who have read my posts recently will know that I've been suffering with a nasty foot/ankle injury for a few months and it's just great to be out there at all at the moment. Thankfully the foot came through with flying colours though I think I've been favouring it for the last couple of weeks still and after the game today my knee was playing up but with luck that will just be a temporary setback.

A glorious day though in the Thames Valley with above average temperatures and the course was in remarkable nick for mid March.

The match itself was close for a long way. I felt I was playing reasonably well after not playing much of the winter and after losing the 2nd I levelled it on the 3rd and was one up after nine. Though I felt I was playing better than my opponent I couldn't shake him and he hung in there until I went 2 up on 15. Closed it out on 16 but was made to work for it.

Although it was matchplay I kept an estimated Stableford score and came in with 32 (estimated) points which I wasn't too disappointed with given lack of recent regular play. One NR and a couple of holes where a 3 pointer was well withing my grasp and ended with 1 point (short game was actually pretty good apart from those two nightmares)

Now looking forward to next weekend and a Stableford competition where I've been drawn with last year's captain and next year's!

Firstly can i say congratulations for your daughter on an awesome round of golf.

I am sorry to hear about the trouble that was kicked up just because your daughter wanted to play golf.

It is attitudes like that make me a 28yo man to scared to join golf clubs let alone junior girls. I am delighted to hear that the rules official did something and that it did not put your daughter off as she obviously has a talent,

Interesting couple of days. Played yesterday at Rothley Park in Leicestershire in a Society game with mixed results; better than last week but still too many poorly struck shots. Somehow got round in +4; good job the flat stick was going well!

Played in the Medal today (great weather) which was fun; swing thought "slow, low takeaway". Started with a 3-putt double bogey 6 (nice) and then bogeyed the first par 5 (4th) which should be a birdie hole. So +3 after 4 holes. Beginning to think it'll be a wasted day. However...

...then proceeded to play the next 14 holes in -3 for an even par 71. Struck the ball really well and putting was very solid. Not sure it'll win Div 1 as the weather's too good but may be in the mix. Ale tasted good in the Bar.

Roll on the next round!

Feeling rudey poo after man utd match. Then read your story Mav. Certainly made me feel a lot better to hear of your daughters outstanding round and the J/O getting exactly what he deserved.

But anyway the main focus should clearly be how well your daughter played under tough conditions.

Fantastic story Mav and congrats to the little one. Sounds like you've got a good secretary at the club even though you have a bad (now ex) J/O.

It will be tough for her if she's the only girl in the junior section but it sounds like she has the determination AND the talent to get through it


Just a casual bounce game for me today with a couple of mates. Felt reasonable happy with 32 stableford points including a blob on the 17th which is certainly my bogey hole. Struck the ball quite well but the BIG plus of today is that for the first time in 3 or 4 months it feels like my ankle/knee problems are now (almost) in the past. Knee is a little tired now but for the first time in ages I feel like I could play 2 days running (no game tomorrow but I feel like I could if I had to)

Next weekend is 2 games in 3 days so that will be the acid test but I'm now more confident that the injuries are clearing up

The focus for me is my daughters performance and nothing will take the shine off that for me or her. I am just concerned now about junior organisers and if they are all doing what's right for their juniors, I had a great J/O as a youth but am hearing some and have today experienced a horror storey that for me and my girl has a good result.

But her aim now is to get her handicap by end of month as she wants to play in the annual father/child comp

Great story Mav, fantastic score for your daughters first round, looks like a bright future ahead, no thanks to that Muppet J/O. Really make my blood boil when these 'little people' put obstacles in the way of future members. Hats off to you as well for keeping your cool, as a dad i don't think i could have. It certainly sounds like a good club with the secretary standing his ground and giving J/O his marching orders. Don't think it'll be long before she's taking dads money off him after 18 holes.

Mav you did well not to spank that guy down the fairway with a slight draw due to the right to left swing on your arm!

Sounds like much fun to be had in the future though!

75 - 5 = 70

Not bad considering the greens were awful. Off the yellows though so no cut for me

First medal of the year for me yesterday, and was expecting a good performance, especially the way I've been playing. Struck the ball well all day except one drive which almsot had me in Keven Na city and carded me a 9 (card wrecker) My putting which has been really strong in recent weeks, cost me big time. Missed 4 birdie putts, and also 3 putted 3 times, but even worse was missing twice from inside a foot. Yes inside a foot.

Not getting cut as I expected, so dissapointed, but playing 6 over my handicap after a 9 and some rudey poo putting was pretty good, but another 0.1 will be the result. Obviously got a Rory problem in medals.

Mav, many congrats to yourself and junior Mav. Certainly beats my first round 147 at the same age as her!

What a great result for all the juniors as well getting rid of that idiot. Sadly there are a lot of average/poor junior golf sections out there and a good junior section can make such a big difference.

Any thoughts of taking up the mantle? Evidently your influence thus far in junior Mav's game would suggest you have the skills...

In order to cut down on any confusion may I suggest that we refer to junior Mav as Mavette. That way we know we're not talking years in the deep dark past of Mav himself.

Mavette I like that LJ.

She had her second round yesterday and put her 2nd card in already, she's very eager to get going she had a 95 yesterday and was complaining that 3 putting 2 greens hurt her game! Chip off the old block!

Mrs Mav is trying ti persuade me to get involved in the junior section. Am tempted but with work contracts I have on over the summer not sure I can oblige. But I will continue to help mavette develop her game at a pace she is happy with rather than being a pushy parent

Mav you need to be tough with her, so ground her for 3-putting and stop her spending money because 3-putting is not good. I never 3-putt

Doc - and was that shocking display of putting carried out with the aid of your super swish new putter that cost ............ ooh what was it? Loads I seem to remember, or maybe it was reduced for a good reason.

I have a problem with putting myself, but I am also a cheapskate. Try a cheapie next time, you'll still 3 putt, but won't feel so bad about it.

first medal of the year - 1 under gross with 3 to play. easy par 5 always birdie chance, pull hook drive OB. walked off with an 8. amazingly still dropped .2 of the h/cap. sick as a parrot.

played in a society day at the dukes, st andrews on saturday. my short game, which had been the best bit of my game over the winter, disappeared out the window but my driver and 3 wood came on form suddenly. lost track of how often i took 5 shots from within 75-100 yds of the green.

still, i won the longest drive with a c325 yarder (then with 180 left, downwind to the pin i sclaffed a 7 iron into the burn 30 yds in front of the green, duffed my chip onto the front edge and 3 putted for a 7. summed the day up nicely. thankfully the sun was shining and the banter was good!

Maverick

It makes you wonder how ignorant some junior organisers can be and why we have so few girls playing golf.

Speaking as someone who has been in your shoes 25 years ago I hope your daughter gives you as much pride and joy as my youngest has.
She will not come to any harm playing golf with the boys, they will soon come to respect her ability.

I was JO at a club that produced three girl internationalists in quick succession, they were given honorary boys status as the could beat all but a few of them off same tees scratch.
She may get a rough time with the Club Ladies as they are very protective of winning thier prizes and will probably throw all sorts of 'you can'ts' in her way.

Try to get involved ASAP with the County Ladies coaching sessions, County ladies are generally great and she will see the standard of the other girls.

My round today 46 out, 38 back to play to my handicap

l :huh:

Regular Tuesday after work bounce round today. Golf was OK, played to my handicap, drove well, reasonable iron work (if only it could be straight) even my pitching was acceptable so OK about describes it.

However, the weather was plain bloody gorgeous, the company was sparkling and I had a fabulous time.

All is well with the world.

oldshanker wrote:Doc - and was that shocking display of putting carried out with the aid of your super swish new putter that cost ............ ooh what was it? Loads I seem to remember, or maybe it was reduced for a good reason.

I have a problem with putting myself, but I am also a cheapskate. Try a cheapie next time, you'll still 3 putt, but won't feel so bad about it.

Shanks Yes it was and the worst display I can remember, but not the putters fault. It was me, me, me.

Went out for 9 last night and played almost as well tee to green as Sunday, but a massive difference with the putter. 4 pars to come in with 22 points and 5 over gross. So obviously have a problem in QC's still.

I'm heading to the course this evening, will either play as many holes as light permits or hit them practice ground in preparation for Saunton this weekend.

It's lovely down here on the south coast right now, roll on 4pm

just been out this morning. played some solid stuff, hit 14 GIR and driving was ok. greens were mince after hollow coring last week, could not get the pace at all. finished +8 with 7 three-putts on the card. trying to take the positives but its difficult not to feel peed off. low point was a 3 foot putt for a two on one of the par threes that i left 12 inches short. ach well - at least it wisnae a medal!

Ripped driver at the first today... that was as good as it got. 3 fairways hit, 2 GIR. Luckily the weather was glorious and I scrambled well for net par.

drive4show wrote:I'm heading to the course this evening, will either play as many holes as light permits or hit them practice ground in preparation for Saunton this weekend.

It's lovely down here on the south coast right now, roll on 4pm

I know 1 or 2 of you are at Saunton - I hope the weather stays fair and the wind calm for you all.

May your balls stay where you put them.

It really surprises me that the junior officer was like that - i heard from a friend whose daughter has just joined a club in Kent that the club get £400 from Kent Golf Union for every girl that joins the club. As my friend still paid about £100 for her membership that makes the club £500 up - surely a reason to be encouraging girls!

First round of a 5 round competition that runs all summer today. Best 3 Stableford scores of 5 count

Not a disasterous day but nothing great. Just one of those days where nothing really happened for me (apart from a couple of putts to save a point on bad holes)

No blobs in the round but only 31 points (leader was 41 when I left) so I'll be up 0.1 again.

Can't complain though - played pretty steadily, just needed short game to be a bit sharper.

Monday is a mixed texas scramble which should be fun though it will be a long round. I'm teamed with 2 low handicappers and a pretty good lady so the pressure will be on me to get 4 tee shots under my belt!

Well today i managed to get under the hundred and had 6 birdie putts, all missed but delighted to have so many.

There was a few disastrious holes including a par 3 were i went bunker bunker bunker ( 3 different bunkers) and carded a 7 and last hole were i took 5 shots from 20 yards as knew i was on for a good score (for me) and so bottled it a little.

Lots of positives to take into tommrorows round though.

bounce game only today -

managed to hole most of the putts missed on wednesday to shoot +1.

-2 for the four par 5s, -1 for the ten par 4s [nine pars and a bird - very pleased with this in particular] but frustratingly +4 for the four par 3s.

bring on tuesday's medal.

Is that +1 nett or scratch? either way sounds like a positive round.

Had an email from mrs Mav about Mavette(my daughter). She has taken full advantage of her school holidays and nailed her first handicap on Friday she was given a handicap of 23(22.7exact) and at 11years old already puts her inside of top 15 ladies in the club,(she went through every ladies handicap on the board and checked!) That's the downside of working away from home now and again your not there for things that matter and mean something to your young ones.

Anyway the email went onto say she competed in her first junior medal at the club saturday and she shot a round of 90 net 69 her lowest yet and finished 2nd of which she is proud and so am I. I'm also told she has entered us in the annual Parent/Child comp which is next Sunday, so I arrive back in the country early friday, best get my practice on out here. But more importantly the CSS for her medal if mrs Mav is correct should be level par 72 so that would mean a cut of 1.2 for mavette and a new handicap of 21.3 bless her

That's amazing Mav. You must be a very proud Dad

It would take a brave man to bet against you two in the parent/child contest

scratch mac, though only off the yellows. hitting the ball fairly well at the mo, but not doing much on the greens so anything in and around par is really pleasing.
had a lesson last weekend focussing on alignment which has been way way out. feet were pointing a long way right of the target and shoulders a long way left. recent games i've been getting a lot of approach shots pin high but in the rough either side of the green. last 2 rounds since the lesson i've been hitting the greens but not putting great - amnesia from winter greens.

Good stuff bam bam. If you dont mind me asking, what is your handicap. With those scores you will surely be getting cut pretty soon.



Mav

Is your daughter the next Michele Wie?

Next michelle wie no way, she wants to emulate her idol Yani Tseng not a bad golfing idol to have but whatever she does I'd be proud of her, she's a credit to her mum after all the time I spent away with the army and my work. Can't wait to get back and have a competitive round with her. But first I will be out on the blue monster tomorrow is a bit lonely though being away from the family at easter

cheers mac. started the season off 8 but down to 7 after the first 2 counting comps. expecting more cuts to follow as i'm playing a different game to the one i played last season. 3 lessons since february have been a revelation.

Wasn't bad today. 40 for the front and 34 back. Played the threes very well but missed a lot of tee shots left. I putted like a god which helped including a monster up and over a ridge.

Today started 5,4,3,5 and finished 5,3,5.

Need to get consistency wth my irons and stop getting frustrated if i have a bad hole.

Still i can see good improvements through regular playing of 2 - 3 times a week.

I need some advice for tomorrow (or maybe it is whoever gets the nod as captain of our team who needs advice)

I'm playing in a texas scramble - yes it's a "fun" event but we also want to do well.

I'm playing off 21 and in my team is a lady golfer off 24 (who apparently is quite useful), plus a 6 and 8 handicapper. At the moment my short game is quite sharp and I would hope to be able to contribute on and around the green, but with all scrambles, I need to get 4 tee shots selected. On a good day I can be relatively straight, but painfully short off the tee. It will need a strong captain of the team to see this and get my tee shots in early. Any advice what I can say to them on the first tee? I don't want to appear TOO stressed about it or too serious (it is after all meant to be a fun event), but I feel we could be quite a strong team if I can just get those 4 tee shots under my belt early

Davie. First thing being short isn't an issue. Par 3's are usually good in a scramble for a short straight hitter. If you can get it on or around those then happy days. Otherwise there must be a few short fours. Let everyone else go then just knock one down. If its a 9 iron in then no problem if they might leave a wedge.

Last. Don't let them use all the wildcards early on. Having to take one persons drive the last two holes ruins scores.

Remind me how are handicaps used in texas scrambles, not played one for years?

team handicap is 1/10th of combined total.

Net scores will be taken with those fractions of 1/10th taken into account

davie,
we had a scramble last week and the winning team had a combined handicap of 71 [i.e. 7.1]. i think how a team performs in a scramble is more about how many putts they hole than anything else. remember to give all the putts a good go. even if you're missing them you will be giving the low guys a good read. as far as driving is concerned, don't try and batter them to keep up with the longer team members. just go for reliable drives up the middle. our team last weekend included a 20, 14, and two 7 handicappers. we teed off in that order so the higher guys had less pressure on them knowing they could rely on us to find the short stuff. lj is right, best not to leave anyone needing a drive off the last 2 or 3 holes. surprised you all need 4 drives - our comp we needed a min of 3 each? all in all, scramble's are great fun, a good chance to play with some new faces and make you feel great about your golf with some nice birdies! the 20 handicapper in our group took great delight in pointing out every time his ball was inside mine on the green!

Thanks LJ and ban_bam for the advice. I have played in scrambles before and agree they are really good fun - and also gives me a chance to play shots from some positions I've never been in before (the same applies to the low handicappers of course)

My putting has been fairly good recently (though ones I have missed have tended to be short which I MUST try to get over today to give the ball a chance every putt)

I'm pretty sure it's 4 drives per person (not three) - really does make it tough having only those two "extra" holes in reserve. Last time I played a scramble we had a 4 handicapper with us who was brilliant at enouraging us, but one of my regular playing partners (good friend and simimlar standard to me) was also in the team so picking the tee shots became a bit of a friendly contest between me and him.

The weather here is beautiful and it's going to be another warm one. I'm off to the course in about an hour and all I need to do it try not to think about those tee shots!

"Last time I played a scramble we had a 4 handicapper with us who was brilliant at enouraging us"

key to a good team mentality is encouragement from all quarters and not getting overly frustrated with those missed opportunities - its very difficult to take them all!

[have a good one by the way!]

Played first round of 3 at Doral. Played the Blue Monster from mens competition tee's (not the ones the PGA tour use those weren't allowed) so course was a total of 453yards shorter than the set up for the Tour event. (Hoping to get dispensation to play from tour tees on my last round thursday)

Despite having a slightly furry brain from the Bourbon I'd been drinking like water everything went pretty good not many birdies just the 3 in fact and I'd had 3 bogies too standing on tee at 18 hit a cracking drive with a nice soft draw to finish centre cut. Pin was devilishly tucked in back left tight to the water and you seriously see how sloping that green is toward the water when you play it now I could of played safe and hit right of the flag 2 putted for a safe round of level par but no I had visions of being like greg norman winning on the blue monster and went right at it came up short and wet! Took a penalty drop and got up and down for a score of +1 for the full 18 and despite this final bogey I'm very happy with that round

Only managed to squeeze one round in so far this year.

Was 2-3 weeks ago and was my first round since October. Amazingly it was my best round since i started playing again last year. An 88. Whats even more amazing is that my usual excellent driving was a shambles. Well shambles is maybe a bit harsh. They were going straight enough, but couldn't seem to get any loft in them so was losing a good 40 - 50 yards.

My short game more than mad eup for it. Almost chipped in on several occasions including hitting the flag on the first.


My putting was a bit hit and miss which is normal, but overall, very chuffed and things looking good for this season.

Just to clarify, an 88 put me +2 my handicap of 20 but my handicap was put together by 3 merit cards so not really a true handicap yet.

Well the Texas Scramble went just fine today in perfect conditions. We never challenged for the prizes mainly due to the fact that none of us could buy a putt. The only long putt holed by our team in 18 holes was to scramble a par on the long, difficult par 4 SI 1 hole

However, we did have 3 kick-in birdies and only one bogey for a net 62. Winner was something like 57.4!

My own personal problem with getting 4 tee shots off was helped by the fact the men were only playig off the yellow tees which gave me a reasonable chance on some of the more difficult driving holes and in fact I had 3 of my mandatory 4 tee shots by the 7th hole! After that the driving went a bit wayward for a while and I ended up getting my 4th on the 16th (a long, nasty par5 that we were never going to reach in two anyway). In fact, though I thought I'd hit a decent drive it got a nasty sideways bounce into a shallow fairway bunker but the two good players were confident enough that they could get reasonable distance out of it that they took my drive anyway - meaning all 4 of us had got our 4 drives and the last two holes were "freebies". Our only bogey followed that and then a third kick-in birdie on the last at least left us feeling pretty happy. Great weather and good company. Ideal for a Bank Holiday Monday

Getting those drives done is a key to scrambles. And you were hardly a long way off the pace. Particularly if putting was a problem.

Suggest this to your club. Next time makes each player mandatory on a par 3. And give a quota for approach shots. It makes a huge scoring difference!

'And give a quota for approach shots.'

to be honest, i think this format is best kept simple. 4 tee shots each seems a little steep to me. 3 is about right. as for quota for approach shots, that just complicates things - tactics on tee shots is enough of a headache as it is! winner of our scramble last weekend shot 63 [par72] for a nett 55.9 - not a huge difference to davie's club winners with 57.4 despite the extra headache of 4 drives each. our team finished 2nd with 62 for a nett 57.2. one of the guys from the winning team said they were holing out from all over the place. we hit every GIR but only holed 1 putt outside 10ft.

tuesday medal today. high hopes after one over 73 bounce game at the weekend. arrived a little late so warm up was restricted to 15 mins chipping and 10 mins putting with a few hits in the practice net. ball striking for the first 9 holes was abysmal and dropped 6 shots including a three 3putts from distance. turned the corner on the back nine, birdie chances on 7 holes, got 3, to finish with a 77. pleased with the back nine and should have knocked another 0.4 off the handicap so a decent days work all told. next medal on saturday, won't make the same mistake not warming up properly.