I played 9 holes this morning before work and I started out hitting alright, but by the end was absolute garbage. After a 3 putt bogey on the 6th , I was standing on the par three 7th tee with a 31. Bogey-bogey-bogey finish would have given me 45 which would not have been too shabby. Was able to write a 4 on the card for the 7th hole.

Walked off the 9th green with a 52

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Quintero Golf Club tomorrow and TPC Scottsdale Championship course on Friday.

Did manage to get in 13 holes at Deerfield a week ago and hit the ball well all things considered. had some good shots with the wrong clubs and my short game distance was hit or miss, but those are good problems to have first round of the year. 46 on the front with all pars and doubles and one bogey outlier. parred the first 3 holes on the back and 3 putt bogeyed the final hole for a really nice 1 over finish and some good momentum heading into Scottsdale.

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Have a good trip shakes. I had a nice visit with my mom in Charlotte and got to play the 20 year old blades I keep at her house. Had a 78 the first day and played better than I honestly thought I would. Shot 85 the next day and kid you not, lipped out the first 6 holes in a row from various distances. Didn't even make a par on the front nine. I am positive I'd never lipped out that many holes in a row and the not even a par thing likely not since high school sometime. 46-39. Have 14 rounds in for the season and no plans to go anywhere until a work trip in early August. Still have 3 weeks of vacation not spoken for so I'll be watching weekend forecasts like a hawk moving forward. If I know a Saturday or Sunday is going to be a washout, might need to use a 1/2 day on Friday to get the golf in.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Played my first match in my club's single elimination match play bracket style tournament today. I was down the whole match and 2 down after 13. I won 3 of the last five holes to win 1 up. The turning point was on 16 - a par 3 over the river. I was still 1 down. I went first and put it in the river after popping it up. He did the same with a weak fade. From the same drop area about 70 yards out I put it to 3 feet and got up and down for a 4 and he made a 5. I won 17 and ended up making a great bogey on 18 after a tee shot that went off the map. He 3 putted to halve the hole. Sometimes you have to grind to hang in there!

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Nice job hanging in there Franky. Pretty early in the season for a tournament but that’s great your club does that. I keep kicking around the idea of playing in the county open but I don’t think three 6 hour rounds sounds remotely fun. I do miss playing scrambles but again just love being done by 9am

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

A little cool in the early morning this weekend but shorts and light jacket or pull over still works for me. I should have some time to get out to a driving range this afternoon and I really need to hit a bucket with these new irons. I didn't think it would be an issue buying clubs with the same shafts as my previous set but they don't seem to react the same with the 5 thru 7 iron. Thinking it might be the way I'm setting up to the ball as more times than not hitting those clubs on the toe. Should have gotten fit but when I found out the fitting wouldn't go towards the purchase of new irons then I just ordered online and pulled the trigger on them. Had an AHA moment last weekend and severely opened up my putting stance which is how I did it when I was younger and seemed to help me see the line better and get better speed on lags. Hope you guys are able to get out there.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Great couple rounds in Arizona.

Started at Quintero Golf Club. #200 off season and worth every penny. Beautiful desert course where you never see any hole but the one you are on and the fairways and greens were surrounded by thick desert and lots of mountains. Super fast fairways, course was super hard. Kicked our ass, but the rare course that kicks your ass but you love every minute of it. A definite must play if you are anywhere near it and can afford it. Shot 97 and would love to go back. No complaints since I had only played 13 total holes this year prior to this round.


Next day we played TPC Championship course which is accross the street from the Stadium course. Also $200 off season and a total rip off. Course was fine, but it looks and plays like a $80 course around here. But it was perfect for our needs as it was 10 minutes from our rental house and we were able to get the first tee time of the day. We flew out there and finished in 3.5 hours. Separated ourselves from he 3some behind us by a 1.5 holes. Much better there as two of our guys broke 80 and I shot an 82.

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Glad you had a good trip and sounds like you hit the ball well after not getting out much this spring.

I've been monkeying around with my backup driver and decided after 4-5 rounds with it that I would just go back to my regular one. I always start the season with putter #3 and then go to #2 for a while. Next weekend I'll put the #1 back in and then see how things go. Feel like I found a little something with my irons so the plan is to keep working on those. There is a small driving range near my house and probably try to get there once a week. New hybrids holding their own as well. Liking the set up overall.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

My club started a Thursday afternoon/evening 9 hole team league this year. It's handicapped stroke play with 6 points for each match. 2 points for each individual match (lows/highs play each other) and 2 points for the net team score. I am proudly 4-0 in individual matches with average gross of 40.3 and average net of 34.8 (par 35). As a team we are 2 points behind the leaders. I've never been a fan of 9 hole rounds but this has been a lot of fun. And honestly 9 holes after work ain't bad.

As a side note I bought a new driver. Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond that I absolutely love. It's the first driver I've bought that I can honestly say has changed my game. At least 10 yards farther and forgiving as hell.

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Sounds great Franky. Nothing better than finding a driver you have confidence in and performs. I’m looking forward to teeing it up Sat-Mon this weekend

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

We've had a nice stretch of weather going here with no end really in sight. Hoping you guys are getting out there to tee it up. Personally I'm a bit behind where I would like to be with rounds in this year. Usually shoot for at least 20 by Memorial Day and currently sitting at 19. Will likely start using some half days on Friday or Monday mornings and then go into the office after that. I'll be out of town for a work event in August and miss two weekends for that. The game is coming along ok and put the starting putter back in the bag last weekend and it sprang to life immediately for me. Biggest thing ruining my scorecard lately have been double bogies that seem to pop out of nowhere. If I can get rid of those then the scores should be back in the range I would like to be.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Some areas of courses are definitely starting to get a little crunchy. Playing in the afternoon or evening this time of year can mean lightning quick greens. A rain day would be most welcome TBH.

I played last Saturday morning on a short, tight par 65 course and didn't break 100. It was quite pathetic. I wish I knew WTF was wrong because I would have fixed it a while ago. Only one 3 putt which was nice. No plans for 18 until Father's Day weekend which only mildly sucks beacuse with the way my game has been maybe its a good thing. Will likely play at least 9 one of the next two weekends.

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The greens at my place are harder than I have ever seen them. One of the grounds crew was telling us they are keeping them this way in the hopes of mitigating all the ball marks that no one ever fixes. I try to fix at least 3 on every green and it doesn't make a dent in the total number. Pretty pathetic. Same guy was also saying they were dumping almost a million gallons of water on the 45 holes a day to keep it from completely drying out. The rough has been grown long as well and that helps keep the beatings the greens take. Definitely could use some rain here sometime soon, I just don't see anything near me until maybe next weekend.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

being treated to a round at White Deer Run this afternoon. A little disappointed because we couldn't get a tee time at The Glen which I've never played.


Playing with a physical therapy rep I'm buddies with and some ortho doc he wants me to meet.

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Never teed it up at White Deer but enjoy. Should be a nice day out there.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

drove to the course and it started pouring rain and temp dropping. Pulled an audible and went back to the office. If I'm gonna take time off from work it's not gonna be for a day like that.

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What is this 'rain' you speak of?

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Golfed Sunday (sucked) hitting range today. Got my tee time for Saturday morning and another for the next week when I go to Outer Banks NC. Summer is about to open up.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

How has the driver been? Been able to mitigate the slice at all?

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Many many times I drive things of beauty. Others my drive has become a banana ball starting left going far but eventually curving right. Sometimes ends in the middle others I might as well have sliced lol. Work in progress is short answer. No dubs, grass burners or things like that so it is more forgiving. Range tonight got tied up last evening.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Might be a bit rainy up here on Sunday morning. Still would like to get out there if it isn't a constant rain and there is no lightning. I have tickets to the local minor league baseball team Sunday afternoon so hoping it clears up for that as I have the company seats behind home plate.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Range went well. I think new driver is a little shorter than previous one. A little close and a slower more deliberate swing helped a lot.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Well well well. Just received an invite to play an outing McHenry Country Club Monday at a cost of $0 to me. The best kind of golf.

I'd better hit the range or play 9 this weekend to get my swing into some semblance of acceptable.

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I had no idea McHenry had a country club. Huh. Must have driven near it 100x on Route 120 and had no idea.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

We had our member-member event today. Handicapped - 9 hole scramble (use 3 drives and 3 second shots each), 9 hole alternate shot, and 9 hole better ball (use both on 3 holes). My partner is 75 and we did pretty darn good. We were club house leaders in our division for a bit. Two divisions and the winner of each have a 3 hole playoff to determine the winner. Once we were beat we left but I'm thinking we finished in the money. We were in red numbers for the first 18 holes and +1 on the last 9. We both missed 3 footers on the last two holes...ouch!

We were paired with 25 and 27 year olds. I remember when I used to be able to hit the golf ball like they did.

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Got out Saturday and probably could have played yesterday but mid 50s, windy and sprinkling didn't sound like much fun. Planning on taking this Friday off to play in the morning. Last two rounds I have had some struggles on the front and then turned it on coming home on the back to salvage good scores. Hoping to put two sides together here in the next few weeks. Really found something with the putter since putting my favorite back in the bag and adjusting my stance.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Taking tomorrow off as I have a late morning doctor appt, but that allows for a quick 18 early. Golf the next 3 days is just what I could use after this week. Really would like to string together two nines and put a red number for 18 up there this year.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Enjoy. I will be here www.invitedclubs.com/clubs/nags-head-golf-links Tuesday 8 something tee.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Looks like a fun place to tee it up. Forecast currently showing at least 50% chance of rain next Tuesday down there, so I hope that changes.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Yeah the beach is always a hit or miss storm thing.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.