Very jealous! One of the few north of Boston courses I have never found an invite onto. Worst thing is I live 4-5 minutes from it and my Uncle's house abuts the course. I have a couple nice weeks ahead for golf while gearing up for Ireland in September. Tomorrow is Ipswich Country Club, then Tedesco and Renaissance the following week, and finishing with a round at Turner Hill.Played Myopia Hunt Club today. Holy shit what a track and experience. That place just oozes history.
I found Myopia to be a better version of Renaissance. I was playing in a business/amateur tourney there (Turkish Airlines World Golf Open) and started quad, double, triple, triple, triple without losing a ball and honestly not even hitting many bad shots. The fescue and bunkers are just incredibly punishing and I found them on the first 5 holes, I think I hit more shots out of fescue and sand than green grass. Settled down and played +10 for the next 13 holes which is much more in line with my game, finishing with a 97 that frankly felt like an 87. It says something that despite playing/scoring awful I still loved the course.Very jealous! One of the few north of Boston courses I have never found an invite onto. Worst thing is I live 4-5 minutes from it and my Uncle's house abuts the course. I have a couple nice weeks ahead for golf while gearing up for Ireland in September. Tomorrow is Ipswich Country Club, then Tedesco and Renaissance the following week, and finishing with a round at Turner Hill.
I'm the same. Plus I've never played a great course when the heat index is under 96.I'm also finding that when I play new courses, especially nice ones, I struggle with nerves and my swing. I think I just revert back to my old ways if I'm not feeling comfortable somewhere, which leads to some real bad play which snowballs on itself.
Like a shitty Patrick ReedI just would have given him the shh finger as I drive away.
There's a few of these guys in every tournament. Congrats!18 is a par 5, we all hit good drives, all hit good 2nd shots to be within wedges from the green. I'm 113 out, hit a gap wedge, and jar it on the fly. Directly into the cup, no bounce, rattled the flagstick hard. I just drop my club and shrug my shoulders and start laughing because at this point it's kind of ridiculous, and I know those guys are probably furious. We go up to finish the hole out (even though it's over), everyone else 2 putts for par and I fix the cup with a huge chunk in it. Meanwhile the member on the other team just walks to his cart and sits down and scowls while the rest of us shake hands. I walk over to shake his hand and semi-apologize and he just says "nice 38" and drives away.
Anyway - amazing weekend, ton of fun, gorgeous weather, good golf, and a decent amount of cash made by us.
Soon enough you won't have to worry about things to such an extent, as your handicap will be calculated from your best 8 of your last 20 scores, including recreation rounds. (It was you I was talking to who hadn't heard about the changes, right? Has your club started to give notice?) Sounds like you've got at least another year under CONGU, though.I was back in action in a regular medal (stroke play competition) at Dunbar today, with a 20+ mph wind blowing out of the southwest consistently through the round. This was a typical Scottish round on an out-and-back layout: easy going out, with a three-quarters wind out of the right, and difficult coming back, with a mostly quartering wind out of the left. Going out I had eight pars and a bogey, and everything seemed pretty easy; I even missed a four-foot birdie putt on the 3rd, albeit after getting very lucky with my tee shot at the par 3. But after a good up-and-down to par the 10th, we turned back into the wind, and I immediately went double-bogey-bogey-bogey-par-double-par-double to shoot 81. The 18th was particularly annoying, as I calculated that I probably needed a bogey to be in the buffer zone and not have my handicap go up by 0.1, and I promptly drove into a fairway bunker and had to pitch out, and then after finding the green with a 2-iron, I three-putted from 40 feet. I'd putted really well for most of the round apart from that short birdie putt, but I gacked the five-footer I left myself at the end.
I don't know how many of you regularly play out-and-back layouts that don't often change directions, but golf is very different when you're playing in the same wind for a number of holes and then change directions and play in the same wind for another number of holes. It's amazing how you adjust your swing to cope with the first wind direction in ways that are entirely unhelpful when you then tack back in a different direction.
Yes, I think it was me...and no, nobody at my club has said anything about this yet. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!Soon enough you won't have to worry about things to such an extent, as your handicap will be calculated from your best 8 of your last 20 scores, including recreation rounds. (It was you I was talking to who hadn't heard about the changes, right? Has your club started to give notice?) Sounds like you've got at least another year under CONGU, though.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoFrzP1u4E8
Yeah, the whole world is going to the new system. There are there other big changes too, the biggest being equitable stroke control and daily calculation rather than revisions. ESC will now be net double bogey for all handicaps. Daily revisions does make the statistical changes for weather interesting but I suspect the changes won't be frequent or large enough to worry about going back to make adjustments after enough people post. There's also likely to be a minimum number of posts for the day to trigger the adjustment.The US is moving to that new system too, right? Is there a good breakdown of how the new math works?
Edit, I found one.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/usga-randa-unveil-new-world-handicap-system-set-to-debut-in-2020
Seems pretty much the same as we have now in the US except that it’s best 8 instead of 10 and match strokes are now calculated off par, not rating.
Also, I’m interested to see how the automatic adjustment based off other players reporting scores works. This is supposed to help account for conditions. Most people wait days to put in their scores. I typically do it once a week. So.. what happens? It’ll go back and update everyone else’s differentials continuously?
Actually the CONGU system used in the UK and Ireland also measures potential - it just measures it differently. If you're a 13-handicapper in the UK and have nine terrible rounds in competition but shoot one 10-over-par round (after CSS adjustments), your handicap will remain exactly the same at the end of the day: each of those nine rounds push your handicap up by 0.1, but the one good round puts you down by 0.9 (3 under net, times 0.3 for being a Category 3 golfer - handicap between 13 and 20). That's more a measure of potential than ability, right?Well, the point of the USGA system, as well as this new one, is not to measure your average scoring capability but your potential. The current R&A system measures your avg by counting each score. IMO it's better for competition to be based off how you play when playing well, rather than an avg day. I'd rather know how good my opponent can be than how good he is on average.
If you're playing matchplay golf focused at all on your strokeplay score and not entirely on your opponent and the hole-by-hole score, you're doing it wrong. Example: if I have a gently downhill six-footer for par and two putts to win the hole, in a matchplay setting I'm absolutely lagging that putt to the hole and removing any possibility of running it three feet by, even if in strokeplay I'd go more decisively for the putt and trust I'd make the comebacker if I miss. Or more likely, my opponent would probably be a dick not to concede a six-footer to me when I've got two putts to win anyway; what do I write on my card then? You're supposed to make your best guess about the score you would have made, right? Six-footers are roughly 50-50 propositions for decent putters...there is no such thing as a best guess at the end of the day.I'm not sure I understand the point about tracking your score in match play. You post long and detailed recaps of your rounds on here. I have a hard time believing you don't always know your score. There's already a system in place for assigning a score on holes you don't finish and I don't believe that's changing.
This much I agree with. But for me, that's why full unification doesn't make a lot of sense. I'd rather have seen a two-track solution implemented - one for countries with a culture of competitive golf, and one for countries without one - and brought them together that way. For example, in the UK we could still only count scores in formal strokeplay competitions, but count something like 4 of your last 10 medal scores as the starting point. The approach being taken is America-centric by necessity...but doesn't America stick its nose in foreign affairs more often than it needs to already?In the US there's not nearly enough competitive golf played to use the current R&A system. To unify, there was really no choice but to go with a modified USGA system.
I used my apple watch for a while, and an app on that. But then eventually just didn't like it anymore, I didn't like the feeling of it on my wrist and felt constrictive, I know many who love the Garmin golf watchs, but they aren't for me. I would say see if a buddy (not going on the trip) has one you can borrow for the long weekend before you throw down the cash.I'm heading there a week from today on our 20 man Ryder Cup trip (we expanded this year). Hoping the courses are in decent shape after today.
Unrelated - has anyone used a GPS watch before? I'm debating get a watch that doubles as a GPS and activity tracker. The Garmin Approach x40 looks intriguing, but I'm worried about wearing it on the course while playing and if it's good enough. Open to other suggestions as well. I don't currently wear a watch of any kind but have in the past (including fitbits etc).
Same deal: I don’t wear a watch and don’t want to so I use SkyDroid on my phone. It was cheap and works well for front/middle/back. You can update the yardage spots for your course via their website too.I'm heading there a week from today on our 20 man Ryder Cup trip (we expanded this year). Hoping the courses are in decent shape after today.
Unrelated - has anyone used a GPS watch before? I'm debating get a watch that doubles as a GPS and activity tracker. The Garmin Approach x40 looks intriguing, but I'm worried about wearing it on the course while playing and if it's good enough. Open to other suggestions as well. I don't currently wear a watch of any kind but have in the past (including fitbits etc).
In general, that's my approach. I prefer to calculate to the middle of the green and think through my shot. When I use a laser I generally just see the number and grab a club without thinking about it, which is rarely correct. I really only need it within 10ish yards anyway, I'm not good or consistent enough to be precise. I know people who laser every single shot, including some from like 30 yards out and I just laugh. Playing by eyeball and feel is often more successful, for me at least.I think I am going to give up GPS stuff, and go back to old school pacing out distances. There is something to be said for being able to eyeball distances. A few years back down in MB, OGGSR and I played at the World Tour. 1 and 9 were replicas of 1 and 18 at St. Andrews. So there is no way you can miss a fairway. SR hit the ball so far left, it was in the right rough on 9 . He got to the ball and his cart GPS said "720 yards to the hole", because he went past hole 1, so it was calculating to hole 2. He said "this looks like a 5 iron" and put it to 20 feet. I am pretty sure he then 4 putted, but that is another story for another day...
I use the Grint to track all my hole by hole scores (and have for years) and I use their GPS in a pinch to get a rough idea, but it's not accurate enough for consistent use. And I hate lugging my phone around.Same deal: I don’t wear a watch and don’t want to so I use SkyDroid on my phone. It was cheap and works well for front/middle/back. You can update the yardage spots for your course via their website too.
I’ll never go back to pacing off distances. GPS is a heck of a lot faster, more accurate, and having distance to front/back is a huge difference maker on some shots. Course markers are also, in my experience, often more inaccurate than the GPS too. Your mileage may vary.I think I am going to give up GPS stuff, and go back to old school pacing out distances. There is something to be said for being able to eyeball distances. A few years back down in MB, OGGSR and I played at the World Tour. 1 and 9 were replicas of 1 and 18 at St. Andrews. So there is no way you can miss a fairway. SR hit the ball so far left, it was in the right rough on 9 . He got to the ball and his cart GPS said "720 yards to the hole", because he went past hole 1, so it was calculating to hole 2. He said "this looks like a 5 iron" and put it to 20 feet. I am pretty sure he then 4 putted, but that is another story for another day...
The "heck of a lot faster" is debatable, for me.I’ll never go back to pacing off distances. GPS is a heck of a lot faster, more accurate, and having distance to front/back is a huge difference maker on some shots. Course markers are also, in my experience, often more inaccurate than the GPS too. Your mileage may vary.
Yes, for years. (For so long, in fact, that the bands on the old-model Garmin have now rotted away...but the watch itself still works, so I just keep it in my pocket.) And not only is it definitely much quicker - particularly when you're playing out of the rough or the wrong fairway - I find it's also more sociable, as you don't have to stop any conversations to concentrate on pacing your yardages. Two thumbs up from me.Unrelated - has anyone used a GPS watch before?
It’s front and back that really matter IMO. Most course yardage is to the middle but what I care about is how far do I need to carry and how much will get me in trouble.The "heck of a lot faster" is debatable, for me.
Scenario 1: I walk up to my ball, pull out my phone, wait for it to find me, calculate the distance
Scenario 2: As I am walking to my ball, I find a sprinkler head, and step it out from there.
FBM... most coursees will have flag colour designating that, or give you a pin book. And honestly, I have come to grips with not being the next Rob Oppenheim. So front/middle/back is really irrelevant 90% of the time
I hit a hole in one on the 17th at the Oaks in 2012. About 40 guys from my club (Andover) used to do an annual Calcutta (2 man teams, with an A/B guy drawn out of a hat, teams are auctioned off, and winning bidder has to sell 50% of a team to the team for half the price if they want to buy a share of themselves, total purse was usually around 75k-100k, yeah it was messy). Hit a perfect 5 iron, one bounce and it rolled in. We got really, really messed up that night. That was my 2nd one, the first one was a worm burner 3 wood from 201 at the 6th at Pine Meadows in Lexington that rolled about 40 yards into the cup, it was the 10th time I'd ever been on a course, so I figured, wrongly, that it must happen a lot.Dude! Congrats. I've vowed to myself I'm going to ace one of the par 3s on the Oaks this year, and I've come REAL close on 13 already.
PM me - I'm a member at the International and have put in probably 25-30 rounds there this year already. We have a group of about 10 of us there, if you ever want to play, let me know. I've had a blast being a member there.
edit: my brother has played Worcester CC many times too so he could fill you in on that one.
It was in better condition last year, at least compared to a few years ago when it looked like they were struggling. I wonder if they’re going to struggle more than most going forward as volume of play declines.Playing Pleasant Valley this afternoon, first time for me there. Hoping the rain holds off. Report will follow the round.
That's amazing. I'd walk that course every day for free if I could. Now you've got me thinking about dropping everything to move to Gullane to become a fulltime caddy.Any of you guys caddy at all? I had a few loops last year around Gullane #1 and am on the Gullane caddymaster's email list, but this year I don't think I'd caddied at all until today - yesterday I had just landed in Zurich (en route to Scotland from Austria) and turned on my phone, and as my plane taxied to the gate I got a mass email asking if anyone who knew the course at Muirfield pretty well was available to help loop for a group there today. I rather quickly volunteered, and wound up spending a perfect morning at Muirfield today with a group of four Brazilian golfers, each of them with a 5 handicap. Such a great golf course - it's not the very first course I'd choose to play if given just one round to play in Scotland, but it's pretty darn close. (I guess my one complaint would be that the par 3s are all just a bit too similar in concept, even if they're all really good holes in and of themselves - and the uphill 13th is truly outstanding.) In contrast, the caddy shack at Muirfield was hilariously dilapidated, with all sorts of mismatched and falling-apart furniture; curiously, there was also a whiteboard on which the pin yardages from the front of the green on each hole had been written, and I had to take a scrap of paper and write them all myself.
I was a bit worried that I'd make an arse of myself for not quite knowing the course as well as I should have done, but apart from giving one bad line off the tee on the semi-blind dogleg par-4 6th hole - where my partner drove exactly where I told him to and wound up just in the right rough - I did pretty well and read the greens almost perfectly throughout, which was encouraging. The next time I play, I think it'd actually help for me to think as a caddy and speak to myself the sort of advice I'd give as a caddy; maybe talking it out like that will help my own putting! I did have a scare on the 18th when I put my golfer's bag down in the rough and kicked one of the legs on its stand out with my foot and heard a small crack...and when I picked the bag up, the leg had snapped in half and came right off. Turns out that it had been broken previously and jerry-rigged back together with an inset wooden rod, and it wasn't a big deal at all, but for a minute there I saw my tip and possibly even my fee disappearing in an instant.