Bulldog2k's Journal

slater170 · #46 (**permalink**) 06-03-2007, 08:03 AM

"The weather was appalling, as predicted, and still is today. Nevertheless, I HAVE to get out there again today to remind myself I can still do this. As long as I can..?

Maybe I can't? Maybe I'm just sh1t in competitions. I know, I know, I shouldn't think like that."

nice job dog!
it's all downhill from here buddy

bdbl · #47 (**permalink**) 06-03-2007, 01:26 PM

Great round.

Quote:

Originally Posted by slater170

it's all downhill from here buddy

Well maybe not all down hill but Slats and I, and doubtless others, can testify that every PB or other kind of break through stands an excellent chance of being followed by a total mare - after the Lord Mayor's and all that.

All you can do is accept it, shrug your shoulders and move on to the next improvement.

Which reminds me.

In the search of the next breakthrough how do you deal with a scoring plateau? Although (sometimes

at least) I feel that I'm playing much better my scores just aren't improving

slater170 · #48 (**permalink**) 06-03-2007, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdbl

Great round.

Well maybe not all down hill but Slats and I, and doubtless others, can testify that every PB or other kind of break through stands an excellent chance of being followed by a total mare - after the Lord Mayor's and all that.

All you can do is accept it, shrug your shoulders and move on to the next improvement.

Which reminds me.

In the search of the next breakthrough how do you deal with a scoring plateau? Although (sometimes

at least) I feel that I'm playing much better my scores just aren't improving

funny you should post that robin!
just got back from the course, i played 18 solo, as i was walking the fairway on the 16th after a good drive and im on course for a nett par round i started to think where am i going to improve my game so that my scores will drop.

any way scored 92 less my h/cap of 22 = nett par 70

BrianW · #49 (**permalink**) 06-03-2007, 06:29 PM

Bulldog,

I am so pleased for you, that's fantastic, bet you feel like a bulldog with two tails

Treasure the moment and look forward to the next. Well done mate!!

Scragger63 · #50 (**permalink**) 06-04-2007, 12:02 AM

GREAT JOB Bulldog..!!!

Enjoy the moment, take the win, then back up and do it all over again...

Cheers

bulldog2k · #51 (**permalink**) 06-04-2007, 05:32 AM

Thanks all

Golfing life (and, indeed, life in general) is pretty good at the moment.

Correction: HC down to 25.8 because the CSS was lower than I thought. Bugger! That's a little bit disappointing, but hey, no sweat.

The bag was Skymax Golf Skymax XPS Cart bag and I have to say, it's very very smart!

Magnetic pockets, cooler pocket, waterproof cover that folds back in. I feel spoilt rotten. Normally, I play with a stand bag because I feel I'm getting more exercise, but I really want to use this bag because I think it's such a nice reminder of Captain's Day!

So I'm going out today to get a trolley. I bounced the idea off the girlfriend last night just before I went to sleep that electric trolleys are only £80 on Ebay, but I obviously didn't wait until she was sleepy enough, because I was briskly told that a £20 pull trolley would be fine, and the other £5 of my winnings could go on flowers for her.

That'll learn me

bulldog2k · #52 (**permalink**) 06-05-2007, 05:32 AM

Another 18 today; 88, a net -4; 9 out of 12 fairways, (5/6 with driver), 31 putts, 24 feet of sunk.

I had the previously unknown feeling of playing 4 holes for par in a row, giving me 6 holes for +2. Shame I went bulemic on two holes in that 9!

That round would have brought me HC down to 24 - shame it wasn't in competition!

I then played another 13 holes, just for badness, and one of them I hit my longest ever drive - don't laugh! - like I say, I'm not a big hitter, but it was up a big hill, 230 - guess it must have been 250-260 on the flat. Was very pleased.

A round with my weekend matchplay partner this morning. Feel like I want to impress him, but the nice thing about the Captain's Day, is that at the moment, I don't feel like I now have to prove myself, and that's a bit of a weight off my shoulders, if you see what I mean.

bulldog2k · #53 (**permalink**) 06-08-2007, 07:44 PM

Folowing someone else's post about google earth, this is the course;

It's hard to get a feel from an aerial view, but I figured it was better than nothing

BrianW · #54 (**permalink**) 06-08-2007, 08:21 PM

Those greens look tightly guarded

bulldog2k · #55 (**permalink**) 06-08-2007, 08:50 PM

I think it's a fascinating course history; it's a muni course, and as far as I'm concerned, proud of it. Whilst steering clear of the whole ethical 'golf for the people' argument here, I think the brilliant job Entry Hill does for the masses in a sense slightly undermines itself in terms of how good a course it actually is.

What isn't shown from the photo above is how steeply the course slopes from the right of the picture downhill to the left. Even the drop on the seventh hole itself is substantial.

When CONGU originally assessed the course 20-odd years ago, all the trees were saplings. Holes like the 6th were a big bitting draw downhill with some twigs in the way. Accordingly, SSS was placed at 61 with par 66. Since then, those twigs have grown. This decade's course record is 63, and the SSS is 61 - go figure. The committee want CONGU to come out and re-assess, but in the meantime, it's a bit of a farce - on paper it loks like a really easy course, but even our local wunderkind heading for the tour (or so he hopes!) says he would never play a HC card here - there's too much to go wrong!

I love the course; you don't have to be long, but you REALLY have to be straight

And the job our legendary greenkeeper Dave does, on the budget he has, is nothing short of astonishing.

bulldog2k · #56 (**permalink**) 06-08-2007, 08:57 PM

Also - the 7th

350 yards, SI 1

If you look at the photo, you can see how differently the hole would play if the tee were 20 yards further north - then, it would be a 'grip it and rip it' hole.

In fact, that's exactly how it was. The house on the western extremity of the photo, just north of the green, has a great number of mis-matching tiles from Happy Gilmore types stepping up to have a punt at it. Even though the owner is a keen golfer, in the end he explained his frustrations to the committee and they moved the tee to make it a completely different (and better) hole.

Occasionally, someone rolls up and tries to draw the green, but I still haven't seen it happen - for most of us, it's a 160 yard lay up, and a big 2nd shot downhill into a slopey green. Good hole, though I have to hate it!

bulldog2k · #57 (**permalink**) 06-09-2007, 08:42 PM

It's the club foursomes event tomorrow. My partner and I played a practice knock on Thursday and it wasn't a thing of beauty from either of us. I was very dissatisfied with my putting, and he didn't exactly play to his 13 HC, so I jumped on the course after work tonight to get some last minute practice.

1st tee shot slides right over the trees on to the fourth fairway, and when I get to it, I realise how lucky I am to have got away with it - it's gone a long way up, and I have a clear pitch in to the green. I overcook it slightly, but chip it back to three feet and make the putt for par - hey, that's a good start!

2nd is a clean shot but short, chip and 2 putt for bogey; 3rd I smack right in to the trees, but I see it drop. It takes me ages to find until I realise I've parked my trolley right over it. I try an optimistic 3I bump and run, and leave it in the same rough. Idiot! I get it back on the FW, but overcook it, leaving me a nasty pitch over the bunker. I play it, I like to think, quite stylishly, and two-putt for a 6. Could have been worse.

4th; on the green, 2 putt. Par 3.

5th; The drive is long but looks to bounce right. I get there and it's held on the fairway. I shove a cleanly and slowly swung 8I on to the green and 2 putt for a really clean hole

6th; 5W flies long and straight. Better, the following 8I is on the green! It's a long putt, and I have to think about it, but I get it to 4 feet, and putt again to put it in the hole for a really pleasing par.

Wait. This is crazy. According to The Plan, I should be stood on the 7th tee for between 28-30. I'm here for 25

I get stuck behind a fourball on the 7th but they ask if I want to play through. I draw the 5 iron nicely, and get a lucky bounce left. So, feeling good and in form, I try a fairway 5W to the green. D'OH!! Make good contact but it goes straight and right, in to one of the trees. I search frantically, very aware that I don't want to hold the group up, but also aware I don't want to do anything stupid and wreck this round.

Just before I give up, I find it. In the dry water hazard, on the far bank. I try a really dumb shot - try to punt it low through the branches of the trees, and get away with it. I'm at the front of the green for 3. The chip on is way long, but I get the 1st back to 3 feet and hole it for a 6. That's ok.

8th; the drive is long and straight, so I take the 8I and make great contact, but it's slightly fat, and I look up to see it heading left. Has it got the legs to clear the bunker? It whacks into the face, and drops straight in.

No, it hasn't, apparently...

I splash the bunker shot out, and it feels good - kind of 'just like it should', if you know what I mean. 2 putt for a bogey 5.

On to the par 3 nineth; slow easy 9I, feels good, straight at the pin. I'm surprised it has the legs it has - 20 feet past. Still on the dancefloor. I putt back to 2 feet - feel the pressure - hole it. Almost shaking, I enter the score into my mobile - 39!! COME ON!!!!!!!

6 over par, a personal best for 9 holes.

Thethought occurs to me that I don't need to go mad on the back 9. I'm unlikely to shoot 39 again, and what I should concentrate on is sensible golf - just batten down the hatches, and hold it together.

I take a quick drink, psych myself up, a tee up for the 2nd half.

D'OH!! Sliding well right - think I was guilty of trying to hit that too hard. It's a good thirty yards right when it hits wood and bounces back on to my fairway. Go figure...

I intend to capitalise on this. The 9I is short, and at the bottom of the towering bank above me. I chip sweetly to 1 foot, stand over it pleased with myself - and MISS IT!!! How stupid. A bogey 5. Idiot.

A clean GIR par 3 on the 11th, and the tee shot on the 12th is straight, left and long. When I get there it's right up against a tree. I try to thread it back on the fairway but play pinball in the trees. The third shot isn't much more appealing, but I get it out, to leave another nice SW over the same bunker and another 2 putt for another double bogey 6.

I thin the 13th tee shot badly, and that's the first duffer full swing I've hit. It disappears down the big banked wood at the back, and I know I'm unlikely to see that again. The provo goes on the green, but a long way away. When I can't find the first, I three putt the provo for an immensely irritating triple bogey 6.

The 14th is better. Driver slides right again - WHY am I trying to drill it? It's halfway up a bank, which I knock forwards to get a lovely clean 9I on to the green. 2 putt for a pleasing bogey 5.

15th; 5W off the tee again. It doesn't feel like a teeing ground so much as a launch tunnel, and I shove it high and right. There's the sound of much breaking foliage, before it bounces back on to the fairway again, but very short. I clip a clean 8I off the turf, and it nestles in the quite heavy rough on the bank opposite the green. I try an optimistic punt with an 8I and inevitably hoik it left. Yeah, but there's a right bounce down there - is it going to take it? It does, wobbles up the ridge along the top of the bunker, teeters on the drop -

- before inexorably dropping in.

I remember how good the bunker shot earlier felt, but this one is much more hardpacked. I smack it. It drops back in. I smack it again. It drops back in. I smack it again so hard I feel a slight twinge in my lower back, which probably isn't good, and it gets out, from which I 2 putt for an 8. Goddamn...

Now the wheels feel like they're falling off. I don't care about not playing as well as I did earlier but this is just stupid.

I step on to the '7th' tee again for 33. Wait - that can't be right. I check it again. It is.

I curse to myself, before drilling the 5I again. Again, I get the draw, and it looks great, if long.

It is long - long enough to roll off the fairway into the rough before the fairway bunker. The lie isn't too bad; I figure I can get a 5W behind it - about 150 from the flag, but it's downhill. I choke the club right down, and half swing.

Click. It's nice - left, but nice. Hmm. The bunker's left. Stay out. STAY OUT!! It rolls ,and rolls, up over the ditch, up towards the bunker, up over the ridge along the top - teeters - and rolls down the other side on to the green, still 25 feet away on a tough green, but a GIR is a real bonus.

Can I 2 putt this? I shake the idea out of my head. I must. The speed looks good; it rolls up the hill on my side before the 3 feet of borrow start - it rolls - closer - closer - REALLY CLOSE - and drops.

I sit down on my haunches and laugh - birdie'nig the SI 2 now. How ridiculous!

So I step on to the 17th feeling a little better. I've noted before how this is one of the few remaining shots that has the capability to wreck this round. Just need to get it on the FW.

I feel myself turn through it too much, and hit it straight left, in to the trees. I see it drop - should be able to find it, but play a provo anyway. Inexplicably, I feel myself trying to smack it, and it sstarts straight, and then slides right a lot. Probably in the dry water hazard or worse...

Go to the first ball. Can;t find it. Look and look and look.

This sucks. How am I throwing this away?

In the end, I give up, and realise I'm unlikely to find the provo either. At this stage I wonder if I can get a personal best in the 'long bag toss' event, but then I find it - much longer than I thought - particularly as it was fading badly.

I knock it back on with a PW, then a 9I to the green, 2 putt for a 7. If the first ball hadn't been OB, the 5 that it would have been would have been great - but I remind myself, not for the first time, that 'ifs' are no good in golf.

So I find myself stood on the 18th for 82. I'm realistically looking for a 3 or 4 here. I'd love to shoot 85, but 86 would still beat my PB.

9I; slow and easy. It slides a little right, but that's ok, the bank will bring it back on. It does, but by God it's rolling further than I thought. 25 feet deep, but still on the dancefloor. I really want to 2 putt this. Gulp.

I hit it and it's always right, but feels ok. It ends up 2 feet away, and I feel pretty good. It's kind of a twitchy one... I stand over it - hit it - and it just shaves the hole left, and misses. Damnit. Hole it for a bogey 4, and a back 9 of 47 and a PB of 86.

Hmm. I reflect on that. Why do I feel so annoyed at getting a PB? I think if I'd shot the 47 first and then the 39, I'd have been delighted.

But hey - I putted much, much better, and a PB is always good, I guess. Some of those shots in the back 9 baffle me - I can't work out what I was thinking. Now, it's like watching someone else play. And, more than anything, it's a nice reminder about the importance of mental discipline, which in the back 9, was kind of lacking.

Good preparation for tomorrow though - bring it on!!

snowman · #58 (**permalink**) 06-09-2007, 11:13 PM

I am enjoying your journal. Sounds like you really dig in and scramble out every birdie/par/bogie. Good on you for getting your PB. I think it is natural to say "yay 86, but it could have been x if I hadn't done y and z". I do the same. Enjoy the score. I wish I could play as often as you, sounds like you are getting better and better with the flatstick, keep up the good work.

bulldog2k · #59 (**permalink**) 06-12-2007, 05:45 AM

At the end of yesterdays tournament, one of the guys was saying, "Doesn't matter how well you play, doesn't matter if you play the best you've ever played, you will always have a few shots where you think - if only I'd..." I'm certain he's right, and I'm certain that however good I ever get, that will never go away.

So, the tourney; I get there early, and am in the last group again! GAH!! Oh well. It's foursomes, and we're playing three balls - ie; six players. Feels like I'm in a coach party! Me to drive on odd numbered holes, and by God, I feel nervous. I cream my drive right up the middle - everyone is very nice about it. Good start.

We play well. We've decided the magic number for us is 81 (that's 15 over par, 20 over SSS, and our 'combined' HC is 19.5).

I chip nicely on the 2nd, but we still 2 putt.

Nice long driver from me on the 3rd, that just bounces left in to the edge of the trees but is ok. My partner flirts way closer to the bunker than he intended, but we end up five feet away. I have the pressure birdie putt - but make it

Par on the fourth, par on the fifth. Even par after five holes is great, but on the sixth, disaster. My partner plays a great drive, and I thin the approach along the ground in to the bunker. A world class **** shot. Partner doesn't get out, I thump it and hit it probably 20 feet into the densely wooded bank on the left. I can't believe it. We're never going to find that. We wait. The bloody thing rolls down a rabbit track to 6 feet away from where we two putt for a 6.

The 7th is no better - 7 - and the eigth again is a heavy-weather 6. I'm a bit far from the flag on 9 but we chip on and 1 putt for a 3. 40. That's ok, still on our target.

10th - partner's drive not a thing on beauty but up the middle. My 6 iron not a thing of beauty but on the green. Partner misses another do-able birdie, and I can see how annoyed with himself he is, but console him - we're doing fine.

My tee shot from the 11th - straight at the flag. 2 putt, par.

Par the 12th, 13th, 14th.

Stand on the 15th, my most hated tee shot. 5W high and right, bugger. Mike knocks it out, I take a well hit 8I that hits the trees then rough. Unlucky. Partner doesn't get it out, I do. Up and down for 6. Yuk.

His tee shot on the 16th is great. I take the fairway 5W for the green, hit it sweet. Afterwards he laughs - he was going to tell me not to play a fairway wood but decided to put a lid on it and was glad he did!. Chip and 2 putt for a 5.

17th. As I always say, one of the last few shots that's a nasty mind-tickler. I hoik it straight left towards the trees. We're lucky to have it playable. MIke knocks it out, I top it towards the green. Our fourth shot is just over the back, I play a majestic chip that looks in all the way, 15" past. A 6, and it could have been much much worse.

Mike's 18th tee shot 15 feet past but on the dance floor. I really don't want to mess this up, put it to one foot, par.

79. Really good, very pleased. We both hit some great shots and some duffers, and from both of us, the good out weighed the bad.

Made 2nd place, lost first by two shots. Hey ho.

Good day and enjoyed it very much

bulldog2k · #60 (**permalink**) 06-12-2007, 10:21 PM

Gah. Just lost a lot of typing. Oh well...

Suffice to say - this morning I re-evaluated my gols for the year...

1) Bogey golf (a) - 18 over par
2) Bogey golf (b) - 18 over SSS
3) Half bogey golf (a) - 9 over par
4) Half bogey golf (b) - 9 over SSS
5) The above in competitive play
6) Single figure HC

Gulp!!

I was totally on for target 1 ^^^^ but just lost it on the 17th today, but ended up with a +20 - a joint PB of 86. Happy days - really enjoying my golf at the moment

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