The Asher Invitational | Turning Stone

This past weekend was the inaugural Asher Invitational,* a 54 hole event played out on 3 courses over 2 days at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, NY.

*Despite the tremendous rhetoric suggesting this was an actual big-time invitational tournament, it was basically a golf weekend organized by my friend Kevin, and the field consisted of 4 guys.  But it was fun to play along.  We even had shirts made up.

There certainly was nothing close to even par played over the course of the weekend -- the weather conditions were prohibitive, with temperatures in the low 40s and "heavy mist" on Saturday, and then downpours for the first 5 holes on Sunday.  But I write this not to tell you the ups and downs of my game.  I write this with one simple message:

IF YOU LIKE GOLF, YOU SHOULD GO TO TURNING STONE.

First, let's run through some of the stats:

There are 3 courses at the resort: Atunyote (which hosted the Turning Stone Resort Championship on the PGA tour from 2007-2010), Kaluhyat, and Shenendoah.  All 3 clock in at over 7000 yards from the tips (Atunyote is the longest at 7,482) and have slopes and ratings in what one might consider the "extreme" range (Kaluhyat is rated the toughest at 75.5/150).  In the course rankings world, Golf Digest ranks Atunyote as the #76 public course in the country, with Kaluhyat not far behind at #84; Golf.com/Golf Magazine actually puts Shenendoah higher than the others, coming in at #59 on their "Best Courses You Can Play" list, with Atunyote next at #65.  (In their in-state rankings, golf.com puts Shenendoah #2 and Atunyote #3 behind Bethpage Black in New York; Kaluhyat ranks 16th.)

So I'm not exactly breaking new ground by saying this, but in the immortal words of Sidra on Seinfeld, "They're real, and they're spectacular."

Shenendoah and Kaluhyat are actually located on the resort grounds and share a clubhouse and practice facility; Atunyote is about 5 minutes down the road.  Both sites feature top-notch staff who were there to service our every need -- and they still had a smile on their faces despite the fact that we were literally the only people playing on Saturday afternoon.  The practice range and putting green at the main site are both immaculate, and probably the best I've used other than TPC Boston (we didn't use the facilities at Atunyote, but I'm sure it was of similar quality). 

The first course we played was Kaluhyat, and it's a beast.  We played all the courses from the blue tees, and it would probably be insane to play this one from the blacks.  The par 5's are probably the toughest set on any course I've ever played; other than the very 1st hole there are no birdie opportunities among them.  You can really tell a lot of thought was put into each hole -- and most of that thought was how to make it challenging.  Despite all that, it's the type of course that you marvel at it's challenge, even while it's kicking your ass.  I loved it.

Atunyote was second on our list.  Everything is long there.  Even from the blue tees there are 5 par-4's over 420 yards, and it closes with a 580 par 5 that is all uphill.  Compared to Kaluhyat the course is wide-open, with a more links-style layout.  Fairways are generally wide, but there are ample bunkers that make the navigation difficult, and the dominating feature of the course is a beautiful running brook that comes into play on many of the holes.

Shenendoah was the last course we played, and I have to say I agree with golf.com -- it's the best of the bunch.  The hole variety is impressive, and the course is definitely fair but challenging, with holes that could be played any number of ways bringing both birdie and double bogey into play.

Ultimately, though, it's the conditions that separate Turning Stone from other sites I've been to.  All 3 courses are in perfect shape, with razor-mown fairways, thick punishing rough, and greens that are smooth, fast, and apparently have the greatest drainage in the world.  We were awed standing on the 1st tee on each of the courses -- and still in awe by the 18th each time.

Let's put it this way: the weather was terrible, probably the worst it can be without the course closing, and we had an awesome time.  I can't wait to go back.

The Swing Analysis (2011 Edition)

I know, I know... it's been awhile.  Truth is, I haven't been playing much golf.  And when I have played, it hasn't been very good.  [My last round was at The Links at Union Vale in LaGrangeville, NY.  I actually played fine, but a disastrous 9 on the par-4 11th hole derailed an otherwise decent round.]

The same problem I commented on in my last post has continued -- all my misses are left, and most of them are pull-hooks.  While I was in New York my brother shot some video of my swing.  I think there are still a lot of good features, but let's take a look at some of the problems.

Here I am at the top of the swing with the driver:

On the plus side, I've made a good, full turn, and my weight is where I want it on my back heel.  But my shaft angle and club head is way over-the-line (inside the target line), and the club is completely shut.  In order to get the club back on plane for contact I'll have to come at an outside-in angle (which will lead to a pull), and the closed club face will cause the hook.

Compare that shot to Adam Scott* below:

Rotationally, we're in a fairly similar position, though he tends to stand up at the top of the swing and I tend to squat a bit.  But you can see his shaft angle is exactly in line with the target, and the club head is much more neutral (though still slightly shut).

When I was a scrawny 17-year-old, I figured out how to hit a 300 yard drive -- take the club way inside to generate a ton of rotational torque, swing your weight way back on the take away and hard forward on the downswing, and rip it as hard as you can.  Needless to say, I was not a very consistent golfer.  I have learned over the years how to rotate with a more consistent, compact swing... but I still struggle with my take-away.  Look how far inside I am (again compared to Adam Scott):

You can see without any other images that the natural arc of each of our swings will lead to the positions you see at the top.

Needless to say, there will probably be some bumps in the road if I try to make a big change and get my takeaway more upright, so that may be a project for the offseason.  But at a minimum I have to limit my early rotation so that I can get into a better position at the top... starting now.  I know that I can do that -- just check out my video from 2 years ago; even though I take the club inside at the start, my position is much more on plane at the top.

I know what my problem is, and I know how to correct it.  The only question is if I can do it.

[Here's the full video from last week:]

* CREDIT: Adam Scott images taken from golfdigest.com.

The Mid-Season Analysis

This has been a funny year on the golf course for me.  For some reason I have not been nearly as consistent as I was in the past few years -- I'm still having some good rounds, but I'm having a lot more bad rounds than I'm used to.  My initial thought was that I'm not playing as much, but in looking at it I've actually played only 1 fewer round through July 20th this year than I did last year (27 vs. 28).  Over that time I've had 8 rounds in the 70s (vs. 7 in the 70s through this date last year), but I've had 7 rounds in the 90s (as compared to 5 last year, one of which was at the extremely difficult TPC Boston).

So... what happened?

Well, let's look at some stats:

As you can see, many of the numbers are pretty similar, especially in the short game areas.  Even my par and birdie-or-better percentages are almost exactly the same (which, obviously, means I'm having more blow-up holes this year).  But there's a big difference in fairway percentage, where I'm hitting 16% fewer than last year, and (probably in part due to the fairways being down) greens in regulation are 12% less than 2010.


In order to tease that out a little more I looked at my driver fairway percentage and my 1-hybrid fairway percentage (which are the two clubs I hit off the tee most often).  The 1-hybrid percentage is roughly the same (about 50%), but my fairways hit with the driver is dramatically down (23% worse than last year).  


I think the difference is more philosophical than anything else.  Historically my bad miss off the tee has been the pull-hook; last year I really focused on taking the left miss out of play with the driver, hitting predominantly a fade (which was in general my natural ball flight with all my clubs).  This winter, though, I worked at the range on getting my hands more inside, which has resulted in a little bit of a lower ball flight and a more natural draw.  And the stats again bear that out -- of my misses, 61% are to the left this year (as compared to 49% last year).  I'm guessing that relates to the most telling number: I'm having 3 penalty shots per round this year, vs. only 2.1 per round last year.


It looks like going forward I'm going to have to re-commit to the power-fade off the tee and take the pull-hook back off the table.

The Heat (The Humidity)

Maybe I'm getting old.

Maybe it's that my back and shoulders don't loosen up as easily when it's cool out.  Maybe I'm like a Dominican pitcher who only gets going when the summer weather rolls in.

Just call me Pedro.

click for larger image

For some reason, I play my best golf in July.  There's really no question about it.  See the chart on the right side -- I'm almost a full 2 shots better on average in July as compared to any other month.  I seem to have a "hot streak" almost every year in July when I feel like even par is legitimately in play almost every time I take to the course.  In 2009 I whipped off 78-77-75-74 over an 8 day span; in 2010 I had rounds of 75, 76, 77, 78 and 79.  And almost every one of those rounds has been played (at least as far as I remember) in sweltering heat.

The past 2 days have been 85-95 degrees and very humid in the Boston area.  And I'm +8 over 36 holes during that time span.  Yesterday, at Butter Brook, I shot 73.

Yes, that's right, +1.

I don't want to go through the hole round blow-by-blow, but thinking back on it there were a few key shots:

2ND HOLE, 1ST PUTT  After making bogey on the 1st, I hit 5 iron to the middle of the fairway and 8-iron to pin-high about 18 feet from the hole.  I putted that one a good 15 feet past, and missed the come-back for a dreaded 3-putt.  Grrrrrrrrr. (+2 for the round)

4TH HOLE, APPROACH SHOT  After hitting the right side of the fairway on the dogleg left, I pulled a 6-iron into the greenside bunker, leaving myself short-sided with a bad lie in the sand.  I got out of the trap but had an impossible putt (from the top of a ridge about 25 feet across the green with the cup about 3/4 of the way down a hill.  And... I hate 3-putts!!!  (+4 for the round)

8TH HOLE, TEE SHOT  The par-3 was playing at about 165 yards with the pin in front, slightly down wind.  I hit 7-iron directly at the stick; it landed about 6 inches in front, bounced and then spun just a bit to the side, 3 inches from the hole.  There were 2 members of the grounds crew up watering the green at the time; both said they couldn't believe it didn't go in.  Closest I've ever been to an ace.  (It turned out, by the way, that the two on the green were, in fact, the owners.)  (+2 for the round)

16TH HOLE, 2ND SHOT  After reeling off 10 straight holes at par or better (-2 over that stretch), I had just made a bogey on the difficult par-4 15th and stood at +3 on the 16th tee.  The odds were against me, but eagle on the par-5 16th (which I'd managed before) would go a long way.  My drive, unfortunately, did not go a long way -- only about 225 yards, but in the middle of the fairway.  According to my GPS I had 277 to go, which meant I didn't have enough club unless I got a real favorable roll out.  I went with 1-hybrid because the trajectory would be low and I usually do get a lot of top spin; maybe -- just maybe -- it would get me home or close to where I could chip in.  I told myself to stay smooth, don't overswing (because that almost always gets me to snap-hook with my hybrids)... and I pured it.  I watched at it sailed down the right side and caught the slope from there and ran toward the green.  From my position on the fairway it looked pretty good, but I couldn't tell for sure if it got home or not.

It was home.  3 feet from the pin.  Tap in eagle.  (+1 for the round)

I needed to get up and down
from 82 yards in a bunker.

18TH HOLE, PUTT  I made a fairway-green-2-putt par on 17, which meant it would take birdie on the 18th to get to even par.  I do not play the 18th hole at Butter Brook well (average 0.9 strokes over par, with 4 double-bogies or worse in 17 prior rounds from the black tees).  To make matters worse, my tee ball settled in the fairway bunker about 85 yards out on the right side.  I hit about as good a shot as I could from there, pitching wedge to the middle of the green, 22 feet from the hole (I paced it off).  The putt was a double breaker -- slightly uphill and left-to-right over the first two thirds, and then just downhill and right to left over the last 6 or 7 feet.  I picked a line that was starting about 6 inches left of the hole... and that's almost exactly where it ended up, 6 inches left.  Oh well.  +1.  (Shot efficiency 0.930, my personal best.)

This was the putt left for even par.

Hopefully I won't have to wait until next July to come that close again.

The Look-Alikes

Consider this an addendum to my US Open itinerary, in which I noted how much my brother and Steve Stricker look alike.  Well, judge for yourself:

Just FYI, my brother didn't pose for this picture.  I sent him the one of Stricker and asked if he had any of himself in a similar position in his swing.  He did... and they're even wearing the same hat.

Sometimes I love the internet.

The On Course Apps

I am, by nature, an analytical person.  I create Excel spreadsheets for everything.  On the golf course, that also means that I want to know all the little things before I take a shot -- which way is the wind blowing, where does the ball funnel on the green ahead, and, of course, what's my yardage to the hole?

But "about 150 yards" won't do for me.  I want to know if it's 147 or 153.  Does that finite level of detail really make a difference?  Probably not -- hitting an "about 150 yards" shot will do just fine in either case.  But mentally I feel better if I know the exact number, and feeling good about the shot is definitely the first step to execution.

When you want to know the exact numbers these days there are basically 3 options: (1) hire Steve Williams to carry your bag, (2) get a laser rangefinder, or (3) get a GPS.

It turns out Stevie doesn't come cheap (though lately he has some free time on his hands).  So the question ultimately comes down to rangefinder vs. GPS.  There are pluses and minuses to both -- rangefinders are more precise, but you are limited to targets you can actually see; GPS's can give you a hole overlay and allow you to measure distances to a variety of spots on the course quickly, but ultimately operate on more of a "plus or minus a few yards" basis.

Because of the convenience of having an iPhone, I ultimately decided on a GPS system a few years ago.  After a great deal of research (and a good recommendation from my brother), I started using the Golfshot app 2 years ago, and honestly, I can't recommend it enough.  Here are the features I like about it:

Hole Overlays  It's quite difficult to play a course you've never seen before unless you have a map; Golfshot gives you a crystal clear aerial view of every hole so you can see where you're going.  Plus, because you can choose any spot on the hole as your target for distance measurement (just by touching it on the map) it allows you to really know if you can cut that corner or carry that sand trap.

Automated Measurements  In addition to user defined targets, almost every point of interest (hazards, obstacles, doglegs, etc) are defined and measured on the "main" screen.  It also gives you the front, back and middle of the green distances.

Scoring and Stat Tracking  I never use a scorecard anymore because I can easily and quickly keep my score as I go with Golfshot.  It also automatically keeps tracks of my statistics -- fairways, greens in regulation, scrambling, sand saves, putts/hole and putts/green in regulation.  Both on the native application on the phone and on their website you can view your past rounds and scorecards, and you can customize date ranges for your statistics to see how your game is changing.  Here's a snapshot of my last 20 rounds:

35,000 Courses  There are over 35,000 courses in the database with visual overlays and GPS distances -- that means essentially every course in North America, and then some.  The aerial images are updated almost constantly (or at least it seems that way) so I don't think I've ever been looking at an out-of-date measurement.  And unlike many other GPS systems, you don't have to pay to download more courses, and there are no annual fees.  You get everything for just a $30 one-time fee.  It's pretty incredible.

The bigger question, of course, is does all this help?  Obviously it's not the only factor in these calculations, but since I started using Golfshot on 9/2/09 my fairway percentage has gone up from 42.7% to 44.8%, and my greens-in-regulation have increased from 38.5% to 39.2%.  Plus it's the envy of almost every one I play with -- and maybe that gives me an edge, too.

Screen Shots:

[Many thanks to reader Neil who suggested this as a topic for a post!]
[And no, I'm not affiliated with golfshot.com in any way.]

The US Open | What I Learned from Brian Gay

This weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the 111th US Open at Congressional Country Club.  My good friend Kevin lives in Bethesda and was able to score us tickets to the 3rd round.

I've been to live golf events before (the Deutsche Bank Championship, twice), and although professional golf affords you the chance to stand amazingly close to some of the real icons of the game, in general it's somewhat difficult to actually follow the tournament when you're there because so much is happening away from wherever you might be standing.  For that reason I find that more often than not I'd rather watch the events -- and in particular, the final round -- from the comfort of my couch on my plasma screen.

All that being said, seeing the Open was a truly incredible experience.  I give tremendous credit to the USGA for making the event both a real test of golf and a true spectator sport.

I'll give you my impressions of the course and, more importantly, what I took away from the event that is going to help me reach even par below.  If you'd like to see a detailed itinerary of our day at the Open, CLICK HERE.

CONGRESSIONAL COUNTRY CLUB

To put it simply, the course is a beast.  I know the scores didn't reflect that this weekend -- and Rory McIlroy in particular made it look quite tame -- but that is because the conditions could not have been more ideal for golf.  With rain every night and then dry days with no wind whatsoever, the greens were receptive to long irons and hybrids instead of kicking those balls off as we're used to seeing in US Open conditions.

Trust me, it's 7574 yards but plays much longer than that with almost every green elevated, or, in some cases, straight up hill.  The greens, too, are treacherous -- we watched about a dozen or more groups play the 12th green and saw only 2 or 3 one putts; and those were all essentially tap-ins on up and downs after missing the green.  It seemed nobody could correctly read the double break that every angle to the hole presented if the putt was more than 5 or 6 feet.

The course is very nicely routed, with the front 9 somewhat compact and the back 9 a little more spread out.  The green-to-tee distance is essentially zero except between the 9th and 10th, the 11th and 12th and 17th and 18th (all of which require the players to hike a good distance to the next hole, mostly uphill).  Because the holes do generally flow so well it was logistically quite easy as a spectator to essentially walk the whole course.

The USGA set up a number of crossing areas on most of the holes which further facilitated getting around.  It also meant we could stand in the middle of several fairways -- and let me tell you, they are immaculate.  Even the areas that were trampled by the crowds were better than most of the fairways at courses I play.

Even the practice area is impressive, with enough space for about 50-60 people to use the range, a great variety of target flags, and (obviously) pristine grass hitting areas.  And that brings me to...

WHAT I LEARNED FROM BRIAN GAY

Brian Gay is far from the most exciting PGA tour player.  If it wasn't for his typically colorful outfits and the fact that (through a hard to describe series of circumstances) he once left passes for my parents at the Deutsche Bank event, I probably would hardly know he existed.  He's currently the 127th ranked player in the world, ranks dead last in driving distance but first in fairway percentage, and probably gets mistaken for Ian Poulter more than he gets recognized as himself.

Brian Gay

Ian Poulter

I certainly had no intention of studying Brian Gay closely, but when we sat down around lunch time to watch some players on the range he came out and set up shop right in front of us.  There were a number of more fascinating players also out on the range (defending champ Graeme McDowell and number 3 in the world Martin Kaymer come to mind), but the eye is naturally drawn to that which is right in front of you.  That meant we were able to see his entire pre-round routine... and it was so impressive that I'm planning to duplicate it.

Obviously I'm not privy to his thought process, but it seemed fairly evident to both Kevin and I what he was trying to accomplish.  So some of this will be editorializing and assumptions based on what we saw, but I think it's fairly accurate.  Here are the steps:

1. Pick a hitting area that is straight in line with one of the closest target flags.  Set up any alignment tools that you wish to use to keep yourself on line.
2. Warm up and get a feel for the type of crisp contact you want to make by starting with very simple chips or half-shots with a wedge aimed at the target (even if they won't reach that target).
3. Advance to 3/4 wedge shots again aimed at the same target flag, and then full wedge shots, maintaining that same pace and contact feel as from the chip shots.
4. This is most important: as you work through the longer clubs in your bag, don't pick a new target.  Instead, continue to hit balls aimed over the same short flag that you started with.  This creates a mental picture of keeping the ball on line in a narrow scope, like you're hitting the balls through a tube.
5. Work your way up hitting roughly every other club.  Hit 5-6 balls with each, up to and including your driver. 
6. After hitting driver, drop back down to wedges, then 3/4 wedges, then half-wedges/chip shots to again accentuate that straight shot controlled feel.

Gay went through that routine over about 30 minutes, and we saw him hit only 2 balls that were not exactly on line at or over the target flag.  It was incredible, and you can see immediately why he's the most accurate driver on tour.  I'm certainly not planning to change my game and become a bunter like him, but I do think running through this routine regularly will help my mental approach to ball striking and keeping the ball straight.  At least I hope it will.

The Pace of Play

Rhythm.

It's probably the single most important aspect to my golf game.  When I got fitted for my current set of irons, the pro I was working with said as much after watching me take just a half dozen swings.  When the pacing of my swing is on, then I can predict the flight of just about every ball without looking.  When my tempo is off... well, then it's anybody's guess where the ball is going.

When I do get in the groove I try everything I can to limit the wait time between shots (for that reason I'd generally much rather walk than ride if the pace is going to be slow... but if the pace is fast I'd rather ride so that I can get to the ball and hit again as soon as possible).

Today I rode.

I played Quail Ridge Country Club, which opened in 2003 but has a real "Old New England" course feel. I've now played it four times, and I'm really starting to appreciate the layout -- challenging but fair, with great hole variety.  From the black tees it clocks in at 6412 yards, par 71, rating 73.8/slope 138.

I started on the first tee with no one in sight, which certainly meant that the pace of play was going to be in my favor.  The opener is a tough par 5, 579 yards initially downhill but then back up on the approach to the green, and complicated by a brook/waste hazard that runs across the fairway about 260 yards out and forces a lay-up off the tee.  It's by far the hardest hole on the course (according to oobgolf stats, out of 374 rounds to date the average score is a full 2.2 strokes over par, with only 4.5% of people hitting the green in regulation).  I started by lacing a 2-hybrid down the middle, then hit 2-hybrid again but pulled that one into the fescue about 150 yards from the green.  I was able to get a clean shot with a 7-iron to the back of the green, and 2 putts yielded par.

The second is a sharp dogleg left, only 362 yards but no real possibility of cutting the corner.  I hit 1-hybrid to the right side of the fairway, then a smooth wedge to the middle of the green.  Two more putts and I was even through 2.

At that point I ran into a foursome of gentlemen who were kind enough to wave me straight on through. My 5-iron on the 205 yard par 3 came up just short of the green, but with the pin in front I had an easy up and down opportunity.  I have to admit I rushed a bit with the group waiting now behind me, and I shorted the chip, then pushed my 6 footer to ultimately make bogey.

The fourth is a short par 4, only 297 yards from the tips, with a downhill finish.  The challenge is that the green is blind from the tee, and the fairway pinches with a small water hazard on the right and woods on the left as you approach the green.  In the past I've played it well, making 2 pars and a birdie (after driving the green) in my previous rounds.  Today I hit a good drive, a little down the left side, which I though might end up in the trap to the left of the green.  However, when I came up over the ridge there was no ball to be found.  A search left in the woods, behind the green, and on the 5th tee yielded nothing.  I was left to assume the ball was in the woods and so took a drop, pitched over the sand trap, and then rolled in a no-brainer 25 footer for a sort-of-par.

I played the next 3 holes about as well I could.  On the all-carry par-3 5th I hit 4-iron pin high just on the fringe and 2-putt for par.  On the par 4 6th and 7th I had matching holes -- 300 yard drives down the middle of the fairway, then 54-degree wedges to within 3 feet for easy birdies.

So yes, at that point I was 1-under-par through 7 holes.

On the 8th I had to scramble to make bogey after my tee ball ended up left of the fairway and my 2nd hit a tree branch ending up 60 yards short of the green.  So right away I was back to even par.

The 9th though presents another birdie opportunity.  It's a short, mostly down-hill par 5 -- it's the easiest hole on the course by far, averaging only 0.8 strokes over par for all comers.  I hit a good drive out over the fairway bunker on the right side of the fairway, which then funneled down to the left side due to the slope.  I only had about 165 yards left, but the tall trees that guard the front left of the green were directly in my path.  I tried to hit a hook 8-iron -- and hook it I did, directly into the aforementioned trees.  I got a fortunate bounce and ended up through the trees and in front of the left side of the green.  From there it was an easy up and down for a 3rd birdie in 4 holes.

OUT: -1.  In 1 hour and 15 minutes.

As I stood over my approach shot on 9 I had to wait to hit for the first time of the entire round as there was a foursome on the green.  Remember the kind gentlemen who let me play through on the 3rd tee?  Meet their counterparts.

I came off 9 and drove up to the 10th tee where the two men in the group ahead were still getting ready to hit; their women playing partners were in their cart.

They did not acknowledge me.

All 4 players ultimately teed off.  And then spent the next 10 minutes searching for balls in the waste area in front of the tee.  Then hit again.  And again.  And again.  After a full 20 minutes (20% of the time it took me to play the entire front 9) they were finally out of range.  Immediately I did not feel comfortable on the tee.  I ended up popping up my drive a bit, about 250 yards out, but within the fairway and reachably 220 yards from the green (on the par 5).  I hopped in my cart and drove up to my ball.

And stood in the fairway for another 10 minutes without a single player in the group ahead getting anywhere near the green.

At last one of the guys in the group waved me up.  And I promptly hooked a 2-hybrid into the hazard on the left side.

Rhythm: gone.

After a drop I did manage to hit a nice 54-degree wedge to about 2 feet to save par.  But my round would never be the same.

On 11 I pulled an 8-iron left of the green and settled for bogey.  On 12 it was a pulled/hooked 1-hybrid into the left rough that gave me no shot at the green (another bogey).  On 14 and 15 I again pull-hooked 1-hybrids, both nearly out of play, though in both cases I had a chance at saving par (3-putted the 14th green for bogey -- I HATE 3 PUTTS!! -- but got up and down for par on 15).  In between I did have a routine pare on the par-3 13th.

Notice any trend to my misses this round?

The 16th was another pull left -- this time into the woods -- and another bogey.  17 was a nice par.  And 18 was again a pull left into the woods, and yet another bogey.

IN: +5.  In 2 hours and 15 minutes.

The final tally was a solid 4-over with 4 penalty strokes.  Shot efficiency: 0.752.  But of course I have to wonder what might have been had I zipped through the 10th hole without 30 minutes of wait time.

On the other hand, let's be realistic -- 18 holes of golf are not played in 2 hours.  If I want to reach even par I'm going to have to learn to keep my rhythm even when the pace is not what I want it to be.

The Blog Update

Just a quick post to point out a few changes I made to the blog over the past few days [*and even this post is updated!]:

• There's a new header (obviously) at the top, featuring a picture of the 15th green at Butter Brook Golf Club in Westford, MA.
• There are 2 3 new tabs at the top of the page with links to my recent rounds and some statistical graphs via oobgolf.com, plus one to a page detailing "The Mission" itself.
• At the bottom left of the page are links to the most popular posts, in case you're new and want to see what others have enjoyed.

Hope you like the changes!

In other news, I'm traveling to Bethesda, MD this upcoming week and will be attending some golf tournament that is taking place at Congressional Country Club; if that turns out interesting then I'm sure I'll have something to say about it.

Until then....

The Photo Shoot

Going to do something a little different for this blog entry.  I played Butter Brook today (shot 80, was +3 after birdie on the 12th, but triple bogey on 13 was again my undoing; shot efficiency 0.698).  But I also brought my camera along, and instead of boring myself with the blow-by-blow, let's just look at some shots of a different type.

Butter Brook | 6th Green

Butter Brook | 7th Fairway

Butter Brook | 8th Tee

Butter Brook | 10th Tee (B&W)

Butter Brook | 12th Green

Butter Brook | 15th Green | The Pump House

Butter Brook | Kennedy Bros.

Butter Brook | 16th Green

Butter Brook | 17th Tee | "Intimidation"

Butter Brook | 18th Green

The New Statistic

As a golfer I'm always looking for ways to improve my game, and as a golf nerd (or...just a nerd) I tend to analyze and over-analyze my statistics.  The problem with that is that the traditional golf statistics that are supposed to reflect "ball striking" -- fairways and greens in regulation -- aren't really that representative because they're too cut and dry.  For example, if you hit a 300 yard drive that just rolls a few inches into the first cut of rough then that's doesn't count as a fairway hit; or if you end up on the fringe but only 10 feet from the pin then that isn't going to tally a green in regulation. 

On the PGA Tour they use a few stats that are more useful, like total driving (which is simply a player's ranks in driving distance and fairways hit combined) or average distance to the hole, which is much more reflective of iron play than just the GIR.  But, of course, these don't apply or are simply impractical for the rest of us.

Over the past year or so I've been using a different way to analyze my ball striking, and I think it works well.  I call my statistic shot efficiency (SE), calculated as:

SE = [YDS/SHOT] / [EXP YDS/SHOT]

where:

YDS/SHOT = COURSE YARDAGE / [SCORE - PUTTS]

EXP YDS/SHOT = COURSE YARDAGE / [COURSE RATING - 36]

The higher your score, the better; and a "perfect" round would yield a score of 1 (or 100%).  

So essentially shot efficiency measures how much of the distance you are "supposed" to cover with each shot (according to the USGA) you were successfully able to cover.  It values greens in regulation over anything else, but also says a GIR on a longer hole of the same par is more valuable than a GIR on a shorter one.  (Unfortunately, it doesn't fully address the problem of a good approach shot to the fringe as I discussed above; one solution would be to count putts from the fringe as actual putts, even though that goes against the conventional way in which golf statistics are tabulated.)

To test it out I've plugged in every round I played in the past year, plus a handful of other "great" rounds from years past to see if it measures up based on (A) more conventional measurements of the round, such as the handicap index, and (B) how well my ball striking actually was -- was I "on" that day, or was my score more reflective of luck and/or scrambling? 

Here are a few examples:

1. 4/11/10 at Pinehills Golf Club (Nicklaus Course, Blue tees, CR 71.1, slope 131, 6640 yds) -- I shot 75 and had almost unquestionably my best round ever in terms of iron play based on my "feel" for the round.  By conventional metrics I hit 14 greens in regulation, 50% of fairways, with an average driving distance of 268 yards; for the round I had 35 putts.  I had 4 birdies, and was actually even par going onto the 14th hole (I previously wrote about that here).  Calculating the shot efficiency leads to a score of 0.867, or 86.7% efficient.

2. 7/10/10 at Ballyowen Golf Club (Black tees, CR 73.6, slope 131, 7094 yds) -- shot 78. This was probably the most consistent round I've ever played, hitting almost every drive right where I wanted to and really hitting almost no bad shots.  The conventional numbers: 11 GIR, 78.6% fairways, average driving distance 279 yards.  I had 34 putts.  The calculation yields a shot efficiency of 0.851; quite similar to the round at Pinehills.

Now, both of those rounds I struck the ball well but obviously didn't have a great day putting.  Let's look at 2 other rounds where (A) my putting was much better and score was about the same, and (B) my score was higher but my putting was even worse:

3. 4/26/08 at Braintree Municipal Golf Course (Blue tees, CR 71.6, slope 129, 6554 yds) -- score of 77, but with just 27 putts.  The regular numbers aren't bad: 9 GIRs, 71.4% fairways; I didn't keep track of driving distance for that round.  But I can tell you I was much more erratic, had 2 penalty shots on the same hole (the 11th, which has water but it should never come into play), and really saved the round with my best short-game day ever.  The SE score: 0.707, or just 70.7% efficient.

4. 5/18/10 at Cane Gardens Country Club (Black tees, CR 73.8, slope 136, 6977 yds) -- shot 80 with 37 putts.  This was probably my best driving day ever, which is masked by the 50% fairway percentage because there were a number of "just into the 1st cut" drives, and my average driving distance was a whopping 293 yards.  I hit 12 GIR, including 8 of the last 9.  The shot efficiency for that round was 0.872, which is actually the highest of any round that I analyzed.

Ultimately I'm pretty happy with the results and find that this is a good statistical reflection of ball striking -- or at least better than GIR and fairway percentage -- which is easily calculated with just a few basic numbers from each round.  For now I'll keep using it... and plan to include my shot efficiency for each future round that I post about.  Please feel free to use it yourself and let me know what you think!

The 2010 Wrap-Up

Winter, you bastard.

It's been a long one so far here in New England, but in the past week or so there have been enough warmer days and melting -- plus watching the Pebble Beach Pro-Am -- to make one start to pine for golf season again.  I've even made it to the range a few times... and then got my clubs regripped... and then bought some new golf apparel.

So, yeah, I'm ready for spring.

But before that happens, we have to recap the 2010 season.  It's been a while since I've written (6 months, to be exact), and truthfully there wasn't much to write about on the mission front at the tail end of the season.  The highlight round for me was the 2nd day of the TOUR of Greater Boston Club Championship at Atlantic Country Club.  Here's the quick rundown: