The End

 I started this blog in August of 2008, with a challenging goal: to shoot an even par round of golf.  I knew at that time that my game was probably good enough, but I was never quite able to hold it together for a full 18 holes.  I hoped that by writing publicly about it I would get some motivation, and maybe this would be a nice golf journal to look back on someday (which, frankly, it is).

I was 30 years old then.  I'm 43 now.  And the game isn't getting easier.  I haven't written anything in almost 6 years.  There have been some close calls, but between life and kids there just hasn't been time or enough impetus to share it.

So I'm writing today to say this will be the last entry in this journal.  Because today I shot even par.

Without further ado, here's the blow-by-blow.

COURSE: Granite Links Golf Club (Milton-Quincy)

STATS: Par 71, Blue Tees 6379 yards, rating 71.6, slope 132

WEATHER: Overcast and about 50 degrees with steady 10 mph winds out of the northeast, and gusts upwards of 15-20 mph 

1st Hole (Milton 1, par 4) - A challenging opening hole, which today was made all the more difficult since I arrived only 5 minutes before my tee time, and I actually sprinted down to the tee box and had to ask the nice threesome in front of me if they wouldn't mind me jumping out in front of them -- I was playing solo and trying to get around quickly.  They were gracious enough to let me go.  So with only a quick couple of practice swings I launched a 3 iron off the tee and pulled it left.  I got a good bounce around the fairway bunker and settled in a decent lie in the rough.  Still rushing a bit to be sure to get quickly out of the way of the other group, I took aim with an 8-iron and just tried to hit a smooth shot to the front pin location.  There were some grounds crew members working on the bunker left of the green, which is sometimes a magnet for me.  But this time I hit a nice slight draw which settled just 5 feet short of the hole.  1 putt birdie.  SCORE: -1

2nd Hole (Milton 2, par 3) - A fairly straightforward par 3 with a deep green that can play anywhere from 145 to 175 yards depending on the pin location.  Today it was middle, and my 7-iron settled in pin high on the right side of the green.  Routine 2 putt par.  SCORE: -1

3rd Hole (Milton 3, par 4) - Easily the toughest hole on the course, it requires an accurate tee shot of about 240 yards, followed by a lengthy all-carry approach over water to a well protected and multi-tiered and sloped green.  Par is always a good score.  I hit a hybrid a little off the toe but still found the fairway, leaving 190 yards to the back-right pin.  A little draw plus the wind brought my 6-iron to the front of the green, leaving a 60+ footer.  My "lag" was over-cooked and actually hit the hole, bounced out, and finished about 10 feet past.  But I made the testy come-backer for par.  SCORE: -1

4th Hole (Milton 4, par 5) - A reachable par 5 that was playing straight downwind today.  First swing with the driver and I hit a good one, actually carrying the first fairway and bouncing up through the rough into the second fairway.  The approach is well uphill, and I hit a 9-iron a little fat, coming up short of the green.  

Here's where I should pause and say that I've been taking some lessons this winter.  Last week I played a round that was a bit of a mess -- I hit a lot of good full shots, but my wedge game was awful.  So in my last lesson we focussed on half- and three-quarter wedges, and let's just say it paid off: 58 degree to 6 feet, and another birdie.  SCORE: -2

5th Hole (Milton 5, par 4) - Running parallel to the 4th and back into the wind, this is a hole where a great drive can leave a short pitch shot and a birdie chance.  I did not hit a great drive.  On the second shot the ball was below my feet, but I hit a decent 7-iron to just short of the green.  My chip also wasn't the best but at least left an uphill putt, and I happily got up and down for par.  SCORE: -2

6th Hole (Milton 6, par 3) - Generally a tough par 3 with a tricky green, particularly when the pin is back left, which it was today at 190 yards, though down-wind.  I hit 7-iron again, and pushed it a bit, pin-high but missing the green right.  From that angle the green runs uphill until about 10 feet before the hole, then back downhill and severely right to left.  I felt my only option was to try to flop it and get it to stop quick...and I nearly holed it.  Tap-in par.  SCORE: -2

7th Hole (Milton 7, par 4) - A short par 4 that is sometimes reachable, but played longer today into the wind.  I hit a good drive to the safe part of the fairway, which left the exact shot that was a disaster the last time I played: a 60-70 yard pitch.  My distance control wasn't perfect, but at least it went straight, and I had about a 20-footer for birdie.  Par was good enough.  SCORE: -2

8th Hole (Milton 8, par 4) - There are a lot of different ways to play this hole, but most members try to hit the tee shot over the left fairway bunker, which leaves a more direct approach shot and takes the massive right-side sand area out of play.  I chose that route today and hit 3 wood to about 95 yards out.  Another wedge opportunity, and again I was happy with the result, hitting the middle of the green.  2 more putts for par.  SCORE: -2

9th Hole (Milton 9, par 5) - I have the hardest time hitting the fairway on this hole.  Being fair to myself, it's a difficult tee-shot where you have to pick a line with a specific carry distance; anything left of that will run down a steep slope and perhaps out of play, and a good shot that goes a little right might also find trouble.  But I consistently make the big mistake and hit a pull-hook left that gets into the trouble.  Today, though, was atypical: I hit the center of the fairway.  The 2nd shot is significantly uphill (about 2 clubs worth), and with the wind today the green wasn't reachable.  I hit a poor lay-up into the fairway bunker left, and although I got out of there fairly well I was still short of the green in 3.  My pitch shot was good, and left only about 6 feet, but the putt was never high enough.  SCORE: -1

10th Hole (Quincy 1, par 5) - Although there is a lot of trouble if you hit it offline at Granite Links, there are only a few areas that are out of bounds, and one of them is the road left of Quincy #1.  It's pretty far left to get there, but there's a big ravine with thick fescue and brush between that and the fairway which is mostly unplayable in the summer.  I hit my drive just a little left -- not flirting with OB, but in the summer I would have been searching for a while.  Instead today I found a decent lie and a clean swing, and I was able to advance a 7 iron back into the fairway.  It wasn't great from there -- 9 iron well short of the green, then a pitch shot that flew too far, and 2 putts from 20 feet.  SCORE: E

11th Hole (Quincy 2, par 3) - There are three tough par 3's on the Quincy 9, and this one is probably the hardest.  Even playing downwind it was a 5-iron for me, and a decent shot still found the green-side bunker.  I was short-sided, and went a little long with a 58-degree, then 2-putted for bogey.  SCORE: +1

12th Hole (Quincy 3, par 5) - After 3 straight bogeys I felt like I needed to get one back here.  I liked hearing Justin Rose talk about how he tried to play a match against the course in the 2nd round of the Masters last weekend, and right now in my match I was 1-down.  I absolutely piped a drive down the right side of the fairway, but the longer you hit it on this hole the more the fairway slopes right-to-left, and my ball ended up all the way across to the rough on the left.  Still, after 309 yards off the tee I had just 170 left, all uphill.  My 5 iron found the front of the green, and 2 putts meant my match against the course was back to even.  SCORE: E

13th Hole (Quincy 4, par 4) - This is a ski-slope downhill hole that plays significantly less than the scorecard distance.  I hit what I thought was a good drive but the wind grabbed it and I ended up well right, into the 3rd fairway.  That's a fine place to be, though, and I hit an okay 9 iron that also got caught up in the wind, and was left with a long 70 footer.  I hate 3-putts.  SCORE: +1

14th Hole (Quincy 5, par 4) - This is closer to a par 4-and-a-half, uphill and long from the back tees, though from the blues it's more playable.  I hit exactly the drive I wanted to, but it turned out my target was off and I ended up in the right rough.  My pitching wedge from there rode the wind all the way to the back of the green, but I managed a good 2-putt this time.  SCORE: +1

15th Hole (Quincy 6, par 3) - The 6th on Quincy is all about club selection, short but significantly downhill.  Today it was also down-wind, which I didn't love with a back pin position since flying over the green is basically dead.  I went with a smooth pitching wedge...and nearly holed it.  The pitch mark was 6 inches from the hole, and I had just about 5 feet for birdie.  SCORE: E

16th Hole (Quincy 7, par 4) - I play this hole really well.  It's a short risk-reward type par 4, easily drive-able, but the shot toward the green is blind and anything right or short of the target is out of play or at least unlikely to be found.  But for some reason I just have that blind shot grooved, and I average under par.  I went with 3-iron to be sure I wouldn't be short, and ended up a little long and left of the green (which is the safe miss).  My pitch shot was tricky -- a downhill lie playing back uphill to the green -- and I came up short, then putted from the apron and made a 4 or 5 footer for the par.  SCORE: E

17th Hole (Quincy 8, par 3) - This is another downhill par 3, but much longer than Quincy 6.  The green is massive, and I like to think of it like 4 different greens depending on where the pin is.  Today's location was in what I would consider the front-left of the back-right green; or, I guess, "middle."  With the wind at my back 7-iron was all I needed, and I tried to make the same smooth swing I had made back on #15, but I pushed it just a bit.  It hit the right edge of the green and bounced straight right...and into the woods.  Fortunately, I again got lucky with some early season conditions and had a clean lie that I was able to get back onto the green, and 2-putts from 40 feet was just fine this time.   SCORE: +1

18th Hole (Quincy 9, par 4) - Well, this was it.  1-over through 17, needing birdie, standing on the 18th tee, and playing dead into a gusting 15-20 mph wind.  The best line is basically straight at the green, even though from the tee box it looks like all the playable fairway is off to the right; I hit a low drive about 225 yards down the left side of the fairway, right where I was aimed.  The pin was tucked in the back right portion of the green, which sits in a little bowl, and most shots that get back to that location will funnel toward the pin.  I had about 100 yards, and felt good about a 50-degree wedge into that wind.  Ball contact was good but up in the air I had some butterflies that the wind was going to be too much, and it wasn't going to be enough club.  Fortunately I saw it disappear over the little hill in the green, which meant it was in the bowl...and when I got up to the green I saw my ball sitting pin-high, about 7 feet away:

SCORE: EVEN PAR

And that was that.  The long journey is complete.  All-in-all the round was very solid, with 5 birdies and 5 bogeys, no penalties, and of course a little luck.  But I finally halved the match against the course.  

(Now I have to go win one.)

The Fitting | The New Sticks

I made the decision over the winter that I was going to make an equipment upgrade this year.  I'm more than happy with my irons, but my hybrids were old and outdated, and in the past year I've found that I haven't hit them with the same consistency I used to.  Moreover, my driver had a lot of swings in it, and it seemed like it was time to take advantage of some of the new face and shaft technology available.

With that in mind, last weekend I went to Joe & Leigh's Golf Performance Center in Easton, MA for a fitting.  Joe & Leigh's has been famous a few times; it was the site of Golf Digest's cover article a few years back touting the benefits of club fitting for all players, and also was where Jim Furyk famously bought a used putter that he had in the bag when he won the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup in 2011.

My current driver is a Titleist 907 (so 8 years old).  After doing my homework (primarily on mygolfspy.com's Most Wanted Driver list and data set), I settled on testing the new Titleist 915 D2 and D3; the Callaway Big Bertha Alpha DBD; and the Cobra Fly-Z+.  I also wanted to get in a good number of shots with my old driver on the launch monitor just to see if making a change was really worthwhile.

You can see the map of all the shots I hit below (excluding severe outliers).  You can see right away that my old driver (the 907) is still a pretty good club, with the best drive hit at over 300 yards and just right of center.  But all the shots are right of center, which highlights the problem I have with it -- keeping it straight.

With even just a cursory scan of the shots, the Cobra quickly stands out for having the 4 longest drives of the day, all of which are relatively on-line.

It doesn't take a long look at the detailed view to determine that the Cobra Fly-Z+ is the easy winner.  Both the D2 and D3 Titleist models are maybe a little bit more consistent in terms of accuracy -- but not by much -- and the Cobra is easily the longest.  Not only that, but set up on neutral and with the Grafalloy Blue 75 shaft my fitter set me up with, I was hitting a slight draw (manifest by mild negative side spin) instead of the old power fade (see the high positive side spin on the 907) that hasn't been as consistent as I would like.

After deciding on the driver, it was relatively easy to pick the matching Fly-Z+ and FlyZ fairway wood and hybrid -- both are adjustable within a 4-degree range, and both were carrying 10-15 yards longer than my current 1-hybrid and 2-hybrid.

I ordered everything custom from the Cobra website that night.  Just 3 days later the wife sent me this via text:

Can't wait to really put them in action.

The Update

Just a quick post to point out a new feature to the blog: at the bottom of each page you can find all my rounds going back to 2007, with graphics that show score to par, adjusted shot efficiency, and short game statistics, including median and upper and lower quartile ranges.  It's fun to scroll through (for me, anyway).