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 Swing Analysis (2013 Edition)

"I figured it out!"

I've said that probably two dozen times over the years with reference to my golf swing.  My brother has said it at least that many to me.  Our dad has easily doubled that.

We're always (eventually) wrong.  But that doesn't mean it's not worth working on.

This year's "I figured it out" moment came courtesy of a Sean O'Hair tip in Golf Digest.  You can see the video version below.  What he says isn't revolutionary, but it's the imagery of the hands and clubhead being on train-tracks on the take away that really clicked for me:

My problem historically has been what O'Hair refers to as "sucking in;" that move gets the club too far inside, and I have to make a big adjustment to get on plane at the top of the swing.  Sometimes that works, but sometimes it doesn't; just depends on my timing.

So for the past month or so at the range I've been rehearsing the "train tracks" take away over and over.  Below you'll see some video of my swing with this mental image at the forefront of my mind:

7 iron

Driver

A couple of things I learned from this: (1) this is definitely better, less of a wrap-around take away than I've had previously, and leads to a controlled but powerful weight transfer (especially with the driver); and (2) no matter what I think I'm feeling, the video tells a different story -- I'm still too far inside.

7-iron swing sequence - click to make larger

Ultimately I think I'm doing a better job with the first 25% of the backswing, but then I go right back to rotating the club as I continue backward as opposed to lifting it.  The past 2 range sessions (after these images/videos) I've been focusing on the full backswing, and I feel it becoming ingrained.  The question now is how long I can keep it that way before the old habits creep back in.

The Bottom

In addiction treatment, there's a long-standing saying that goes something like "you have to hit rock bottom before you can rise up." 

I am a golf addict.  And in terms of my quest for even par, I believe I've hit rock bottom.

Two years ago I had 5 rounds that were within 5 shots of par.  Last year I had 2 such rounds.  This year?  Zero.  My best round this year is +9.  And even worse, of my last 8 rounds, 5 have been in the 90s.

I've been so inconsistent I can't even pinpoint where the trouble is.  In one round I hit 50% of fairways and 50% of greens in regulation (including 9 out of 12 in one stretch) and still shot 94 (the problem: terrible short game).  Two weeks later I had 9 penalty shots en route to another 94. 

But there are signs that my game is coming back around.  On Tuesday this week I went to the driving range for the first time since the beginning of the season.  Practice helps!  (Who knew?)  I worked almost exclusively on staying connected through the swing by practicing with a head cover tucked in my left armpit (see example below).  I truly believe this is the perfect drill, and a novice could probably learn the proper swing by just hitting golf balls this way without any other instruction (well, except maybe learning proper grip and "keep your head down").



Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of being invited to play at Brae Burn Country Club in Newton, MA.  Brae Burn is one of the truly historic golf clubs in New England, having hosted the 1919 US Open as well as several US Amateur tournaments.  It's currently ranked as the number 18 course in Massachusetts by Golf Digest.  And it was spectacular, with uniquely contoured holes and absolutely pristine conditions.  And finally my game seemed to be back on track, at least for the first 12 holes.  My very first shot was a pull-hook, but after that I played nearly flawlessly on the front 9, carding a 3-over 38 that was marred by 3 missed putts inside of 6 feet.

I followed the front with a birdie on the short par-5 10th hole to get to 2-over, then bogey-par on 11 and 12.  Unfortunately I fell apart after that, going 9-over on the next 5 holes before recovering with a par on the 18th.  So definitely not a great round, but I really had it going for 12 holes, which is a lot better than I can say for any other round in the past month.

I plan to get back out this weekend.  Here's hoping I can put 18 holes together and start to get this mission back on track.

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 New Video

I know, I know, it's been a long time. I could have blogged about my round on 10/13/08 at Butter Brook Golf Club -- which featured an eagle-birdie duo on 16 & 17 -- but I never really flirted with par (3-under on those 2 holes saved the round). I also could have blogged about my round at New York Country Club the day prior to my brother's wedding, but the wedding itself got in the way. Maybe some pictures from the event will do?

Bryan (the groom) on the driving range at sunrise.

Intimidating approach to the par-5 9th hole.

Looking back out from the 9th green; you can see the

NYC skyline in the distance (though not well in the picture).

Well-groomed course with beautiful October foliage.

Left-to-right: Scott, Phil, Bryan, Chris, and Bob.

This is what happens when you live in New England -- the golf season is all too short. Just yesterday, though, I went to the range with my brother to hit balls (because next year I am reaching even par), and we did a little video swing analysis of our own. We definitely have different swings:

Scott, back view, January 2009.

Bryan, back view, January 2009.

Scott, front view, January 2009.

Bryan, front view, January 2009.

My swing has definitely changed since I last did some home videos (see "The Mission"). My posture is definitely better, less hunched over. I also think I've gotten smoother, especially on the backswing, and there's less sway. These seem like good things. It keeps me hopeful.

While I'm here making a winter-time post, I wanted to pass along 2 books I received for Christmas that I'm enjoying:

World Atlas of Golf (Rowlinson) is a combination of golf history, course design, politics, and wonderful hole-by-hole walk-throughs of the best and most famous golf courses in the world. I saw it in Barnes and Noble and was engrossed for a good 20 minutes; then actually received it on X-mas day and have continued to be fascinated.

Follow the Roar (Smiley) is the story of the author's year spent tracking Tiger in every tournament he played in 2008 -- a brief but truly amazing year. So far I'm through the first 2-1/2 tournaments, and it's a good, quick read; entertaining and inciteful.

I suspect there will be another good-sized gap between posts, as the next time I expect to play is in April/May. Unless I end up in Arizona next weekend... doubtful, though.

The Mission

My goal is a relatively simple one:

18 holes, even par. Just once.

(Of course, once it happens, the goal will be to do it again.)

I've had the goal all year, and I've come close a few times. But it hasn't come together yet. The purpose of this blog is going to be two-fold: one, to track my progress in the public sphere; and two, to keep a log of the best and most interesting rounds so that I can reflect on them someday. A public golf journal of sorts...mostly for me. But if you come across it and happen to enjoy it, then all the better.

First, a few stats about me and my golf game:

• I'm 30 years old
• I live in Boston, which means my golf season is only about 4-5 months long
• I started the year with a USGA index of 8.6; I'm currently at 6.0, and my peak was 5.3 (on 8/6/08)
• My best round of the year so far was a 74 (+2) at Pinehills Golf Club (Nicklaus Course) in Plymouth, MA (see scorecard here)
• For a quick snapshot of my game, see my profile on oobgolf.com

Here's some footage of my swing, just in case you care:

The inspiration for this blog was my most recent round -- which, by the way, was not even close to even par. So let's start there....