Tell us about your game today...

First topic message reminder :

.. or yesterday or whenever your last game happened.

I played this morning - just a bounce game with one of my regular partners.

There had been a big competition yesterday at the club so the course was a bit quieter today than one might expect for a Sunday. 11:20 tee off as a two-ball and lots of other two balls out there with a couple of quick 4-balls so pace of play was brisk.

Those who have read my posts recently will know that I've been suffering with a nasty foot/ankle injury for a few months and it's just great to be out there at all at the moment. Thankfully the foot came through with flying colours though I think I've been favouring it for the last couple of weeks still and after the game today my knee was playing up but with luck that will just be a temporary setback.

A glorious day though in the Thames Valley with above average temperatures and the course was in remarkable nick for mid March.

The match itself was close for a long way. I felt I was playing reasonably well after not playing much of the winter and after losing the 2nd I levelled it on the 3rd and was one up after nine. Though I felt I was playing better than my opponent I couldn't shake him and he hung in there until I went 2 up on 15. Closed it out on 16 but was made to work for it.

Although it was matchplay I kept an estimated Stableford score and came in with 32 (estimated) points which I wasn't too disappointed with given lack of recent regular play. One NR and a couple of holes where a 3 pointer was well withing my grasp and ended with 1 point (short game was actually pretty good apart from those two nightmares)

Now looking forward to next weekend and a Stableford competition where I've been drawn with last year's captain and next year's!

Had another pop at Burnham & Berrow today....seem to have said this a lot this autumn....what a lovely day for golf it was!!

The last time I played here (about 6 weeks ago) it was a 3+ club wind, today we only had the slightest of breezes...bonus!!

Somehow managed to par the first 3 holes after a shocking drive on 1st, a thinned approach on 2nd and a pushed approach on 3. Back to back birdies at 4&5 left me thinking I could be on for a good one...ahem. A double bogey followed at 6 but it was the front 9s only hiccup. Level par at the turn, very pleasing. Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde then performed their place swapping trick and I just couldn't get it right off the tee (well actually the opposite, I could...between 20 & 40 yards right!!). But for some excellent ball finding skills, some decent recoveries and solid putting from 12 feet in I could have seriously imploded. Ended up with a 79 which I would have taken on the 1st tee if not the 10th. So I have some positives to take as well as some things to work on. Got to be said though, days like today are very much a bonus at this time of year, especially when it's only costing £35.

A fairly bright and breezy day down on the East Lothian coast yesterday and a first encounter with a course which I'm certain will be subject to many more return trips from me in the future!

Kilspindie was a fantastic experience. The combination of a testing wind and intricate green and fairway complexes making for a really fun challenge.

The course was in excellent condition, other than the greens which had received a light tining. This only really affected putts from inside around 4 feet though.

Generally pleased with the way I played. My driving was good, and my iron play very solid. In particular I enjoyed re-visiting the little 5iron punch shot from 130 yards to great effect on a few occasions, setting up good birdie opportunities on 3, 4, 7 with that very shot, though on the 8th I found the beach after underestimating the strength of the crosswind. 2nd attempt finished 5 feet away though so still had a bit of a buzz arriving at the turn despite having dropped shots on 1, 3 (both 3putts), 6, and two on 8 due to the lost ball.

I tightened up my game on the back nine, just making one error on the 12th to drop a shot, but otherwise hitting every fairway and GIR. I was disappointed not to pick up any birdies, especially after a few terrific approach shots to close range - but it was one of those days where the putts were just not dropping.

All said, it was a really enjoyable experience and one I hope to revisit a few more times though the winter.

Friday night my daughter announced that she needed to be dropped off at a friends at 11 on sat so I had to cut it to 9 holes but resigned to it but relaxed and made 19 points with 6 pars on the front nine which is the best for a long time.Two problems -We will almost certainly be on the mats next week and I overheard my playing partners discussing that they didnt really want to get up at the crack on cold winter saturday mornings when they are playing 2 or 3 times midweek.Both recently retired and they are concerned about breaking the news to me I guess.Only solution - give up work

Dyna - Nice going mate. Tell 'em not to be so (insert expletive as appropriate) selfish or tell 'em to foxtrot oscar and find someone else who also has to be up at the crack of dawn to play.

Been good friends in the same fourball for a long time so its a bit delicate.I shall keep playing sat early am regardless whilst still working full tilt

Took advantage of a nice day on the south coast and played with the old boys in the rollup. Decent knock, 74 with a couple of 3 putts but nowhere near good enough to take the money off those old scallywags! Always enjoy playing with them though.

Ex golfing buddy of mine is back from OZ for December and we managed a swift 18 holes today at Bar Hill Cambridge. Never played the course before, it is not bad, with a handful of very nice interesting holes. However, the drone of the A14 is absolutely constant and they had just spiked the greens. At times it was like putting on one of those kids games where the silver balls should be put into the holes, only this was much easier. So putting was a bit of a lottery, with many putts hopping about.

But that didn't matter at all - the weather was fabulous, the company first rate and I was striking an old set of Maruman Conductor blades with relish.

Yesterday played in the "Movember" Charity we do each year for prostate cancer, played pretty well, won the longest drive competition which won me a new TM Gel handle umberella, gave it back to the organisers to put in the charity raffle it raised 41quid so goes to a good cause.

What is not so good is today!had a chinese last night at the charity do and has caused a serious case of Dehli Belly!

Was playing in the Mav Family Xmas shoot out. Competitors are OldMan mav (his actual last game before hip replacement) Bro Mav, Bro in law Mav, Nephew Mav and Mavette!

We stick 20quid in winner takes all, whoever comes last has to host the rest of the family on new years eve. We added a 10 quid prize for whoever records best score out of mavette and my nephew this year as its their first year.

I'm last by default! Managed to last just 8 holes before an imminent sharting incident! Just made it back to the club house after running from 8th green staright to the loo! So I'm sat here watching the Ned bank whilst the others are out on course still!

Whoops - got enough paper there Mav?

If mavette looses is that her pocket money for the next six months down the pan?

I guess playing for money from such a young age will toughen a player.

Hope it wasn't a white strides day Mav. Surely it's not that bad to host on New Years Eve? You can get drunk and not have to drive. Unless Mav family parties are legendary for trashed venues

Am I being a woose or is it way to cold to play golf this weekend, less than 5 degrees somes a little too cold to me.

Mac your being a woose never to cold to play! No it won't aggect Mavettes pocket money I stumped up for her willingly.

Won't hurt her to play for money with family at this stage not with others though.

The reason its a chore grumps is hosting whilst it means a sherbert or too and no cab fare or driving is the host has to buy all the booze! All the food and arrange the entertainment then clean up after and the amount that gets consumed couple with 7 kids wrecking the joint means new years days a cleaning fest!

Finals standings- oldman mav and his dodgy hip win with 39points mavette wins the young gun prize with 37points

Ah, I see. All that booze is bound to be expensive. Haven't you got Mrs Mav for the following day?

The amount my lot consume it'll take us both all day!

Back to the topic:

Played 2nd round of scratch knockout was meant to be next week but my opponent is away so we got it agreed by club to play today!

Still feeling effects of dehli belly had to be careful not to shart to say my game was indifferent would be pretty well descirbed. I'd hit a great drive followed by a crap approach, or a crap drive and a great approach. Saving grace as always was my putting, seemed to hole everything, guy I was playing against got very annoyed at it so did the lad he had caddying for him.

Worked it out after the round I had 26putts, 14 on front 9 and. 12 on the back including a 35footer for a par and a half when I had all but backed my way along the hole.

Ended up winning at the 17th 2&1. Unsportingly the other fella refused to shake my hand and the offer of a drink instead heard him cursing in the locker room how he'd played well and deserved to win but instead lost to someone that played sh1t and holed everything!! I don't care either was I'm in the 3rd round.

Now to try and eat first time since friday night due to the dehli belly!

The fool - has he never heard the adage 'you drive for show and putt for dough'

Well played Mav good job it was a bit of a buttock clencher.

Well done Mav.

What a moron you played against, if that happened to me I would report him to the committee.
I assume he was about 17 years old?

Doon the Water wrote:Well done Mav.

What a moron you played against, if that happened to me I would report him to the committee.
I assume he was about 17 years old?

Cheers Doon,

I had a word with one of the committee guys as I left with regards the unsporting conduct, he was like it the whole round, little smirks if I hit a crap shot, or a comment to his caddy about how he'd have the hole as I was in the quagmire! I'd then go and hole the putt and smirk wiped off his face and replaced with snide comment to caddy. I let him know in the locker room I'd taken pleasure in beating him in the manner I did as he was not playing in spirit of the game. This is same as I said to committe guy, said "he'd deal with it"

He was not a pup but was a 52 year old man with his 23 year old son on the bag! Ironically he's in the same half of my draw as well, how I'd like that game.

OS:

Not sure about the well played! But certainly putted well. Thanks heavens it was a bum clencher not sure how it'd coped with a squeeky bum moment though!

I think this should be a sticky.
It's a random thread that captures the essence of our golfing expereiences, sublime and ridiculous in equal measure, and speaks to the camaraderie on the Board.
It's stood the test of time, but will languish if kept in the body of the Board, unlike threads (such as mine of Mav's) which, arguably, are refreshed each week.

Second league match of mixed winter foursomes for me and Mrs today. We won and there were no arguments!!!!! Could be on the way to defending our title- or I could just have spoken too soon!! Hey ho!

Played in a texas scramble on Saturday. My team shot 57 gross (56 net) and we lost by one stroke to a bunch of bandits.

Coldest conditions I have played in since my junior golf days, but fortunately the abundance of alcohol being offered to us on every tee helped keep the frostbite at bay. :hic:

Xmas texas scramble last saturday but first real frost and greens were pretty solid for front 9.Made 3 birdies on the front and then 7 on the trot on the back,had to compromise with par on 17th due to the drive situation and missed eagle putt on 18 for 11 under gross 15 under nett and only third place.We changed the rules this year to allow a maximum of 10 combined handicap and any ladies also got an extra shot due to them playing off the same tees in most cases.Winning team with 2 ladies had an allowance of 12.

Marcus
If you had won would you have been a bunch of bandits?

No, because the winners had a combined handicap of 86, and we had a combined handicap of 7.

84 gross nett 77, 3 doubles and a quadruple bogey , two birdies and a fistfull of putts.........But having said that tee to green was miles better having had word with our pro to weaken my grip..

Breezy and Pearl Harbour game on TOC today, round in a mere 2:45 purely to keep warm.

Suddenly realised how much better the course would be played the way it was originally intended. Back to Front. Funny how Mac never mentions that in it's "ultimate" design.

I'd be very disappointed if he didn't now . . . . .

Twelve of us played Princes (Dunes & Himalayas) today. Had the course pretty much to ourselves.

I shot 71, which considering we were all getting steadily more drunk on mulled wine, whisky and brandy as the round progressed, wasn't too bad at all.

Highlight was a 6 iron to two feet on the 217 yard 8th. Lowlight happened when I missed the two foot putt . Also managed to pull off a par on the par 5 3rd, despite being 3 off the tee.

Marcus,
What's your favourite combo at princes? I liked shore/dunes best. I understand that when the open was there the routing was different.

raycastleunited wrote:Marcus,
What's your favourite combo at princes? I liked shore/dunes best. I understand that when the open was there the routing was different.

The Shore & Dunes make up the best combo at present, but the owners are spending a fortune on the Himalayas, and in my opinion it may well end up being the best nine on the whole course.

I'm not entirely sure about the pre-war layout, but I do know that pretty much all of the old course got obliterated during WW2. The 1st hole on the pre-war course started where the 6th tee (shore) is now located, next to the newly refurbished "old" clubhouse. I think the post-war architects tried to recreate the old layout as much as possible, but when the old clubhouse burnt down they took the opportunity to build a new clubhouse in the middle of all three loops, so switched the holes around.

Scramble again at the weekend.On the mats but also all the greens.Lost our long hitting young person due to an FA cup match and enjoyed the company of one of our founder members of 22 years ago.Unfortunately struggling with cancer treatment but still battling round the course.Some really good putting in 9 under round but still missed a couple of chances.
highlight came on 17 when we had about 30 yard pich up to the pin.I went frist and left it short,guest lobbed one in to about 2 feet,third player played an even better one to about a foot and the last player wasnt even going to bother but after some abuse from us he pitched on a hit the pin.Good fun

managed to get out for a game yesterday. tweaked something in my knee early last week, so i've been giving it a bit of rest since then. really struggling with confidence to follow through on it yesterday, meaning i was spraying everything left and right. very frustrating as i was beginning to feel, after my week up north followed by a couple of games during the week of my return, that my game was coming back together nicely. managed to score a nine over 81, which was largely thanks to my short game being on decent form with 6 good up-and-downs, and birdies on 3 of the par 5s. feel like a complete hacker though obviously it wasn't 'that' bad. game tomorrow, hopefully with some improvement on the cards.

Would like to have round number 4 tommorow please GG

NB, good job I read this thread. I'll mark you down mate. Grumps

first competition at my new club today, 14 holes, 28 points, great to get out on the course, enjoyed it, struck the ball well, will take some time to figure out the best way to play the course, played the wrong club on a few occasions, just have to convince myself of the yardages. Happy with the change, correct decision to move made!!!

First game for a month due to an injury to the arch of my foot. Thought it was on the mend but it was agony. Couldn't transfer any weight onto my front foot.
Ended up scoring 29 points which was as good as it could have been.
One of the caddies in our group decided to take his dog with him. Bloody thing kept chasing after my ball and picking it up. Oh well, T.I.T.

Played 3 ball single stableford on sat and the greenkeeper very kindly left us on the greens even though there was a sharp frost.His theory and it was true that was by about 11 am(when the first players had done maybe 13 holes) the frost was gone.Lovely morning but I had nothing bigger than a 6 iron in the bag(after driver)as i was expecting temps.Stilll made 36 points but blobbed the 11th trying to draw one round the dogleg.Lost the money by a shot.Worth getting up to see the sunrise.

managed to get in a game today before this weekends 4bbb ties. unfortunately on 18 temps, but had good craic with as a 3ball, all playing pretty steady to finish on 39, 39 and 38 pts off 3/4 handicap. highlight for me was undoubtedly a fine drive on a shortened par 4 (playing about 230-240ish yards), blind tee shot with driver, to within 18inches - a nice tap in 2! steady other than that for an ok 74, but some slightly frozen surfaces cost me several shots: be they nice little chips slipping past and several missed putts from close range.

I am curious. Do people really care how a person they don't even know played today or any other day for that matter? Is it just a bit of self indulgence? I always of the impression that most people only really care what shape their own game is in and what their own score is. I guess it's a bit like looking at boring holiday snaps or the fisherman's tale of how big the fish was.

lorus59 wrote:I am curious. Do people really care how a person they don't even know played today or any other day for that matter? Is it just a bit of self indulgence? I always of the impression that most people only really care what shape their own game is in and what their own score is. I guess it's a bit like looking at boring holiday snaps or the fisherman's tale of how big the fish was.

lorus, i guess it's each to their own on this thread. i'm sure there are others who don't care either and they don't bother posting here. personally i think it helps contribute to the feel of this place and gives us all a little insight into where everyone else is at with their game. i'm not saying its an essential component to this forum by any stretch, but if we're here to talk golf we might as well have somewhere to talk about our own games too. i'd say the 900 plus posts answers your question - its a pretty popular spot!

Lorus

I thought I had made the odd comment that was little outside the spirit of the forum but that was just plain awful. Hang your head in shame man.

This part is a good read as we care for each other on this forum and want to hear about the games our good friends play.


Why, this seems like the time to mention I played for the first time in 2012 on Saturday in winds that were gusting to about 50 mph. Only played ten holes but the wind was so extreme that it was actually quite fun. I thin I only made about 5 pars but given the freezing conditions and the wind that seemed ok.

mac, what are the fees at the braids this time of year and how is the course playing?

Under £20 and the course is playing ok if it was not for the severe wind which seems a constant feature. The course is partially routed onto the 9 holer but actually I like some of those holes better than the ones out of play.

Sadly the two long par 4's are out of play at the moment.

I see. I'd like to get a game up there, but perhaps some point over the summer would be better. I've been meaning to get a game there for a while, as i've only played the course once about 10 years ago and can barely remember much of the round. Also, I'm thinking about my options for next year should I choose not to renew my current membership.

Okay, let me get into the "spirit" of the thread. In this new year of 2012 I have played 90 holes of golf in beautiful warm weather and not much wind. I must be at least 120 over par and lost about 20 balls and not a single birdie. Did that make interesting reading?

[quote="lorus59"] I must be at least 120 over par and lost about 20 balls

And the rest.........

'at least' = infinity.

Below par is a bad thing but under par is a good thing.

Lorus

Good stuff, a rousing tale to start the day is a real joy. I am glad you have entered the spirit of the occasion but it is sad to hear you are so pants at golf.

McLaren wrote:I am glad you have entered the spirit of the occasion but it is sad to hear you are so pants at golf.

it certainly explains the grumpiness behind his original post

Yes. I am pants at golf and I imagine I am not the only one, but maybe other useless players like me won't say how their "game was today" because they are open to the abuse I just got. I guess this thread is only intended for the good players to brag.