Welcome back to Golf Nerd 17, and today I will be writing about my afternoon outing with Alonso yesterday at the local course "Treasure Bay" golf course. I know, I know. I said next time we play it'll be at Mainlands. BUT, I'm still saving up money to buy new balls and money for the round so I can do it correctly. I also still need to go to the range and figure out my driver and woods because yesterday I took out my driver on one of the bay side tees and whacked two balls into the water pulling one over a hundred yards to the right and putting so much spin on the next one it flew 30 yards then abruptly pulled twenty yards left and shot straight down into the water. Saying I drew the ball is a major understatement.
But anyway, Alonso was getting antsy and wanted to play yesterday and I had $10 to spare so I figured "Why not?" and we had a good time. On the first nine I scored a 41 while Alonso scored a 63. On the back nine we both improved. I managed a 38 that should have been a 34 but I lost a ball out of bounds on my tee shot on the ninth as I pulled it left praying it didn't hit the apartment buildings (it didn't.. but close!) and had to tee off again for my fourth shot finishing with an 8 for that hole.. I wasn't happy with that finish. Alonso improved his 63 all the way down to a 49. After examining his scores on the first nine I let him know if he turned all his scores that were over a 6 into 6's, he could shave 15 strokes off his score, and he just about did that.
Also, I remembered to take out my iPhone and do some filming and managed to make some short videos so I could have a YouTube channel dedicated to this blog as well. Since iMove was being a b!tch last night I just uploaded the short clips right from my phone to youtube, but I plan on making a feature film lasting a couple minutes in length every time we go out instead of uploading many smaller clips. UNLESS, that is I get feedback from my readers saying they'd prefer to watch many smaller (less than one minute) clips rather than a video around 5 minutes or less in length. If you have an opinion, send you opinion to my primary blog email toms3dhuckfest@yahoo.com and let me know what you prefer. I cater to you, my readers, so it would make no sense for me to choose a format you don't like.
So, onto the game. On the second hole Alonso had a great hole. His tee shot left him pin high and on the right fringe of the green. A lucky chip shot left him with the ball IN THE HOLE for his first ever birdie! Congratulations Alonso. As we went on, it showed that unfortunately Alonso's birdie was a fluke. But he did eventually improve and I'll get to that later. The front nine was decent for me. I received a bogey for the first five holes, parred the sixth, bogey on the seventh, and then whacked a ball in the water on the 8th and finished with a seven. Then after making the green on the ninth I received a six. Now I know what you're saying, "How the hell did he manage to make the green and still receive a 6?" Well, the video below explains how:
As you can see, I did make a green... just not the green. My first shot pulled right and landed on the green for the seventh hole, and since you can't chip from the putting surface and I didn't feel like taking a drop, I figured I'd be creative and putt off the green and chip through the gap in the bushes onto the green. I managed to chip onto the fringe, chip on, and two putt for my six.
The Back Nine
The back nine was better for both Alonso and myself. After getting a bogey on the first two holes and Alonso receiving a 6 on the first two holes, we moved onto the third hole (aka, the 12th). My tee shot was a bit long and rolled off the back of the green, and Alonso's tee shot was rubbish as he sculled it to the right into the mud again. I figured now, after this being the third or fourth time Alonso had played, that Alonso has played enough that he could take some swing advice and put it to good use. I explained to him some things my dad taught me about the golf swing including making sure you have a good grip. I also went into detail about the different elements of the swing including what makes a good take away and back swing, and accentuating to be smooth and to realize that all of your power comes from the last part of your swing right before impact, and how to keep your wrists and the club in "the slot" as you come down to the ball. I then had him drop another ball and give it a shot, and he landed right next to the green, caught some hang time with the ball instead of sculling it, and made good impact with the ball. Also, he commented that the swing didn't hurt his arms anymore.
Since we still played our original balls, he received a six and I scored a four. However using that same technique I showed him on the third tee, his scores improved as he no longer sent tee shorts thirty feet into the mud, but rather a hundred yards down range, and pretty straight. His scored dipped down to fives instead of sixes and sevens, and even parred the sixth hole, as did I.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to the fourth (aka, the 13th) hole. This was a good hole for me. My tee shot landed me a few feet from the pin, on the green, and pin high, and I one putted for birdie. I was very pleased!
Moving on to the sixth hole. Now this hole is interesting. Downhill, about 110 yards, slight dogleg left with water left and some weird trees right with a green side bunker to the right. We both hit decent tee shots. I ended up on the fringe and Alonso in the fairway just short of the green. We both chipped on and one putted for par. We were both excited going into the seventh.
On the seventh, I hit a tee shot similar to the last time I played that hole and was short of the green due to underestimating the distance of the hole and not giving a full swing. I don't know why but that hole looks shorter than it is. Alonso, overwhelmed with the hype of scoring well on the sixth hole hit his tee shot thirty yards and into the mud. It wasn't good. I told him to calm down and hit another shot and to concentrate. We were still to play our original balls as always, but this was just to show what calming down and taking a step back to think about your shot could do. It was a poor example as he just hit it farther but still pulled it right and onto the tee for the first hole... but whatever.
He went to his ball and I went to refill my water bottle at the fountain placed on the seventh. I saw where his second shot ended up... it was behind the tees for the first hole about twenty yards beyond where his provisional shot landed. I walked over and, after hitting my ball onto the green, hit his provisional ball for fun since we weren't playing it. It landed on the green (woot!) and Alonso went to set up for his third shot. This, by the way, is the third time we were on this green today. The first time on the seventh hole, the second time on the ninth hole, and now:
I don't know why, but the ninth hole just has some bad juju. I don't know if it's nerves, weird wind coming off the buildings, or if we always just rush because it's the ninth and we're exciting with that "if I score well here I'll score a 34!" or whatever. But we always end up botching something on this hole. One time we played Alonso sent three into the lake. I remember Nick sent two into the lake one time. I've lost balls in the lake, in the bushes, in the maintenance shack, and in the apartments. Last time I ended up on the seventh green as I stated above, and this time I lost a ball in the apartments again. Luckily it didn't hit the buildings. After taking the OOB penalty I teed off again (my fourth shot) and landed in the center of the fairway. I made a crap chip shot leaving me short of the green, and I finished with an eight. Alonso pulled right on his first or second shot and had a similar shot that I did the last time after I putted of the seventh green. I finished with an eight after my stroke and distance penalty, and Alonso finished with a seven.
All in all it was a fun day of golf. After tallying up the scores I finished with a 79 and Alonso finished with a 112. Hopefully we'll get out there again soon. It's a fun little pitch and putt course and should not be overlooked.
--Tom K.
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