Radiman's Ramblings. My Life, My Game, and My Grandaddy Prep

[radiman]

Great job on that par 5. Even for those of us who top drivers far more often, it's hard to recover from a barely-past-red-tees shot. Let alone to save par.

Hope the rain wasn't too bad today.

Was off and on for most of the back nine. Only really bothersome for a couple holes.

 

[radiman]

At the course, about to warm up for the club championship.

Not a big tournament, but the butterflies are going for some reason.

Well, yesterday was an adventure

I started with a great drive followed by a, don't know if I dare say it...shank. Was just off the green, chipped it well past the hole. 3 putt for double, uh oh. Thinking this could be a long round. I was determined to not let one bad hole rattle me. There was 17 holes left and lots of birdie chances. It was kind of a grind for me, but I was able to score in spurts. I ended up making the turn at +1.

I was struggling mightily on the greens. I guess they triple rolled them and picked some pretty tricky pin locations. I never felt comfortable with my putter. I put the Toulon Atlanta in play a week ago and did well enough with it to keep it in the bag. The super fast greens exposed my lack of experience with it. Was struggling to control my speed and was leaving myself a lot of long second putts. By the end of the round I was trying to limit the damage and just get myself to tap in length.

The second nine saw me continuing to pipe my driver. Sprinkle in a few bad approaches with some great recovery shots and I was keeping my head above water. I bogied 10 and parred 11-13. Step up to the par 3 14 and I'm just going to hit this shoot I've been practicing. Take two extra clubs, and basically take the club back half was and just click the wrists. Keeps it low and usually right online. Well this time, I left the face wide open and blocked it way right into a bunker. A decent bunker shot had me looking at a 20 foot par chance. I walked off that green with my 3rd 3 putt and 2nd double on the day. But, 4 birdie chances remain. Par on the difficult par 4 15th and I'm standing on the par 5 16th ready to get some strokes back. Crush my drive left side of the fairway and had 188 to the pin. Hit a 7 iron as I over the green is bad news. Have 30 feet for eagle. Hit the most tentative garbage putt and had 8 feet to finish up for birdie. Made that and went on to par the last two.

Finished +3 after all that. I'm pretty happy with it as it could have spiraled way out of control after the shaky start. Two doubles, three 3 putts, but 5 birdies to go along with it. The winner of our flight shot 68, lol. He would normally play the championship flight but didn't have the time. My buddy tied for 2nd shooting a 73. My 75 was T4 but I missed out on any $$on a score card playoff.

Felt good to battle back and make a round out of it. In hind sight, I should have swapped putters for my lighter feeling, more forgiving Spider X after seeing how fast the practice green was. But, I'm still pleased.

 

[Danimal]

Looks like a lot of positives in there. Some things you can work on to round everything out. The fact that you kept the wheels on after a rough start is key. That is where I have been working on positive thoughts after some adversity.

 

[radiman]

Looks like a lot of positives in there. Some things you can work on to round everything out. The fact that you kept the wheels on after a rough start is key. That is where I have been working on positive thoughts after some adversity.

Just have to remember to find your happy place

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[mikeg_74]

Well, yesterday was an adventure

I started with a great drive followed by a, don't know if I dare say it...shank. Was just off the green, chipped it well past the hole. 3 putt for double, uh oh. Thinking this could be a long round. I was determined to not let one bad hole rattle me. There was 17 holes left and lots of birdie chances. It was kind of a grind for me, but I was able to score in spurts. I ended up making the turn at +1.

I was struggling mightily on the greens. I guess they triple rolled them and picked some pretty tricky pin locations. I never felt comfortable with my putter. I put the Toulon Atlanta in play a week ago and did well enough with it to keep it in the bag. The super fast greens exposed my lack of experience with it. Was struggling to control my speed and was leaving myself a lot of long second putts. By the end of the round I was trying to limit the damage and just get myself to tap in length.

The second nine saw me continuing to pipe my driver. Sprinkle in a few bad approaches with some great recovery shots and I was keeping my head above water. I bogied 10 and parred 11-13. Step up to the par 3 14 and I'm just going to hit this shoot I've been practicing. Take two extra clubs, and basically take the club back half was and just click the wrists. Keeps it low and usually right online. Well this time, I left the face wide open and blocked it way right into a bunker. A decent bunker shot had me looking at a 20 foot par chance. I walked off that green with my 3rd 3 putt and 2nd double on the day. But, 4 birdie chances remain. Par on the difficult par 4 15th and I'm standing on the par 5 16th ready to get some strokes back. Crush my drive left side of the fairway and had 188 to the pin. Hit a 7 iron as I over the green is bad news. Have 30 feet for eagle. Hit the most tentative garbage putt and had 8 feet to finish up for birdie. Made that and went on to par the last two.

Finished +3 after all that. I'm pretty happy with it as it could have spiraled way out of control after the shaky start. Two doubles, three 3 putts, but 5 birdies to go along with it. The winner of our flight shot 68, lol. He would normally play the championship flight but didn't have the time. My buddy tied for 2nd shooting a 73. My 75 was T4 but I missed out on any $$on a score card playoff.

Felt good to battle back and make a round out of it. In hind sight, I should have swapped putters for my lighter feeling, more forgiving Spider X after seeing how fast the practice green was. But, I'm still pleased.

Way to stick with it and stay positive. A huge thing is to let the bad shots go and use the good ones as reinforcement that you have those shots in the bag.

Putting is tricky and I’m always going to recommend using what your most comfortable with.

Keep up the good work.

 

[radiman]

Alright folks. Just got back home from a few days out of town with my family. The weather was pretty crappy (rain every day with highs in the 60's). But, was still a good time. Partly because I was able to sneak away and play golf at a couple really nice courses.

I am mobile at the moment. Going to dump some images and type out some thoughts tomorrow when I have access to a pc.

 

[radiman]

The Classic at Maddens

 

[radiman]

Cragun's Bobby's Legacy

Didn't get nearly as many pics here. It was raining off and on the entire round with 20+mph wind.

My highlight of the round was this little gem. A par 3 that plays 240 yards into said wind. I was able to keep me 3 wood below the tree line and put myself on the very back of the green to get up and down for par.



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[radiman]

Here are a couple more that didn't fit in my Maddens pictures.

First, I had to snag this hat. Repping Travis Mathew and MN all at once.

 

[quod erat]

Nice-looking course. I have to get out to Brainerd someday.

 

[Grins]

Nice pix! Where in Minn were you playing?

 

[radiman]

Nice pix! Where in Minn were you playing?

Brainerd area. A few resort courses in the area. Maddens has The Classic and a couple others. Cragun's has two Legacy Courses, both of which seem pretty nice.

Lots of lakes, lots of trees, and lots of hills. Beautiful countryside. Told my wife that I could see us living out our retirement in that area. But, still have to deal with those Minnesota winters.

 

[zbeekner4]

Courses look really nice radi! How’d the game feel the last few days?

 

[radiman]

Courses look really nice radi! How’d the game feel the last few days?

Was a tough adjustment playing not only a new to me course, but having to change my game to try and score. I don't think the pics do it justice, but those courses are a lot tighter than they look. My swing was a little tentative off the tee. But, I what I gave up in distance, I gained in accuracy. I never felt like I was able to unleash on anything. But, I kept the ball in front of me the whole time.

I struggled a bit adjusting to the turf. It sounds so simple. But, changing the way the ground feels below you is a big deal. Things react differently.

I played 9 holes at my home course tonight and it felt like a walk in the park, lol. So much room to miss. I shot a clean even par.

I'm looking at changing courses next year to a place that is much tighter than where I currently play. I think narrowing my focus off the tee will help my accuracy overall.

 

[radiman]

So, I promised some sort of update the other day. I apologize, I was playing catchup at work and came down with a nasty cold for a few days.

I really enjoyed my time at the Brainerd, MN area courses. I love the terrain and scenery. The most Minnesota courses I have ever played. The Classic at Madden’s Resort is probably the nicest course I have ever played at. Conditions were immaculate. To be fair, I haven’t really played at a lot of nicer facilities, so it doesn’t have a lot of competition.

Aside from the breathtaking views, I think I was able to garner a little prep from the trip in the fact that the fairways are probably going to be pretty similar conditions at the Hideaway. They are super tight. My home course does a good job for a city owned municipal course. But, there are days where you can see that the fairways didn’t make it onto the mowing schedule. The grass isn’t as dense. The plus to that is that there is a little wiggle room if you catch a shot heavy. At a nicer tighter fairway, there is not.

My first tee shot of the trip was a 3 wood on a par 5 that hit a patch and rolled way down a hill I didn’t know existed. I had something like 140 left to the pin. I pulled out my PW intending to hit it nice and easy. Caught it a little fat on the wet fairway and proceeded to hit my PW about 80 yards. Pull out my LW to pitch it onto the elevated green and did pretty much the same thing. I had to really adjust how I came into the ball to see any success. I played well enough to be happy with my performance on courses that I have never seen before.

Played in a two man scramble this past weekend. Was a bit of a train wreck at first, but we came around and ended up getting second. My driver has been my biggest asset but was really spotty this past weekend.

Overall, I am feeling pretty good with my game in it’s current state. My GHIN is at an all time low of an even 1. Just in time for the season to wind down. We have a couple more weeks of league left before we start running out of daylight. My course will be punching the greens either this week or next which really kills my motivation to clear my schedule enough to get out there and play Plinko.

Now, I have to shift into maintenance mode. Since my serious golf is over, I can start working out and lifting without regard to being too sore to play good golf. The plan is to lift 4 days a week and clean up my diet. I am going to avoid the local simulator as I think it really goofed up my swing. I will basically be swinging an orange whip each night as part of my routine just to keep my golf muscles used to moving that way.

 

[zbeekner4]

Thanks for the update Radi. When is usually the last date you can play 9 or 18 outside? Better yet, whats your prep going to look like from the end of the season until the first week of December?

 

[Gyro25]

Man that course looks really nice , but of course nothing like the hideaway pics we've been spoiled by

Nice job on bringing the hcp down, and I'm "glad" to hear even 1 hcps have duffed pitches and lobs ????

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[radiman]

Man that course looks really nice , but of course nothing like the hideaway pics we've been spoiled by

Nice job on bringing the hcp down, and I'm "glad" to hear even 1 hcps have duffed pitches and lobs ????

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Lol. I am the most inconsistent 1 handicap you'll ever come across. I can get away with some shots here and there. In this scenario, I hit the ball far enough to make up for the duffs. I can shoot a 72 and then follow it up with an 82 the next time out. Then, the GHIN system throws out the 82. Also, my home course can play really short and easy for me at times. I say easy in the sense that I don't have to hit very many long irons. Some days, if my driver is on, I don't hit anything more than a Wedge into a par 4. Other days, when my driver is off, there is enough room to get wild and crazy off the tee without causing too many issues. Next season, I plan on switching to a much tighter course that should even things out for me a bit.

 

[radiman]

Thanks for the update Radi. When is usually the last date you can play 9 or 18 outside? Better yet, whats your prep going to look like from the end of the season until the first week of December?

That's a good question. My prep will be strength training I think primarily. Not much I can do between no golf and the Grandaddy other than that. I will try to keep loose by swinging in the living room in the evenings. The last round can fluctuate. I think I played once in October last year. It was October 7th. Pretty sure it was about 45 degrees and windy that day. We had snow on the ground shortly after that.

 

[Danimal]

That's a good question. My prep will be strength training I think primarily. Not much I can do between no golf and the Grandaddy other than that. I will try to keep loose by swinging in the living room in the evenings. The last round can fluctuate. I think I played once in October last year. It was October 7th. Pretty sure it was about 45 degrees and windy that day. We had snow on the ground shortly after that.

That weather sounds awful. I will look forward to the prep work that you do and see how that translates to the GD.

 

[radiman]

That weather sounds awful. I will look forward to the prep work that you do and see how that translates to the GD.

That's what I have been telling my wife trying to convince her that our family needs to escape to a less extreme climate! Even joining KEV in Sioux Falls would be better than some of the crap we get here.

 

[zbeekner4]

That's a good question. My prep will be strength training I think primarily. Not much I can do between no golf and the Grandaddy other than that. I will try to keep loose by swinging in the living room in the evenings. The last round can fluctuate. I think I played once in October last year. It was October 7th. Pretty sure it was about 45 degrees and windy that day. We had snow on the ground shortly after that.

Oh wow. Thats really early. Hopefully itll be a mild october and november so you can get in a few extra rounds this year leading into the grandaddy.

 

[Gyro25]

Lol. I am the most inconsistent 1 handicap you'll ever come across. I can get away with some shots here and there. In this scenario, I hit the ball far enough to make up for the duffs. I can shoot a 72 and then follow it up with an 82 the next time out. Then, the GHIN system throws out the 82. Also, my home course can play really short and easy for me at times. I say easy in the sense that I don't have to hit very many long irons. Some days, if my driver is on, I don't hit anything more than a Wedge into a par 4. Other days, when my driver is off, there is enough room to get wild and crazy off the tee without causing too many issues. Next season, I plan on switching to a much tighter course that should even things out for me a bit.

My original home course was so wide open and everyone was a slicer, so hitting from the other fairways and still getting on was a normal thing for many playing there. I picked up a lot of bad swing habits so when I went to play a tighter course it was a rude awakening.

Still shoot 72-82 there are other components of your game that separate you from the others.. like my wedges and putting typically suck, like last week I think I hit 14/18 girl but I couldn't sink a birdie putt to save my life, 34 putts I think

Yesterday was the opposite, I hit 3 or 4/18 but wedge game and putter were good and I had 27 putts

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[KEV]

That's what I have been telling my wife trying to convince her that our family needs to escape to a less extreme climate! Even joining KEV in Sioux Falls would be better than some of the crap we get here.

Dude, that stretch of cold between the end of September/October until the event was brutal! I completely feel for you, all I wanted to do was be outside somewhere practicing. Luckily we have simulators in town that allowed me to at least get some swings in but I'm similar to you in that they sometimes goof my swing up. I will say that I spent a ton of time practice putting and I think it really helped during the event and even this whole season.

 

[Just_Brad]

Awesome that you got to play the courses at Brainerd. I really want to make the trek sometime and play them!