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Fell Off a Ladder: Haven't Been Out for a While

I haven't been out for a while. The long slow Spring of our discontent out here in Western Canada is finally becoming Summer. And, in doing one of those Spring things, powerwashing the siding on Mom's house, I fell off a 12 foot ladder, out of a flower bed and onto a concrete walkway.

Now, fortunately I've had rockclimbing training, sky-diving training and a little bit of Aikido. I managed to throw away the power wash wand and as I was coming down I kicked myself away from the ladder and twisted to land most on my right lat (upper back) and roll, Ukemi. I managed to keep my hip, short ribs, collarbone, shoulder joint, vertebrae and skull all out of the impact. Scraped my elbow up though, but that's just road rash. But, unlike Jackie Chan, I strained my lower back in twist and roll action I had to do. I've been resting it and not golfing, at least not a full eighteen.

Because I can't be totally without golf. I took a lesson. Went up to see the people at Urban Links. I had a half hour lesson using their video analysis equipment. If you have never done this, DO IT.

In a half hour, I learned that I'm most efficient as a one plane swinger and I have a bad tendency to straighten out of a good spine angle (I think because I'm short, I think I have to get out of the way of the club). By the end of a half hour, I was hitting my 3 Wood 235 yards with a high soft trajectory and slamming out 254 yard dead straight drives, and the machine only gives you carry yardage.

I learned so much more by being able to see my swing especially with those "John Madden" lines showing posture, head position and swing plane. Additionally, you get details on swing path (outside/in or inside/out), clubface at impact (square, open, closed) and azimuth (delofted, loft added). Just tightening a muscle on your face changes all of these things. You get to learn the feel of producing ideal numbers and see if you can consistently replicate them: Great practice and way more informative than trying to deduce what your doing by watching ball flight at an open range.

I've been hitting a few balls at the range for the last few days to get back to playing shape, and the good news is that these lessons translate into results outdoors as well as indoors. Can't wait to get back out now. If you're up in Canada, find the Urban Links near you, but I'm sure there are similar places all over North America. I understand that in Japan, most golfer never play on a course, but go to driving ranges and indoor simulators, so I expect that there a few of these centres anywhere you might be.

A friend from OZ is in town, we'll be playing at Blackhawk next week, so more after that.

Six of These, Half Dozen of Those

I had another one of "those" rounds today. I didn't drive very well, so it felt like a scramble for par for the whole round. Here's the best drive of the day:




Probably 10 to 20 yards shorter than drives I was hitting last week. I'm just not making solid contact. My iron play is what saved my score. I've been feeling so good about my irons, I took the hybrids out of my bag and slipped the 3 & 4 irons back in. I play CG4 tours, but I'm hitting a solid straight 210 yard 3 iron.

So the 223 yard drive was on #15, a par 5, and a 3 iron then a 5 iron got me to here:





And, just to show that you just can't won sometimes. Here's the result of the birdie putt:




My best string of holes was #8 through #10, three GIRs in a row.

#8, I nailed a 6 iron to the front of the green, but 2 putted.



#9, I left the driver in the bag and corked a 3 iron to about 70 yards and used the gap wedge to get close. The only birdie of the round:



#10 was a GIR for par, but again left the driver in the bag: 3 iron then a 6 iron to the back of the green and a 2 putt. I parred #5, #6, #8, #10 and #15, but only used the driver on #5 and #10. The rest of it was scrambly gritty bogie golf.




Ended up shooting an 85, but it felt like it was over 100. I'm not back out until Thursday so hopefully it'll be out of the system by then.

-- Posted From My iPhone

Down the Stretch

Blackhawk Holes #13 to #18

#13 is the longest par 4 on the course playing between about 410 and 440 yards depending on wind direction. So I step up to the tee box with the wind straight in my face. There is also a sand trap in the middle of the fairway about 250 yards out that can’t be seen from the tee.

(Above) Standing over my drive looking down towards the green. This is about a 240 yard drive onto the right fairway; right fairway because …

This bunker splits the fairway right in the landing zone. And, it cannot be seen from the tee box.

Nothing exciting here, 5W ended up leaving me ten yards to the green, popped it on with a Wedge and two putted my way to a bogie.

#14 is a really deceptive hole. It plays more like a dogleg right. It doesn’t look like a dogleg, but the way the tees are built, the fairway simply starts at the “knee” of the dogleg, a little bit deceptive. Notice how the fairway just goes to the right? There is only rough straight ahead.

I hit another great drive. I didn’t get it all but it faded around the 150 stake and ended up smack dab in the middle of the fairway …

Oh, and after playing with it for 12.25 holes, I finally remember I have a GPS unit and figured out how to do this with it …

It was ridiculously easy to do, which is why it took me all afternoon. Didn’t get all of it, but did I mention it was dead centre of the fairway? Here’s the green as I drove up to it. There is a fairly deep grass bunker behind what you can see here, and that’s where my ball is. About pin high, but 5 feet below thanks to a slightly pulled 5 iron. Popped it on with a wedge and then two putted to my usual bogie.

I actually consider #13 and #14 to be the doldrums of the course, there is nothing wrong with them, but they don’t have the excitement of the rest of the holes. #15, on the other hand, is another scoring opportunity. It’s about 520 yards, but the second half is downhill and it’s pretty much straight away. It’s a two tiered green with about a four foot difference between the tiers.

Nothing really exciting about this hole until the end. I had a short drive, just clearing the sand trap that guards the beginning of the fairway (about 200 yards from the tee box). My 3W and the downhill second half of the hole got me to the 150 marker albeit on the edge of the left hand rough and my 7 iron was a little strong and ended up just off the green but off the upper tier with the flag on the lower tier.

Here’s how the green looked …

And here’s my ball about three feet off the green off the upper tier, about 45 feet away from the cup.

You guessed it. I actually sunk that putt. There it is, the shot that makes up for all the screw ups and frustrations of the day and why you continue to pay for this ludicrously expense and time-consuming sport. A 45 foot putt from off the green, downhill, on another tier and with a ridge to deal with, for birdie. I could have wept. It took forever to get to the cup as well. If I had a gallery, the idiot that yells “Get in the HOLE!” could have yelled twice before it dropped.

#16 is a few deceptive par 3. It’s an all water carry to a green that might be 50 feet at it’s deepest. Go over and the cart path is at the bottom of a hill about thirty feet below the hole, short, of course is wet. It’s also in full view of the clubhouse restaurant, so people drinking beer can watch you fail.

Yes, that small smudge of green across that water is your target. I ended up hitting a strong 7 iron that missed the green on the right (which is actually further away than the left side of the green). After the miracle birdie, I was too aggressive going for this flag. Fortunately, it came down from 6 stories and didn’t kick down the hill settling near the top. Going over can mean hitting up to the green blind towards water. But I could see the flag from where I was. Lob up and onto the green was fine but the green is sloped away from you at that angle, so to cut to the chase I missed a much simpler putt than the one I just sank, two putting to bogie.

#17 is quite an interesting hole. Instead of hitting out of a chute, you hit into one. The river runs along the left so anything there is bad leading up to a deep grass bunker on the left side of the green that also contains a pot sand trap.

My drive was quite short, maybe 20 yards onto the fairway leaving about 210 to the middle of the green. I usually do poorer on the back nine because I get tired and stop finishing my swing. However, that’s when I hit the best feeling 5W of the day. It had a high trajectory tracking straight at the flag. It was going to land short of the green and take a couple of bounces and roll on. Then it actually bounced kicked slightly left, bounced again on the left hand fringe, kicked a little further left and gracefully dropped down into the pot bunker.

Approaching the green at #17 from the cart path and the right hand side. My ball is between the tree line and the far edge of the green and then ten feet down. Just where the two taller trees in the mid-left of the photo are. In my second magic moment of the day, I managed to splash it out just clearing the eight foot tall rim of the bunker leaving it three feet from the pin. I have to admit that when I left the cart, I was not expecting anything good to happen here and left the iPhone on the seat. One putt and I have my first and only sand save of the day: Par.

So after #15 and #17, I’m pumped about my short game going over to the #18 tee box. I’ve also hit four really good drives on the back nine and the other two weren’t bad, just not as good. I’m also on-track for an 82 if I par #18, and for me – that’s a post-university low (though I've moved up a tee to work on tempo and sequencing). #18 starts as a feel good hole. You drive out of a chute that makes your driver sound like the Hammer of Thor to a big landing area. The trick is the second shot which is uphill to a green built on a terrace half way up a hill fully on the left hand side of the fairway.

I hit a decent drive, slightly pulled so it’s on the right rough but short of a couple of really nasty sand traps. The problem here is that I’m too close to the hillside to get a decent angle to the green or even be able to see it. So, trying to preserve my chance at a par and an 82, I decide to lay up at the bottom of the hill right below the green for a wedge up and hopefully a one putt. I’m playing for par. I hit the perfect 5 iron landing almost exactly where I wanted it. Things are looking up again. I get over the ball; it’s sitting up; it’s on good turf and I can see the flag thirty feet above me.

Now, I’ve been doing well this round because of my short game. I haven’t had many GIRs, but my chipping and pitching have made up for it. I haven’t had a three putt all day, because I’m getting good position off my short approach.

This is, of course, when I blade the ball. The ball overshoots the green and stays on the slope behind and above it. From there you have a 30 degree downhill lie hitting at a green that is sloped away from you towards at series of pot bunkers. So, like #10, I chip laterally along the side of the green landing the ball a foot short of the fringe and let gravity do the work. The green on #18 isn’t just undulating, but actually has what would be moguls were they covered in snow.

I get on; I don’t roll off, but I leave myself a thirty foot putt. So, two putt to a DOUBLE bogie.

Oh well, I end up with an 84: 42 on the front and 42 on the back, finishing with the ball I started with. It’s my low score of the season and makes my goal of breaking 80 this year all the more believable. But because golf needs to humble you, I finish with a double bogie. It was a beautiful day and a great round. At least, I keep repeating that into the locker room.

Looks like Spring is finally here

Blackhawk Holes #7 to #13

Crystal clear blue skies, I’ve been all over the world and there is nothing like an Alberta sky; imagine the blue waters off Hawaii as an immense dome over your head, that’s an Alberta sky. Even better, it was a balmy 21 degrees so I jumped in the car and teed off about 12:20; not another soul on the course. I eventually stalled behind a foursome, but that wasn’t for six holes.

The last time I blogged a round at Blackhawk I stopped at hole #6, which was more of an issue about iPhone battery life than anything else (anyone taking note, Apple?). I score using my iPhone now, using an app called “Golfcard” and uploading to oobgolf.com in order to track my stats.You can go here to see how badly I’m hacking up a course, sometimes in real time. So between that and taking photos, that iPhone doesn’t last long especially if I don’t arrive with a full charge (getting all this, Apple?).

Regardless, it was a beautiful day. Look at that blue sky; that’s what I’m talking about.

I’m going to pick up my tour of the course at #7, having covered #1 through #6 in a previous post. By #7, I was already +5.

#7 is a par 5 hitting at a saddled hill then pretty flat to the green. There are fairway bunkers intended to challenge your second shot, and a single trap on the left side of the green. Here’s the view from the tee box to the saddle:

I find this one of the tougher par 5’s on the course. The other two I consider real scoring opportunities, but this one really depends on a good drive. Ideally, your drive hits the back side of the saddle, which will make it kick towards the open fairway and often to the middle of the fairway, but if you hit into the slope on the front side of the hill or into the sides of the saddle, the ball will likely stop on the hill. That leaves 300 yards or more for your second shot, with fairway bunkers in play. This is the view from where you do not want to be.

My ball is behind the rise on the left in the first cut of rough, which adds a few more yards to the hole than being on the right. I was about 280 out. My 3W got me inside 50, but my pitch landed on the false front and rolled off the front of the green.

Here’s the view from the green back towards the saddled hill. My ball is hidden by the front of the green which drops off quite dramatically with this particular flag placement. In any case, I chipped up to about three feet of the flag and sunk my putt for par. It could have and has been much worse.

#8 is a straight away par 3. It plays down hill and I think it’s the friendliest of par 3’s. Two others are from elevated tees with wind playing a significant factor and #16 is all water carry to a narrow green that drops off behind it. The secret to #6 is to under club as the fairway just in front of the green kicks everything towards the green. The left hand side has a friendly slope, but long and right are simply pure disaster. Looking at it from the tee, you don’t see as much green as is actually there.

It was playing about 157, so I used an easy 7 iron and counted on the fairway to kick it forward to the green. The shot was pretty much what I wanted but it also kicked a bit to the right leaving a twenty or so foot putt. Two putts for par.

I took this from the cart path as I got to the green. You can see that my ball is a little short and to the right of the flag. The putt was uphill.

#9 is technically a dogleg left, but it’s shaped more like a backwards “C”. Moreover it’s all downhill and pretty much the entire fairway is sloped to the left. It can be hard to find a flat spot for your second shot.

The hole can played conservatively with a 3W or a hybrid because anything about 200 yards out will kick downhill and leave a wedge to the green. So of course the Driver comes out of my bag; at 230 out it’s possible to roll up onto the green and I was driving pretty well. My only thought was not to go left as anything on the left side of the fairway ends up in the left side rough or in the woods. So, of course, I went too far right and got caught up in the trees at the top of the hill. Here’s a shot from the tee; you drive out of this chute. You can see the dramatic slope of the landing area and the stand of trees on the right where I ended up.

I was lucky in that the ball ended up in front as opposed to behind the trees. From there, you’re technically still about 180 yards out, but it doesn’t play that way. Here’s the view from my second shot.

I actually used an 8 iron as the slope ten yards in front of the green is really severe and will kick the ball onto the green. Actually, right of the green is okay as well, but left has a hidden sand trap or simply into the woods.

Long is also no good as you can see the green drops off on three sides; off the back can be out of bounds. My 8 iron was short, finding the only flat spot to land on in front of the green. Short chip, two putts and I get out with a bogie.

So, the front nine was a 42, which is great for me, though I had scored a 39 at the beginning of the month (followed by a 47 on the back). I usually fall apart on the back. I get tired and tight and stop finishing my swing for comedic effect. So I was bracing myself for a high eighties, low nineties score.

If #9 is all downhill, #10 is straight away and straight up hill so it plays much longer than the 290 or so it’s usually set for. #10 can be a triple bogie for me easily. I’m a terrible judge of up hill club selection.

A little bit to my surprise I hit a fairly solid drive up the left hand side of the fairway. Not great as everything kicks left, but it should be playable.

This is about two thirds of the way up the hill. I couldn’t see my ball from the cart path, but it was in the left hand rough about 86 yards out. So, to prove that I am lousy at up hill club selection, I used my 9 iron. Went over the green, but there is a backing slope, though the ball stayed on the slope. That left a downhill lie to make a shot that is essentially downhill; it’s easy to roll off the green into the pit bunkers next to it. So I chip essentially laterally to the green landing the ball short of the fringe to allow the downhill slope to carry it onto the green. It worked, then two putts and I’m out of #10 with a bogie, feeling I got off easy.

#11 is the reason I joined this club and it’s also Blackhawk’s signature hole. For a prairie course, Blackhawk has dramatic elevation changes. There are holes that could be from a mountain course, a woodland course and even a desert course. I think that’s why it’s rated #15 in Canada and the highest ranking non-mountain course in Alberta. Anyway, I digress. #11 is a 515 yard par 5 that essentially plays downhill, starting with this elevated tee, all the way to the green, so it plays closer to 490. This is a scoring hole and a very pretty one. It’s like the Prom Queen walking up to you and asking you out.

It looks like a huge landing area but three of the four guys playing in front of me missed it to the right. You actually want to play centre or right on the fairway as the green is tucked in behind the trees on the left. You really don’t want to be on the left behind that left hand sand trap for example.

So here I am, on the left side behind the trap on the left. The challenge here is that the green is actually just to the right of those trees with part of it actually behind them. There is also another sand trap about 40 yards in front of the one you can see. It’s a peninsula green so there’s water off the back and along the right. Unfortunately, my 5W was short leaving a fairly simple wedge shot that I pulled, but not too badly, ending up just off the fringe on the left hand side of the green.

You can just make out my ball on the edge of the green. I’m literally two inches from a GIR. This is a nasty pin placement as these greens are fast and anything rolling off the back is wet. After seeing where my ball is, I elect to putt it. It’s a downhill putt.

True to form, this is where my birdie putt decides to stop. Two inches from a GIR and four inches from a birdie. After a journey of some 515 yards, it’s a matter of six inches. Well, par, and on to #12.

#12 is a 160 yard par 3 over water to a fairly deep green with many tiers. There’s no picture from the tee box because I flared the ball with a 7 iron and actually ended up between two sand traps about 10 yards to the left of the green. It’s a toss up as to whether just hitting it into the drink would look less embarrassing, so I got the heck off the tee box before remembering to take a picture.

I believe that golf commentators would call the green at #12 “undulating” which makes it a bear to pitch on to. My ball is actually between the sand trap on the far left of the photo and another sand trap behind that. I actually was able to pop it up over the trap onto the right hand side of the green and let the slope take it down to the hole. I have no picture of this brilliant outcome because still p****d about the tee shot I left the iPhone in the cart. Still managed a two putt for bogie.

There are still six more holes to go, but this post is getting too long. I’ll pick it up in the next post.

Dare I hope? Spring?

Well, it's the second day of plus 20 degree weather with the clear blue Alberta skies we're renowned for. One week ago, four inches of snow, everywhere.

Back to the course tomorrow I think.




-- Posted From My iPhone

Why aren't I golfing?

As a picture is worth 1000 words, here's 2000 words on that subject:







Enough said, one of the slowest Springs in recent memory.


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Still waiting for Spring

If this were the end of the season, I'd bundle up and get in the course. This is now silly. 17 degrees is the warmest it'll get for the long weekend.

My suggestion? Go see Star Trek, because I want them to greenlight a sequel.


-- Posted From My iPhone