FISH

So here I am about a third of the way through the regular golf season and I have to say, I’ve been pounding the snot out of the ball. I still have the arrant moments that send sacrifice up a new to me Pro V1 to the tree fairies. But overall I’ve been very happy with the way I’m coming out of the tee box - long and on the fairway. But then comes my second shot and that’s just where it seems to fall apart. Not always mind you but more often than not I find myself taking a six to seven inch divot (not in length, rather in depth - seriously, if you stepped in one of these bad boys unwittingly you’d break your ankle). I’m not sure where my new found fattness has come from but it’s aggravating as hell.

If I really buckle down and stay super focused on keeping my head down, I end up skulling it. Again not all the time, actually about 30 percent of the time (if we’re putting numbers to things). I should be happy because that leaves me about 70% of the time hitting a decent shot, that would put put me in the front of the class at Cooperstown - but that’s a different sport all together.

Now I did go through a stretch were I was chipping the ball really well, but now that’s gone. I either chip it 2 feet when it needed to fly for 15 or I needed it to fly for 15 and it went 45. I don’t get it! Then I played as part of a 5some (yes 5, don’t tell the club it ticks them off), of them was fellow 3 guys golfer Tom. He said. “Fish, do you practice?”. That’s what I love about Tom, he always cracks great jokes - “Do I practice?” That killed me - funny stuff. Then I started to think about. Practicing wouldn’t be such a bad idea I could get the feel of the wedges that weight down my bag and really learn how to use them. With me driving the ball so well I’m often a wedge away on most holes. So you know what I’m going to do? Swing harder - who’s got time to practice!

Until next time - Hit ‘um straight!

I had the opportunity to test this putter out. For me the only way to test new equipment is to actually take it out in the field and play with it under actual conditions. Yes I took it to the practice green so I could get a feel for it and if I wasn’t a fair guy I would have left it in the car after I was done on the practice green.

I like a heavy putter, which is why I gravitate towards the mallet style putter. This putter looks like it should weigh a ton but it’s extremely light but it strikes to the ball like a heavy flat iron. Anyway I was on the practice green taking a few practices putts and I was sailing everything a mile past the hole. So I made an adjustment (like I was in Arizona on fast, fast greens), I took a little off the stroke and found the ball really comes off the club face very smoothly. But I still wasn’t convinced that this was a putter I would invest in so I took it out into the field.

On my second hole I actually retrieved it from my bag and wanted to see what it could do on a 40 foot par putt. I did it because I remembered how far past the hole I was hitting everything on the practice green. My putt was a little up hill so I took a few practice swings, lined up my putt and effortlessly got the ball within 12 inches of the cup. I pulled my old putter out and dropped approximately where the other the ball was and found I had to take a much harder swing which meant i didn’t have enough control of the putter and place the ball about four feet short.

So I started off not liking the putter, but in the end discovered that it would probably bring more control to my game in the end so I may consider making this purchase because I think this putter could get me into shooting in the low 80’s. You can check out Rife Putter by going to their website www.rifeputters.com/. Enjoy!

So today I had the esteem pleasure of playing one of the top rated public access courses in these here United States The Golf Club of Estrella. This is another fantastic Troon Golf course and once again I wasn’t disappointed. Unlike at it’s sister course Devil’s Claw where I played yesterday, I actually played fairly well today.

That being said the picture above illustrates my misfortune on the third hole. If you look at the bottom of the photo and go to the top and to the left you will see that I eventually took a seven on this par three. I picked my head up in the tee box and topped my shot to it’s first position at which point I really did want to play it safe and punch out and I did I just didn’t get enough ball so it hit the edge and rolled back in. The rest the say is history. This bunker runs the entire length of the fairway so when teeing up on this hole staying left or putting it on the dance floor is the order of the day.

I’m a guy a that likes to walk a golf course, especially if I’ve never played it before. I get a better feel for the landscape, a better sense of roll, bounce and even carry. But like the the Whrilwind course the day before the vista’s and wide open space was absolutely my favorite part of this day. Estrella oddly enough reminded me a bit of my home course, it offered up more mountainess terrain and hills for me to climb but the occasional 12 foot cactus reminded me that I was indeed still in Arizona.

I am quickly becoming a fan of Troon Golf courses and I will make sure that I play as many as I can in my life time. You can check out all Troon Golf courses by going to www.troongolf.com. Oh, for the record I shot an 89 today and that includes that blasted 7 I took on the third hole. Troon Golf rules!!!