WRXers Scratch Amateur Tournaments Thread: Commitments, Results, etc....

[Ty_Webb]

On 5/18/2024 at 10:48 AM, Obee said:

As mentioned earlier, pitching has been giving me fits lately and I have been getting a bit ... "yippy." This is especially difficult for me to accept because for the longest time  my game around the greens wasn't just good, it was, at times, stupid good. Oh well. 

 

Hi David,

 

Outside of the "stupid good" part, I feel this in my soul. Yippiness with chips is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I do believe that they are fixable though. Relatively painlessly if you get them early enough. Not a whole lot you can do about the greens when they're like that. 

 

But good luck with everything - I hope you make it in. Sounds like that would be a fun event. And thanks for the rundown - I enjoy reading those 🙂

[Obee]

51 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

 

Hi David,

 

Outside of the "stupid good" part, I feel this in my soul. Yippiness with chips is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I do believe that they are fixable though. Relatively painlessly if you get them early enough. Not a whole lot you can do about the greens when they're like that. 

 

But good luck with everything - I hope you make it in. Sounds like that would be a fun event. And thanks for the rundown - I enjoy reading those 🙂

yes, I seem to have turned the corner. My chipping and pitching is coming back around now two rounds in a row or I am feeling confident and executing very well.

 

Got up and down this yesterday 4 for 4 on pitch shots, and didn't have any nerves over them.

 

The key has been that commitment to either setting it forward in my stance or back—landing it soft or skipping it low and running out. That clarity has really changed things for me. I was "in between," too often, which led to indecision and eventually mechanical breakdown.

 

 

 

 

[Ty_Webb]

27 minutes ago, Obee said:

yes, I seem to have turned the corner. My chipping and pitching is coming back around now two rounds in a row or I am feeling confident and executing very well.

 

Got up and down this yesterday 4 for 4 on pitch shots, and didn't have any nerves over them.

 

The key has been that commitment to either setting it forward in my stance or back—landing it soft or skipping it low and running out. That clarity has really changed things for me. I was "in between," too often, which led to indecision and eventually mechanical breakdown.

 

 

 

 

 

That lines up with my experience. I think it starts because your club gets in a spot where if you release it properly, it will go either too fast, too left, too right, too high, or too low. Your subconscious knows that so it says "no don't do that" so you don't. Consciously you know you want to release, so you actively try to, but you can't and that results in the yippy feeling. Keep doing that long enough and it gets in your head. If you're in between, I can easily see subconsciously you're at odds with what you want to do, so it won't happen. 

 

I get handle draggy sometimes. Hands ahead of the ball while the club is behind it. If I release it from there, the ball is going miles. My subconscious knows that's bad, so it stops me releasing, but now I can't square the face up, so my two choices are firey one that goes miles or short weak flub to the right. Do that a few times and the short right flub means I need to swing faster, so I swing a bit faster and now the release option is even worse. I started doing this over 20 years ago and I have finally now realized that this is really what's going on. Unfortunately 20 years of doing this has burned it into my psyche, so it's not a simple technical thing anymore - it's mostly in my head now. Working on it though - I do see light at the end of the tunnel. 

[Obee]

7 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

 

That lines up with my experience. I think it starts because your club gets in a spot where if you release it properly, it will go either too fast, too left, too right, too high, or too low. Your subconscious knows that so it says "no don't do that" so you don't. Consciously you know you want to release, so you actively try to, but you can't and that results in the yippy feeling. Keep doing that long enough and it gets in your head. If you're in between, I can easily see subconsciously you're at odds with what you want to do, so it won't happen. 

 

I get handle draggy sometimes. Hands ahead of the ball while the club is behind it. If I release it from there, the ball is going miles. My subconscious knows that's bad, so it stops me releasing, but now I can't square the face up, so my two choices are firey one that goes miles or short weak flub to the right. Do that a few times and the short right flub means I need to swing faster, so I swing a bit faster and now the release option is even worse. I started doing this over 20 years ago and I have finally now realized that this is really what's going on. Unfortunately 20 years of doing this has burned it into my psyche, so it's not a simple technical thing anymore - it's mostly in my head now. Working on it though - I do see light at the end of the tunnel. 

That's 100% me. I solved it by putting the ball VERY far forward feeling for my higher, softer pitches and VERY far back for my low, driving shots. And now I'm able to be creative again.

With the ball forward shots, I can also adjust my face: very open for VERY soft shots and almost square for a simpler "high" shot where I have some green to work with but not too much.

[Forged4ever]

1 hour ago, Obee said:

yes, I seem to have turned the corner. My chipping and pitching is coming back around now two rounds in a row or I am feeling confident and executing very well.

 

Got up and down this yesterday 4 for 4 on pitch shots, and didn't have any nerves over them.

 

The key has been that commitment to either setting it forward in my stance or back—landing it soft or skipping it low and running out. That clarity has really changed things for me. I was "in between," too often, which led to indecision and eventually mechanical breakdown.

 

 

 

 

You nailed it Brotha...

 

1) 💯% COMMITMENT 

2) 💯% CONFIDENCE 

 

Anything short of 💯 in either area leaves a margin of error that, one, may manifest itself mechanically in many ways, from shortened jerky motions(some refer to them as "yippy") to errant, just plain sh💩tty shots, and secondly, they become more pronounced the greater the indecision and lower the confidence combined with the higher the stakes in the outcome.

 

I hope that you're well, your back is getting some relief and you're hitting Fairways, Greens and makin some putts⛳️

 

Maddie send hugs & kisses🤗😘

 

Cheers👊

Richard 

[Mike_C]

4 hours ago, Obee said:

yes, I seem to have turned the corner. My chipping and pitching is coming back around now two rounds in a row or I am feeling confident and executing very well.

 

Got up and down this yesterday 4 for 4 on pitch shots, and didn't have any nerves over them.

 

The key has been that commitment to either setting it forward in my stance or back—landing it soft or skipping it low and running out. That clarity has really changed things for me. I was "in between," too often, which led to indecision and eventually mechanical breakdown.

 

 

 

 

I feel your pain, I had the worst chipping yips about 10 years ago, literally anything near the green was a chunk or skull over the green.   It took a lot of work to fix it. Part of my fix was similar to yours, I was playing the ball too far back and getting really steep, my only other shot was a flop shot, which you can't do most of the time.  I used to have good hands and could pull off some cool shots in the old days being steep, but post 50 years old, that went away.  I finally learned to "use the bounce" correctly and shallow out my swing on short shots, moving it forward in my stance and learning to hit shots that way as a big step. 

 

A side effect was this also helped my bunker play, which used to be very much below average,  as I probably always was too steep out of the sand. 

[kiawah]

5 hours ago, Ty_Webb said:

 

That lines up with my experience. I think it starts because your club gets in a spot where if you release it properly, it will go either too fast, too left, too right, too high, or too low. Your subconscious knows that so it says "no don't do that" so you don't. Consciously you know you want to release, so you actively try to, but you can't and that results in the yippy feeling. Keep doing that long enough and it gets in your head. If you're in between, I can easily see subconsciously you're at odds with what you want to do, so it won't happen. 

 

I get handle draggy sometimes. Hands ahead of the ball while the club is behind it. If I release it from there, the ball is going miles. My subconscious knows that's bad, so it stops me releasing, but now I can't square the face up, so my two choices are firey one that goes miles or short weak flub to the right. Do that a few times and the short right flub means I need to swing faster, so I swing a bit faster and now the release option is even worse. I started doing this over 20 years ago and I have finally now realized that this is really what's going on. Unfortunately 20 years of doing this has burned it into my psyche, so it's not a simple technical thing anymore - it's mostly in my head now. Working on it though - I do see light at the end of the tunnel. 

Whenever I feel like I am dragging the handle too much I resort back to hitting "straight armed" pitches and chips where I address the ball with pretty neutral shaft lean and then don't let my elbows bend much, letting my hands and wrists feel "dead" and using my body as the engine of the swing. Jason Day does it really well. Here is a video that kind of explains the sensation I'm referring to. Doesn't work very well out of the rough where you need to have your weight "left" and attack the ball from a steeper angle but great from the short grass. 

 

[Ty_Webb]

3 minutes ago, kiawah said:

Whenever I feel like I am dragging the handle too much I resort back to hitting "straight armed" pitches and chips where I address the ball with pretty neutral shaft lean and then don't let my elbows bend much, letting my hands and wrists feel "dead" and using my body as the engine of the swing. Jason Day does it really well. Here is a video that kind of explains the sensation I'm referring to. Doesn't work very well out of the rough where you need to have your weight "left" and attack the ball from a steeper angle but great from the short grass. 

 

 

This is basically what shortgamechef advocates and is what I'm trying to do at the moment. Neutral shaft lean, don't change the angles, just turn back and turn through. Ball launches high and you have to go pretty hard to get it to go anywhere.

[kiawah]

Just now, Ty_Webb said:

 

This is basically what shortgamechef advocates and is what I'm trying to do at the moment. Neutral shaft lean, don't change the angles, just turn back and turn through. Ball launches high and you have to go pretty hard to get it to go anywhere.

Exactly. When I am having a really hard time controlling the distance on wedge shots, it is oftentimes due to the fact that I am subconsciously trying to use my wrists too much and compressing the ball a lot. When I am really hitting the nice little mid traj two hop spinner or the higher one hop stopper well, it feels like I am using more speed but making the ball fly slow. That way when it hits the green the ball grips the ground a lot more and has a better time fighting against the speed propelling it forward. It's wild how short you can hit it with a decent bit of speed once you take your wrists out of the equation. I often find my start line improves quickly too. It's great for those touchy 40ish yarders where you normally would have to make an uncomfortably short or uncomfortably slow swing to fly it the right distance. 

[Obee]

4 hours ago, Forged4ever said:

You nailed it Brotha...

 

1) 💯% COMMITMENT 

2) 💯% CONFIDENCE 

 

Anything short of 💯 in either area leaves a margin of error that, one, may manifest itself mechanically in many ways, from shortened jerky motions(some refer to them as "yippy") to errant, just plain sh💩tty shots, and secondly, they become more pronounced the greater the indecision and lower the confidence combined with the higher the stakes in the outcome.

 

I hope that you're well, your back is getting some relief and you're hitting Fairways, Greens and makin some putts⛳️

 

Maddie send hugs & kisses🤗😘

 

Cheers👊

Richard 

Miss you both, Richard! Hope you are well!!

Edited May 20, 2024 by Obee

[Obee]

Got into the field today. Very pleased. I love both the town of Ojai and the course we are playing, Soule Park. Can't wait!

 

[Obee]

On 5/20/2024 at 7:57 AM, Ty_Webb said:

 

That lines up with my experience. I think it starts because your club gets in a spot where if you release it properly, it will go either too fast, too left, too right, too high, or too low. Your subconscious knows that so it says "no don't do that" so you don't. Consciously you know you want to release, so you actively try to, but you can't and that results in the yippy feeling. Keep doing that long enough and it gets in your head. If you're in between, I can easily see subconsciously you're at odds with what you want to do, so it won't happen. 

 

I get handle draggy sometimes. Hands ahead of the ball while the club is behind it. If I release it from there, the ball is going miles. My subconscious knows that's bad, so it stops me releasing, but now I can't square the face up, so my two choices are firey one that goes miles or short weak flub to the right. Do that a few times and the short right flub means I need to swing faster, so I swing a bit faster and now the release option is even worse. I started doing this over 20 years ago and I have finally now realized that this is really what's going on. Unfortunately 20 years of doing this has burned it into my psyche, so it's not a simple technical thing anymore - it's mostly in my head now. Working on it though - I do see light at the end of the tunnel. 

So what I've noticed is that I can't (or don't?) get handle draggy if I play the ball well forward. Experiment with just how far forward you can play the ball. It's interesting.

Padraig Harrington is a proponent of this also. LOVE his short game stuff.

[wagolfer7]

58 minutes ago, Obee said:

So what I've noticed is that I can't (or don't?) get handle draggy if I play the ball well forward. Experiment with just how far forward you can play the ball. It's interesting.

Padraig Harrington is a proponent of this also. LOVE his short game stuff.

 

Love his stuff too.  Like little cheat codes you can use.  Anytime I'm not feeling great over a chip, I'll just move that ball more forward, even outside of the lead foot as he does in his video. 

 

I also loved 2 of his putting tips.  Going 60/40 on weight distribution.  And if there's a putt you do not want to be short on, try to stop the putter at impact.      

[Ty_Webb]

Played in a qualifier today at Timber Point. 11 and ties make it through.

 

Good par at 1. Hit it to 2 feet at 2 and made birdie. Drive left on 3 and hit a hooky 2 iron up about 60 yards short of the green (par 5) and made par. Bogeyed four after hooking my drive in the trees. Parred out the next few holes, then on the 8th tee, the horn goes off, so we head in and the heavens opened. We spent two hours waiting before going out again after they'd squeegeed greens and the lightning was done.

 

Two solid pars on 8 and 9 to be out in even. Then on ten, the battery on my electric trolley died and I had to push it - it was not being very friendly and one of the wheels seized up, so that was fun. Birdie on 10. Parred 11, 12. 13 is a tough par 4 about 435, but too tight for me to hit driver on. Hit 2 iron off the tee, 5 iron just short right, chipped on and underread my putt. Then hit it on 14 with a 5 iron and three putted. That sucked.

 

15 is a difficult par 4 along the water with water on both sides. Hit 4 iron off the tee a little squirrelly, but right semi and 155 out. 8 iron to 2 feet and made that for a birdie. I thought I'd holed it out from the fairway, but it just missed.

 

Good par on 16. Short par 5 on 17 and made birdie. Meanwhile, I'm exhausted with a capital EXHAUSTED from dragging my stupid trolley around. I had to hold it up on one back wheel because the other one wouldn't turn. 18 is a tough par 4 with lake left. Hit a decent drive in the right semi, 165 out and hit a solid 7 iron, which wound up not being enough. I had 150 to the front so I think my dragging the trolley probably had something to do with that. Came up short on a bank above the bunker that the water from earlier had turned into a mess of gravel and ruts and just general not a good spot. Not a good lie, but I guess it could have been worse. Hit that 2 feet onto grass, but in a hole. Then a good chip to 4 feet and holed it for a final bogey. Level par 72 and -1 wound up being the number. ****. 

 

Just got home to find that the charger for my battery the cable wasn't fully plugged in, so it hadn't been working. So basically a quarter of an inch cost me quite a lot. Still a lot of positives. 14 GIRs, 8 fairways and only 1 drive that was not advanceable to the green, 32 putts. The four greens I missed were the drive in the trees on 4, a 5 iron on 5 that wound up 20 feet from the stick, the 5 iron on 13, and then the approach on the last. I hit so many good shots and it's disappointing not to have got through. Onwards and upwards though!

[ThinkingPlus]

3 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

Played in a qualifier today at Timber Point. 11 and ties make it through.

 

Good par at 1. Hit it to 2 feet at 2 and made birdie. Drive left on 3 and hit a hooky 2 iron up about 60 yards short of the green (par 5) and made par. Bogeyed four after hooking my drive in the trees. Parred out the next few holes, then on the 8th tee, the horn goes off, so we head in and the heavens opened. We spent two hours waiting before going out again after they'd squeegeed greens and the lightning was done.

 

Two solid pars on 8 and 9 to be out in even. Then on ten, the battery on my electric trolley died and I had to push it - it was not being very friendly and one of the wheels seized up, so that was fun. Birdie on 10. Parred 11, 12. 13 is a tough par 4 about 435, but too tight for me to hit driver on. Hit 2 iron off the tee, 5 iron just short right, chipped on and underread my putt. Then hit it on 14 with a 5 iron and three putted. That sucked.

 

15 is a difficult par 4 along the water with water on both sides. Hit 4 iron off the tee a little squirrelly, but right semi and 155 out. 8 iron to 2 feet and made that for a birdie. I thought I'd holed it out from the fairway, but it just missed.

 

Good par on 16. Short par 5 on 17 and made birdie. Meanwhile, I'm exhausted with a capital EXHAUSTED from dragging my stupid trolley around. I had to hold it up on one back wheel because the other one wouldn't turn. 18 is a tough par 4 with lake left. Hit a decent drive in the right semi, 165 out and hit a solid 7 iron, which wound up not being enough. I had 150 to the front so I think my dragging the trolley probably had something to do with that. Came up short on a bank above the bunker that the water from earlier had turned into a mess of gravel and ruts and just general not a good spot. Not a good lie, but I guess it could have been worse. Hit that 2 feet onto grass, but in a hole. Then a good chip to 4 feet and holed it for a final bogey. Level par 72 and -1 wound up being the number. ****. 

 

Just got home to find that the charger for my battery the cable wasn't fully plugged in, so it hadn't been working. So basically a quarter of an inch cost me quite a lot. Still a lot of positives. 14 GIRs, 8 fairways and only 1 drive that was not advanceable to the green, 32 putts. The four greens I missed were the drive in the trees on 4, a 5 iron on 5 that wound up 20 feet from the stick, the 5 iron on 13, and then the approach on the last. I hit so many good shots and it's disappointing not to have got through. Onwards and upwards though!

Really solid play. You gotta feel good about that.

[Ty_Webb]

31 minutes ago, ThinkingPlus said:

Really solid play. You gotta feel good about that.

 

I do - no complaints about my golf right now. Playing well. I was pin high a lot today - that really helps. Hit it straight and you're looking at a kick in. 

[Obee]

On 5/23/2024 at 2:45 PM, Ty_Webb said:

 

I do - no complaints about my golf right now. Playing well. I was pin high a lot today - that really helps. Hit it straight and you're looking at a kick in. 

Yep, definitely solid play. Curious why you didn't leave your electric trolly out there under a tree or something and just carry your bag?

[Ty_Webb]

6 minutes ago, Obee said:

Yep, definitely solid play. Curious why you didn't leave your electric trolly out there under a tree or something and just carry your bag?

 

Tour bag with no strap and $1,500 trolley. I've tried carrying the bag like that without the strap and my back wouldn't last more than about a hole doing that. I didn't want the trolley going walkabout either. I did think about it, but I decided that dragging it was the best option. What I should have done is during the rain delay, put the trolley in my car and rented a pull cart for the rest of the round, but I didn't know the trolley would die only 3 holes later. It's also supposed to be pushable. Oh well 🤷‍♂️

[kiawah]

Played in my first tournament in over a year yesterday. Qualifier for the State amateur. It was blowing around 15mph and the rough was up to/over 4 inches long in places. Tough course in tough conditions that I have only played once before. I shot a +6 78 to miss the cut by four. 

10 GIR (12 including putts from the fringe)

8/14 FIR

32 putts (34 including putts from fringe)

 

The good: 

No penalty strokes/no lost balls

Hit the ball well on my 2nd 9 (7/7 fairways, 6 GIR)

12/13 putting from ~12 feet and in

Didn't make any emotional decisions 

Got over my mistakes quickly

Did a good job committing to my shots

Took my medicine when I had to

Trusted my game

Stayed positive/maintained belief

Picked good targets/intermediate targets

The bad: 

No birdies

Did not take advantage of scoring wedges and short irons/might have played it a bit too safe

Duffed a chip about one foot (but I didn't let it bug me which matters more)

Bladed a wedge out of a bunker over the green (but proceeded to chip it to 9 feet and make the bogey putt)

Lag putting speed was not even close to dialed in 

 

Overall, I am really satisfied with the round. I just went out there with the mentality that I am just trying to learn more about my game, and I did a pretty good job of keeping the nerves in check and staying focused on the desired outcome more than anything else. Had a hard time turning the ball over like I usually can so I was kind of just hitting soft cuts to safe spots for much of the day. I had a ton of terrific putts that really kept the round together and it felt pretty automatic by the back nine. I just lined the ball up and told myself "let's see where this one ends up" and the results were really, really good from 10 feet and in. I have been working hard on trying to turn my brain off over the ball and just react to the shot and I did a good job for the most part except on those really good scoring chances with my wedges. I think I may have subconsciously recognized that I had a good opportunity and went into "don't blow it" mode instead of attack mode. I live by that adage about "giving up control to get control" and I think I just had a difficult time giving up control on a few of my wedge shots. I am most proud of how I handled making some big mistakes. I laughed off my duffed chip and almost got it up and down for bogey. I accepted my bladed bunker shot and got it up and down. I wasn't worried about three-putting even after some very questionable lags. All in all, plenty of stuff to work on for next time, but much more good than bad. 

 

EDIT: FYI, played the back nine first. 

 

Edited May 29, 2024 by kiawah

[Obee]

Love this. This is what this thread is all about!

Edited May 29, 2024 by Obee

[Obee]

Just finished The Macbeth at Wilshire CC. Always an amazing 2-man tournament. Had a blast with my partner this year, as always. Unfortunately I did not bring my best game and I had sciatica super bad on the back nine on days two and three. Couldn't feel my right leg down to my knee.

 

So that is back. Not good. This coincides with 20 pounds of weight gain after having to go off of Wegovy due to an insurance snafu. Getting back on it soon.

 

This coming week, Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, is the SCGA senior amateur at Soule Park in Ojai, CA. Love the course.
 

The field is fantastic, lots of Former pros, D1 golfers, etc. And quite a few self-made golfers who didn't take up the game until their 20s. Many nationally ranked seniors, etc.:

 

https://scga-2024scgasenioramateurchampionship.golfgenius.com/pages/4547289

Edited May 30, 2024 by Obee

[dmecca2]

I've had some time to reflect now on my first USGA championship. The Fourball at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. Overall the week was unforgettable. They really treat you like PGA tour players the moment you walk on property. From the dinner on thursday (I got to take cricket batting practice on the lawn at the philadelphia cricket club.... cmon) to our final putt on Sunday, we were fully immersed in GOLF. You know you're on a different level when you walk up to the range and they ask, "1's or X's?"

 

Now for the golf. This year I chose not to renew my membership at my local club due to price increases and a baby due at the end of the year. Now is the time I finally felt the result of not hitting balls at lunch every day. While my driver was the best it has ever been, my irons and wedges were weak. Our first round we took a bogey on the second hole (from the middle of the fairway), but my partner bounced us back with a long eagle putt on the next hole. I made a long birdie putt, then we went cold. 8 pars in a row on the easier course is tough to swallow, but we managed to birdie 3 of the next 4 followed by a bogey on 18 (again from the middle of the fairway) to shoot -4. Not a bad round, but when the cut to make it to match play will be around -7 or -8, you want to be around that number going into the tougher course.

Sunday was exactly that.... Sunny and HOT. The type of hot and dry where you can see the crusty edges of old cups in the greens. Pins tucked as close to the front as possible, balls bouncing 15 feet in the air, and everyone dripping in sweat. The course played TOUGH, but fair. If you knew where to hit it, took your medicine on the crazy pins, and made some putts, you could've scored. Again, I drove the ball well, but failed to hit anything within 20 feet of the hole and didn't convert any of those. As the day got longer, I realized that my style of golf didn't line up to what the course was asking of us. I don't hit the ball high, I hit it straight and decently long. My wedges are too steep which produces a low ball flight with a moderate amount of spin which disappears as soon as the ball touches the rock hard greens. Front pins were out of the question for me, and there were many of them. There weren't many highlights in our +3 round, other than punching out of fescue and getting an 8 iron up and down for par, a routine birdie on a par 5, and a nice fairway bunker shot on the difficult 18th hole to 10 feet (nice par). We were even on the round with 4 to play, but a tough bogey on the 230 yard par 3 and we mailed it in on the last 3 holes.

[dmecca2]

Oh, I also played a local US open qualifier at a local course I know well and missed it by a shot. I failed to birdie any of the par 5's, and bogeyed 3 out of 4 of the par 3's, but managed to shoot even par. Not a bad round, but certainly one I should've walked away from -2 or -3 with more practice. They sent us out in a "6 for 1" playoff for the meaningless second alternate spot. I had to make a 15 footer for birdie to tie someone, then after 3 more pars, I stuck a 9 iron to a foot to win the spot. Felt good to win the playoff, but again, it will mean nothing now that the USGA has changed how the alternate spots work.

[bilbry57]

On 5/29/2024 at 5:06 PM, Obee said:

Just finished The Macbeth at Wilshire CC. Always an amazing 2-man tournament. Had a blast with my partner this year, as always. Unfortunately I did not bring my best game and I had sciatica super bad on the back nine on days two and three. Couldn't feel my right leg down to my knee.

 

So that is back. Not good. This coincides with 20 pounds of weight gain after having to go off of Wegovy due to an insurance snafu. Getting back on it soon.

 

This coming week, Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, is the SCGA senior amateur at Soule Park in Ojai, CA. Love the course.
 

The field is fantastic, lots of Former pros, D1 golfers, etc. And quite a few self-made golfers who didn't take up the game until their 20s. Many nationally ranked seniors, etc.:

 

https://scga-2024scgasenioramateurchampionship.golfgenius.com/pages/4547289

Good luck  a great course and a tough field 

Edited June 2, 2024 by bilbry57

[Obee]

Well, Dammit ...

At the SCGA Senior Am, I was 2-under with 4 to play and made three nervous bogeys coming in to shoot 73. top 30 and ties make the cut (out of 84), and I was T-21 after day one.

Day 2 (yesterday) dawned and I knew I was in trouble when I woke up: Back already spasming. Did some stretching, but I couldn't get my back out of spasm. Got to the course, hit some balls, and tried my best to play, but had to resort to my "step-through" swing on the fifth hole and then that was all she wrote. Had to WD on number 7. I had started with four straight pars, too, darn it. Just could not make a move after the fifth hole. Tried, but couldn't do it.

https://scga-2024scgasenioramateurchampionship.golfgenius.com/pages/4547290

Edited June 5, 2024 by Obee

[Ty_Webb]

Damn David - that really sucks. Sorry to hear that! Great stuff in round 1 through 14 though!

[bilbry57]

Sorry to hear about the back flaring up again.  Hopefully you will be able to play again this summer

[dmecca2]

Just finished up in the Philadelphia Amateur at Whitemarsh Valley. The first day is 36 holes of stroke play and 144 guys are fighting for 32 spots. The cut usually falls around +2 to +5 depending on the course difficulty (there's also a second course for the stroke play). I played Whitemarsh first and had an up and down 9 holes. Sloppy bogeys, but solid putts for par and a few birdies. My last hole of the round I missed a short putt for par, so I shot +1. After driving over to North Hills for the second round (and almost missing my tee time), I eagled my second hole. After a lot of really boring pars I was 2 feet away from a birdie to bounce back to E, but a lipout and another missed tap in threw me up to +2 and killed my mood. Luckily I made a 15 footer for par 2 holes later and a 2 putt birdie on a par 5 brought me back to +1. With 3 holes to play I saw the cut for a playoff would be at +3. I thought I was fine.... Until my ball ended up in a tree root and I had to take an unplayable, then a missed 4 footer on 17 for another bogey... Standing on the cut line and after shortsiding myself on 18, I thought the collapse was done, but a great chip and putt got me into the 11 for 9 playoff. In the playoff I, again, shortsided myself in a bunker, but, again, made a solid 12 footer to secure the par and advance to match play. After a nice drive home I arrived to see I got a terrible seed from the playoff and was matched up against the host site club champion and professional amateur...

 

Came out the next morning knowing I needed to shoot under par to beat him. I birdied the first hole to go 1 up, then after trading a couple holes, made 2 mistakes on 8 and 9 to fall 2 down. I knew he would try to step on the gas and finish me, but I didn't know how bad it would be. He made a 15 footer for birdie on 11, a 15 footer for birdie on 13, a 30 footer for birdie on 14, and most likely the 8 footer for birdie on 15 if I didnt concede the match. He ended up shooting -6 through the 15 holes that we played with 2 bogeys. My +1 round would've beat a large majority of the field, but oh well. Overall a solid event for me. I had only played 1 round in the previous week and a half, so I can't say I was expecting much. Looking back, my wedges needed to be sharper to give myself makeable birdie looks on the good drives, which there were plenty of.

 

I have 2 small local single day events coming up, then it will be member guest season. Where I'll be trying to defend 2 titles. Not being a member at a country club this year is definitely starting to hurt me. I can see and feel that my game isn't as sharp due to playing and practicing less. Tough on the game, but better on the wallet.

[PureStrikes54]

Qualified for the SCGA Am which will be held at The Saticoy Club that's formerly hosted LPGA events. 

 

Played US AM locals and had it -2 through 2 holes and then a pitching wedge into the par 5 on the 4th hole (made par like a true WRXer) and only managed to get -1 to the house to miss by a few. Really scruffy play. Learned that you really have to be firing in the USGA qualifiers or it's over before it even gets started. Just very little margin for error. 

 

Game is really trending positively and excited for the rest of the summer. 

[Obee]

47 minutes ago, PureStrikes54 said:

Qualified for the SCGA Am which will be held at The Saticoy Club that's formerly hosted LPGA events. 

 

Played US AM locals and had it -2 through 2 holes and then a pitching wedge into the par 5 on the 4th hole (made par like a true WRXer) and only managed to get -1 to the house to miss by a few. Really scruffy play. Learned that you really have to be firing in the USGA qualifiers or it's over before it even gets started. Just very little margin for error. 

 

Game is really trending positively and excited for the rest of the summer. 

Tai, is that you???