The backyard range is open!

I’m finally set up with my new Callaway driving net and Dura Pro range mat. Construction of my hitting platform is done and the backyard range is open! Check out this video snippet of the first shot. Now my family of non-golfers are whacking balls with growing regularity and all of a sudden, I’m in the market for some women’s clubs.

Usually I get my off-range work in up at the adjacent school field, but can only hit pitching wedges due to space limitations.  Now that the school year has started, the field is no longer available but this get up is great!  I’ve banged over 100 balls over two days and mostly with driver.  Not one has gotten through (won’t discuss the few hosel hits from the non-golfers that went a bit wide.)

Total cost for the mat, net, and wood to build the platform was about $300 and should easily pay for itself in terms of better ball striking satisfaction and lower practice costs.  Last item in my shopping cart is a floodlight and I’ll be setup for night action deep into November – December.  The truly great benefit is the convenience.  You belt a couple dozen, come in for dinner and head back out.  The AC, TV, and refrigerator are just steps away.  Commercial during a football game – half a dozen drivers are in order.  This Fall is going to be fun!

Game is peaking for Pinehurst!

11 days and counting until Pinehurst!  The good news is that last weekend I practiced twice at Bear Trap Dunes in Delaware and felt real good.  The second day’s practice included full swing and short game and was extremely productive.  One more pre-trip tune up round scheduled for this weekend and I should be set.  Hopefully Hurricane Irene will hold off long enough to get in my work on Saturday.

The line-up for Pinehurst:

Saturday, 9/3 – #8

Sunday, 9/4 – #4

Monday, 9/5 – Bucket list round on #2, yeah baby!

If anyone has any playing tips for any of the three courses, send ’em my way, thanks!

Fred Couples Presidents Cup picks – budding controversy?

I read a disturbing blog post in USA Today where Freddy C is advocating use of a captain’s pick for Tiger Woods.  Don’t do it Freddy, make him play his way on the team.  The competition is set for November 17-20 and between now and then, most of the top 25 American stars will be competing in the FedEx Cup playoffs.  Tiger did not qualify for FedEx and is only scheduled to play the Australian Open in November.  How can you consider giving a spot to a guy who’s a total mental basket case and couldn’t win his club championship right now much less compete with the best in the world?  He won’t have the benefit of top competition leading up to the event.

As of this posting, here’s the top 25 qualifying spots for the U.S. Team:

Rank   Player                   Points
    1  Steve Stricker        13,783,403
    2  Matt Kuchar           12,543,827
    3  Phil Mickelson        11,920,047
    4  Nick Watney           11,831,320
    5  Dustin Johnson        10,481,897
    6  Bubba Watson           9,763,499
    7  David Toms             8,787,375
    8  Hunter Mahan           8,624,612
    9  Bill Haas              8,424,777
   10  Jim Furyk              8,091,994
   11  Rickie Fowler          7,479,081
   12  Bo Van Pelt            7,262,583
   13  Brandt Snedeker        7,138,263
   14  Zach Johnson           7,079,980
   15  Jason Dufner           7,055,408
   16  Webb Simpson           6,924,373
   17  Ryan Moore             6,899,113
   18  Keegan Bradley         6,864,399
   19  Mark Wilson            6,842,904
   20  Jonathan Byrd          6,640,688
   21  Ryan Palmer            6,500,754
   22  Jeff Overton           5,921,385
   23  Steve Marino           5,779,352
   24  Gary Woodland          5,776,513
   25  Sean O'Hair            5,599,802

There are so many players at 11-25 that are more deserving than Woods and who would benefit from the experience that it would be a shame for Couples to waste the pick.   If he’s insistent, I’d require Tiger to enter some Fall Season events on the PGA Tour and make him demonstrate he’s capable of taking a roster spot from someone more deserving.

Blue Mash – Course Review

Summary

Blue Mash golf course in Laytonsville, Maryland is a Joe Hills-Tom Healy design that combines links and parkland styles into a single theme that is both challenging and very fun to play.  The course is home to a fabulous grass driving range and large short game practice facility that begs the seasoned player and beginner alike to come and spend time.

Always in good condition, this upscale daily fee track smacks you right out of the box with three meaty par-4 holes each playing over 420 yards from the men’s tees.  Water and well placed fairway bunkers come into play and frame the approaches on several holes but there’s only one forced carry on the par-3 17th.  A mixture of short and medium length par-4s and 5s keep the route interesting with no two holes alike.  The true toughness of Blue Mash is evident in hot dry conditions when the greens are rolling fast.  I recently played on August 14, 2011 during “Diabolical Pins Week” where the course attempts to mirror some feature of the major tournament being played at the time (2011 PGA.)  The pins were cut on various humps and near the edges and needless to say, I made nothing outside of six feet.  Fortunately, some early rain had slowed the greens to a manageable pace but I left imagining what kind of day I could have had with these pins cut on fast rolling greens.

Value (3.5 out of 5.0)

Greens fees for 2011 are $79 for morning weekend starting times.  This includes cart and range balls.  You can get $10 off if you elect to prepay.  A variety of weekday, 10-year, and corporate memberships are available that offer good value to the individual who plays a lot.

Facilities (4.0 out of 5.0)

Blue Mash is where I go when I need to do serious practice.  The driving range is the best I’ve found in Montgomery County and always seems to be in excellent condition.  The practice putting green can handle a large number of players quite comfortably and is always rolling smooth and true.  Nearby is a short game area that provides a variety of shots from all sides.  Several tightly mowed areas are provided as are a variety of tall grass configurations, as well as uphill and downhill lies.  Two bunkers at opposite ends of the green are much lower than the surface of the green and are the only awkward feature, as thinly struck sand shots from either can sometimes endanger players at the opposite end.

A modest sized clubhouse is home to a small pro shop and medium-sized grill area.  A good-sized patio  overlooks the short game area and is a great spot to enjoy some food and drink after a round.  Finally, a small set of lockers are available to the members for a nominal fee.  The allure of Blue Mash facilities are the course and practice area.

Customer Experience (4.0 out of 5.0)

The pro shop staff and starters are friendly and accommodating.  With the driving range, putting green, and short game area closely situated to the clubhouse, the process of warm-up and teeing off was a cinch.  Everything moved orderly and we did a minimal amount of waiting on the course, albeit after teeing off on a less crowded rainy morning.  The course had aerated greens which I thought was a little awkward considering it was still late summer but then found that another local upscale daily fee (Whiskey Creek) had done the same a week later.  Perhaps there’s a reason, but I’m accustomed to a mid-Fall aeration schedule.  Anyway, the greens were a little slow because of the rain and not rolling true from aeration.  The course had drained very well from heavy early morning rains as we rode and played cart-path only.  Tee boxes and fairways were in good shape with the lone exception on the short par-4, 8th fairway which had many unrepaired divots left from numerous short iron approaches.

Overall Rating (4.0 out of 5.0)

Copying Tiger’s power move

Look closely at the swings of these young guns next to Tiger and notice what they all have in common except for the last (Luke Donald).  They finish with the club nearly pointing at the target which indicates a tremendous amount of power released through significant torque build up.  Is the human back designed to take this much stress over time?  From left to right and top to bottom, Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa, Martin Kaymer, and Nick Watney have clearly modeled their swings off Woods and have developed their bodies to permit the extraordinary ability to twist and finish in balance.  Scott and McIlroy are amazingly close in position and are perfectly in balance; just beautiful.  It’s no surprise that so many young players would copy Tiger and adopt his commitment level to physical training to squeeze every ounce of power out of their bodies.  Unfortunately, Tiger has lost his power advantage over “the field” and is just another pro with a high torque move who used to awe fans and competitors alike.  Sergio Garcia, Geoff Ogilvy, and Hunter Mahan also have the same extended finish.  Luke Donald is the exception, with a more classic finish with hands held high and the club appearing to run neatly through his ears.  His restricted follow through by today’s standards provides better control and accuracy, but doesn’t offer up the length off the tee enjoyed by the others.  These young gun moves are very violent and the significant torquing puts a lot of stress on the back and hips.  In short, it’s not natural.  I’m not surprised that Tiger’s body is breaking down from the foundation up.  Players with more unconventional moves like Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson still clobber the ball but don’t finish with the full twist and I’d suspect will be more resistant to injury over the years.  Let’s watch these other power hitters to see if they can sustain under the physical demands over a 15-20 year period, or if they break down in their early- mid 30s like Tiger.

Clustered Spires – Course Review

Summary

Clustered Spires is run by the city of Frederick, Maryland and is adjacent to the Frederick municipal airport (about 10 minutes from downtown Frederick).  We played on August 7, 2011 at the height of the summer heat and drought that’s gripped the Washington D.C. area.  Surprisingly, the course was in good shape, with well watered tee boxes, lush fairways, and thick receptive greens.  There’s not much length to the course with the regular men’s tees playing just over 6,200 yards.  Most par-4s are under 400 yards and several par-5s are reachable in two with a good tee shot.  Water comes into play on a few holes but there are no forced carries and ample bail-out areas for sprayers off the tee.

My last three times out at Clustered Spires, I’ve switched to a ball with a lower spin rate (Titleist DT Roll) as I’ve found my regular ball (Pro-V1) provides too much bite on these greens.  Again today, those in our group playing high spin balls were backing up full iron shots 10-20 feet.  Once on the greens, the surfaces rolled smooth and were easy to read, albeit a little slow, as the greens crew was clearly working to preserve them in the heat.

Value (4.0 out of 5.0)

Greens fees are quite reasonable with a weekday fee of $40 to ride and $59 for Saturday/Sunday.  The combination of low greens fees and good course conditioning in the summer heat make Clustered Spires a very good value for your golfing dollar.

Facilities (3.0 out of 5.0)

Clustered Spires has a good size clubhouse that encompasses a nice fully stocked pro shop, a walk up grill with a medium size indoor seating area, and a fairly large covered patio overlooking the 9th green and 1st tee.  Separate practice putting and chipping greens are available, but the chipping green lacks an extended closely mowed area for practicing longer pitch shots.  A good size grass driving range is available but was in very poor shape with hardly any grass remaining.  Either the hitting area had not been rotated, the summer heat and lack of water had taken their toll, or both.  As a result, I spent most of my warm up hitting woods and irons off a tee.  Our only complaint with the course was the hard packed crusty condition of the sand.  While consistent from hole to hole, it was too firm and hadn’t appeared to be groomed for quite some time.

Customer Experience (3.5 out of 5.0)

Calling ahead for a reserved tee time was easy and there were ample times available one week in advance.  The staff in the pro shop and snack bar were friendly and helpful.  Our starter seemed organized but tried to be too accommodating and sent a twosome off ahead of us and in our time slot.  These guys had played nine holes on the back and were looking to squeeze in nine more.  As a result, we were frequently waiting on our front nine until the twosome mysteriously quit and rode in after six holes.  The pro shop staff should work to better ensure the integrity of the scheduled starting times.  On the course, the beverage cart came by every five or six holes and there was a good supply of fresh cold drinking water.  Starting in late morning, activity at the adjacent airport picked up with a fairly continuous drone of propeller driven aircraft and sightseeing helicopters.  If you’re looking for quiet secluded golf experience, Clustered Spires is not it, but for a fairly inexpensive municipal golf course with pretty good conditioning at reasonable prices, you can’t go wrong.  I’ll be back.

Overall Rating (3.5 out of 5.0)

Is there a magic move in golf?

There’s a section in my practice journal titled WOOD band-aids where I keep particularly helpful swing keys and fixes that I’ve discovered during play and practice, and there’s a reason for the acronym WOOD because it truly (Works Only One Day).  Success at golf, like any other sport, is based on mastering fundamentals and then making daily small scale adjustments.  I was reminded of this after my practice session today.  My progress with a swing change has been good over the last few weeks but it all fell apart on the range today and it seemed the new move had deserted me, as I stared at pull-hook after pull-hook.  I eventually found the WOOD band-aid and simply slowed my tempo down a hair and all was well again.  Bottom line:  it had nothing to do with my fundamental change but required one of those small adjustments.  I’m smart enough to know that today’s fix may not be good for tomorrow but I have confidence in my investment in the fundamental change because it will elevate my level of play over time.

To gain sustained improvement, build good fundamentals by seeking instruction from your PGA professional and working hard at mastering your lessons.  I’ve taken lessons with several professionals, and to this date, the most valuable remains the first, where the fundamentals were imparted.  The second set of eyes and knowledge a professional can provide are invaluable.  Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, practice and repetition will allow you to identify your faults and a small set of fixes to minimize the hills on the roller coaster ride.

Experts hawking “magic moves” in golf magazines and instructional videos are merely conveying swing keys that have worked for them after thousands of hours of practice.  You’re better off paying your local pro for a series of lessons then plunking down $400 for the newest driver and another $50 for a box of someone else’s WOOD band-aids.

Hit ’em straight!