Posts Tagged ‘Memorial’

Memorial – Day Four

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

It’s a sad state of affairs when you can look back at a round that was several strokes over par and say, ‘hey, at least it was better than last time.’  I had a pretty cool group and we all came into the round with a similar mindset.  I wanted to play better than I had at this course on Thursday and was far enough down in the standings that I really had nothing to lose.

Right off the bat, I was trimming strokes, getting 4’s on holes I had previously carded 7’s on.  I definitely played a lot smarter this time.  Thinking about my landing zone and how much skip-and-roll shots were getting.  With the tight fairways, focusing on accuracy over distance was key.  I had a few unlucky OB skips and a griplock drive or two, but nothing near as bad as Thursday.

The only hole I completely melted down was (as depicted here) hole 12.  This one gave me no trouble at all on Thursday, so I wasn’t expecting much change.  This is a relatively simple 365 foot low-to-high over water.  You tee off from under a tree near the water’s edge, over a gunnite dam onto a little lawn area up top.  Not simple, but certainly nothing that should be a round-killer.  After watching the first two guys on my card land safely up top, and a spectator encouraging me to make it three in a row, I launch a nice stupid one right into the side of the dam… damn!  I re-teed from the waterline, getting up top with a safe Teebird hyzer, no problem, I can live with a four.

Walked up to the shot, it was a little outside the circle, but I was due for a good putt…. airball…! Yuck.. ok so i figure a 5 isn’t the end of the world as I nonchalantly toss my “drop-in”.  Thbbbbt! The chains defiantly spit it out left.  Wheee… I just three-putted for a freaking six! That, my friends is why my elementary school teachers used to check the box next to “has difficulty paying attention” on my report cards.

Lesson learned though, every shot counts! Wether it be 5 feet or 500 hundred feet. Just because it’s routine doesn’t mean you don’t have to focus.  That really soured the rest of my round.  I finished in the mid-sixties, which was above my goal but way better than Thursday.

All in all, I have to say I was pretty disappointed in my play this week. I had a great time and it was awesome to be so far from my desk for so long.. but I have a lot of work to do if I want to have a successful season.  For those of you that have been following along, thank you for your continued support.  I certainly hope to have better news to report next time :)

Next up:
St. Patty’s Day Meltdown – March 20-21st – Fort Collins, CO

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Memorial – Day Three

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Back to the Fountain and a chance to redeem myself a little. I just feel more comfortable at this course, the layout is more open and the danger is more obvious. The majority of holes have an obvious straight or hyzer route, so I’m not having to pull off any big turnover shots.

So I came in today aiming for a 50, I replayed a lot of the bad holes in my head and tried to work out some new strategies to clean them up a little. Unfortunately, I started out by drowning my first drive again. I had a good drive and solid upshot on two, but chickened out on the death putt for birdie 3 chaining out right. Putting was my nemesis today, but I know that is a direct result of my lack of practice. If I intend to compete in this sport, I need to commit the practice time. At this point, any putt inside the circle, even with a little wind, should be relatively automatic.

I’ve noticed, as have many of my friends that I play with, that my putts usually have just enough to get there. In short, I putt to the basket instead of through it. I’ve spent some time analyzing the causes and effects of that. My meek putting style never leaves me with a challenging comeback putt, but more often than not, it also means that my initial putt didn’t have a chance. I’m going to have to build my putting confidence and learn to be more aggressive.

I did, however, can a long jumper on one of the elevated baskets. My upshots were pretty short again today, which left me in less-than-ideal position for the majority of my putts. I also need to start planning my upshots better such that I can be more free to run them. Things like making sure I don’t leave myself with OB directly behind the basket, or tricky sidehill shots with a high likelihood of roll-away.

I would have to say the highlight of my day came on hole 17, which had a tall palm tree marked as a mando on the left side of the fairway. Another palm of identical height and distance off the tee stood about 3 feet right of it creating a tiny window. I ended up releasing my drive about a second early in my swing and launched it on a stiff hyzer going right at the mando tree. Since missing the mando meant a re-tee, I was relieved when it decided to flatten out at the last second and split the gap between the trees. A small gallery that was watching the 3-hole junction at that end of the course oooohed and ahhhed a bit and I got a small round of applause (and laughter). A little old lady standing near the tee smiled at me and said ‘I bet you can’t do that again…’. Definitely a good laugh. I ended up getting a lucky par on that hole, which could have easily wrecked an otherwise OK round.

Still, I scored fairly well and stayed out of the OB for the most part. I improved on most of the holes I faltered on during Wednesday’s round, but shorted myself on others. Overall, I probably played too conservatively considering how far down in the standings I was after Thursday’s catastrophe.

Either way, I really enjoy playing at the Fountain and am looking forward to next year. I hope I’ll be able to swing a little more time off so that I can get some practice in ahead of time.

Definitely not looking forward to tomorrow. Not only is it another round at the dreaded Vista, but it means this tourney adventure is coming to an end and it’s back to work :(

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Here We Go Again!

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

So I’ve just arrived in Phoenix for the 2010 Discraft Memorial. I’ll be playing one round each day for the next four days. Two at Fountain Hills, two at Vista Del Camino. I tee off at 11:14am tomorrow with two-time world champ, Barry Schultz and Paul McBeth, both of whom are rated almost 100 points higher than I. I’ll be honest, it’s more than a little intimidating! Especially because I tee off first.. Fortunately, I’ve gotten a lot of kind words of encouragement from my Mile High friends and the fine folks from Nutsac.

Just gotta play some smart golf and stay within my abilities. I have to be honest with myself, with this stacked of a field, last cash is a lofty goal! Still, if I stay outta the OB and hit my putts, no reason I can’t start the season off with a 1000-rater!

It’s been a long cold winter in Denver and, although I’ve played several fundraiser and non-sanctioned events, I’m feelin pretty rusty! That, combined with the altitude difference will make for quite a challenge tomorrow. I’ve brought a pretty wide variety of discs with me as i still haven’t travelled enough to predict stability. My instincts are telling me that I should modify my release angle, not my disc choice. I think more than anything I’m going to focus most on making good decisions and will compromise distance for accuracy and safety. I am more likely to score well by avoiding bogies than I am running risky shots for low-percentage birdies.

Either way, I am super-excited about being able to play some warm weather golf and catch up with old friends. If anyone wants to keep up with the action, a live pay-per-view webcast is available at www.discgolfplanet.tv

stay tuned to see what tomorrow brings!! Wish me luck :)

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