[casinobonusnolimit]

With my season pretty much finished, it's about time I share some of my progress with my fellow Hackers. I played in my first Club Championships last month and had a great time. Spread out over two weekends, it consisted of an 18 hole stroke qualifier with the top 8 in each flight moving on to match play starting the next day.

Round 1: Qualifier
I played with two guys I've come to know fairly well and really like playing with, and one Negative Nancy whom I really can't stand. He was actually much more well-behaved and composed than usual, and they day turned out to be pretty smooth. I was playing fairly well, but too many loose shots were threatening to derail the round. The back nine started rough, with a nasty hook showing up with the driver. Quite the unwelcome surprise. Even though I was getting me into some nasty spots, I was scrambling well enough to keep me in it. I turned things around on 15, making a huge putt for bogey after my friend gave me some words of encouragement. Holding it together, I made it into the clubhouse with an 83 net 75. Not great, but I knew the course would be playing tough for everyone, and it turned out only 3 of 16 guys shot net par or better. After a long wait for all the scores, I made it in as the 7th seed.

Round 2: Quarterfinals
My first ever round of Match play started the next day, and my opponent was Roger Welborn. A seasoned, well skilled player with quite the hot temper, Roger had played in the group ahead of me the day before. I had watched him get angry and lose control of his temper, I knew if I stayed focused on my game that eventually he would get the better of himself. The match was a nice challenge as we kept trading the lead. I took the first hole with a par, he won the second after we both played it rather poorly. Halves on the next couple of holes and then it kept switching. We finished the front 9 all square. Roger was doing a much better job of keeping his cool, but I could sense his grip was slipping. After he holes a miracle chip-in on 12, I was 2 down. I had to get something going and turn up the focus. Roger was first to hit is approach, coming up just short. I was just in the right rough, 100 yds or so, with a bushy tree limb overhanging. I hit a nice low punch heading right on line to 10 ft above the hole. My birdie putt just missed and was conceded after he missed his up and down. The par 3 14th is a blind 50 ft uphill playing 125 yds. I took PW and knew at impact I hit it perfect. Ball started just to the right of the flag with a touch of draw. I was calling for drinks it was so flush. After hiking up the hill, my pitch mark was 2 inches shy of the cup, but the ball had backed up about 8 ft. Roger barely missed his birdie putt, tap in par. My putt was nearly dead straight, a little uphill, and I drained it. All Square. The 15th is a fun hole. 333 yds dogleg left par 4, very narrow , and a large greenside bunker on the left, and 3 huge oak trees that your approach must clear. Most people play anything from 3 wood down to 5 iron off the tee, but lately I've been going for it. I took driver and hit a solid shot, but it wasn't drawing. It stayed dead straight and made it past the Great Wall of Oaks leaving me about a 20 yard uphill pitch to back plateau. Hit the pitch perfectly right to my target leaving 12 ft. Roger ran into tree trouble and was looking at bogey when I sank my downhill left to righter for birdie. 1 UP. 16 is a very narrow, long par 4 with another MASSIVE oak tree in the middle of the fairway 200 yds out, with a bit of a dogleg right past the tree. I crushed my drive but pulled it a bit running through the fairway, landing near a tree trunk. Roger hit a nice shot, but an unlucky bounce left him right behind a tree trunk as well. I flushed a 5 iron from a nasty lie, getting to just off the green. More tree trouble for Roger and suddenly I'm dormie coming to the par 3 17th playing about 160yds. I took 7 iron and launched a towering shot that drew a bit too much leaving me pin high off the left. Roger came up just short, but hit a poor chip leaving a lengthy putt for par. I had a short pitch, a little short-sided but with a nice lie. I knew all I needed was up-and-down to win. The ball popped up nicely landing softly about a foot away. Roger barely missed his par and the match was over. I had won the last 5 holes straight.

Round 3: Semifinal
With a week before my next match, I foolishly decided I needed a lesson to tighten up my short game a bit. I have known my Pro for many years, and actually worked with him at a sports store many years ago. Pete and I work very well together and he knows my game. Unfortunately when I got to the course, the practice greens had just been completely covered in sand, prepping for aerification. So much for a short game lesson. Pete had been thinking about my misses and problems I had told him about , and knew exactly what to show me. We worked on little things like alignment, (I'd been lining up left of target) ball position, getting a full release and keeping more centered through impact. All little changes but they added up. This truly was a breakthrough lesson for me as far as my aim and ball striking. No drastic changes in mechanics, just making my movements more efficient and balanced. A month later now, I've now fully committed to those changes we made and they're working great. But five days before my next match was not enough time to totally trust the changes. I decided i need some strategy for this match and tried to play safe off the tee. Like Mickelson, I don't do well with that. Taking hybrid and 3 wood on several holes was putting me in more trouble than what I was trying to avoid with driver! My opponent Chris Jones was very quiet, unassuming guy with a slow, deliberate swing more fit for someone 30 years older than him. Someone you wouldn't give a second thought too. Not a long hitter, but so steady and consistent, with a VERY sharp short game and a very solid putter. He was chipping it close, and draining the long ones when he didn't. Never saying much of anything. He closed me out 5 and 4 after I just couldn't get it going. No excuses, I didn't have it and he did.

Round 4: Consolation
One more match to determine 3rd and 4th place. I nearly missed my tee time. Running late, I sprinted from the parking lot to the first tee seeing my group walking down the fairway. Out of breath and still in street shoes, I asked if that was my group and of course it was. I saw they hadn't hit their approach shots yet and asked our starter if I could still tee off. She said yes! Better news, my opponent didn't show up! I couldn't believe I made it in time to be official. Now, however we didn't know if I could play in the stroke tournament that was running concurrent with the match finals, So the starter said I could join my group and play stroke in case that was a possibility. I wish I could remember her name, as she was amazingly helpful and wanted to see me play. She told me to catch my breath, then drove out told the guys I was here and would be joining them shortly. still in my street shoes on the dewy grass, chest still heaving from the unexpected cardio, and no warm up with a crowd gathering to watch this display, I ripped a power fade up the left side. After a sigh of relief, the starter gave me a ride to my ball. I thanked her and hurriedly hit my approach. The guys gave me a hard time about "Always needing to make an entrance" or something ridiculous like that. I have no idea what they mean and they were happy I made it. At the second hole I finally caught my breath and put my golf shoes on. I'm playing with Chris Jones who had just beaten me, and Ray Cheung who I get along well with. And since my opponent didn't show, our fourth was a walk on that wasn't part of the tournament. He turned out to be a good guy and we spent the day chatting. He didn't know the other 2 were playing a match until I said something on the 5th hole. I watched Chris play basically the same game he did the day before, except now I was playing my normal game! Not worrying about an opponent had freed my mind up and I was swinging great! Shot after shot I was getting more confidence and enjoying the day, making some putts and hitting fairways and greens. My friend Ray though was getting knocked around by Chris just like I had. After watching Ray try to make something happen all day without catching a break, their match came to a close on the 14th with Chris winning 5 and 4. The same exact score he beat me with, and the same score he beat the guy before me. All three of his matches done on the 14th. After finishing 18, I looked at my score for the first time and saw a nice 78! Not a bad 3rd place consolation to shoot in the 70's for a tournament scoring round!

Season Wrap up! (Dear Lord it's about time!)
This has been my first year having a GHIN, being part of club, and playing tournamentsl. Ours is a strong club with many members, usually 130+ in our tournaments. Since April, golf has been my only focus. I was lucky to fall into a position where I was able to dedicate these last several months to golf and I have improved so much. When I began this journey, I was shooting mid to high 80's with a 90 slipped in now and then. Definitely wasn't contending in the tournaments and wasn't in great physical shape. At least not golf strong. I was getting worn out midway through my rounds in the early summer, and my swing was pretty good, but lacking consistency. Now I'm starting to shoot in the 70's fairly often, feeling like 80 is a bad day. I went from driving the ball 260-280, where now I'm averaging 300. With the rest of the bag I gained an entire club or more throughout, and have become a much better putter. I'm in better shape and can now play 4-5 times a week if needed where before 2 days in a row was a tough stretch. I started placing well in my tournaments, getting two 1st place finishes, and 5 straight top 5's. This year I proved to myself that I have a strong talent for this game and with the right opportunities I believe I could make something of it.

My game today is vastly superior to the one I started with in April, and I can't even remember how I used to swing the club. All i know is I have a deep love for the game of golf. I always feel happiest when I'm out on the course, And I believe it's my purpose to continue giving back to this great game that has always been there for me and taught me so much. I haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to do that, but I will. This post was supposed to be a short one about how much I love my putter, yet somehow I've spent the last two hours reliving 4 rounds of golf that I will remember for quite a while. Thank you for taking the time to read my novella here, and thanks THP for giving me a place full of people who will read this and share my excitement, obsession, and love for this crazy game.

*Club Champ Bracket*
Spoiler

[Super-Luser]

Great read, sounds like it was alot of fun.

[MarythePuppy6]

that was a very good read,hopefully next year you can advance a little bit further.

[mdUzAMbG]

Good Job, I wish our course would do more match play.

[vvxtiopmx]

Good job! Sounds like a cool tourney!