New Year–New Shoes: Skechers Go Golf Elite V.3

If there is one thing that I despise shopping for, it would be golf shoes. They are a necessary part of the game, but who wants to spend $250 on a pair of shoes that will get worn for a few hours a month. Of course, then there is the bargain basement models that feel like strapping boards to your feet. Again, not a great deal for me either. Then there’s the ‘clearance colors’ or the off sizes that might just be close enough to fitting correctly to play in, right? Yep, back to those $200+ models again. Oh, but you can save $40 on that pair if you order them online. Unfortunately, if they don’t fit just right, you can often spend $20 or more of that of that sending them back. I’ll admit to it, buying feet coverings for myself is one of the worst experiences around – and that’s putting it lightly.
Last weekend, we were out and about at a local “outlet mall” and I stopped into the Taylor Made/Adidas store to check to see if they had any killer deals that I couldn’t live without. My wife asked if they had, “My shoes,” as was trying to come up with a ‘last minute’ gift idea to finish her Christmas shopping. After checking the store out, and finding a few great deals, I didn’t see anything in the shoe department that really made me swoon, much less something that would become, “My shoes.” She seemed pretty determined to make that my Christmas present, so we went down the road to our ‘local’ golf store, about 40 minutes away. I tried on various shoes, only to find that the sub $100 models returned me to my “feels like a board” thought and hesitated looking at some of the higher priced shoes. Even looking at those, very few of the $250 models came in wider widths.

After looking over the options, I settled on trying on a pair of Skechers Go Golf Elite 2 in a normal width as they did not have them in a wide. It was nice since they were on sale for $69.95, which is a decent price for a decent shoe. Unfortunately, my toes only made it in to the shoe as this style definitely ran narrow. I asked about wider styles and the gentleman at the store pointed out the Elite V.3 style that was available in a wider model. I asked if I was lucky enough for them to have one of those in my size and he said he would check. A few minutes later, he back back with my size and a half size up. I tried on the ‘correct size’ first, but was surprised to feel the end of the shoe with my toes. I went up a the half size hoping that it would be the one that my foot actually fit into. As I slipped them out of the box and on to my foot, I began to understand that not all golf shoes have to be expensive to be comfortable.
The Skechers Go Golf Elite v.3 is the first, non-sale, sub $100 golf shoe that I have felt is worth paying full price for. The arch has excellent support, and the shoe feels extremely solid, while maintaining a lighter weight. If you are in the market for an amazing shoe, head on over to your local store and give Skechers a try. I was shocked that a ‘newbie’ in the golf industry could make a shoe that felt better than Adidas, Nike, Foot Joy and the other big names, but when all you make is shoes, maybe you pay a bit more attention to the details than some. You can hit the Amazon Link here - http://amzn.to/2yuaxc4 – to purchase them online if you don’t have access to a store to try them out with and support this blog at the same time.

More information on the Skechers Go Golf Elite V.3 is available here - https://www.skechers.com/en-us/style/54523/skechers-go-golf-elite-v-3/bbk

No More "Video Call In” Penalties On Tour

I have to admit to hating that this happened to so many people this year, especially considering the majority of the issues that happened were to leaders (TV doesn’t show the 42nd place player very often.) What happened this year with viewers calling in to tournament hosts to tell them that there was a penalty should have never happened. Did an infraction happen for most of them, sure, but missing where you marked the ball by an inch or two on a tap in really doesn’t affect that game at all. Neither does using the rules in horrible ways (like getting relief from a hospitality tent) to your advantage, but that’s another day’s story.) Ultimately, the USGA/R&A announced today that they will no longer allow “viewer call-ins as a part of the Rule decision process.” They also announced a temporary ruling for a Local Rule eliminating the additional 2 stroke penalty for not counting penalty strokes when the player was not aware of the infraction to start with. This would have been a game changer this season for a few players, and honestly never should have been enforced from the start in these call-in situations.

So, congrats USGA for getting this one right. Hopefully, the 2019 rules changes will starting making life a bit easier for all of us, but getting these two put on the books for 2018 professional tournaments is big.

You can check out the USGA video update on this here - https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2017/12/local-rule--new-video-review-protocols-introduced-for-2018.html

Playing A Round: The Golf Club At Echo Falls - Snohomish, WA

Any time that the weather cooperates enough for me to sneak in a round this time of year, you can bet I’m going to do it. Today was one of those days. With my Winter Pass at Echo Falls almost half way finished (it ends at the end of February) I felt the need to get out again today, even though our temperatures are dipping down well below freezing, I jumped on the chance to get out in the sunshine for a round of golf. My hopes for a great round were all but dashed as I arrived at the course to see that holes 1 and 15 both had temporary greens on them. It was a sad to see that even after noon, that the course hadn’t come out of the frost delay from the morning, but at least the team at Echo Falls had a great plan. They shifted the starting hole to 17, which had been in the sunshine for the longest amount of time. So, after a few minutes of loading up the cart, I travelled over to the 17th tee box to start the day off. I ended up playing with a twosome today, which was both interesting and frustrating due to their pace of play, but it was a good adjustment to my normal play speed the last few rounds. I am going to skip the normal shot by shot recap on this round due to the fact that there were some temporary course changes and restrictions due to the weather, but I’ll run down a few highlight holes as a bit of a round-up for the round.

I have to start with 17, since it was the first time I’d really experienced the power of a hybrid from the fairway. Even though I started off with my 2 hybrid off the tee, somehow I made it out to the left rough and was sitting about 230 yards out to the flag. Normally, this would have been a hope and a prayer 3 iron in, but I pulled the 20 degree hybrid and proceeded to hit a perfect laser beam draw right to the right side of the green. On a normal day, that ball would have spun up and stopped almost on the flag, but today, with the greens being a bit more firm (frozen) than usual, it did roll through the green. It was about as solid of shot from 230 yards out as I’d ever hit with a long iron, and this was just my second cold shot of the round. A chip on and a putt that missed by about 3” left me with a bogey 5 to open the round, but I have to consider that a victory on a tough hole in really rough conditions. The 18th played almost straight up at 147 yards again today. My tee shot was just short right of the green in a little “grass bunker” that is the bail out area on the hole. A pitch and a one putt for par and we were back to our normal starting hole. The first had the temporary green about 70 yards short of it’s normal position. I hit a stellar 3 hybrid off the tee, again, reaching about 240 yards, but may have been a bit longer if it weren’t for the frost on the course. I managed to run a 25 yard chip shot onto the temporary flagstick area (though this was not a trimmed area or even a flat one) and took an automatic two putt on it as there was no way to even consider trying to putt through the divots and frost.

I played holes two, three and four in the usual manner, par, par, par. I had a great drive on the fourth hole that found the middle of the fairway about 285 yards off the tee. A 7 iron found an area just left of the green for an easy chip and two putt par. I also had a great approach shot on 3. An 83 yard lob wedge from the left rough found the green about 15 feet from the flag. I missed the first putt by almost three feet, with the green being so much faster than it looked, but I made the return putt without any issue at all. The next three holes were far more exciting, even from a negative standpoint. On the par 3, fifth, I hit an 8 iron off the tee that must have drawn about 40 yards (does that make it a hook?) I started it out straight at the flagstick, but it just kept moving – all the way to the far left rough, about 50 yards from the green. Somehow I managed to hit a pitch that not only found the green, but tracked to about 2 feet from the hole (isn’t that how this usually works – a horrible tee shot followed by a miracle pitch and you still save par?) Then we got to the 6th hole, which I have to say, may be the finest hole of the year for me as far as how well it played. It started off with a 301 yard drive down the right side. I then hit a 178 yard 8 iron downhill to the green. It came to rest about 35 feet from the flag. I waited for the rest of the group to get to the green before leaving my eagle putt about 5 feet short. I was really stressing making the birdie putt, which made it seem like 10 or 15 feet instead of the short 5 that it was,  but I managed to roll it in to get back to even par.

By this point in time, the weather was warming up nicely and things were moving along. The run of 7 through 9 all went along at even par. I had a poor tee shot on all three holes, but not bad enough to kill my score. The short 10th played pretty easy as well, though the green was harder than expected. I scooted through 11 with another par before reaching the par 5 12th in two with a Driver/4 Hybrid combo. A two putt birdie was the result and I moved to 1 under for the round. Keep in mind that this is a completely unofficial score since we all took the automatic two putt on the temp green on 1 and would probably have the same issue on 15 coming up. A 7 iron par on 13 was followed by a pitching wedge par on 14. A 2/3 hybrid combo on 15 got me close enough to the temp green there to chip on for another automatic 2 putt (and yes, I laughingly tried for a birdie on that “green” but it was never going to happen.) We wrapped up our round a bit early on the par 4, 16th with a beautiful 2 hybrid/9 iron combo that left a pretty easy two putt for par. All in all, it wasn’t as impressive as my last round, but I played well enough to escape the course with a modified “one under – 69” on this cold day.

I believe that it may be time for me to step back from the white tees at Echo this winter. Really the only serious difference in the holes is the par 3 yardages, but it should make course play about 1-2 clubs longer on approach shots (which I’m currently hitting mostly 9-LW in with so an extra club or two shouldn’t matter too much.) From there, it’s time to start settling on my ball for the season. I’m really loving the new Wilson Staff Duo Soft, but I have yet to find a location that has the new Duo Soft Spin available to try out – plus I’m not sure how much I would get out of them at this point in time with the conditions being what they are. Other than that, unless a magical package shows up from Wilson for under my tree, I think my bag is 100% set for 2018. I may change the driver out for summer time, going to the Fujikura Speeder shaft over the Alidla Rogue, but we will see how it works out over the next few months before making that call. All I can say at this point is that right now, my ball striking is solid, control is good and distance is pretty well dialed in. All in all, it seems like a good winter season so far.

My Thoughts On The Golf Ball

So, I know that most of you won’t care about my opinion on the golf ball, or, more specifically, the talk about limiting the distance on balls, but I did want to toss my my thoughts out there on the polarizing topic before someone makes a crazy decision on it. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, then let me bring you up to speed on the issue and the potential fix for it. There are some in golfing circles that want the distance that a golf ball can travel to be more regulated, so some of the shorter, more classic courses can hold up to the new technology that golf manufacturer’s are able to push on to courses today. For instance, The Old Course at St. Andrews is in danger of running out of room to become longer, which would soon leave it at the mercy of the Pro’s and render it not challenging to The Open unless a massive wind is blowing. If they can’t make every par 4 450 yards, so shortening the ball seems like an easier solution, right? Well that’s the issue that is staring the PGA, USGA, R&A and the rest of the governing bodies of golf right in the face – should we regulate the golf ball or not?

As for my thoughts, I’m 100% in the camp of NOT regulating the ball and not standardizing it. First off, if they regulated the ball on tour, the “ball contract” for the tour would generate billions of dollars for the tour from the winner, but the losers of the deal would be every other ball manufacturer. Second, golf is a personalized sport, you need to have options on what you play.  I’ll use NASCAR as an example here: it’s boring when you see 42 cars that look identical running around the track. Back in the day, you could tell the Pontiac from the Chevy and the Ford from the Dodge without any issues at all and it was more fun to root for your driver and their car. Now, it’s just a bunch of template cars running circles for a few hours. Could you imagine that the first thing that happens in golf is the ball, then everyone has to carry the same clubs – you know, to keep it even – then they have to use the same grips because of the contractual agreement that the PGA made with _______. It’s going to be a mess.

If I don’t support shortening the ball, then what’s my solution to the issue? Well, let’s take The Old Course for example. Let’s take those 380 yard par 4’s on that and place some bunkers at the 300 yard point in the fairway to put a premium on target golf off the tee. Then, maybe we carve out a few greenside bunkers that are dug in to create a wall on the front, but a simple pitch out to the rear. If they want to go after that green off the tee, they can, but they may not have a second shot if they miss, right? At 7115 yards, there should never been a need for more distance off the tee there. It’s all about punishing those that try to hit 300-350 yards off every tee and leave a wedge into the green. Tighten fairways from about 30 yards to 20 yards in that landing area. Keep them wider up until about 275 and start tapering them in. That’s going to put a premium on accuracy and skill, not just distance. Perhaps another alternative is using more fairway “OB” stakes for keeping people from hitting into the wrong fairway as a better way to play a hole? All of these moves can be done for almost nothing and honestly won’t affect the average golfer or the game at all.

By toughening the course, the PGA Tour will be more exciting to watch. Equipment manufacturer’s will have an entire new market of hybrids and driving irons once again and ball manufacturer’s can keep turning out better and better products year after year without the threat of being shut down by regulations. It’s truly an easy solution – don’t make the course longer, make it harder. Shrink the fairways and the greens. Increase the number and difficulty of the bunkers and hazards. Then let them play in adverse weather more often (lightning is still ok to skip out on, but no more “rain delays") and enjoy watching Pebble Beach kick their butts in the spring. These –20 scores are like watching an NBA game that is 72-35… It’s just as much fun as watching skilled players hit great shots when they need to control it perfectly. Anyways, those are just my thoughts on things, but my opinion is pretty worthless. If you have thoughts, let me know in the comments below.

The Wilson Staff C300 Series Fits The Bill For Almost Anyone

(photo from MyGolfSpy.com)
So, I was pretty stoked about the V6 Tour irons when they were announced about this time last year. I mean, it was a forged offering from Wilson Golf that had a touch more forgiveness than a blade, but still looked amazing from the top. That said, I had just jumped all in on my FG100 blades and wasn’t even thinking about landing another set that fast, regardless of the benefits of the clubs. Fast forwarding a year, I’ve really dialed in my bag to fit my game much better this off-season and the addition of the F5 Hybrids has really made life much easier off the tee and from 200+ yards out. But then today happened and my bag, may just find some new toys in it come spring time. All of this is dependent on actually hitting these new offerings from Wilson, but for a shield junkie, today is about as exciting as things get, short of them bringing out a new blade.

(photo from MyGolfSpy.com)
The C300 series was officially announced over social media channels today and it looks downright impressive from top to bottom. Comprised of a full line of drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and a few iron options, the C300 could be the lineup that returns Wilson to the consumer market in a big way. The driver is available in 3 lofts in right handed or 1 loft in the left handed model. The fairway woods and hybrids are both available in 3 lofts in right hand and 2 lofts in left hand. Finally, the C300 irons are available in a cast or forged variety with steel or graphite shafts. Taking a look at the clubs themselves, Wilson has taken to heart the public opinion on their driver’s noise factor – though not having hit one yet, I can’t verify that the C300 line is any louder or less “powerful” than my F5, the Triton or the D300. The fairway woods seem to be a perfect blend of the driver being downsized and compacted for swinging from the fairway. The hybrids take it a step further and offer an easier to hit long iron experience from less than desirable lies. Finally we reach the two iron options in the C300 lineup. The cast C300’s are a blurring of the lines between a player’s iron and a game improvement iron. The forged counterpart in the C300’s takes the blur the opposite direction and moves the needle from player’s iron to a performance club. 

(photo from MyGolfSpy.com)
First up, we have the C300 driver. Touted as an alternative to the F5 driver that I currently carry, the improvements of the C300 cold easily make their way into my gamer bag this Spring. Though Wilson only mentions a 5-7 yard gain on drives, the forgiveness of the newer model will significantly pick up distance on off center hits over the older F5. With a custom Fujikura Speeder Pro 58 shaft on board, the C300 should be able to fit most users swings very well. While the specs of the 58 aren’t available anywhere that I have found yet, the X rated 60 model features a mid/low kick point with medium spin level. This makes for a medium to high launch angle. I’m willing to bet that the Wilson 58 model will probably be very similar, with just a touch less weight to accelerate the club head. The club is also fitted with the standard Lamkin Crossline grip and the new Fast Fit 3.0 hosel system. I personally can’t wait to check out the new hosel and see if my existing F5 shafts will work in the new heads as well. From there, we get to the head itself. The tri-weight system is back from the Triton, but this time, there is no removable sole plate to get in the way of the action. By adjusting the weights, you can add a draw or fade bias and also change the launch angles to your own personal preferences by just moving around the weights. Overall, the C300 appears to be an upgraded, more adjustable version of Wilson’s top tour model driver.

(photo from MyGolfSpy.com)
The C300 fairway woods and hybrids are both another incremental increase in technology over the F5 models. The fairway woods come in three right handed lofts, 13, 15 and 18 degrees. The 2 left handed lofts are 15 and 18. The hybrids come in a 17, 20 and 23 degree lofts for right handed players and a 20 and 23 degree for left handed hitters.The same Fast Fit 3.0 hosels are in place on both the fairways and hybrids, but the fairway woods feature the same three weight design as the driver, whereas the hybrids only feature a heel and toe weight. Both new models feature a Fujikura Speeder Pro 79 shaft, again, a custom flavor for these clubs and should fill the gap nicely for those looking for more distance out of their longer clubs while keeping a consistent feel from top to bottom in the set.

(photo from MyGolfSpy.com)
Then we have the blur as I like to call it. Wilson’s “crossover” clubs have always been a nice meld of their game improvement clubs, or D series and their player’s clubs, or their F series. Things got strange last year when the V6 irons came on the scene. The feel of the V6’s was similar to my FG 100’s, but they had a touch of forgiveness in them that my 100’s definitely do not have. With the V6’s being a home run in every review that was posted online, it was difficult to figure out where Wilson could possibly take the Staff line next. The C300’s seem to be that answer. The D350’s are a solid choice for game improvement and the V6’s are a definite must for low handicap players to test out. The two varieties of C300’s fit perfectly between the two and offer golfers the ultimate in club fitting and customized makeup of their sets.

(photo from MyGolfSpy.com)
The C300 irons are the first step up from the new D350 hybrid set. They feature a 3 part head construction with new Power Holes that fill the airspace left by the technological breakthroughs that fill the new C series irons. The big “new” advantage to the C300 irons is the fact that the new face technology should allow the average golfer to pickup an additional 2 MPH of ball speed off the face of the club. This translates to a few extra yards, maybe even up to half a club length in distance overall. The C300’s are definitely targeted at those players still needing more forgiveness, but wanting a bit less “chunk” in their clubhead.

(photo from MyGolfSpy.com)
The C300 forged irons are at the opposite end of the blending spectrum. They feature fewer Power Holes around the clubhead due to the elimination of them on the top line of the club. While I haven’t gotten to take a look at them, the MyGolfSpy preview of them really made them look like a solid option for lower handicappers that want a bit of extra distance. In fact, most of the comparisons and marketing related materials have the C300 Forged pinned as a replacement to the legendary FG Tour F5 irons. This means in the last year, everything except for the FG 100 blades have received a full market replacement.

(photo from MyGolfSpy.com)
Now, this leads me to my quandary of - will they roll out a replacement to my beloved FG 100’s or will the C300’s be what I’m looking for in my next set of irons? The extra forgiveness of the C300 Forged irons certainly makes me feel like they are something I want to consider, but at the same time, after dropping my 3 and 4 irons in favor of my new F5 hybrids, I’m not feeling that I need to make any changes right this second. Good thing these beautiful clubs won’t hit the market until next year. I have the winter to remember how amazing my set is before I’ll have a chance to fall in love with something new from my favorite club maker.



UPDATE: I had a few requests for more information on the lofts of the C300 Forged vs. the V6 and have to admit to striking out a bit. According to the information online, the C300 Forged are a degree or two stronger than the F5's that they are targeted to replace. This pins them about 1 to 2 degrees stronger than the V6's. It's also worth noting that there is no indication that there is a 3 iron in the C300 Forged, nor is there a 'stock' X-Stiff shaft available either. It definitely looks like the V6 is still aimed at the 'player's iron' section of the crowd while the C300F is more geared towards the mid-handicapper that's looking for a bit more feel.

Also, I can't stress this enough. The images above were taken from the MyGolfSpy.com first look at the C300 series posts at their site. They do amazing work and I highly recommend adding them to your read list to keep up on the latest, non-biased testing in the golf industry. From balls to drivers, they cover just about everything. I want to make sure that I give them proper credit for the images since they really tell the story of the look of the new C300's. I placed the link below to their articles for more information on them.



Make sure to check out the Hands On First Look of the C300 woods and irons at MyGolfSpy.com - https://mygolfspy.com/first-look-wilson-staff-c300c300-forged-irons/ and https://mygolfspy.com/2018-wilson-staff-c300-metal-woods/


You can hit the links below to check out all the new offerings in the C300 lineup.
Driver - http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/drivers/staff-c300-driver
Fairway Woods - http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/woods-hybrids/staff-c300-fairway-woods
Hybrids - http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/woods-hybrids/staff-c300-hybrid
C300 (steel shafts) - http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/irons/crossover/staff-c300-irons-steel
C300 (graphite shafts) - http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/irons/crossover/staff-c300-irons-graphite
C300 Forged (steel) - http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/irons/crossover/staff-c300-forged-irons-steel
C300 Forged (graphite) - http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/irons/crossover/staff-c300-forged-irons-graphite

Playing A Round: The Golf Club At Echo Falls–Snohomish, WA

For the second weekend in a row, I was able to find a break just long enough to carve out a round of golf at The Golf Club At Echo Falls. Echo Falls is a par 70 layout that measures between 4342 yards and 5952 yards depending on the tee boxes you choose. The course is most known for the “island green” concept that is the 18th green in the photo above. There is also the 90 degree, downhill, par 5, 15th hole that offers an interesting take on a shorter par 5 layout. The back side doesn’t get much easier on the 16th, which features a tight tee shot to a dogleg right hole location. Really, the distance at Echo Falls isn’t something that would be a challenge for many golfers, what is a challenge, is the terrain. Echo Falls is loaded with uphill, downhill and side hill lies. Just missing a fairway by a few yards can take a hole from simple to darn near impossible. For longer hitters, it may be best to leave that big stick in the bag, but for target golfers, the smaller greens will definitely provide a serious challenge.

With the ultra-wet conditions that Echo Falls was suffering from , I opted to play the white tee boxes again this weekend. The 330 yard, par 4, plays very straight off the tee, with a slope from the right rough down to the cart path on the left. It doesn’t play particularly hard, but a poorly placed tee shot will make the hole play much more difficult than it has to. I started off the hole with my 2 hybrid (17 degree, Wilson Staff F5) which plopped down in the center of the fairway about 205 yards away. A solid gap wedge (51 degree, Wilson Staff PMP wedge) from 125 out landed on the green leaving a 35 foot putt for birdie. The first putt came up just short and a tap in par had my round under way with a great start. The 298 yard, par 4 second hole plays uphill from the tee box. With over 50 feet of elevation change in such a short area, being slightly off center is a huge penalty on this hole. I opted again for the 2 hybrid off the tee, but pulled it a bit left, leaving a pretty brutal side hill lie. With the slope of the hill to contend with, I pulled my 9 iron (43 degrees, Wilson Staff FG 100) from my bag to play a draw into the green. Unfortunately, off the side hill, the ball went further left than anticipated and ended up long and left of the green. A decent lob wedge (60 degree, Wilson Staff PMP wedge) left me a makeable par putt, but I left it about 6” short of the hole and tapped in for a bogey. The 258 yard, par 4, third was up next. With the new tee box location, I am sure that this hole is playing closer to 245, but either way, it is a solid 2 hybrid over the water to the safe area in front of the green on this hole, so that is what I hit. The last time I played here, I hit a shot that fell just short of the right greenside bunker, today’s was even better. With the pin playing up, my tee shot found a dry patch and took one tiny hop before slowing down. It came to rest about 18” from the flag stick and left me a tap in eagle putt. That eagle got me back to 1 under par after three holes and the round was starting to look really good.

The downhill, par 4, fourth hole was up next. The 429 yard hole is more like most of the par 4’s that I play, which is exactly the way I try and play this one. It drops off about 60 feet from the tee to the green, but shot placement is far more important than distance on this hole. I pulled the big stick (9.5 degree, Wilson Staff F5) for the first time today since the hole favors a fade over a draw, but I still ended up slightly left of my target. The 265 yard shot was held up by the mud and longer grass on the left hand side of the hole, which left me about 180 yards into the green. I was feeling very solid about my ball striking at this point, so I went with a strong 7 iron (35 degree, Wilson Staff FG 100) down the hill to the small green. The shot was almost perfect, but missed the narrow green to the right. It just didn’t have enough draw on it to find its way back to the flag, An easy lob wedge left an easy two putt par. I moved on to the par 3, fifth hole that was playing a solid 160 to the center, and probably 155 to the flag. My Golf Pad GPS was showing me that it was 152 to the front edge, but the 5th green has a very interesting feature in that it is a two tiered green with a giant slope separating them. I kept my tee shot on the lower tier this time, unlike the last round I played, and managed to make a two putt par without any incident this time. Which moved me on to the long, par 5, sixth hole at one under par. The 6th hole is a long, 501 yard hole that drops well over 100 feet from tee to green. My drive found the right side of the fairway, but was hit a bit thin, so it barely carried the hill and it didn’t have enough power to really get going down the hill. After the 250 yard drive, I hit a slightly toey 4 hybrid (23 degree, Wilson Staff F5) about 175 yards down the hill and left 65 yards to the pin. A light lob wedge checked on the soft green and left me a 30 foot putt. My first putt rolled towards the hole and looked a touch right, and it stayed out to the right, missing by about a foot. Fortunately, the speed of the putt was spot on, which left me only a 12” tap in for par. After three straight pars, I was still clinging to my one under par score.

Another par 3 is on tap for the seventh hole. The hole measures 166 yards on the card, but the way I was striking the ball, I figured that a 9 iron was the way to go. The tee boxes were also up a bit, which made me think a 150 yard shot was more called for rather than the longer 160 yard plus shot that the card was calling for. I struck the shot decently, but just missed the center of the face, leaving it shorter than I wanted, but still hitting the front part of the green. A quick two putt par and I was off for the par 4, eighth. The 333 yard 8th hole has given me more problems than any other hole on the course. There is just something about the small, narrow green and the strange layout of the hole that just doesn’t work well for my game, but even still, I’ve escaped with a few pars over my rounds here. I started off with a 2 hybrid up the hill to about 105 yards out. I pulled a solid sand wedge (56 degree, Wilson Staff PMP wedge) which ended up just left of the green. A poor lob from there left me 30 feet to the flag, which 2 putts took care of, but the damage was done and I carded my second bogey of the front side. Moving on to the par 4, 361 yard, front nine closer, I was feeling the pressure to make my par to finish the front nine even. The 9th plays very straight forward, with just a bit of a bend to the left and a pretty easy green to hit – unless you play too far left off the tee – which is exactly what I did. My 220 yard, 2 hybrid found the left side of the fairway, but left a nearly impossible shot to the green. A 130 yard gap wedge found the green on my next shot, and a smooth two putt helped me finish the front with an even par 36.

The 104 yard, par 3, tenth was first up on the back nine. A smooth sand wedge found the center of the green. My first putt from 20 feet just missed the hole to the right, but left an easy tap in par to open up the inward nine. The 366 yard, par 4, eleventh came up next on the card. The shape of the 11th once again lent itself to the driver off the tee rather than the drawing action of the hybrid. I hit driver off the tee and it held its line nicely down the left hand side of the fairway. It didn’t come around to the right like I had hoped, but it was playable and that was all that was needed. I had about 85 yards to the flag and felt comfortable hitting a solid lob wedge at it, but somehow carried it a good 5 yards farther than that. Still, a green was a green and it was another shot that found the dance floor. The 20 foot putt was a touch long back to the hole, but no so far that the 2 foot comeback wasn’t makeable. Another hole down and another par on the card. After climbing the incredible hill up to the 12th, a nice 489 yard par 4, I hit a solid drive 290 down the right side of the fairway. It drifted off to the right and ended in a hole in the right rough, but no real issues to get it out and towards the green. About the time I had made it back to the cart to get the proper club, I single came up on me from behind and wanted to play through, so I let him, delaying my shot about 5 minutes. Finally, after he cleared the green, I hit a solid pitching wedge to the right edge of the green. When I arrived, I saw something that blew my mind – and not in a good way. The grounds crew had placed the flag in the middle of the slope on the green, which meant praying that the ball gets close enough on the first effort that you can tap in the second. I thought I had hit it well enough, but the break took the ball down the hill and left me 10 feet for birdie. My putt back up the hill finished up just short of the hole, but was a tap in for par, keeping me even after 12.

As I continued around the back nine, the 177 yard, par 3, 13th was up next. With the pin back, I played a 6 iron (31 degree, Wilson FG 100) that travelled 182 off the tee. It found the green, but I was stuck on the lower tier with the pin being on the back right corner. The angle of attack that I left myself had me putting through the fringe. I struck the putt well, but ended up with a three putt bogey on the difficult par 3. I was happy to escape with that score and make my way to the 14th hole, which was a much more manageable par 3. The 14th was playing a solid 130 yards to the flagstick, which was at one of the easier available positions for this green. Slightly forward and left, the shot set up perfectly for my gap wedge. It was a well struck shot that found the front left of the green, coming to rest about 18 feet from the flag. My birdie putt rolled just past the hole but left me a tester for par coming back. The 4 footer found the left edge of the hole and dropped in, avoiding a second bogey in a row. That brought me around to the deadly – dogleg left – 90 degree – downhill – 465 yard, par 5, 15th. This hole should play very easily for most people, but for some reason, the hole doesn’t suit me well. Played a great 2 hybrid off the tee, landing 220 yards out in the fairway. My 4 hybrid found the front edge of the green from 210 yards out, leaving me a 45 foot putt for an eagle. My putt looked solid the whole way in, but then came up slightly short of the cup. A tap in birdie got me back to even par.

To close out the round, the final three holes make up one of the toughest 1-2-3 finishing holes around. The 348 yard, 16th, has a very tight drive with only a bail out to the left. It’s a hole that almost demands a fade off the tee, but not too much of one or you will end up on a side hill to a very tough green. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I ended up doing with my tee shot, heading right and ending up on that side hill lie. A 230 yard 2 hybrid left me a medium sand wedge into the green. It did find the green, but it was far short of the green, leaving me about 80 feet from the flag. I managed to run the first putt up to the cup and stop it within 2 feet of the hole. My first reaction was that I couldn’t believe that it didn’t break to the hole, but then the reality set in of how good that shot was from 80 feet away. I tapped in the two foot par putt and moved on to the beast. The 17th hole plays just over 400 yards, or according to the card, 416. I opted to go with the 2 hybrid again off the tee due to the fact that the right side of the hole is littered with water, like the entire length of the fairway sort of water. I played a good shot that landed safely to the left of fairway, leaving me about 160 to the flag. I played a solid 8 iron towards the flag and just missed the center of the clubface. The ball checked up on the green leaving me about 50 feet to the hole. Another great first putt left me almost no chance of not taking home a par, and my putter didn’t fail me as it rolled in the 3 footer for another par. I moved to 18, still even for the day. The island green, 18th was playing a solid 142, or a perfect 9 iron (43 degree, Wilson Staff FG 100) to the stick. I played a great tee shot that drew in nicely on the flag, but came up short of the stick by about 25 feet. My birdie putt once again ran up to the hole, but broke below the hole and left me a tap in par putt. You can check out my 18th green escapades on my Periscope Video – which for the record doesn’t appear to have sound on playback for some reason??? – by clicking here. I’ll do more of these in the future, so make sure to stay tuned and watch for what video platform I end up using for future live feeds.

Overall, the round was a great one, especially for a November round in less than ideal conditions. An even par 70 makes my last two round a 69 and 70. That is on a 67.1 rated course, so it’s nice to see I haven’t lost any handicap points over the summer that I didn’t play. I think Echo Falls sets up much better for my game than Riverbend does, but I will be venturing back to Kent soon for a round with my new found best friends, my hybrids. I would love to see what happens when I’m not struggling to find fairways there.

Playing A Round: The Golf Club At Echo Falls–Snohomish, WA

The Thanksgiving Holiday is quickly approaching and so is the horrible Seattle area weather that normally has me putting my clubs away for the season – or at least the season of hoping to score well. Sure, the occasional nice weekend will pop up here and there, but the courses are usually so drenched at this point that you will lose balls in the fairways and maybe a shoe to go with them. Even so, last weekend, I ventured out to The Golf Club at Echo Falls for a quick nine holes after a day of running errands. All I can say is that I didn’t get nine holes in, I managed to truck through all 18 and finish as it was just getting to be too dark to see. The end result of the round, at least in my head was nothing short of amazing. I’ll let you judge for yourself though as you read through my round recap below.

The round started off with the short par 4, first hole. The 330 yard par 4 plays very straight from the tee with a hill sliding from right to left. If you are center of the fairway, you will be good to go, but anything right will find the rough on the hill and anything left will find itself wanting to run left to the trees opposite the cart path. On this day, I was lucky enough to pull out my new 2 hybrid (first swing ever) and hit a nice 212 yard poke up the middle with a little draw. I hadn’t realized the hole was actually uphill, but it played out well to the middle of the fairway for me. I followed that up with a nice 133 yard gap wedge (51 degrees for those following along at home) and a 2 putt for par. So far so good, and as a bonus the hybrid felt surprisingly good off the tee. The 298 yard, par 4, second hole plays uphill both ways, probably in the snow. This short little hole has absolutely no challenging elements to it, except for the incline. I should have read the elevation a bit better and taken the 3, but I opted to hit the 2 hybrid again off the tee just to see what it would do. Again, it was a decent enough strike that carried 202 up the hill to the center of the short grass. A solid, 103 yard sand wedge (56 degree) found the back edge of the green and another two putts landed my second par of the round. The third hole is where it got really interesting. The 258 yard, par 4, used to have the tee box pulled to the far left side of the hole, making it a simple play to stay left, away from the pond that lines the right hand side of the hole. Unfortunately, some crazy idea to move the tee boxes to the right, and I mean way right. The tee boxes were now far enough right that the tee shot played directly over the water for almost the length of the hole. Still, with only 180 to carry the water, the 2 hybrid seemed like an easy choice. A surprisingly perfect 228 yard shot followed that decision, rolling up about 30 yards short of the green. I fully expected my short game to be terrible, but somehow I got lucky and my 33 yard lob wedge (60 degree) found the right place to land about 3 feet from the hole – and yes, for those reading along, it was luck. A quick tap in for birdie and I found myself one under par after three holes.

Moving on to the 429 yard, par 5, fourth hole, I opted to take out the driver for this long downhill hole. I rocketed a drive down the left side of hole, just as planned, but the ball didn’t drift back to the right quite enough, finding the left rough. I had a very simple 105 yard sand wedge into the green, but I had to clear the rather large gap that I had between two trees to make the shot. I hit the exact shot I wanted to, but it clipped the tree on the right, kicking the shot short and left of the green. I followed that up with a rather anemic lob wedge that fell far short of the pin, but made the green. A lucky (or unlucky if you count the fact it didn’t fall in the hole) lag putt left me sitting inches from another par. The 171 yard, par 3, fifth was up next. This is the same hole that I hit to the wrong green the first time I played at Echo… Fortunately, that didn’t happen again, but I did manage to make a pretty big mistake hitting to the back of the green on this hole. The hole was playing a touch shorter than normal, so my 163 yard 8 iron found the back tier of the green leaving me a nasty downhill putt that broke to the right. I had a decent read on it, but I wasn’t close on the speed and left it about 20 feet short. The second putt ended up at tap in length, but the damage was done. A bogey 4 had me back at even par. The par 5 sixth hole was up next, playing at just over 500 yards. My drive was wide left, again not coming around with the little fade that I was trying to play. In fact, it was actually a bit more of a 292 yard draw than anything else, which left me sitting in the left rough with about 190 yards, downhill, to the green. I pulled an 8 iron hoping that it would be just enough to find the green at the bottom of the hill, but knowing I would be in good shape lying two in front of the green. Fortunately, my 8 iron found the front of the green and left me an easy look at eagle. The putt didn’t find the hole but the 3 footer back did, netting me my second birdie of the round.

Coming around to the final 3 holes of the front side, I was feeling solid about the round and my tee shot on the 171 yard, par 3, 7th hole was just another confidence booster. It was playing shorter than the posted distance, so I hit a gorgeous 8 iron draw headed right for the flag. Unfortunately, I could have used one more club to get all the way back to the flag. It left me a 35 foot putt, which I honestly had no dream of making, but as it rolled close, I had given myself a chance. It found the bottom of the cup for a birdie two and I was now two under par on the day. The 333 yard, par 4, eighth was up next. This is another of the Echo holes that plays very straight forward, but somehow good scores elude me here. I decided to play back to the hybrid again since I had missed both fairways with my driver. I didn’t catch it clean, but it was a nice 192 yard draw to the center of the fairway. A nicely struck 139 yard pitching wedge found the back left corner of the green for a nice 2 putt par. It would have been nice to get the second shot a bit closer, but with the mis-hit drive, I was happy to land safely on the green and not lose a stroke. The final hole on the front side is the dog-leg left, 361 yard, raised green, par 4 that only requires a decent tee shot to have a great shot at playing well. I knew that the hole doesn’t play 361 if you cut the corner a bit, and my 2 hybrid had been very accurate up to that point, so I took it out one more time to try and “cut the corner” a bit. I ended up taking off a bit more than I wanted and landed left of the fairway, but had a solid 240 yard carry on it. A soft, 75 yard sand wedge found the front of the green and left me about 50 feet for birdie. I rand the first putt about 15 feet by the hole and left the next one about a foot short. It was a bogey 5 to close out the front, but I was still one under par for the outward nine.

As I putted out on the ninth hole, I realized the insane pace that I had played on the front side may have just enough light left to speed my way through the back side. I mean I was one under, how can you not keep this round going as long as possible, right? So off I went to the 10th tee, a short par 3, playing about 105 yards. I hit a solid sand wedge to the back of the green and had a nice short, and I mean short, putt for birdie. I managed to drain the foot long putt for my fourth birdie, and move myself to 2 under par. The weird part about the round was that there I was posting my 4th birdie and honestly, I wasn’t striking the ball that well, the results were just ending up better than usual. It was strange, but my putting wasn’t that fantastic, but I was getting most of my first putts within that ‘easy’ range on the front side, and my first putt on the back was so short it was almost impossible to miss. The 11th hole played out rather nicely as well. I hit a nice 233 yard 2 hybrid that found the left center of the fairway. A solid 121 yard gap wedge flew the green by about 10 yards and landed just to the left of it. I putted through the tiny bit of rough and through the fringe to about 4 feet of the hole. My putt found the right edge of the hole and fell in for an even par. It was my first real chance for a blow up hole, but it also got me through the group that was holding me up for much of my round, so it was clear sailing from there. For the record, the 11th was also the first green I had missed all day – though I didn’t know that at the time. The par 5, 12th hole was up next. At 489 yards, the challenge for the 12th is keeping the ball in a logical spot to make your approach to the green. I thought for a moment about hitting my driver off the tee as it has a huge hill with plenty of room, but I decided to work the 2 again for all it was worth. I planted a beautiful tee shot in the right center of the fairway. This left me a strange approach angle, and a pretty long shot at making the  green. Since all I saw was bunkers on the card, I pulled the 4 hybrid and hit a gorgeous 222 yard fade to the upper tier of the green, about 110 feet away from the pin. It was the worst possible result for an amazing shot. To attempt the first putt, I actually had to put through the fringe to have a line to get near the hole, but my first effort came out pretty poor. I blasted the putt about 10 feet by and through the break which left about 25 feet for my second putt. There was no birdie magic left on the 12th green for me as my second putt came up about 3 feet short of the hole. My third effort found the cup, though barely, and I managed to save par in a three putt fashion.

The dueling par 3’s were up next with 13 playing 177 and 14 playing just about 140. I chose a 6 iron for the 177 yard hole, but tried to lay off it just a touch as I was worried that I would go long with the 185 yard club. Laying off of it never really works out well for me, unless it happens to be a wedge, and the results of this one were no different. The anemic 150 yard shot found the front of the green, but left me a 30 foot putt for birdie. A bit more solid stroke would have put me center of the green with 15 feet left in, but it’s another green, so let’s count that as an ok thing. The first putt was on track and solid, heading straight on path to the hole. As it rolled to about a foot, it stopped breaking and rolled just past the high side of the hole and stopped at about the 2 foot mark. A straight tap in left me with another par. The 14th hole still makes me cringe, even a day later. I hit an absolutely perfect 115 yard gap wedge straight at the flag stick. It was dead set on hitting the ridge at the front of the green, then slowly rolling down the hill to the flag position. Like I said, it was perfect. It hit dead on the center of the hill, then spun – wait, back up the hill? Yes, the ball hit about a foot into the downslope, then came back up the hill leaving me with a completely awful 2 putt opportunity instead of an almost sure 5th birdie. I left the first putt short by a good 4 feet, but managed so snake the second one in on the low side of the hole for yet another par. I was actually frustrated with the fact that the ball held up on the downslope so much that it almost cost me that last putt. This lead me to a new subject mental notes. My note for this is let the last shot go as soon as it’s gone. Thinking about it will just make you not concentrate on the next one. Fortunately, the next hole is one of those “have to think it through” holes, so my thoughts of the ball rolling uphill were quickly pushed aside by the left turn, par 5, 15th hole. Playing a beastly 465, this par 5 seems like an easy birdie, but it is anything but. I played a punch 2 off the tee that found the right side of the fairway at the corner. I managed to chew 200 yards off the hole with that shot, but still had a solid 275 yards downhill to the green. Not knowing exactly what distances that the new hybrids go, I went with a 3 to see if it could get there, though with 260+ yards to the flag, I didn’t think it would get there. I hit a bit of a toe-y mess with it but it landed 212 yards later down the hill in the fairway, so no harm done. I can imagine if I had hit a 3 iron in a similar way, the results would have been catastrophic. Instead, a poorly hit lob wedge from 50 yards out left me a 30 foot putt for birdie. I didn’t snag that one, nor did I make the 15 foot putt coming back. I did tap in the third effort for my third bogey of the round though and that brought me back to one under par for the round.

Moving on to the closing holes, the 16th was a surprisingly open, dog leg right, par 4 that was playing about 350 yards. I managed to add some serious length to it by hitting a 252 yard draw with my 2 hybrid all the way to the left edge of the rough. A somewhat sloppy, 123 yard, 8 iron came up short and left the green but a stellar lob wedge pitch landed 2 feet from the hole. A single putt for par moved me on from that mess in a hurry. As I made it to the 17th tee, I caught the group that was in front of me and had a few minutes to wait on the tee. The only issue there was that darkness was beginning to fall on the course and seeing the ball was getting much more difficult. After they cleared, I hit my tee shot, again with the 2 hybrid, about 225 yards to the left edge of the fairway. All I can say about this 2 hybrid is that it loves to draw the ball. A flush 7 iron approach from 170 found the back edge of the green where a simple two putt par awaited my card. It was now almost dark and I was one under with one to play. I waited for the group in front of me to finish putting out before I hit simple 9 iron over the water on the 142 yard, par 3, 18th hole. I listened for a splash, and not hearing one, I drove up to the green with my putter in hand. As I exited the cart, I found the ball about 35 feet from the flag and knew I had 2 putts to break par. I was beginning to psych myself out a bit. I took a few extra minutes on that putt as I knew I needed to get it close, and I found my thoughts going to the side of, “Don’t miss it by too much,” instead of, “Make this putt…” I stepped away, gave it one more quick read and hit the putt. It never had a chance of finding the hole, but I knew that the speed was dead on. The putt finished about 12” offline, but it was dead even with the hole. As darkness descended, I tapped in that 1 foot beast for a one under 69. It was a great round, both ball striking and scoring and the course played far better than I could have dreamed for a November afternoon. Hopefully this streak continues and the weather cooperates for a few more rounds at Echo this winter. I sure had a blast playing this one and I’d like to have a few more like it soon!

Should The Average Golfer Carry A 3 Wood?

Watching a vintage Tiger Woods 3 wood is one of the most amazing experiences that a golfer can have. Seeing that shot, sailing 300 yards to the green made just about everyone fall for that dazzling club. What was once a relic that was used by people with less than stellar control off the tee had become a way to get home in two on even the longest holes in golf. The problem is, this was 1997 and golf technology has come a long way - in almost everything but fairway woods.

Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, metal woods began replacing wood-woods in most players bags. 3 woods were still an excellent club choice for many since the higher lofts were easier for slower swinging amateurs to get airborne and carry further than their lower lofted drivers. The increased lofts also helped keep slices and hooks to a minimum during the round as well. The basic rule of thumb was 200 with a driver or drop to a 3 wood. It was pretty simple, until technology caught up with the shorter hitter.

As drivers grew to Fisher Price sizes, they became easier and easier for players to hit. The 3 wood was left in the bag more and more, until that 300 yard shot from the fairway reared its ugly head once again. As soon as the cart rolls up to that ball, the inner Roy McAvoy in all of us steps to the front of the line to reach for that eternal greatness. We grab hold of that 3 wood to knock one stiff from 260, only to be let down by that trusty 3 wood swing after swing. Toppers, slices, hooks, it's all fair game for those clubs we only use once in a blue moon, and our 3 woods are probably that one club that we just never use, or at least not enough, to really count on it when we need that miracle shot. Instead of on in two, we end up hitting 3 or worse from 220 yards out, or from the drop zone, again and again.

That lead me to wonder, should anyone even consider carrying a 3 wood any longer? With higher lofted drivers that features heads 2 to 3 times the size of that old 3 wood, using it off the tee is all but out. With longer distances off the tee, it's really not needed off the fairway any more either. With all the technology of hybrids, fairway woods altogether are beginning to make less sense, so why would we go after a 14 or 15 degree club that even some tour professionals no longer want in their bags?

This brings me to the point of this post - should the average golfer carry a 3 woods in today's game? My personal opinion on this is split - because it really depends on how you play the game. If you play the proper tees for someone that drives the ball 200 yards, you should never, ever, ever consider carrying a 3 wood. With a proper bag setup, you should be focusing on clubs that will work from 150 yards in and dialing in the gapping on those clubs to be no more than about 7 yards a club. For example, playing the white tees on a 330 yard hole, you will have 130 left to the flag on a normal drive. If you have steps from 150 - 143 - 135 - 128 - 120, etc..., you can dial that club right in for birdie chances. If you're playing the blue tees and back yourself up 20-30 yards, you still have a good shot without needing to press down to a fairway wood where you chances for success are far less.

Moving on to the golfer that may want to carry a three wood, which in my mind, a lower lofted hybrid makes far more sense here, it would be the golfer that just needs to get that eagle or two a round to keep the pressure on his scoring average. Even then, with so many great options available to players today, I still find it hard to say that pulling a 3 wood from the bag will end with great results when you need it to. More often than not, there's a bunker, a water hazard, some deep rough or something more dramatic waiting for you at the end of that swing. Perhaps laying up when you have 240 to carry isn't a bad move Roy. Of course, that river is awfully tempting and those crocodiles can't be all that fast can they?

Practice Point: A New Way To Look At Numbers

It’s been far too long. Yes, it’s been since June that I posted my last update on the blog and I apologize to my both my followers and anyone else that might be reading this one today. Fortunately, this crazy summer is now done and I can get back to getting myself and my game in shape for the 2018 season. After practically taking the entire season off, only managing to squeeze in 5 rounds at a championship distance course, this winter will serve as a bit of a rebuilding one. The good news is that my GolfPad GPS App data has me looking at a new practice routine for where my game needs it the most. What I mean by this is that I used to look at stats like Greens In Regulation and Fairways Hit to determine my practice routine. What I realized looking at my shot data is that looking at raw numbers only told me half the story. By looking again at the data that the App collects, I was able to find out what clubs in my bag I was missing with the most and that is where my practice needs to start.

This is the standard screen that I would look at for setting up my practice runs after a round. Looking at the image, I was hitting one out of three greens from outside my 8 iron range and two out of three from inside that range. Not terrible numbers, but I’d love to see that 68% be closer to 90% overall. I was also leaving myself about 25 feet for my first putt. Keep in mind, that’s an average, so for every 10 footer I left, there was a 40 footer on the other side of it to balance it out. My average number of putts after chips was also completely terrible as came up just about as short as my GIR number. Overall, it seemed like working the short game was going to pay off the most based on these numbers. Unfortunately, in this case, the numbers lied about what I needed to do the most.

This becomes very clear when you look at individual irons, in this case, my 3 iron. My average distance ranged from 210 in the winter to 222 in the summer (it’s down slightly in this graphic as I did not remove a punch shot from my last round). Extra roll out would account for some of this distance gain, but so would the fact that I used it off the tee on shorter par 4’s during the summer. So, 210 yards on the fly is a great number for a long iron. Between my driver and that 3 iron, there shouldn’t be much out there I can’t hit in two, right? Well, here’s where I looked at a new number for the first time – percentage of misses. These are shots that deviated from the “normal” by a certain percentage and are not counted as good shots. It could be a topped ball, or one that fanned off into the water, or even one that hit a tree. No matter how it failed, it didn’t reach the target that it was intended to. For my 3 iron, this number was an abysmal 44%. That means almost 1 out of ever 2 shots in to the green or at the fairway or even laying up, failed to find it’s target. It may have been by 10 yards or 100 yards, but it didn’t get me into the position that it was supposed to, period. My 5 iron matched that with the exact same percentage while my 4 iron was a solid 50% miss rate. This left me an approach percentage of 14% to 17% or about 1 out of 8 to 1 out of 6 greens from outside 200 yards.

The story changes inside 175 yards, where my 6, 7 and 8 irons dropped to well under 20%. This increased my approach percentages to 30%, 45% and 69% respectively. What this translates to is that I need to work on approach shots with those middle irons if I plan on playing longer courses. If you figure that the average par 4 hole on championship layouts is well over 400 yards and an average drive is going about 270 yards, it’s going to leave quite a few approach shots in that 150-180 yard range. This will be a key area to improve on if I plan on reaching even a club championship level of play next year.  What is abundantly clear from the missed shot percentage is that my odds of hitting a green from 150-175 yards is about twice as good as it is from 175-200 yards out. Of course, moving inside of 150 yards, once again, things look much different.

My 9 iron becomes the go to club at 145 yards. The percentages of “missed shots” drops to 1 in 4 and my approach shots climb to 61% with my shorter iron in hand. This is practically duplicated with my pitching wedge at the 130 yard mark. This is the last of the actual “irons” that I carry that I hit into the green often, but both of these shorter clubs are playing reliably for me with a 75% accuracy percentage that will find the green 60-65% of the time. This number should probably get dialed up a bit more, like maybe to 70-75% on the 9 iron and 80-85% on the wedge, which is exactly why I’m starting to look at these two numbers a bit harder. If I hit a great drive on a 420 yard par 4 and still leave myself a 1 in 3 chance of missing the green, I’m not going to be racking up many birdies anytime soon. Worse than that, laying up on a long par 5 can yield the same situation. With the inaccuracies of my longer irons, playing short makes sense, but laying up to a perfect club only makes sense if that perfect club ends up being hit well.

Hitting an approach shot well is what golf is all about, I’m sure of it. I know that everyone says, “Drive for show, putt for dough,” but I’m not 100% sure that it’s an accurate statement. Driving is the easiest shot in golf today. Our drivers look more like those Fisher Price clubs we had as children and can be custom fit to even the most awkward swing. Putting, well, most of the average player’s putting success will be based on the conditions they face and how consistent they are. If every green rolls semi true and nearly the same speed, most golfers will stand a chance on putting well. If not, even the best putters will struggle. Sure, practice is good, but consistency in the greens is by far the most important thing for great putting. Where I think the real money in golf is, is the wedge game. You need to be 100% accurate from 100 yards in to really reap the benefits of scoring well. I think it’s been a reoccurring theme in my blog for quite some time – get dialed in with the wedges.

In 2017, my gap wedge was mishit 34% of the time from 120 yards in. Still I found the green 68% of the time. This is consistent with missing the green from 120 yards out 1 out of 3 times, just like my pitching wedge and slightly better than my 9 iron. Yet, my sand wedge dropped to a 15% mishit rate and found the green 3 out of 4 times. Finally, my lob wedge from 80 yards in found the green 9 out of 10 times. As good as these numbers sound, they should tier off a bit more gradually than they do in reality. With taking that into account, I will really begin pressing my 7 iron and under in my practice sessions to see if I can improve on my mishit percentages and, in turn, increase my GIR/Approach Shot percentage. Becoming stronger from inside 120 yards will keep my putting stats in check and hitting greens from 175 in will easily make my scores fall this fall. I’ll keep you posted on the progress here and on YouTube soon!

What Is Equitable Stroke Control?

Have you ever played a round of golf with someone that plays far better than they score? Have you ever wondered how golf’s ruling bodies make sure that that guy doesn’t end up playing you in the club championship? Believe it or not, there are quite a few strange rules in golf that have nothing to do with playing the game, but rather, keeping the game fair for those that may be a bit less skilled. For example, one such “rule”, for lack of a better term is found in the USGA Handicap System. Section 4 addresses the subject of Equitable Stroke Control, or ESC for short.

ESC is based on your handicap. It limits the number of strokes that you can ‘earn’ on your handicap by limiting the number of posted shots you can place on any hole. For example, I am a 3 handicap, so the largest score I am allowed to post on any given hole is a double bogey. That doesn’t mean I didn’t score a 9 on that ugly hole, but all I can post is a 6. This is to keep a higher level player from posting 2 or 3 blowup holes which would increase their handicap to a lower level flight in tournament play. To toss myself in for an example again, playing a 3 handicap means I’m probably playing in the first flight in most tournaments. If I were to jack my handicap by going for the 18th green with a 250 yard shot over water to the pin and drop 4 shots in the water, my handicap could climb 5 or 6 shots within a couple rounds, pitting me against players that regularly shoot 85. It wouldn’t be fair.

So, how does this work, exactly? First things first, you don’t adjust your score on the hole while playing, only when entering in your scoring data. If the system you use for handicapping automatically, then you do nothing but enter your scores. If not, you will simply adjust your scores based on the handicap of the course that you are playing. If you a 9 or less, you can only post a double bogey. Under 19, you get a 7 as the worst score. Under 29, you increase to 8 on a hole. Under 39, you go to a 9 and over 40 will net you a 10.

Remember, this isn’t a maximum you can use when you are playing skins with the guys on the weekend. This is only used for handicapping purposes. It levels the playing field to those that make that one or two big mistakes that cost them serious strokes each round. It keeps the game fair and playable for everyone. If you have any questions on ESC, shoot me a message at backinthefairway@gmail.com or comment below.

A Funny Thing About Golf…

Golf is a funny sport, it really is. I started writing a post Friday about the accuracy of the clubs in my bag, but I hadn’t quite finished it before my round yesterday at Riverbend in Kent. To give the 2 second version of it, it is all about how poorly I hit my long irons and how it affects my chances of breaking par on a round by round basis. You see, when I looked at a whole new set of information, I discovered a category called Mishits in the stats. When I looked at the numbers, I only hit about one out of five 3 irons well. Then out of those that I hit well, I only hit one out of six greens with that approach shot. So, when I step up to a 225 yard shot to the green and I pull out my 3 iron, I basically have a one in thirty chance of hitting that green. On the flip side, I have an 80% chance of ending up in trouble because I don’t hit the 3 iron very well. When you think about a 3.5% chance of gaining a shot vs. an 80% chance of not ending up in a good spot, you really have to start rethinking going after those flags.

That leads me to my thought of the day… There’s this funny thing about golf, no matter how good we get, something will always go wrong. During yesterday’s round, it was a bit of everything, but mostly it was a lack of control. I hit two 3 irons and one 5 iron, none of which found their targets. I hit one solid 6 iron, which still missed, but it was a great strike, so I won’t beat myself up over that one. After that, I hit a few 7/8 irons and a ton of lob wedges, way too many lob wedges.  It wasn’t a pretty round, but at the same time, as bad as it was, it wasn’t that bad. That’s the other funny thing about golf, no matter how bad we get, something always goes right. For example, a duffed chip followed by a brilliant putt still equals a par. A bad tee shot followed by a great recovery shot still leaves you a chance to save par.

This is what makes golf so different from any other sport. Only golf allows you to make a gigantic mistake and still recover. That drive that finds the tree line, but somehow manages to bounce back into the fairway. That chunky iron from the fairway that rolls out to the perfect spot to make a 50 yard up and down. That bladed chip that gets knocked down by the flag stick that you still laugh about as you tap in for a par. That’s a funny thing about golf… Even when things look terrible, and you’re hitting your 8th shot on to the green, when you make that 25 foot putt for a 9, you still made that 25 foot putt and that changes everything. After the round, nobody remembers the nine, but they certainly remember that 25 foot putt. It’s just like my horrible long iron performance yesterday, I won’t remember the missed 3 irons a few weeks from now, but I will remember the rainbow over the 4th green.

The Journey To Scratch: My Video Intro And More Coming Soon!

Just a bit of a teaser here, but I wanted to let everyone know that I will be starting a weekly chat about my progress to scratch on Twitter @waazzupppp and @golfing4less. I’ll hold off on “on-course” blogging for now as this gets very expensive to do well and involves hours upon hours of editing – which is time I’d rather be spending practicing. So for right now, I plan on using as much time as I can to practice and play. I’ll be putting quite a bit more than I have been, which should help shave a few strokes off my totals and working my wedges from 125 in to get those dialed down to a sure thing rather than, I think this is about right. I’m also hopeful that the amazing folks at Wilson Golf will be able to come through with bending a FG Tour 100 3 iron down to 18 degrees to become a solid driving club for me as well. This would be huge for dialing in distances on windy days or hitting those stingers that I fell in love with when I was carrying the FG 49’s. Overall, it’s going to be a huge next few months and I can’t wait to have you along for the ride.

The Journey To Scratch: When The Season Gets Away From You

Happy June everyone! Or should I say, welcome to the very delayed start to my season. I know, I’ve snuck out for a few rounds this year already, but honestly, between purchasing a home, the bad weather and a whirlwind trip to Taiwan last month, I’ve really not had much time to donate to my golf game. All of this gets compounded by the fact that I wasn’t able to get enough scores posted for an official handicap this season, so I am on the outside looking in at the regional tournaments this year instead of playing in them. Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s disappointing based on where I thought I would be. Now that I’m in mid-season mode, I have to reassess my goals for the year and possibly start the planning stages for next year if I intend to pull it together for that.



Starting with this year, my goal is still to have a zero handicap by the season’s end. Currently, I’m sitting at a 2.3, which is just above the bubble for making a run at something like the US Open. Not too shabby for an out of shape, 41 year old that took a significant break from the game. I have a set of top notch blades, wedges and a driver that I am very happy with. My putter is sharp and besides dialing in those 50 yards in shots with the wedges, my bag is 100% solid. This brings me back to the reality of just how good can I play with the time and funding that I have to donate to the game? For this year, the goals are simple, get in more rounds and score well enough to drop below the 1.9 handicap mark. To do this, I need to shoot a 75 from the blue tees at just about any of the normal courses that I play. This will eliminate the 5.6 round from the scores and should drop me below the threshold for “Open Qualifying”. I would love to say that I could shave off the last few shots to get to scratch this season, but in all honesty, if the weather doesn’t hold through September, there’s zero chance of me getting enough rounds or practice in to get that done.

For future goals, well, I’ll have to take a look at that one a bit harder over the next few weeks. Right now, I think it’s more about just getting out and playing than it is about setting any goals. That may sound painful, but my game is as sharp and I can expect it to be without putting in some hard time and some devoted practice hours just to get it a bit tighter. For now, I think just getting a few rounds in during the nicer weather will do wonders for me.

Stroke Saver: Which Tees Should The Average Golfer Play From?

Golf Digest recently ran a posting about how far average golfers really hit the ball. The numbers were touted as surprising in the headline, but to me, they were anything but. Just being out on the course on any given weekend, you can see that the ‘distance’ challenges that golf is facing are only coming in the form of scratch players or better. In fact, in the top group, or players with a handicap less than 5, the average driver distance was only 250 yards. Highlighted in even more detail was the fact that many golfers, in fact 85% of those tested – failed to clear much more than 230 yards with their big dogs. So, if I were to take a walk out down the to first tee box of one of my local courses, I will see quite a difference in offerings from the front tees to the back tees. In fact, the way the tee boxes at many courses are set up is very interesting.

I’ll begin by using a very well reviewed local course, Washington National Golf Course in Auburn, Washington for my example. This course measures over 7300 yards from the tips and just over 5100 yards from the most forward tees. This is a 2200 yard difference, or an average of 120 yards a hole. Depending on your average club length, this can make the difference between hitting a 9 iron (about 120 yards) and a 3 wood (240 yards) into a long par 4. The distance difference is even more noticeable on the par 3 holes. The par 3 eighth plays a solid 204 (hybrid/fairway wood) from the backs and 122 (9 iron/8 iron) from the front. Let’s face it, with differences like this, how can you expect to play well from the back tees when you are hitting 3 woods and hybrids into every green? Using the data from the Golf Digest article, here’s where those players should be hitting from.



If you are a higher handicapper, or someone according to the data that hits the ball around 200 yards off the tee, you really shouldn’t move much off the front tees at Washington National. This will leave you hitting mostly 8 to 9 irons to the par 3’s and on your par 4 approach shots. If you are amped up a bit more than that 200 yard number, maybe around 220-230 off the tee. Moving back to the next set of tees will increase your approach distance between one and two clubs. You’ll be hitting about the same club into the par 3’s as your slower swinging playing partners, which levels out the play quite nicely. As your driver distance climbs near the 250 yard mark, you should consider dropping back to the next set of tees. This will leave you a 6 or 7 iron into many of the longer par 4 holes, but leave the par 3’s at that 8 to 9 iron range again. This should be where most amateur golfers end this discussion, and honestly, where most courses stop the process of tee placement. The three layouts above feature a rating of 65.2 (front), 68.4 (middle) and 71.1 (back) – or simply put, an even par round from the 6400 yard layout for a scratch golfer.

Selecting the correct tees for your game is probably just as important as selecting the right equipment or even getting a quality lesson. If you are a great golfer who just doesn’t have the distance to trek around a 7,000+ yard layout, you shouldn’t penalize yourself for it. Sure the argument could be made that you can’t be a great golfer if you can’t hit for distance, but I will disagree with that all day long. There have been many ‘greats’ that were shorter hitters. They thrived off target courses. In fact, in 1980, there were 32 PGA Tour professionals that averaged less than 250 yards off the tee. In fact, it wasn’t until the 2011 season that things really started changing – and they changed big time. From 1980 to 1990, the average increased 10 yards. This was mainly due to the emergence of the metal wood. From 1990 to 2000, there was another 10 yard gain. During this time, club heads became larger and more forgiving. Graphite and composite shafts were taking the stage as better alternatives to heavier steel shafts. Still, overall, from 1980 to 2000, most players gained a club or two into the green (or one tee box change). In 2011, the data exploded. The normal distance shifted from 270-280 yards and moved much closer to the 290-300 mark.



This is when courses decided that these 7500 yard layouts were the better play for ‘longer’ hitters. Instead of reacting with tighter fairways and moving bunkers into the new landing areas, it was easier to move the tee boxes back and lengthen the course. Sure, it was an easy fix, but designing a course that penalized long hitters would have been much more exciting to watch, and much more playable for those not on tour. Of course, the trend is already there, but that doesn’t mean that the average golfer needs to fall in line and start moving back to the tips. If you know the course you are going to play really well, you know what tee box you should be playing out of. If you aren’t sure, try this little exercise – multiply the slope of the course times two and see which tee box is closest to the number you drive the ball. For Washington National, it comes up to the following – Front – 226, Middle – 238, Back – 272… From there you go to the black tees – 278 or the championship tees – 286. Based on this easy way of figuring, most amateurs should be playing the front or middle tees and having those comfy 8 and 9 irons into the par 3’s and par 4 approaches. It even brings the par 5’s into possible eagle range with two fantastic shots.

Which tees you play is ultimately up to you, but don’t make your game suffer due to the fact that you want to keep up with kids that are hitting 30-40 yards further than you are. Choose the tee boxes that let you enjoy the game the most, whether that means selecting tees that challenge your distance or moving up to a location that will challenge you to dial in your approach irons a bit more, it’s all about enjoying your time on the course. It’s not like you are getting paid to play from the tips, in fact, if you play from the wrong tees, you’re actually just paying to have a miserable time and a poor score.

 

** RECOMMENDED PRODUCT – One thing I would highly recommend if you are unsure of your actual on course distances is the GolfPad GPS tracking system. It’s a free App for Android and iOS devices, but with the GolfPad Tags installed on your clubs, you can track data and get actual distances for your clubs. The $100 price tag is well worth it and the data that you get from the setup will help take your game to levels you can’t even imagine. If the tag system isn’t for you, a range finder is also a great alternative – by picking out a target from the tee and measuring, then doing it again once you get to your shot, you can put together a distance chart as well. It’s not quite as cheap, easy or accurate as the GolfPad GPS tracking system, but it does work.

 

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