2018 Competition Season: An Unforeseen Snag To The Program

Well, this was the weekend I’d been looking forward to all month, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a great one at all. As of today, I had to pull out of the tournament this weekend at Redmond Ridge because my leg is still not at 100% and my swing is far, far, far away from being ready for a competitive setup. It kills me to pull out of this one, but I don’t want to risk injury just to get a two week head start. By skipping this one, I have a full month until the June 16th tournament at the Coyote Creek course at Willow’s Run and then a second tournament the following week at Cedarcrest Golf Course in Marysville. It should be a great time to get things rolling prior to the end of the season.

I will say this though, I do plan on getting out for a few more rounds over the next few weeks, maybe even this weekend just to see where my feet are at and how the ball is flying. I plan on getting in a range session this week to be sure I’m back up and running normally before then, but for now, it seems like I’m close to getting back out there. Maybe this weekend would be a good time to hit Blue Boy West for a quick round and see how things are working without the need for the longer sticks. It’d be nice to take everything out of the bag and lighten it up a bit for the first round back. I’ll keep you posted as soon as I pick out my weekend round location and if you want to join me, shoot me a message!

Great Deals Aren’t Always Great Deals

Just about the time you decide to go shopping for that new golf equipment, you’ll find that “deal” that makes you jump on it and spend your hard earned cash on that “blowout price!” What most people fail to do is really shop around before making that jump, regardless of the item. I’m going to throw myself under the bus for a minute and say that since my leg will be far less than 100% for the rest of this summer, I’ve been looking at getting a top quality push card to take a bit of the strain off my lower body. In my search, I’ve seen a number of options and build qualities that have caught my eye. One of them is the Sun Mountain Golf Micro-Cart GT. The $200 cart can be found at just about any online retailer, but what we don’t see is how the little bits change from site to site. For example, one of my favorite sites, RockBottomGolf.com has the cart for $209.99 with a list price of $251.99. Even at the sale price it’s still $10 more than buying the cart from Sun Mountain direct. A bit more digging, I found the same cart through jet.com (a division of Wal-Mart) for $189.00 if you’re ok going with the black finish.

Now is when it gets interesting though. If you live in a state where sales tax is charged (it’s about 10% where I live,) you may be better off finding a site out of state that ships for free instead of getting the lower price. A great place to shop if you are looking for a stellar price is golfdiscount.com. They have spectacular prices, but because they are in Washington state, I end up having to spend an extra 10% on anything I buy there. Instantly, it becomes a better deal to shop elsewhere online. I save $20 buy making that move on a $200 cart, so i highly recommend doing that if you have the option. The other consideration is, how much use will you expect to get out of this item, and how much should you invest in it? For example, $200 is a ton to spend on a cart – for any golfing budget. In fact, it’s 2-3 rounds at nice course or even 10 rounds at twilight. Is it worth it to spend $200 on a cart to hold your bag? It’s really hard to say yes to this when a sub $50 cart will do exactly the same job and hold up just as well, but that a lesson for another day. Today, make sure when you are shopping for that new item and doing all your research that you have a solid number in your head for what it should cost before you figure out what people are charging for it. Remember, just because a website says that it “retails” at $250 doesn’t mean that it actually sells for that.

2018 Competition Season: First Tournament Of The Year–Redmond Ridge: Part Two

If you caught up with me in part one of this post, you’ll undoubtedly know that I am now registered for my first tournament action of 2018. The scary part is that tournament is just two weeks away and my game is rusty as all get out. Yes, I haven’t hit balls in over a month. Yes, I’m coming off a surgery. Yes, I’m posting a handicap for this. And yes, it’s going to be very, very ugly. That said, as I started planning my route around The Golf Club at Redmond Ridge, I thought I would share my pre-round routine and execution plan on the course with you so you can see what I do prior to playing an unfamiliar course with a rough game. So, again, if you didn’t read part one, make sure to sneak back to that post and read it first. If you have already, the back nine awaits.

The inward nine starts off with a 420 yard par 4. Even with the distance increase, if it’s dry out, it may be the first hole to really go out with my 16° hybrid setup. A good 250 yard hybrid off the tee with a draw should run down close enough to give me a nice 7 or 8 iron into the green, which should be more than manageable. The risk of running a driver off this hole brings the right hand side fairway bunker into play and could also bring the front right greenside bunker into play if the pin is on the right. If not, driver is an option, but the safe play has me thinking hybrid all the way. A short par 4 follows the 10th and honestly, the best play on this 332 yard hole is a cut 5 iron for me. At 200 yards, it will leave me a full 51° wedge into the green for my second. It sets up very well for this play as well as the hole curves slightly to the right. The 12th hole is another par 3 hole that plays far different from the front placement to the back placement. Needless to say, I’m starting to see these huge greens and starting to worry about leaving myself 50-60 foot putts on every one of them. Still, a 9 iron plays to the front of this 175 yard hole, while a 6 iron would reach the back. I betting middle placement is a solid 8 iron on this hole, but again, it will depend on the pin placement which club actually gets used.

For the par 4, 13th hole, I’m lost. It’s a hard dogleg right that cuts hard at 270 yards out, but requires a left to right shot from the tee box. Normally this would be a cut driver, but if I overshoot the distance on this one, I’ll face a down hill lie in what looks to be a cut of rough instead of a fairway. Still, the driver may be the play unless I am feeling good about cutting the hybrid. If I can perch it at the top of the hill, I’ll end up with a light gap wedge or a sand wedge into the downhill green. The 14th sets up perfectly for my 16° hybrid off the tee with it’s favorite little draw. I’ll be aiming at the right fairway bunker and letting the ball drift around to the left. That should leave a nice 60° wedge into the green due to the slight downhill flow of the hole. As I pull up to the 15th tee, a small amount of panic will set it. This is a 205 yard par 3 from the tips. The front edge is 175 from the box, so a solid 7 iron, but if the pin is back, I’m going to be target shooting with either my 22° hybrid or my 5 iron. Either way, I’m praying for a front placement on this gigantic green.

The 16th is another hole that should play well for a recovery hole if the par 3 goes awry. This 375 yard hole plays straight up the middle with a draw to the dogleg left fairway. From there a soft 56° wedge should find the hole, but if the hybrid runs a bit, I may be able to run my 60° wedge up to the hole instead. The 17th sets up perfectly as a driving hole for me. Long, slight curve to the right and not much trouble to be seen. It looks like the play is left side of the fairway and let the ball come back to the right side. Nothing fancy, just get it out there and leave a 8 iron or less into the green. That brings us to the par 5, 18th hole, and 550 yards of finishing power. This is one of those holes that won’t easily be hit in two, so I’m planning on it being a three shot hole. A driver off the tee should leave me about 260 into the green. A solid 7 iron should leave me a 60° wedge to the green for a possible birdie. The play off the tee looks to be starting it at the water line on the left and letting the ball come back to the center of the fairway. Nothing too hard, just a long finishing hole.

So that’s the plan for the tournament on the 19th. Part of me thinks I’m crazy for even trying this, but the other part of me is thinking, what’s the worst that can happen (scoring wise, not health related.) I played the Ridge back in the day when it was Trillogy and did pretty darn well there. I figure if I can come in about 80 or so on my first round back in some time, I’ll consider it a victory. From there I’ll just have to see what happens and see how my game reacts over the next few weeks. Until then, I’ll just get in what I can for practicing and see if there’s a way I can make the most of the game that I have at the time the tournament starts.

2018 Competition Season: First Tournament Of The Year–Redmond Ridge: Part One

So, it’s booked… Officially… Yes, just a few weeks out of surgery on my leg, I’ll be participating in the first event of my 2018 Season at The Golf Club at Redmond Ridge. From the tips, the course plays just over 6500 yards and will take some major tune up work to get ready for. I’m officially a 3.4 handicap walking in to this one, so I’m not going to get much help in general in the net scoring department. Still, lets take a quick look at the course and see how this should set up for my game.

The course opens up with a short, 341 yard par 4. It’s a slight curve to the right off the tee without any major trouble on the hole. A driver here may be the play even though the distance isn’t needed. It takes the left fairway bunker out of play and leaves a solid wedge into the green. The second hole, a par 3 that measures just under 190 is next up. The downhill hole plays to more of a 7 iron than a 6 iron, but it will depend on the weather and pin placement. There’s a full 3 club swing from the front of the green to the back, so pin placement will be key to club selection. The par 5 third is where things get really interesting at Redmond Ridge. A very long, very straight tee shot (it’s 350 to the break in the fairway) will leave a very long second shot that will be a layup. The 613 yard hole is just not reachable in two so it’s a three shot hole to be sure. A seven iron would follow a standard drive here to leave me 120, or a full 51° wedge into the green. Hopefully this is how the round starts out.

Moving to the next three holes on the front side, we have a 160 yard par 3, which will play again into pin placement. A pitching wedge plays to the front, a 9 iron to the middle and an 8 iron to the back. Simple, but to cash in on a birdie, I’ll have to nail that pin placement and keep the ball straight. A 450 yard par 4 comes up next on the list. It should play somewhere around a driver/7 iron or driver/8 iron, but so much of this course will depend on keeping the ball straight off the tee. There won’t be many hybrids on this course from those back tees, but if the driver is working, then I should be fine. The second three holes are finished up with a 501 yard par 5, and the first of the hybrids to come out for the round. If my tee shot goes as planned, a solid 5 iron or a nice 19° hybrid should score well on this hole and give me a decent shot at a birdie.

The 7th hole is the third par 3 on the front side and should be a scoring opportunity. Playing just about 160 up a slight hill, it should be a soft 8 iron to the front, solid 8 to the middle and a soft 7 to the back. It’s all about pin placement again on this one, so we will have to wait and see what it calls for. The narrow 8th hole plays between houses and should be a tough tee shot. There is more room to miss left on this one and it only leaves a good gap wedge into the green. I’ll be playing this one down the right side with a draw to give myself the biggest margin for error possible. The front side finishes with a final par 4 that plays about 360 yards. This is a perfect hole for me not to play well on. It has a fairway bunker right at my landing distance which would leave me a 56° wedge into the green. If I can cut the ball off the tee and keep it left of that bunker, I should be clear, but this is a disaster hole if I try to do too much with it.

I’ll highlight the backside over the next few days as I setup my bag for this one and get a few practice sessions in over the next few weeks before the event. Again, I’m still about a week away from hitting balls at full speed, but the short game sessions can start Friday. I’m hoping the weather stays good and I can get out a bit and get some feeling back in the swing. It’s been a tough layoff for me, but what the heck, lets go get this one.

2018 Competition Season: Rebooting That First Tournament Start

Many of you know that 2018 is my first year back in tournament golf in quite sometime. Unfortunately, the season has been a bit of a bust so far for me. After missing out on my first scheduled tournament of the year due to a scheduling error, I was all set to make my first reboot for the start of the season last weekend at Willows Run in Redmond. Unfortunately, that plan did not come together for me, and honestly, it's going to be a struggle to make anything happen before mid-May at this point.

So, a quick plan of my season schedule looked something like this:

• April 14 - Harbour Pointe Golf Club
• April 21 - Willow's Run (Eagle's Talon Course)
• May 5 - Riverbend Golf Complex
• May 19 - Redmond Ridge
• June 16 - Willow's Run (Coyote Creek Course)
• June 23 - Cedarcrest Golf Course
• July 21 - The Golf Club at Echo Falls
• August 18 - Snohomish Golf Course
• October 27 - The Golf Club At New Castle

As the dates got closer, I missed registering for Harbour Pointe while we were on spring break. I totally missed the fact that I had to have my entry in on Sunday for that tournament, and felt pretty silly about missing it. From there, I was pretty excited to get entered into the tournament at Willow's Run on the 21st. On the 12th, I was given a bit of bad news, not horribly-terrible news, but something that required a bit more focus in the short term than worrying about getting a tournament round of golf in prior to everything happening. So, on the 27th, I'm going in to have a procedure on my leg to help with some circulation problems that date back nearly 25 years.

So, Washington National would have been the 28th, which after missing the first two of the year, would have been a nice opener. With this all happening the day before, that's not going to be possible. I may be back up on my feet and able to play by the 5th at Riverbend, but it's also my daughter's last dance competition of the year - so that is a last minute, depending on how I feel and how my game feels - decision. At this point in time, I believe that I will be missing out on my third scheduled event for the year, but stay tuned.

From there, Redmond Ridge is right on the radar for mid-May. We have a ballet recital to attend that day, which again pits family time against golf time, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. At this point in time, it's almost feasible to think that the June 16th tournament at Willow's Run may be the first of the year for me. I'm not excited about losing half of my season, but it still puts me in the wheel house of a few of the major tournaments for the summer - if I can get more practice time in between now and then.

Don’t Fall For Specials Like This…

Golfing on a budget is hard. In fact, I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s almost impossible, but things like the advertisement above don’t help – at all. Yes, You can snag yourself a FREE set of Tomahawk Irons if you just call today and mention this code! Unfortunately, this is anything but the truth and their advertisement is terrible. They tout it as a “risk free” trial, but put so much fine print into it, that you are almost assured of having to pay for the irons – full retail mind you – when you are done with the 45 day period. It’s not the first time I’ve called out this company and it won’t be the last I’m sure. Just to be sure though, lets take a look at the actual deal that is being proposed.

Let’s start with the obvious, the irons themselves. The Tomahawk Striker Irons feature some fancy terms like Active Channel Technology, Rapid Recoil Technology and are made from Hi-Grade Steel. They feature a True Launch Shaft that is available in graphite or step-less steel. When I pressed about the shaft, they said it was a proprietary shaft and had no additional information on it. The 3-PW set features lofts ranging from 20° on the 3 iron up to 45° on the pitching wedge. Overall, it seems like a nice little, big box retailer quality set. With catchy marketing and sneaky sales tactics, Warrior Golf makes it hard to figure out much more about these irons, but really all someone is looking at is a low-end cavity back iron set that is designed for the beginning player. If these were marketed in the $100-200 range, they may not be a bad deal. Fortunately, most of the people that paid the $30+ to have them shipped out to them ended up getting them for that price after their returns were refused for whatever reason, so that’s good, but it starts a whole new story.

The buying process, or the inability to buy anything from Warrior online is a fiasco. What happens when someone hits the “buy now” button on their site is a long, 2 page process of entering in your personal information into their system. Once that is done, you’re not taken to a shopping cart or a shipping page, but rather, a page that says, “Your information has been submitted. Thank you for your custom golf club order request. One of our trained custom club fitters will be contacting you within the next 24 hours. For immediate service contact 800-600-5113 and reference your order ID # WEB10.” While some may find this endearing, this is not how a proper operation should be done. Just to see if they actually “saved” my information, I opened a new browser window and tried to order again to see what the result was – and it was even better. A security feature popped up saying I’d already entered an order on this computer and I needed to enter the Capta Code to continue – which showed the service had expired. I hopped back in with an In-Private window and did the order process again and got the exact same results that I did the first time. Warrior is only collecting user data – and who knows who they are selling it to.

To make a very long and painful story as short as possible, skip this company and their offerings. There are way too many great deals to be had in golf land today and there’s no reason to take a risk like this one. Save yourself the frustration and the surprises and visit your local golf shop for your first setup. First of all, they will probably have something in their used selection that can get you started with a much higher quality set for far less money and they will let you swing them (and a few other sets) right there in-store before you buy. They can also help with fitting and be honest with you about what you need to get playing instead of purchasing a set that doesn’t fit well and has 4 clubs that you probably won’t touch for the first 6-8 months of playing the game. If you need help finding a starter set and don’t have a shop near you, check out places like 2ndSwing.com, globalgolf.com or even Budgetgolf.com for some great deals on markdown and used equipment to get yourself rolling.

So, I missed out on week 8 as we were on Spring Break last week and away from computers and the internet a bit, but I'm back with Week 9 and a slightly new "rambling video format" that I'm trying to get a bit more comfortable with. Anyways, give the video a watch and stay tuned for next week.

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