GOLF

[DavidM]

On 4/2/2023 at 5:43 PM, DavidM said:

Garbed a bucket of balls late this arvo and hit the range.

First ball, 8 iron, amazing and so it continued..

See what happens tomorrow..

Golf

Yesterday, It almost worked, felt good, played OK

First four holes, hit the green in two (par 4s), only to three put each One!

Played some great shots and some crap but over all it was a good day.

Putting was not up to it early in the game but a bit better late

Ended with 33 points and a new low GA 16.0

[Otto Von Blotto]

Up early over this weekend to watch the Masters, wish it was on over Easter every year enjoying the chance to actually watch it properly for once. 

Got a comp round later today as well, just hoping the weather holds up. The rest of the weekend is looking great but it's pretty gloomy today. Brew day planned tomorrow but I have to check my grain stocks, then golf again Sunday and Monday

[GregT5]

How good does Augusta present as a course for the Masters? It would be amazing just to walk around it. Good to see a couple of Aussies up near the top early. 

We have got Easter off with work, the rain that nobody really wants has worked in our "favour" and given us a break from picking.  Hopefully getting a round of golf in on Saturday. 

Good luck with your golf and brew day Kelsey, doesn't get much better than that, golf and brewing. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'd love to go over there for it, it'd be great to wander around and have a look at it properly. Never looks like anything is out of place there.

Unfortunately my game today wasn't perfect but still better than working. My gloves felt damp before we even started thanks to the humidity. Driving was pretty good apart from losing a couple in hazards. I had the NTP on this hole at 312cm until some bugger a couple of groups later got closer. I didn't really putt well today, but it was nice to hole a 10m double breaker on 6 to save par, and a 7-8m effort on 18 to finish with a birdie. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

I had a better time watching than playing over the weekend, only managing 25 and 29 again yesterday. There were strong westerlies both days, which I actually had a bit of fun with, with some extreme shot shaping into greens. Some of the places I was aiming were quite ridiculous, 20-30 metres either side of the target. One approach I cut into the wind then it came back the other way. Was a lot of fun though despite my crap scores.

I didn't drive it well on Sunday, but yesterday I did hitting 8 fairways and several others still in good position, and also accounted well for the wind hitting 9 greens, but unfortunately I had my worst day for some time with chipping and putting. I can't remember the last time I missed so many short putts. I suspect the wind was actually putting me off a bit.

Oh well, put that one in the bin and move onto this weekend I suppose!

Edited April 11, 2023 by Otto Von Blotto

[DavidM]

Forecast for tomorrow, is for 50k winds, gusting up to 70k

Not sure if I will Play..

Edited April 11, 2023 by DavidM
missed line

[ozdevil]

what a funny day of golf  ,   started on 15  as it was shot gun start  and those in carts have to start the furtherest away  
Started of ok for the 1st few holes and feeling good playing of the wet ground we had as it poured  for ages last night  it woke me at 4am  lol   bombed some beautiful drives  that never look missing the fairways  ,  just my work around the greens and putting , but hey dont practice so cant expect to much   

hopefully on Saturday  things  get alittle better   but going to be tough being a game of  par    knowing my luck i will have -17


had 31 ponts  for the day.  in what could have been much worse.
 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Bit better this weekend, ball striking was pretty good but I had issues with putting. Just not quite trusting the line at times and inconsistent stroke. It happens at times so I'm sure it'll turn around again. Might spend a bit more time working on it before Saturday's game. 

I hit the driver quite well across both rounds which was nice, and the approaches were also improved. Chipping was pretty ordinary by my standards, not as many up and downs as usual, but scored well enough to keep the GA steady. Just the one round this coming weekend as I am planning to brew on Sunday, but will play Tuesday instead. 

[DavidM]

Didn't play last Wednesday, in the extreme wind. 

Had a game on Thursday and finished with 34 points. Which was enough to drop my GA to 15.9 new low!

Saturday, too many silly shots that cost me a few points, ended with 30 and GA stayed the same.

Nice day, I'll head off for a practice!

[DavidM]

Well today's effort was no effort at All.

After 8 holes.. 6 points! Ended the day with 26.

Monday and Tuesday the greens were the best I've seen them, rain over night and they were slower but still good.

I just couldn't Putt, or even make it to the green sometimes.

Oh well.. try again tomorrow.

GA will go out to 16. ? (sad face)

[Otto Von Blotto]

Forget the first 8, focus on the 20 points over the last 10. Obviously played a fair bit better on those holes. 

From a viewing perspective it's nice to have the DP World tour back on this week. Even better it's in Japan so the time zone lines up nicely. I'll catch the last couple of hours or so of the first round tonight, watch the second round tomorrow night (I hate watching Freo dorkers) and watch the last two rounds on Sunday while I do my brewing and bacon smoking. Should be enough time to get a game of footy in after it, if I can get up and get brewing early enough. 

[GregT5]

First hit for a few weeks.

Stableford round, started with 18 points on the front nine, level with 2s on the back nine with 2 holes to play and my game deserts me. Finished with double bogies on both holes for 33 points.

Given how little golf I have played in recent weeks I have to be happy with that result. 

My partner and I also won the skins in our group 12 to 6 so a win there and a $21-70 winner on the horses before golf made for a good day out. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Pretty decent effort for not playing for a few weeks mate. I reckon I'd be hitting it everywhere if I had a break from it, although yesterday wasn't much better than if I had

It was a 4BBB stroke round yesterday, so I probably didn't focus as much as I usually do on some holes once I got into trouble, because my partner usually scored ok on those holes. I suppose I could have picked up the ball, but we were far enough ahead of the next group so I figured I may as well play them out. Neither of us really played good rounds but we ended up 10th with a nett 65 so not a bad result in the end. 

I mowed the lawns in the morning, and walked into a yucca plant in the front yard, not very quickly but enough for one of the leaves to spike my left thumb right in between the nail and skin on the side, and leave a tiny splinter in there which I tried to remove but couldn't. It may have contributed to some of my poor drives, as I did somehow hit some hard draws with that club, a couple of which didn't end well. Perhaps subconsciously turning the right hand over more to protect against pain in that thumb I dunno. It didn't affect the irons much though. I felt like I was putting a bit better as well, the consistency of the stroke was improved, I did miss a few short ones though due to pin locations being on more sloped areas than usual and not reading enough break. Anyway, it doesn't count to handicap so no harm done really. Brewing today, and playing again Tuesday. Maybe I'll get rid of this splinter before then

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

yucca plant

Otto, I have a row of Yucca's along the back fence that were planted years ago & would be 30' high, some of the trunks are as big as Elephant feet. They offer great privacy & shade & I can erect shade cloth/sails over the outside bar, BBQ area.

The downside is the spikes & the dead leaves that are ugly looking & make a mess when they drop despite removing as many as possible as they are too high to maintain. I cut the tips of the spikes off some of them in the most used areas but have been pricked many times, they can be very painful & dangerous.

The last photo is the front yard with another row not as developed but also heading to be massive. If I was younger, fitter & didn't have a dodgy knee I go past the 2nd rung on the ladder.

Good luck with your golf, your game seems to be more consistent these days.

 

[DavidM]

Another two rounds of average golf, 31 both days, each day I was close but silly shots pulled the score back.

My drives are wayward and the chips are random!

GA 16.2

Get a brew done, then an hour of practice or watch the Liv..

[GregT5]

26 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Get a brew done, then an hour of practice or watch the Liv..

A couple of good options there David. 

My score yesterday could have been a bit better but also could have been a lot worse. 

Three of the guys in our group went to the LIV golf. They reckon its very different to what you would expect for a day at golf but a great experience.  You are able to interact with the players which you don't normally get to do. Might have a look myself if it returns next year. 

Kelsey,  bad luck with the yucca splinter, why is it that every time you get hurt it's your hands that cop it when you want to have a hit of golf. Every time I lose a bit of skin at work it's pretty much always my hands. 

Still, there's always next week. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

@Classic Brewing Co yeah mine are not much taller than me at the moment although they have obviously grown in the 4½ years I've been here. If it was just a spike without the little splinter it would have been ok. It's just in a really crappy spot to get it out. But yeah I have gotten more consistent in recent months. There has been improvement in most parts of my game, but I think the biggest thing has been going longer off the tee and having shorter irons for the approach, it's helped me hit more greens. I looked at my stats the other day, average score for the last few months has been in the low 80s so definitely improved.

@GregT5 I reckon and of all the places for something like that to get lodged it had to be where I can't really remove it without causing more injury to the area. Maybe it'll fall out on its own eventually

[Otto Von Blotto]

I finally got the damn thing out with a bit of blood along the way, was quite a bit longer than the bit I could actually see poking out. No wonder it was hurting. Still sore to touch or press against it but at least it'll heal up now, probably not in time for Tuesday but maybe by Saturday. I'll have to avoid running into yucca plants when doing the lawns before golf in future

[DavidM]

2 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I'll have to avoid running into yucca plants when doing the lawns before golf in future

In my world.. Plants would have to Go

I'm not into gardening 

[Otto Von Blotto]

20 minutes ago, DavidM said:

In my world.. Plants would have to Go

I'm not into gardening 

They were already here, and it's probably easier to just avoid walking into them than going to the trouble of removing them they don't really require any work anyway. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Stableford comp today. Played fairly well until part way through the back 9 when I started to have a few silly miscues. The pickup on 17 was pretty infuriating after being right in the middle 90 out off the tee. Perhaps tiring a bit earlier than usual due to social groups ahead effing around wasting time, and going to sleep too late last night Struggled a little with hitting my usual distances as well, partly from lacking a little energy and probably also the cooler temperature. Driving avg was about 10-15m shorter than usual. For some reason I putted really well, and chipping was more at my usual level.

Good enough to get a ball though and sneak the GA down slightly to 9.5. I'll get more balls from two NTPs that resulted in the two birdies, both about 3m. I haven't got one in a while, let alone two in one round. 3 rounds coming up this weekend with the public holiday Monday. 

[ozdevil]

@Otto Von Blotto its one reason why i dont play sundays anymore due to social groups and green fee players  they can really hold the field up, maybe not intentionally.   i hate standing around why they pee fart around .

i also find this time of the year i lose yardage on my shots,  when the air is cold and dense  this really effects the ball specially in these southern parts of Australia..   however i dont look at  trying to be 300m plus drives  i believe in being 180 straighty all the time ( alot of the guys i play with call me boring oz, i do not stray from the middle of fairway much.  

alot of the time i can make green on 2 from majority of par 4's  so distance is a factor  

i think patients on sunday is key  if your playing in club comp with a bunch of green fee players 

oh well  better get myself ready for the old farts golf today

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Sundays are usually not too bad at my course because there's a reasonable time between the social clubs and the start of the competition, but public holidays are different. There are specific competition tee times, but there are also a number of times that are either. I usually play earlier so I have a bit more time in the arvo after the round. 

Yeah I find the distance drop more of an issue in the early morning or late afternoon in the middle of the year up here, but yesterday was a bit windy with intermittent showers so it wasn't all that warm for most of the round. I still had short irons into greens, but they were flying shorter as well, and the one time I clubbed up it flew over the bloody green. I'd like to be in the fairway more often (I hit about 50% or so at the moment), but not at the expense of distance. The rough isn't difficult to hit from most of the time unless there's tree trouble, and I'm more likely to hit the green from just off the fairway with a wedge or short iron than in the fairway with a mid iron. It's no coincidence that my scores improved and handicap dropped after I gained 20-30m on my drives.

[DavidM]

Golf did not work for me today!

Three putted so many greens, missed chips, missed drives..

Fun day with some good friends, 27 points

Do it again tomorrow

[Kegory]

There are always plenty of birds at Bundoora Park.

It looked like there was an ibis convention today.

Crossing the 1st

Gathering between 1st & 2nd.

Rainbow lorikeet nesting halfway up the 2nd.

Maggie waiting to tee off on the 5th.