3Jack 6.5.11 Round

[Richie3Jack]

Course: Shingle Creek GC
Irons: Srixon Pro 100
Ball: Bridgestone B-330

1st time playing Shingle Creek, which is where the qualifier for the FSGA Mid-Am will be at. Shingle Creek is a luxurious resort course. Never saw a negative review for the place, which I thought was intriguing and I can see why. It's really a phenomenal place to go to. Went into the restaurant afterwards and they have $60 steaks.

They started my dad and I off #11 because they were starting people off the back 9 and there was a 4-some in front of us.

#11 - Decent driver that was a little low and had a decent sized draw to it. Went for the flag with a PW and flushed it to 10 inches and made birdie. My scoring average on the first hole I've played of a course I'm playing for the first time in Florida has been phenomenal so far. (-1)

#12 - Hit a decent driver down the middle. Toe-pushed a 3-wood into the #10 fairway. So-so SW to 20 feet and 2-putted for par (-1)

#13 - Decent driver down the middle. Told myself that I cannot miss left here. So I aim about 10 feet right of the flag and my desire to anger me on the golf course caused me to pull it...but at the flag (good thing I aimed slightly right). I then drained a 15 footer for birdie (-2)

#14 - Ugly, low draw into the fairway bunker. Hit a great 3-hybrid out of the bunker that went just over the green. Decent LW pitch to 5-feet, but I missed the par save (-1)

#15 - Flushed a 5-iron here, but just pulled it a tad and just missed the green. I figure that 5-iron is the club here. They'll probably try to stick it to the back part of the green in the qualifier and watch guys hit an extra club and screw themselves by doing that. Anyway, decent lob to 6-feet and made the par save (-1)

#16 - Decent driver down the right side. Hit a 3-iron that went over the green. Tough pin position, so I told myself to just get it within 10 feet and I knocked it to 8-feet and canned that birdie putt (-2)

#17 - Little conservative here with a 3-iron and a mediocre swing to boot, but I wound up okay. Tried a Rule of 12 chip (8-iron) that was 1 club too much, but I made a nice 10-footer on the come back. (-2)

#18 - Decent driver down the middle. GPS said 171 to the flag and I thought the flag was in back...because that's what the GPS said. I flush a 7-iron beautifully. Only to find out that the pin is up front and I was more like 150 yards away. But, I used AimPoint perfectly here and drilled a 60 footer. Without AimPoint I would've missed this putt well left. (-3)

#1 - Decent driver down the middle. So-so swing with a 7-iron that was just off the fringe. Nice Rule of 12 chip (9-iron) to 2-feet and made par (-3)

#2 - poor driver that i pushed a bit. Followed with a nice 3-wood and a so-so LW from 55 yards. I missed the putt and made par (-3)

#3 - I was going to take a driver, but took a 3-wood out and drilled one down the middle. Good thing because you can't really hit driver on that hole. Decent PW to the front. Pin was probably at 5-6% of slope. Just took a 2-putt and got out of there (-3)

#4 - Decent driver down the left side. I then flushed a 3-hybrid right at the flag. But, it plugged in the greenside bunker. About 1 yard from being in eagle territory. Just got it out of there. Then I made a 25 footer for birdie. (-4)

#5 - so-so 4-iron to the middle of the green. Great touch and 2-putted from 45 feet for par (-4)

#6 - Good driver down the middle. Flushed a 5-iron but pulled it a tad and drawed it just a tad...so green side bunker. One of those pain in the ass uphill lies from the greenside bunker that I just got out of there. Made the right read, but couldn't trust it and made bogey (-3)

#7 - Flushed a 5-iron to 20-feet. Perfect read and made the birdie. Pin was back left today...don't think there would be too many birdies from there. (-4)

#8 - Good 3-wood off the tee into the wind. I was plyaing for the middle of the green, but I pushed a 5-iron a tad right at flag. Big break on this one and 2-putted for par (-4)

#9 - Scorecard says it's 447 yards, but it's only about 356 yards. I hit 3-wood well here, but it took an awful kick into the fairway bunker. Had no shot at the green so I pucnhed out. Flushed a PW and 2-putted for bogey (-3)

#10 - Good driver down the firght side. Hit a SW so0so, but it took a good kick to about 3-feet and I made the birdie (-4)

THOUGHTS: Well, I ruined that practice round

Really hit most everything really well today except for the driver. I think that's just going to take some practice from the things I discovered over the weekend. Putted awesome today. AimPoint was really working for me. Let's see the putts I made:

15 footer on #13
8 footer on #15
8 footer on #16
10 footer on #17
60 footer on #18
25 footer on #4
20 footer on #7

That's about 136 feet of putts made.

The course record is 65 and I think I could've shot 66 today.

To me, the front 9 is much harder than the back 9. It was tough to hit it long there because the course is so well manicured and soft. So I'll have to get my driver trajectory up and I will also have to get my 3-wood ready off the tee on the front 9.

35-33=68 (-4)
11/14 fwy
12/18 GIR
26 putts
3/5 scramble







3JACK

[cwdlaw223]

Good round!

[Richie3Jack]

Thanks.

Anatomy of a 68 with 12 GIR.

4 of the 6 greens I missed, the ball was 'close' to the green. I went 3/4 up-n-down on those 4 nearly missed greens.

1 of the 2 greens I missed where it wasn't close...came on a Danger Zone shot. I hit that one well, but it just goes to show how DZ shots are crucial.

The other 'big' miss was on #9 where I got gone jobbed on a bad kick. Still though, I never had to 1-putt to save bogey. All my first putts on the green were either for birdie or par.

Even Par on all holes that I had a Danger Zone approach today.

2 for 4 on par-5 'go for its.' But one of the par-5's in 580 yards long.

Only 3 impeded shots today. I've decided to cover the 2nd shot on par-3's as 'impeded shots' as well. #14...a bad drive that left me in the fwy bunker, but I hit a great shot that left me with a 'near miss' GIR, I just missed the 5-footer to save par. #5, 3-hybrid into the par-5 on the 2nd shot and I was 1 yard away from being perfect and it plugged into the bunker...but I made birdie anyway. And #9 with the bad kick on the tee shot.

I didn't hit the driver well today, but I was hitting it just good enough to avoid impeded approach shots and I hit enough good Danger Zone shots today so I didn't piss away strokes there. Get a hot putter and you get a 68.








3JACK

[tightdraw]

that's some terrific golf.
it makes the rest of us reluctant to post our rounds :-)
TD

[cwdlaw223]

How much of your round do you attribute to momentum from getting up and down and draining key putts? Hard to measure, but this is so important for good scoring. I had none this weekend.

[Richie3Jack]

I'm sure it helped with confidence. The greens at Shingle Creek are far easier than they are at World Woods or even Eastwood for that matter. But, I'll go over the up and down opportunities.

#1 - wasn't on the fringe, but just off of it. Rule of 12 chip with a 9-iron. Not a hard chip...hit it to about 2 feet and made par

#6 - I was in the furthest left greenside bunker



So it was a bit of a long bunker shot. Also had a pretty steep uphill lie. Not super steep, but just steep enough to make you feel uncomfortable hitting that shot from the bunker. Here I wasn't really thinking about getting up-n-down. Just hit it to about 10 feet and give it a run. I wanted to leave myself with an uphill putt, but couldn't. Here's where I think one has to have the right MENTALITY. They have to understand the odds of making par here are slim and you want to focus more on leaving with nothing higher than a bogey. And it's a hole where you'll likely to make bogey anyway (470 yard par-4). And that's what I did.

#9 - doesn't count, had to pitch out into the fairway.

#14 - Probably 10 feet off the green. Not that difficult. I hit a LW to 5-feet, but left myself with a downhill putt. Very important because I missed that putt in part because it moved on me.

#15 - This was a bit of a tougher up and down than on #14, but I was only about 8 feet off the green. Mainly because there's a big ridge and you have to hit a semi-flop shot. The goal here was to try to leave myself inside 8-feet. It was relatively flat around the cup, so no real worry to try and leave myself with an uphill putt. I made the putt with a good read and touch.

#17 - Long par-3 into the wind a little. I could've used a 3-hybrid and gotten to the flag, but if I missed I think the miss winds up worse. so i hit a 3-iron. I didn't hit it that great, but the miss was makeable. This was the first time I played the course. The Rule of 12 called for a 9-iron, but I figured since it had to go over a ridge, I should use an 8-iron instead. I knocked this about 10-feet bye, but I was not going up the ridge so I greatly increased my chance of making the putt, which I did. After the hole I hit the chip again...this time using a 9-iron and found that to be the right club

I'm not sure if you watched 'Yes Sir' that ESPN had going over Nicklaus' back 9 at Augusta in '86. But he has a chip on #12 at ANGC that he really doesn't 'give it a chance.' But the pros were remarking about how smart of a play that was. Why? Because it's an easier putt from there.

It's not always easy to gauge when to go for it and when to leave yourself with an uphill putt. It's kinda one of those situations you tend to say 'I'll go for the pin, but I'm not going to allow myself to miss left.'

Sometimes it works out for me mentally. Like #17 when I hit my chip about 10 feet past the cup. It was the wrong club and many would say that is a poor chip. But I just said to myself 'well, you got it past the ridge and now you have a much better chance of making the putt.'

I know on Manzella's forum I talked about how there are plenty of times I would take an uphill 15 footer over some downhill 10 footers.

Let's say you're playing a 9 stimp green with a slope of 3%.

I could have a 15 footer that is uphill that breaks 7 inches. Or I could have the 10 footer that is downhill that breaks 15 inches.

I'd rather have 5 extra feet if I can get less than 1/2 the break.

It's like Martin Laird talked about in the GD article about going from scratch to Tour pro. He realizes now that it's not always wise to fire at a flag, even if he has a wedge at his hand.






3JACK