I tried to do a couple of things that I saw the juniors doing at the AJGA tournament with my swing. I was able to do them at the range yesterday and on the course today. And they didn't hurt my back or neck or hands or nothin'!
I was trying to do a slow backswing and down swing, while driving my lower body first. I might have screwed this up twice, but it worked a lot more than it didn't.
My distances were the same, but consistency was very good and my driver behaved himself. I topped a couple of shots and took two penalty strokes. Final score was around 80 with no birdies -- though I putted well with but one three putt. Chipped in once and made a few up and downs. But mostly it was hit the green and two putt.
Also Barb and I found some of the stainless steel vacuum bottles at Walmart. They are supposed to be as good as the Yeti models. All I know, as a water bottle on the golf course, they worked great. Very cold water all day long. They cost about $7.50; the Yetis are about $30. Barb bought me one of them and I'll be a happy and grateful user forever.
I've wanted to move a bit from the technical aspects of the game and talk more about other stuff. I thought I would attempt a description of the Lake Merced Golf Course.
The course looks like a number of them which are situated near the coast near San Francisco. The trees are mostly cypress, which grow quite tall, don't have a lot of lower branches. They leaves seem to be oriented to the sky. They look great in the fog and that creates a "minor chord" look to them.
The par 4s were about 360 on average. One was short at 300 and it was causing a lot of problems. It had a tough green and it was elevated with a couple of traps and a tucked pin on a tiny shelf.
On the first hole there is a 90 degree dogleg off to the left. The leg starts at about 200 yards and the hole is close to 400 yards long. The longer hitters were aiming left and hitting the drives over the cypress to find the fairway within 100 yards of the green.
There are also some pine trees, which were used at the 150 yard lines.
The fairways were cut pretty narrowly, maybe 40 yards or less. The rough wasn't long at all and if you missed the rough, you were in thin pine straw or dirt. Not too penal, unless you went OB. The kids, particularly the girls, were quite straight and it was rare to see a ball miss the fairway by much.
The kids were rarely animated. One guy, wearing shorts! (Did I mention is was 60 degrees without any sun?), slammed a club or two. But mostly the kids didn't seem to respond to anything. The long dropped putt or a weak shot to an up hill green led only to grim determination and steely eyes. There was no joy in Mudville...
It was kind of sad to see the lack of elation that I would have had being in those surrounding and playing a game. But it probably is not a game to them anymore.
The course was hilly with a couple of minor canyons running through it. There were some elevated tees and frequently you hit over the top of a hill to a blind landing area.
The driving range is in the middle of course and quie narrow. The fences were not high enough and the kids were banging them over the fence to various fairways. The parents that walked along with the kids would toss the balls back.
There was also a nice short game practice area also in the middle of the course. Nice area, but an unexpected find when we stumbled over it.
There have been some historic matches at the course and there are interesting photos in the club house. The course was designed by Willie Lock in 1922 and build in 1929 by Alister MacKenzie in a patch of farm land. It has changed since then.
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