Round No. 3 - Ft. Snelling

Last weekend we played our third city course: Ft Snelling. I've included some extra pictures to try to give you a feeling for how strange this place is.

Fort Snelling dates back to 1820. The original fort still stands on a bluff above the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. There is a large, active Vet's hospital on the general property as well as an enormous cemetery. The complex was active during the Civil War as well as WWI and WWII. There are acres of boarded up buildings that once served as barracks, housing for officers, and even stables.

This "unorganized territory" has a total area of 6.7 mi².

The Fort Snelling Golf Course sits in the middle of all o f these abandoned buildings. One edge of the course is bordered by the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

There are some weird vistas. At times I felt like we were on the set of sci-fi movie.

The course itself was in decent but not great condition. On several holes you can't see the green from the tee because of a major (90 degree) dogleg. I hit five fairways and shot 47. (course is only 9 holes). First and last holes were disasters.

Overall my putting was OK. I hit a lot of poor first puts but made several long 2nd putts, with only one 3-putt. My problem (again) this week was getting the ball on the green from 100 yards in.

I've still got a way to go before breaking 90, let alone 80.

I hope to get out to the driving range before we play next week.

Next week is "Gross National" , home of the 1964 USGA National Publinks Championship.

The Long Putter

Last Saturday's round at Dwan was my first chance to try out my long putter.
I've never felt that comfortable bending over a putt, and for the last several years, because of my back, I've found it more comfortable to stand as erect as possible.

It also seemed more natural to face the hole, so I tried that, too.
I felt that these changes had improved my putting. Maybe it was just that the stance was more comfortable and I felt more confident facing the target.

Anyway, I thought that one of those long putters would be just the ticket to take my putting to the next level. The problem turned out to be finding one. It seemed to me that they were everywhere a couple of years ago, but now none of the golf shops (Golf Galaxy, Sports Mart, etc) were carrying them. So I ended up building one myself.

I was happy with the way it turned out and with the results I had using it at Dwan.
I only had one 3-putt green, and made a couple of long ones.

Round No. 2 - Dwan

Played my second round last Saturday at course in Bloomington called Dwan.

Only played 9 holes and shot 47.

I was hoping to play bogey golf, which, since par is 34, would have meant a score of 42.

Here are some of the other stats I recorded:

Fairways hit: 6 (includes greens hit on par 3's)
Puts: 17

Although it might make sense for good golfers to keep track of putts, I feel is a somewhat dubious stat for hackers.

For example on one par 3 I had zero putts.

It took me 4 strokes to make it to the fringe and I ended up putting it in from there.

Even though I used my putter I wasn't on the green so in my book it wasn't a putt.

I made a trip to the driving range on Wednesday to test a new strategy.

After playing my first round from the right rough, I was determined to play this round from the fairway.

To this end I wanted to find out how far I could hit my 3-iron straight (I've given up on the driver for the time being).

Turned out to be about 175 yards.

I figured two consecutive 175 yard 3-irons would get me 350 yards at which point I'd be hitting a short iron to the green. Which should give me a pretty good chance to play bogey golf.

Unfortunately, golf being golf, there were holes where I needed four shots to cover the last 20 yards to the cup.

I really enjoyed playing from the fairway, though.

It was nice to walk off the tee with my ball sitting right there in plain sight. Instead of searching for my ball I was able to take a pleasant walk and enjoy the scenary.

The whole course seemed different.

Golf can be a relaxing sport when you avoid the rough.

An added bonus was that I played the entire round with the same ball.

I can't remember the last time I've managed 9 holes without losing at least a couple of balls.

If I could have chipped the ball onto the green once I got within about 50-60 yards I would have had a decent round.

Maybe, instead of breaking 80 by improving my swing, I should change my focus to breaking 80 by playing from the fairway and enjoying golf.

This was also the first chance I had to use my new "long putter".

It worked out pretty well. I'll write more about that later.

Next week, Theodor Wirth.

Round No. 1 - Hiawatha

I Played Hiawatha with my two boys two weeks ago.

This was my first round of the summer.

Shot about 120.

I have to say "about" because I lost count
on a couple of the holes.

Actually started out with a par.

As a matter of fact our threesome was 1-under after that first hole.

Despite my attempt to use that first par as "something to build on" things went south in a hurry.

It was a nice day, and it was an enjoyable round the poor score not withstanding.

Most disappointing was how quickly I reverted back to my old game.

Not only was I hitting everything right, but the same old thoughts were running through my head.

At one point I realized that by always being in the rough I was limiting my chances to improve. I was never hitting a normal 5-iron to the green, but was always trying to avoid some obstacle.

So I'm never taking a normal swing, but alway trying to hit balls that stay low for the first 20 yards before turning sharply to the right to make it the remaining 180 yards to the green.

If my goal had been to improve a lot during the summer I'd be able to say that I'd gotten off to a good start as I think I'll shoot lower than 120 on my next round.


Anyway, we've got a tee time at Dwan for Saturday, and I'm going to try a different tack.

Even though my stated goal is to break 80, I've been working on my swing rather than my score.

Next round I'm going to be trying keep the ball on the fairway. And I'll be trying out my new putter.

Stay tuned.