I wrapped up my biggest golf week EVER with my 6th round in 6 days, teeing off at 6:39 this morning bright and early. The round got off to a good start, but went downhill quickly. I kept thinking back to my earlier rounds and even though I didn’t play well, I thought that this week was really amazing.

I got myself into the sand 3 times at Tashua, I think a new record for myself. I managed to get out nicely all 3 times and on the 18th, I used a great sand shot to save par to end the week. It felt great to end on a par!

Here are the final stats from this week:

6 days, 6 rounds
4 total courses played (Tashua Knolls, Tashua Glen, Fairchild Wheeler & Woodhaven Country Club)
81 holes played
Total score 437 (117 shots over par)
1 birdie
5 new Golf is Hard TV episodes filmed
1 Quadruple bogey
2 4 putts
3+ record setting drives of ~270 yards
1 new course played (Fairchild Wheeler)
1 cart used
1 round with a pull cart
1 sand save for par
One 12 year old playing partner (Coach Dave’s daughter)
1 Eagle (made by Coach Dave)

What’s the most golf you have ever played in a row?

Day 5 is in the books and I have a few thoughts, as you’d expect.

First, playing golf 5 days in a row is hard work. I’m tired. I’m also in trouble with my wife. I’m going to leave playing golf every day to the pros and retired folks. For me, it’s too much.

Secondly, and more importantly, when I do something every day, I expect to get better. I expect that because I’m a halfway decent athlete that I would see some improvement. Not today. For about 5 holes in a row, I started hitting drives off the hosel, directly left. It got so bad that I started dropping balls in the tee box on the ground and simply hitting hybrids (that worked).

Lesson learned, play with whatever you’ve got on a given day. Today, it was all about just getting off the tee safely (forget fairways!). I ended up shooting a 99 after a 51 on the front and triple/double on 10 and 11. Not good.

That said, I shot 7 over on the last 7 holes.

Now, I need to go pay some attention to my family (and catch up on British Open action. Speaking of which – Tiger, what up man?)

Maybe it was time, or maybe Coach Dave’s last blog post helped, but I finally got one! I played the back 9 at Fairchild Wheeler Black in Fairfield, CT today and on the second hole I caught a bit of magic.

The 3rd hole (middle tees) is 155 yards and today, the pin placement was slightly up front. I grabbed my 7 iron (love knowing I can actually hit a 7 iron 150 yards) and with total confidence wacked at it. As soon as it went up I knew it was good – I actually said these words:

“Go in the hole”

As soon as I said those words, I knew I had blown it… immediately, my playing partner said that he thought the ball lipped out of the cup. It stopped less than a foot from the hole, where I tapped it in for birdie.

I really liked this course, it has some interesting challenges and is quite similar to Tashua Knolls, my home course. Walking 9 this morning cost all of $13!

I shot a 46 but could have easily been 2/3 shots better if I could simply get my putter going. 3 three putts is not what I’m looking for

This week’s stats so far:
4 days
45 holes played
64 shots over par
1 birdie
5 new Golf is Hard TV episodes filmed
1 Quadruple bogey
3+ record setting drives of ~270 yards
1 new course (Fairchild Wheeler)

Just after reading Marc’s description of his ball rolling back to its starting point, I saw David Feherty on TV roll a ball on the 16th at Turnberry in Scotland, site of the British Open this week. I could not help but feel Marc’s pain…almost seems unfair after a good shot. At Turnberry, on the 16th hole, it is likely that if players do not get the ball far enough onto the green with their approach shot, it will roll back off the green…into a creek. Keep an eye out for painful facial expressions on this hole. They may even look live average golfers!

What I like most about watching the (British) Open…I can watch golf at the crack of dawn (or whenever I wake up), with breakfast.

I predict that Marc will make at least 2 birdies before the week is out. He and I are playing Saturday morning at 6:30 (we couldn’t get the 5:30 tee time). He will make a bird….btw Marc, we are playing the blue tees! Tape the Open.

Golf lingo quiz: what does “buzz his tower” mean?

How about, “hockey sticks”?

Tiger hits it at 4:09 ET on Thursday…may not be up for that!

The week of golf continues (6 days, 6 rounds of golf…) at the Woodhaven Country Club in Bethany, CT. All I can say about this 9 hole course is that the greens are.. stunningly hard at times. I managed to lose my scorecard this afternoon but see on the web that the slope from the blue tees is 128. That’s hard, right?

Here’s a sample of one hole…

I was lying 3 on par 4 after hitting a great chip shot to about 15 feet. Pin high (very high). My putt was going to break a tad to the left and was uphill about 10 feet or so. I nailed the line and I thought it was in… the ball stopped maybe 3 inches short and started to roll back a tiny bit.

Then it rolled faster. And faster. It didn’t stop until it was almost back to where it started.

Deep breath.

I lined it up again and hit my shot again. I did it again – the same exact thing. It took me a total of 4 putts and I ended up with a shiny 8.

I shot a 52 which, all things considered isn’t bad. Either way, day 3 is in the books!

This week’s stats so far:
3 days
36 holes played
53 shots over par
0 birdies
5 new Golf is Hard TV episodes filmed
1 Quadruple bogey
1 record setting drive, 270 yards

Ahhh, another day, another round of golf. Today’s round featured myself and Coach Dave at Tashua Knolls and ended with us shooting 5 brand new Golf is Hard TV episodes which I’ll be editing and posting soon!

I played well today – putted extremely well on the back 9 and actually felt like I had some nice touch on several chip shots. I still am miserable in hitting fairways, but today was better as I’m getting used to my new Nike Str8-fit driver.

This week’s stats so far:
2 days
27 holes played
36 shots over par
0 birdies
5 new Golf is Hard TV episodes filmed