High Meadow Ranch is now my favorite public course!

Anyone know where to get a driver that's 2 inches longer than a standard driver thats less than 150?

Played Bears Best in Vegas. Shot a 97. Painful to play so poorly at the best course Ive ever played. Had nothing to do with the difficulty of the course. Had everything to do with my pitching wedge.

rononeill,

Played there last month for the second time. That course is amazing. How was yalls caddy? Ours was a little shaky with the greens but overall pretty good. What did you think about 18? I'm pretty sure that is my least favorite hole.

That course was the money (a rononeill recommended track). Our caddy was dead on. It was almost a let down, because if you hit it where he said, the ball would go in. The tough part was hitting it straight - it lets you know how true your putting really is - i did however find myself lipping out 20 footers pretty frequently and i made a 30+ footer. too bad my pitching wedge wasnt working. I swear, the putts I'd have bet would go left, sure enough, went right - the caddy saved me 10 strokes.

18 was tough. I hit my Nickent Hybrid to about 190 (got all of it), then put a 5 iron in the left bunker. then 2 to get out of the sand w/ the second running over the hole and into the lake. chip, 2 putt, 8. thats the kind of round it was...

I think the 12th was my favorite - ~500yd par 5, down hill. Hybrid, 3 iron, sandwedge, 2 putt - par.

Those blacksand holes were nice to look at.

Your right about the putting. With out there help it could get ugly. I got to the point where I just didn't even bother reading the puts and I just waited on him. The black sand traps are pretty neat. Both times I've played there I've been even until the first one, the down hill par three, and both times I have gone in the far bunker. Eighteen is a b**** if your playing it into the wind like I have both times. I sthat the only course you have played there?

it is, but i need to get back and play some others - the 9 hundy i made on Black Jack just might help me do that...

Played Hermann Park on saturday. Tee time was 11am. Only payed $30. I thought it was a decent course for $30. Greens seemed to be in pretty good shape.

Played River point last weekend. I thought the course was in pretty good shape. Again a good value for your money. I will be playing Northgate next month. Anybody know anything about this course?

Isnt Northgate private? Ive always wanted to play there - its about 5 minutes from my house - looks real nice

I am not sure, it could be. I was invited to play in a tournament there.

played southwyck last sunday - shot an 89. it was one of those shank of the tee, approach to 100, hit the stick, 2 putt kind of days. must have had 5 two puts from 8' - argh.

Anyone played Wildcat lately? Good shape? Which 18 should we try to play?

I played The Lakes 2 weekends ago and it was in great shape. The Lakes is my favorite of the two. I know StEdsCoog is playing the Highlands today, so he will probably have a report tomorrow.

It's always in great shape.

I played the Lakes last weekend.

golfer2003...Play the Lakes. The Highlands is goofy-golf, especially if there's anyone in the group who struggles with forced carries of 180 yards uphill, and into a south wind. The Lakes is a much better layout. i only play the Highlands every so often when we can't get the time we want on the Lakes. Both courses, though, are very well maintained. More than we can say for our home course.

BTW, I have some new sticks to try out.



Know anyone who would be interested in a set of Hogan Apex blades (heads only, 2-PW)?

Had a chance to play the Highlands course yesterday in the 610 Fall Football Classic. That was my first time to play it and I came away very impressed with its condition. The greens were outstanding and so were the fairways. If you have not played the course before then it will be challenging. Several of the tee-shots were into blind landing areas and several approach shots were onto blind greens. As far as the wind being a factor we were pretty lucky because it was always blowing across and not into us. Wes, Carroll knocked one in from about 65-yards out for an eagle but we didn't use his drive. That might have been the only approach shot of his we used all day and I know we didn't use a single putt he attempted.

You mean to tell me Carroll struggled with his short game?? STUNNING


Who was on your team? Any celebrities out there?

Me, Chad, Mike and Skip, so it was pretty much a 2 1/2 man team. The only celebrity out there besides me was Granado and that guy was trashed. No one special like the one we played in (besides me).

Played Magnolia Creek this weekend in very windy conditions- 45/44 for an 89.

The wind this weekend was unbelieveable.

I had a lesson on Fri. out at Wildcat and while our work inside with the video was very productive, it was rather hard to take it outside....the wind would push me over on my downswing, very hard to keep balance.

I hear ya. One of the par 3's out there normally plays about 155; everyone in our foursome hit at least 4-iron (a 185 club for me) and we all came up 10-15 yards short. It was pretty funny. That's the most wind I've played in since my dad and I played in Corpus a few years back.

You guys should try living in Amarillo for 18 years! This past weekend was calm in comparison!

P.S. I hate wind.

Ezra- how are the lessons/pro at Wildcat? I've been looking for a place to go so I can work out some kinks.

I'm sure you've heard of Matt Swanson's School of Golf.
www.swingpure.com
Swanson commands top dollar, but he's a hell of a teacher.

I've been working with Bruce Olson for a couple of years, but I'm up there quite a bit and know all of the staff.

Everyone there is really good, just depends on what you want to spend.

I've heard him advertised alot on 610; thanks for the info and the link. Have you seen positive results?

Significant improvement followed by setback followed by significant improvement - repeat.

We completely re-worked my swing.

In 2 1/2 years we've gotten me from never, ever breaking 105 to the 90's and really could be high 80's if I could get a bit more practice/play in.

Are there any good fall-rates around town yet?

battleground this saturday - i love that place.

Battleground is a good deal no matter what time of year it is.

If I normally shot between 98-102 ,(I have only been playing for about 1-2 years), what type of lessons do you guys recommend? 1 on 1 type lessons, clininc type lessons? And how many should I sign up for if I decide to take them? Who would be the best instructor to go to help me improve? Thanks.

go to the driving range - take your 7 iron and pw only. go to the chipping green and spend 2 hours there for 1 a week for 3 weeks. you can make the check out to rononeill.

seriously, find someone, not necessarily a pro, who has a decent short game, and ask for a few pointers. then practice it.

if you watch someone shooting in the 80s and compare their swing/game with someone in the legitimate 90s/low100s. there is very little discernable difference. its the # of disaster holes and short game that set them apart.

if youre shooting around 100 that means youre roughly double bogey golf w/ a few bogies. how many of those shots are within 100 yards? be honest

unfortunately, the short game is the crappiest part of the game to practice - it is, however, the most rewarding.

good point.

Ags#1...Another good drill to sharpen your short game is to take a single ball and all of your wedges and your 7 or 8 iron. Practice from all sorts of lies around the green. Knock the ball on the green, then (here's the key) - putt it out. By placing some sort of importance on the shot (you have to putt that particular ball), you will hone your skills of getting the ball close to the hole by any means possible. For some, that means putting from 10 yards off the green if needed.

Its all about getting the ball in the hole, and thats it. My brother and I would spend hours around the practice green competing for quarters doing this very thing. We'd find the most impossible lies to hit from and after doing this a couple times a week, all of a sudden the simple chip and pitch shots would seem much easier.

Then, work on your putting. For speed control on long putts, don't putt to a hole. Practice hitting across the green and focus only on trying to get the ball to stop right at the edge of the fringe, regardless of line. If you are going to use a hole, don't putt from more than 10 feet away, and preferably on a flat part of the green. Putting is mostly confidence, and you want to practice MAKING putts, not missing them. Work on a solid routine that you use EVERY TIME you putt.

[This message has been edited by 1208HawkTree (edited 10/7/2006 8:45p).]

Played the North Course at Blackhorse today with 7 other guys and I must say, that place in awesome shape right now. Maybe it was the iffy conditions I'm used to at Greatwood, but I can't remember better fairways and greens in Houston - public or private course, any time of year.

A guy in my group (and thankfully on my team) shot 69 with 6 birdies on the back, including 4 in a row to start off the 9. It would have been 6 in a row had he not lipped out from 5 feet on the 14th (he also birdied 15). He burned the edge with his eagle putt on 18 that would have finished off a 29 had it gone in. I was 3 over on the back and felt like I shot 45 watching him.