Hello world!

I finally got a chance to get out and play a round this year. Incredible and astounding I know. My daughter and I played 9 holes in a father/daughter tournament. I believe we may have finished dead last. The theme of the day was Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory” - each shot was preceded by me saying “on the edge” and trying to be as positive at Tony Robbins. It didn’t work, but we had a blast.

PS… Golf is Hard TV website is OBVIOUSLY back online!

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I spent the week in Hilton Head and had a chance to play 2 nice golf courses - Barony and Oyster Reef. For the record, I really loved Oyster Reef, it was challenging and gorgeous - a terrific combination for sure.

I had a new box of Slazenger Raw balls with me and got out 2 boxes for that first round at Barony. On the 4th hole, a 364 yard (blue tees) par 4 I jacked my tee shot dead left into the rough. I hit a provisional ball a country mile but wanted to see if I could find my first ball and play it out of the woods.

After a few minutes of looking, I spotted 2 balls buried under some leaves, neither of which was my own. I traded the lost Slazenger for a Titelist and a TiTech and played my 2nd tee shot.

Cut to 2 days later, about halfway through my round at Oyster Reef. I hit an errant tee shot on #6, a gorgeous par 3 overlooking a lake butting up against the harbor. I managed to find my ball and as I looked down, I realized that it was that same Ti Tech that I had found at Barony. Some 18 holes later, I was still playing with the same ball!

I resolved to finish the Oyster Reef round with this scuffed mess of a ball. On the 8th (we played the back first, so this was the next to last hole of the day), I hit my 3 hybrid about 200 yards to the right, and headed towards trees. I yelled “no” and desperately wanted my new favorite ball of all time to bounce back from the forest. To my shock, the ball came bounding off a tree and landed on the green!

I knew I had a special ball, one that was going to do whatever it had to in order to stick with me, unlike those ungrateful Slazengers. Jerks.

In any case, I 3-putted my friend for a bogey 5 (no one said the ball you have become attached to will actually go in the hole in less shots!) and headed to my last hole of the day.

After somnething like 32 holes, I teed up a ball that I had strangely become quite emotionally attached to. My tee shot was again errant, this time slicing sharply to the left behind a tree jutting out into the fairway. I saw it bounce and I was elated. I was going to find it!

I drove up and found my ball laying in a deep bed of leaves and had only one shot - a safe play back to the fairway. Unfortunately, I thinned it and flew it over the fairway into a bunker. I tried to play a 7 iron out and thinned it again - my best friend ever landed back in the bunker, unwilling at this point to even leave my side.

A quick chip shot landed me in the fairway where I hit a beautiful 3 wood about 220 yards to the front of the green. I chipped it close and 2-putted for a triple bogey 8… but had managed to finish the round with this beautiful, mess of a ball that I might take home and put away forever.

Either that or I’ll tee it up and see how much magic is left!

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”

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

This week, I’ve decided that I need to play golf every day, starting today Monday July 13th. We’ll be shooting some new shows tomorrow the 14th, but today I played 9 with my 2 daughters on the terrific executive course here in Trumbull known as “Tashua Glen.”

I played well for the first 4 holes, making bogey on all of them. I hit some terrific gap wedge shots and putted well. Unfortunately, the last 4 holes fell apart when I doubled #5 after missing an extremely easy putt for bogey. I sliced a ball into the woods on #6 and doubled it as well, again missing a short putt for bogey after a pin seeker that stopped about 8 feet past the hole.

While I’m really enjoying my new “Heavy Putter,” it’s taking some time to get used to it. I three putted the last 5 holes, coming up short on long putts every time. The weight of the putter is a tad distracting, but the more I use it, the more I like how it feels in my hands.

Tomorrow, Coach Dave and I are playing 18, but I’ve got no firm plans after that until Saturday… either way though, the goal is to play some golf every day this week!

This week’s stats so far:
1 day
9 holes played
+13 over par