Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Hot..then ice cold..barren..wasteland

I played Meadow Lake Golf Club in Escondido last Sunday. I decided to leave the 775's back home, more on this later. I was playing with a couple close buddies that I haven't played with since last February. Since they both live and work in San Diego it's been difficult to get together with all our different schedules. Anyway, the course was beautiful and unbelievably not too many people playing for a Sunday. It felt more like a country club than a muni. I shouldn't give away any secrets but this place has to be one of the easiest places to get a tee time.

It's not a long course, measuring at 6580 from the tips, but all the fairways are undulating and there are many OB's and blind shots throughout. There are numerous elevation changes too. I usually walk but looking at this place I decided that wasn't going to be the plan this day. The course call for accurate shots but a friendly course overall.

I believe I have a mental problem when playing with these guys. I tend to play very bad for some reason. To make a long story short I shot a 101. I was smoking hot in the beginning and won 8 skins on the front. I even had a birdie and a couple pars back to back. What really killed me were the OB's all over the place. There was an easy par 3 starting the back 9. I pushed my shot slightly to the right..behind a staked fence. Then on the next hole, a par 5 dogleg right, I drove the ball to the right which landed OB. I tee'd the ball again and same thing.

My driving started to leave me for some reason. I felt that I was tensing up and felt I was in a choking big time. We were playing for a few skins but harmless. I'm not sure what to do when this happens though. For some reason I just can't scramble when I'm with these guys..it was awful. I know I'm a better player than I was last Sunday. Anyway, I was bummed out playing so bad and still recovering. I lost all confidence in my driving toward the end of the round. I'm most likely going to play this Saturday to try to get my game back.

I played the back 9 the day before with the 775's. I really liked the scoring irons but then after that I noticed a couple things which really didn't work for me. First, there was much more offset than I expected. I tended to draw too much or I had to compensate by opening my stance even more. Second, the shaft (NS Pro Regular) was not firm enough for me and I had some timing/tempo problems. Overall, I'd highly suggest this set to the up and comer aspiring player. Perfect first set of irons for the serious golfer.

I've decided that I will be a Titleist man and find the perfect Titleist set for me, it's just going to be a matter of time. I am waiting on delivery of the 690.CB but after doing some more research I found that the 704 CB may be more up my alley..the quest continues.

No comments: