Bring you up to date..

I've played numerous rounds since my last posting from earlier this year and was debating to post my rants after each round (see post below), but I'll spare everyone and not do that.  That has been one of the problems of not keeping up with the blog.  I had so many rounds to put up and discuss which seemed like a burden on me..but especially you guys.

To bring you guys up-to-date on my playing:  Since April of this year, I've been playing at least once a week (and sometimes get in a mid-week round).  I have to admit I had other friends that started to play which sparked my dull golf embers into a rich and hearty flame now.  This has resulted in bringing my handicap index down from 20 to 14.9 (as of last week).

One of my goals was to ALWAYS break 90 at every round.  It's really quite possible and easy to do if you STICK WITH YOUR GAME PLAN.  Instead of giving you guys a long and winded essay, it comes down to simple math:  You have 18 holes, you multiply each hole by 5, which give you 90..right?  All you need is a to bogey a par 3 or get a par on a par 4 during the round and..bingo..you shoot an 89 (assuming par for your course is 72). 

THE SECRET to the sub-90 happiness is..(*ssssshhhhh*) you need to put the "ego" away and not always go for it when you don't have to.  You need to take the bogey and just walk away.  Don't attempt to make that Mickelson flop or the Tiger Stinger..if you can just come back out to the fairway and get on with the hole..do it.

I've faced multiple times on the course where I'll have a mid-iron approach (perhaps 170+) to get on the green in regulation.  This is the weaker part of my game and if I try to go for the green I'd usually be in a worse situation.  I'd either be way off the green or in a greenside bunker.  The sub-90 game plan calls that you just hit a shorter approach (swallow that pride) that sets you up with a much easier up-and-down opportunity.

True, you will not always get up-and-down (I'd be playing on the PGA tour if this was the case right), but the sub-90 game plan knows that you are a decent enough player that if you are at this level (sub-90), sooner or later (and hopefully more "sooners" than "laters") you will stick that chip/pitch close enough to have an easy tap-in par (or better yet chip-in birdie..which has happend to me on a few occasions already).  Bottom line..STICK WITH THE GAME PLAN.