And if they’re non-white the democrats will triple their votes. It’s true, folks, look it up.
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Today’s range session consisted of recording my swing, trying to take a shorter backswing, feeling like I did and seeing that, nope, I still went waaaaaay past parallel. Managed to take a couple short ones with the 9iron and it felt waaay better, but couldn’t replicate it with the driver.
Putting was bad. 86/100 3 footers vs 91 last time although I picked a tougher hole this time, and three of the five spots I putted from had to start on the edge of the hole so I had very little margin for error. I felt like my stroke was actually better.
Lag putting from 20 feet was horrendous, 10/20 inside three feet and one make.
Going to research some drills to shorten my back swing for next time.
Just joined a club in what is surely the worst financial decision of my life.
But that said, it’s 3 minutes from my house and has super nice practice facilities. Need to come up with some kind of daily routine to make a push toward being a 10, which is probably my ceiling.
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Best of luck!
Do they have like chipping and pitching and bunker areas in the practice facility or just driving range and putting green? Is the range big enough for full drivers or is it irons only (common near me)?
Yeah full range, chipping green with a bunker, and practice green.
Back when I was at a club like that I loved going out on a weeknight when the practice area was pretty empty and just chipping a bucket of balls from all different lies, then scraping them off and doing it again and again.
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We took my folks on a day trip up to Santa Barbara, and got a round in at Sandpiper. Definitely the most gorgeous views I’ve ever had on a golf course. First 5 or 6 holes make their way out to the ocean, then you see the Pacific from almost every hole the rest of the way.
They call it “Poor Man’s Pebble” because it’s got amazing views and a much more reasonable (still three digits) price tag. I’d argue it’s more like a mix of Torrey and Pebble. Some barrancas that make you think of Torrey, and views from high up on bluffs, but also some holes right near the crashing waves and more lush grass and vegetation than I think Torrey has.
Wish I took a better pic of the 10th hole, it’s the coolest layout there. It’s a sweeping downhill dogleg left with the green perched above the ocean, about 220 yards to the through bunker, about 290 to the green, and trees guarding the dog leg. Can you draw a long iron and catch the slope to feed down? Can you cut the corner with a driver or wood? Better be accurate! Do you want to make the tee shot easy and play a long downhill approach to a narrow green, with big slopes dropping off either side?
I tried to turn a four iron over and instead hit it straight through the fairway but not quite to the bunker. Proceeded to hit a decent second shot end then self destruct with my short game en route to a triple.
Here’s a look at the approach:
And the par-3 11th, with the green literally 20 yards away from the waves breaking…
Good swing, slight push → right bunker. Good bunker shot, 10 feet to save par, sigh, brush in bogey. But you know what makes bogeys feel a lot better? This view.
Had a great time with my favorite people, and shot a 95 despite forgetting how to hit the little ball first for three straight shots at one point, and having two putts slow mo lip out, one being the most painful missed putt I can remember. 15 feet downhill slider right to left to save par played it 6 feet out with perfect tempo. 5 feet away it looked like it was going to be four feet too far right, then it snapped at the end, trickled towards the hole, compelled me to take a step and cock back a fist, then inexplicably straightened and lipped out with no tempo left on it at all, leaving me bent at the knees and groaning.
Short game cost me several strokes. 5/14 fairways with a couple near misses that were ok, and a couple costly misses. 2/18 GIR with probably four more on the fringe. 35 putts but the greens were fast and had a lot of slope, so I’m not mad at that.
Lots of scenic swing videos that are all just begging me to stop going past parallel.
I know what I need to work on, and being within striking distance of 89 in my first round in 3.5 months and first round on a new course with difficult greens feels like a win!
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Beautiful pics! Santa Barbara’s a great place (though I didn’t know until now golf is one of the reasons).
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Right… and I went to UCSB. 
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Yeah, Sandpiper is just up the coast from SB in Goleta.
I believe I’ve figured this out. My arms weren’t connected to my body, so I practiced hitting shots with a headcover or towel under my right armpit and making my hips/shoulders control the length of the backswing.
This felt really good and it felt like my dispersal pattern tightened. Swinging at like 80% got me like 90-95% of my normal carry distance, so once I groove this it should be fun.
I also hit a few half wedges focused on keeping my arms connected and suddenly I wasn’t pulling them all 5-10 yards to the left, but they’re going father so I’ve got to recalibrate my distances. Used to be a 7:30 60 degree wedge went like 39 yards, now it’s going 50. Guess I’m going to have to choke down or shorten the follow up though for the shorter ones.
Pounded some drivers at the end of the range session in preparation for a family scramble soon, and ohhhh boy were the changes working. The netting at the end of the range was 200 yards away and maybe 60 feet tall, and I almost hit one over it. Hit a couple that were still rising when they got to it. The dispersal was also way tighter, they were some sexy power fades.
One thing I hate, though, is all the ranges out here are off mats.
Found em
Range session today, kept working on keeping my arms connected, had everything going pretty straight. Hard to gauge distance, given that it was range balls with a crosswind quartering into us, but everything seemed to be going about 95% of my old distance so given the balls/wind I did probably add a little distance.
Made 83/100 3 footers. Not thrilled but the greens were still very bumpy from being aerated last week, so I think that influenced it a lot. 20-footers I got 16/20 within three feet, 40 footers I got 3/5 within three feet with one make.
Happy with the progress with the full swing and lag putting, hopefully I can get a round in this week and see where I’m at on course.
Played a course nearby and shot a 95 today, a little annoyed since I shot 43 on the front and 52 on the back. I opened par, bogey, par, bogey, triple, birdie - so I was +4 through 6, with visions of taking it into the low 80s.
I drove the green on a 272 yard hole, had about 12 feet for eagle and just missed and tapped in for birdie. A couple holes later I piped a drive 304 yards down the middle, so that was awesome. I had three types of drives today: bombs right where I was aiming, the big right miss blasted to the left (guessing this is a lack of enough hip turn since it crept in later in the round, but it’s possible I was firing too fast and getting stuck), and a few times I topped it - not a miss I had with my old swing so not sure where that’s coming from, which is scary.
I was +9 through 11 and thought I was going to be on cruise control to break 90. But I think I was struggling to maintain my new swing as fatigue set in a bit. I also had a string of annoying doubles that really didn’t feel that bad, just a series of below average shots in a row without the one needed to bail me out.
I hit 4/13 fairways and 5/18 greens, 34 putts, but 6 penalty strokes (twice I hit the tee shot OOB and took the 2-stroke penalty instead of stroke and distance). Obviously can’t be racking up that many penalty strokes and breaking 90. I also lost six strokes to taking more than one stroke around the green to get on the green. Part of this was the condition of the bunkers, but my short game sucked.
Three triples. I’m thrilled with par, fine with bogeys, condone doubles, but I really shouldn’t be making triples. I need to keep the ball in play off the tee, and tighten up the short game and make sure everything around the green gets on the green. If I’m losing 2 strokes around to that stuff instead of 12, I’m in the mid 80’s. Then getting more of my pitches and chips in the 6-10 foot range and having more one putts gets me flirting with breaking 80 which is where I want to be in the next few months.
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