It was a very cold day and morning with wind and clouds blocking the sun; however, I woke up early and went to Bear's Best Country Club around 7am for an early breakfast, time to hit the driving range and putting green, and prepare for tee time at 9:40am. It was my first time being matched with a group of 3 other golfers. Ron (a clubcorp member of Bear's Best) and his friend were in one cart, and I was in a cart with Frank, who was visiting from New York. We played 18 holes in 4.5 hours and I learned a lot from these guys. 9,916 remain. Random stat: Although I got an eagle on April 23 from a par 3, today, I got par on a par 3 from hitting the ball onto the green. Continue Reading …
April 24, 2015
I woke up at 8am and I headed over to CGCC and had breakfast with the local golf pros from CGCC. One of the guys was scoring in the 60's regularly and preparing to enter PGA qualifying tournaments. Another guy said that a lot of the guys who are PGA players are not on tour and that you can qualify by getting 2 scores of 78 in the same day. I also bought 3 more sets of soft core multi-colored balls that I played with yesterday from the golf shop. After breakfast, I went to the putting green and practiced my short game for about an hour. I setup balls at both the 3 feet and 5 feet distance and practiced putting at various positions around the hole to get experience with various slopes and Continue Reading …
April 23, 2015
There was a golf tournament for members & guests at CGCC so, when I went to the golf shop, I asked the pros to see if they can make me a reservation at Spanish Trail Country Club. They successfully got me tee time at 2pm at the private club. I played the Canyon and Sunrise holes, which are 2 of the 3 9-hole courses, and I got 53 on both of them. 106 is my best score and on the course with the highest slope. Today was the first day I played golf without a cap and without wearing a glove. The weather was cool today and the sun was covered by clouds most the day. Having no glove helped me have a strong grip and also I concentrated a lot more on my stance. Although I went in the sand quite a Continue Reading …
April 22, 2015
Last night, I watched Butch Harmon School of golf videos, which talked about how you can do exercises to keep your body stable to improve your golf swing. So I decided to wake up early and go to the driving range at CGCC and practice this. It helped my swing. Also, after talking to my wife about how Dan from the Dan Plan did his first focus on putting exercises, I decided to focus on this as well on the putting green. I haven't spent as much time on the putting green as driving range (but I did do a bit yesterday too). Since I will be going to an investment management conference, I am taking it easy today with 30 minutes on the range and 30 minutes on the putting green. 9,926 remain. Random Continue Reading …
April 21, 2015
I'm now registered for the October 3-day training program with Butch Harmon and his staff and I also registered for a customized 1-day corporate program with one of Butch's Instructors, Nick, for sometime next month in May. I went to CGCC to play on the driving range, but it was closed. So I decided to go to the driving range for an hour at TPC Las Vegas. Then, I played for 3 hours to complete a solo round of 18 holes. 9,927 remain. Random stat: Today, I scored a 127 on a 68/127 CR/Slope at TPC Las Vegas (which is my 5th score for GHIN so I expect to get my Handicap Index soon because the USGA website says I need 5 scores on 18 holes to receive it; however, the golf pro at TPC claim I may Continue Reading …
April 20, 2015
This morning, I went to CGCC around 9:30am to go to the driving range. I was the only one on the driving range so I was able to play Sirius XM and listen to BPM while I practiced with all the clubs in my bag. Spent a little over an hour at the driving range today and also gave a tour of CGCC to business clients that are crashing at my house for the next couple weeks. Today, I also learned more about the handicap system and what is ESC. I've been counting high strokes on holes (ie 12) and ESC sets maximum scores that would have lowered my score based on my handicap (OTOH I don't have a handicap, but I assume it would be 40+). After taking care of business, I went to the Bali Hai Golf Club and Continue Reading …
April 19, 2015
Today, I had my best round of golf. I started early with tee time at 9:30am. So I got to the golf course early to have breakfast with my friend, Greg, at CGCC. We spent 15 minutes on the driving range, where I started with my 8 iron and then moved to the driver. Then, we did 18 holes of golf. We met a couple of other members on the golf course as well that were pretty cool. Afterwards, we met with my other golf buddy, Hunter, for lunch. I learned a lot about golf today. I've adjusted my swing on the course to have my hands in front of the ball before hitting it and I have my hands even with the ball on the tee. Also, I lowered my hand grip on the putter to be lower with my eyes right over Continue Reading …
April 18, 2015
I started my morning emailing back and forth with Dan from The Dan Plan. We are making plans to go to the Butch Harmon School of Golf together with my wife. Around 1pm, I spent an hour at CGCC working on the driving range with the driver, 3 hybrid, and 8 iron. Then I went to the restaurant and had an amazing swordfish sandwich created by the awesome CGCC chef. At 3pm, I picked up my first sand-wedge, which I'd end up using a few times today. Then, I played 18 holes of golf at CGCC and met a couple father/son teams and joined them along the way. My score has improved and I finished stronger at 136. This is an improvement of 7 from my first score. I must go to bed early today because I am Continue Reading …
April 17, 2015
Went to the driving range for an hour to practice my skills with a driver, 3 wood, and 8 iron. 9,947 remain. Random stat: I have a consistent slice to the right that I need to account for in my driving. Continue Reading …
April 16, 2015
Last time I played 9 holes, I completed the first 9 holes. So, today, I finished the last 9 holes and got my first scorecard score: 143. While playing, I got invited to play with CGCC bartender Scott Cameron and then played with a couple of other members that I met at the final 2 holes because Scott left early. I'm happy that I completed the course. I gave my score to Toby the golf pro. He said he'll enter my score in the computer system to count towards getting my first handicap. In the spirit of the Dan Plan, I will count my remaining hours towards 10,000. I played today from 1:40-3:30pm for 2 more hours. 9,948 remain. Random stat: 2 days ago, I got my first par on hole 6, which is a par Continue Reading …