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Friday, September 9, 2011

The trip of a lifetime

My friends Jeff Jiovanazzo and Ryan Harrington recently took a guy trip to Scotland to play all of the famous courses.  An unbeleivable chnace of a lifetime.  He and the other fellows have written about their travels here.
http://thehomeofgolf.blogspot.com/

One quick excerpt from Jeff, on playing St. Andrews on the final day of the trip, that sums up the whole trip and makes me green with envy:

"I shot 84 with the crazy hole being #6.  It's a short par 4 and I hit a tee shot right down the middle leaving me 70 yard to the pin.  We walk up to my ball and my caddie pulls out the putter.  He said he saw Jack Nicklaus putt from 120 yards out in the British Open ten years ago and he made par.  I reminded my caddie that I'm no Jack Nicklaus and told him that he should be well aware of that by now since he's been carrying my bag for 5 holes.  I told him it would make for a great story regardless of what I scored so I grabbed the putter, stared down the line I was given and hammered a putt like never before.  It snaked up, over and around mounds of grass and fescue before eventually making its way onto the front of the green.  I was able to two putt from there and for a moment in time play golf like Jack Nicklaus.  "

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Painting Update

A little more work done last night.  Only 19 days until the event.  Hope I can get it done.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Painting for Autism update

I was able to get some work done on the painting I am doing for the Autism golf tournament this weekend.

Here is an updated picture of the progress.


Golfing Creeks Bend Golf Course

On Saturday of Labor day weekend I took my dad and Mike Vigen and his dad out to Creeks Bend in New Prague.

Playing The Links At Northfork

On Friday I had the chance to take a half day from work and go out to the Links at Northfork in Ramsey for a round on a glorious day weather wise.

I played with a couple of guys, Roger, was a professor from the U of M.  He was 75 and really had a pretty good game still though not a lot of length.  Steve, his friend, was a really good golfer.  It was a really fun time playing with them, we had a great time.  We even had some friendly wagering on shots towards the end of the round.

Today I played with the other guys from the Green tees, which are not the tips but one up from there.  This is the first time I have played that set

The opening par 5 hole 1.
The green on 2.


Hole 3 from the tee.


The par 3 4th hole.




The infamous Hole 5.  I went for it and made it over the hill.  Steve tried too but came up short.





The wide open, par 4, hole 6.  Except for the bunkers and fescue and OB...


The bi-polar hole 7.  Split greens.  Today was played to the right one.



Hole 9.  I consider this hole my nemesis after choking on my drive in the Girard tournament playoff.  Come to think of it, I rarely have a good drive here.  In fact, I don't think I have ever been tempted to go for it in 2.



Hole 10, I hit a great drive here and from the green tees barely cleared the waste bunker on the corner.


The green on the par 3 12th. Back back back.  I hit far left into the grass off the tee here but found my ball, hit on and knocked down my putt for par!




The tree hole, number 13.





Mr Bad, hole 14 is where the Links turns into the woods.  Someday Il will play this hole to par...


Mr Evil, the hated par 4 15th.  With its dogleg left taunting you I truely despsie this hole.  I hope to come away with just a bogey.  Today it was a double.



16 gets a little easier.  Just do not hit left.  We had a game during the round to try hit the island off to the left from the tee.  Whoever hit it won a dollar from the others.  We all missed on the first try.  On the second both Steve and I hit it (I used a 3 iron) and we called it a draw.


17, is a tough par 3 always into the wind. Severley sloped this green is tough once on.  Both Steve and I hit to the lower left cornedr of the green.  They would have been good shots but the pin was back right.  Up a huge hill and acorss the slope.  We resumed our dollar bet on who could get down with a par.  Neither of us did.  We both three putted.



The final par 4 18th.  I missed the bunkers left (a rarity) and found the fairway.  One shot over the water and onto the green.  Missed my bird but had a easy par finish.

With the round over there was still plenty of light so I decided to play the three hole practice loop.  I finished my round with an 83.  A really solid round especially from the green tees.



The first practice hole a par 4 at around 320 yards.


The second practice hole is a par 3 at around 170 yards.


The final hole is another par 4.

A great end to the day, I finished the practice loop at one over.  The more I play this course the more i enjoy it.  I have one more free round left on the common man card to get in here.  I can't wait.

We have plans to play 2 rounds here at the end of September.  I will be getting one more practice round in before then at some point.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Yowzers My new handicap is ridiculow

Today the new GHIN handicap revisions came out and with my good play at Giants Ridge and Mississippi Dunes my handicap dropped 2 points to an all time low of 7.3.

Painting and golfing for Autism

I have been invited to play in a charity golf tournament towards the end of this month to benefit CADE (Children with Autism Deserve Education) a charity to help fund education of children with autism.  In addition to loving to golf one of my other true passions is painting.  I have been given the opportunity to create a painting to be sold at a silent auction at the golf tournament. 



This painting will be one of my largest works to date.  The canvas is 3 feet by 4 feet.

I will post more pictures as I progress.