A Golf Blog

Mountain Golf – The Stinger

At home at ‘the ranch’, a late August morning warm up on the range usually takes place after the sun has had a chance to warm up the sidewalks. That’s a done deal by 7:30am or earlier.

Here in Angel Fire, the warm up (the sun, not your muscles) happens a couple of hours later. It’s not uncommon for some of the membership to show up for their round clothed in layers that are easily shed as the sun warms the body.

Loosening up on the range here is also an adventure. The Stinger is not what you’d see Tiger do with a 2 iron, it’s the thin hit that produces enough vibration to tingle the nerves up to your elbows. Not a good thing, especially if you, like most others, don’t even bother stretching to wake up you muscles.

As for the layers – I’ve actually played with someone that forgot to put shorts under his long pants. Imagine that?

Mountain Golf – The Three Way

A very popular blogger once told me that one way to get more readers is with better headlines. I thought this one might just do the trick.

Anyway, in the context of golf, this three way refers to a three person elimination scramble. Teams are paired by handicap levels by our tournament pairing program. The only time each in the threesome all hit a ball is on the first tee. From that point on, the owner of the ‘best ball’ chosen becomes a spectator for the next shot. And so it goes for the remaining 17 holes.

It sounds simple enough but depending on the quality of the shot made and skills of the players taking the next shot, it’s certainly possible that you’d not choose the ‘best shot’ in favor of having a more skilled player hit. That strategy is quite prevalent when putting so if your ‘A’ player holes the putt, you’ve essentially taken him out of play on the next tee.

I’d not played this format before so back in July when it was first introduced to me; there was some talk within our group about what it would take to finish in the money. We thought a score in the mid 60’s would be good so when we posted a 61 there was a bit of chest thumping going on in the golf shop. That was short lived – the winner that week was led by a 75 year old gentleman with a 6 handicap. Their team shot a 55!

Since then, I’ve played a couple of rounds with him. While he’s not super long, he never misses a fairway. He hits at least 13 greens in regulation and he has a short game that is lights out. That gives me something to shoot for. Hmmm, I wonder if in the next 15 years I’ll get to a 6?

Mountain Golf – Abnormal Ground Conditions

The rules of golf are in place so that everyone playing has an equal chance against all others as well as golf course. But, depending on your understanding of the rules, some will be able to leverage that understanding into an advantage.

Take this past weeks Barclay’s – Sergio Garcia parlayed his understanding of the rules to go from being stymied behind a rather large tree to relief (Rule 25) under abnormal ground conditions.

Here in Angel Fire, abnormal ground conditions mean bear poo, hoof (elk, deer, and cow) prints on the greens, and of course those loveable burrowing rodents like prairie dogs and chipmunks. In some spots, burrows often translate to lost balls – the burrows are surrounded by dirt excavated from the burrows and dens and are funnel shaped meaning that a ball hit to a 3 foot or so circle near the opening will likely be lost.

Anyway, how about ground under repair? In order to qualify, ground under repair has to be marked with white paint. And, depending on local rules, you have the option of taking full relief or playing the ball as it lies. That’s pretty straight forward but what about the abnormal course condition that’s not marked? Last year one the greens here was rebuilt, Seeded, not sodded and while the green got established, we played a temporary green with a 6 inch cup. As I recall, once you got onto the temporary green, a local rule guaranteed nothing more than a two putt.

This year, we’re playing on the rebuilt green, unfortunately, there are several bare spots (translate – bumpy dirt patches) that could qualify as ground under repair or abnormal ground conditions. After a bit of digging I found this little nugget - Interference by an abnormal ground conditions occurs when a ball lies in or touches the condition or when the condition interferes with the player’s stance or the area of his intended swing. If the player’s ball lies on the putting green, interference also occurs if an abnormal ground condition on the putting green intervenes on his line of putt. Otherwise, intervention on the line of play is not, of itself, interference under this Rule.

So, in this year’s club championship here in Angel Fire, the dirt patch on the rebuilt green translates to relief under rule 25. Too bad the player didn’t know the rule or didn’t ring the pro for a ruling. It might not have made a difference in the outcome but for sure, it would have rattled his opponent.

Hat tip to Average Golfer for the clarification.

Etiquette – When to Mark Your Ball

I don’t know the answer so I’m hopeful one of my readers will help me with this one.

When do you mark your ball on the green? Do you hold back until everyone has hit their approach shot? Or do you wait until everyone is one the green? It seems to me that if you honor position on the course, you’d not mark your ball until everyone is on the green. Unless, of course, someone is chipping and asks you to mark your ball.

But, if you wait for everyone to get onto the putting surface, it’d have an impact on pace of play. On the other hand, if you dart ahead of your group (it happens all the time at my home course) you put yourself into harms way to perhaps catch an errant shot on your melon.

Sure would like to hear from you on this one.

Mountain Golf – Club Championship

This past Saturday, the MGA here in Angel Fire closed out the competitive season with their club championship. It was a three day event and the format was match play.

I really enjoy match play. It’s the format where you can take a 12 on a hole and still remain competitive, provided you stay in the present and put the bad score behind you. Hopefully, on your way to a 12, you’ll concede the hole to your opponent and get on with it. In stroke play, that 12 would have been adjusted by your ESC (equitable stroke control) but you’d still have to make up 3 or more shots lost to par.

What struck me about the club championship was how competitive and evenly matched each pairing was. Most matches went 17 holes before a winner was decided and that speaks well for the accuracy of the handicaps here in AF. In order to qualify to play in the club championship you needed to post a minimum of 3 tournament scores this season. While the season is short, (mid May to mid Oct) there were perhaps 10 or 12 opportunities to post a tournament score. If there were any objections on qualifying criteria, it would have been that tournament scores remain in the handicap computation much longer than the normal past 20 rounds.

I think I like that – if you are going to play in the weekly MGA money games, you’ll play to win. If you score well and take home the money, your score should count more than a regular daily round.

We’re headed back to the flatlands at weeks end. I think I’ll bring it up at our next MGA meeting. I wonder if my ‘peeps’ at the ranch will embrace the change?

btw, I played pretty well - was 2 and 1 and came in 2nd in the 2nd flight.

Mountain Golf – Bomb it like Boo

When you play the majority of your golf at 625 ft above sea level like I do, you don’t encounter many elevation changes greater than 15 to 20 feet. When you do, there’s the rule of thumb to add a club or subtract one for every 10 to 15 feet the elevation changes up or down.

Here in Angel Fire, the course is right at 8300 ft above sea level. When you’re that high up, it’s virtually impossible to find enough relatively flat acreage for an 18 hole layout. So when playing here in the rare air, you’ll encounter several holes with some pretty severe elevation changes.

Take #6 for example – it’s a par 3 and the score card has it right at 211 yards from the white tees. On most days, it’s a 7 iron or maybe a 6 iron with a gentle breeze in your face. What the score card doesn’t tell you is that there’s a drop of more than 250 feet from tee to green. Imagine, a carry of more than 200 yards with a 7 iron! Bomb it like Boo (Weekly) – gotta love it.