School Golf Team Pictures

Pictures: Shoals team on #3 putting; North Daviess team chipping on #5 fairway.

Still wet out at the golf course. Didn't stop the North Daviess and Shoals golf teams from getting out and sharpening their games.

Trib's News article for the week of March 31st

Lakeview Golf Course News

Saturday Scramble:

Allen and Johnson sink crucial putts to grab win for Jo-ki-al-jo's

Joe Allen and Curt Johnson sank testy four and six foot putts on the ninth hole on Saturday, March 29th, to give the Jo-Ki-Al-Jo team a one stroke victory in the initial Lakeview Manager's Scramble for 2008. Playing in windy and cool conditions, Joe and Curt were joined by Mike Kidwell and Kevin Johnson in coming from two down through the first six holes to grab a win from a team made up of Dave Wininger, Mike Bird and Trenton Kidwell. The usual scramble format was spiced up with each player having to play their own ball on the par threes with the total of the two low scores being the team score. For the record, the final score was 42-43 with 44 being the par for the game. Not terribly impressive but not all that bad under the not so nice weather conditions and the fact that a lot of swings were on the rusty side. Even though Dave Wininger sunk critical putts on #5, #6 and #7 to keep his team ahead of the determined Jo-Ki-Al-Jo's, Curt Johnson rolled in a downhill, sliding fifteen footer to tie the game on #8 green. The Johnson, Kidwell, Allen, Johnson team then went on to lock up their win on the ninth hole.

Leagues

Reminder: Tuesday Men's League and Thursday's Senior League will start play the second week of April. The first event for each league is a two person scramble where players will be paired up with their partners in the league or another player of their choice. Tuesday Men's League scramble play is at anytime during the day on the 8th and the Thursday Senior League's Scramble starts at 9 am. Golfers can sign up for league play prior to the scramble, by calling the clubhouse at 295-5678, or by sending an email to golflakeview@gmail.com. More information on the leagues can be found at www.golflakeview.com.

Sunday pictures from a wet, soggy golf course

Pictures: Tarry Bratton hitting a ball in a very soggy #8 fairway; Tarry and Jim finishing up.

Reminder: Tuesday Men's and Thursday's Senior Leagues will start the second week of April. The first event for both leagues is a two person scramble where players will be paired up with their partners or another player of their choice in the league .

Pictures from a windy day at the golf course

Allen and Johnson sink crucial putts to grab win for Jokialjos

Joe Allen and Curt Johnson sank testy four and six foot putts on the ninth hole earlier today to give the Jo-Ki-Al-Jo team a one stoke victory in the initial Lakeview Manager's Scramble for 2008. Playing in windy and cool conditions, Joe and Curt were joined by Mike Kidwell and Kevin Johnson in coming from two down through the first six holes to grab a win from a team made up of Dave Wininger, Mike Bird and Trenton Kidwell. The usual scramble format was spiced up with each player having to play their own ball on the par threes with the total of the two low scores being the team score. For the record, the final score was 42-43 with 44 being the par for the game. Not terribly impressive but not all that bad under the not so nice weather conditions and the fact that a lot of swings were on the rusty side. Did I just say that there were a lot of ugly shots? Didn't mean to but indeed there were. Expect better the next time, both weather and shot making.

Update at 5:46 pm: Forgot to mention that Curt Johnson also rolled in a downhill, sliding fifteen footer to tie the game on #8 green. Dave Wininger sunk critical putts on #5, #6 and #7 to keep his team ahead of the charging Jo-Ki-Al-Jo's.

1st 2008 Manager's Scramble This Saturday

Picture: Tarry watching Karry's putt head for the hole on #6 green.

Looks like the nicer weather will extend into the weekend. The first manager's scramble of the new year is scheduled for 10 am this Saturday. Nine holes, teams made up five to ten minutes before the event, all welcome.

Today was a beautiful day for golf. No hole-in-ones though Kevin Johnson did come out after five and shoot a 33. Didn't hear of a better score for the day. Frank Fee was out earlier in the day and Susan, his honey, followed after work; each shot in the 40's. Rex Hudson made it out for the first time this year and managed to best the two Jacks (Lents and Butcher) and me in low net scores for the first nine, the second nine and the two of them together (net 70 total). For a first timer, he hit the ball extremely well.

Looks like a golf day!

Maybe even a golf weekend. What a nice surprise for us long sufferers.

Monday News

The golf course remains pretty soggy after the heavy rains of this past week; in our neck of the woods, five inches fell and the lake raised itself to a level we have not seen before. As you can imagine, debris from that higher level was there to be gathered and removed. Once the rains stopped, the braver golfers did wander out with every intention of playing the high ground only to come back mud splattered but nonetheless happy to get out. Better golf weather this week? Fingers crossed. Will head over to the golf course in a little bit for some afternoon fun.

Tiger News: He lost for the first time this morning in the completion of the rain delayed Doral event. He would have won if he had not made three bogeys on the front nine yesterday. Lesson for the rest of us: don't make bogeys (smile).

Friday at the golf course

A couple of pictures on a sunny but windy day at Lakeview: Jim Bateman with his own special caddy, Emily.

Soggy golf today, Senior League Notes

Curt Johnson with a side hill shot to #5 green. He really didn't want to take it but Kevin insisted

Sun was beautiful and the grounds were sodden. Eric and I played the pick-up-sticks game what with the debris left behind by the high water. Some of it made for good mulch around the trees.

Tomorrow more mild weather. Hold the rains, please.

Senior League Notes:

Kenny Hudson signed himself and Carroll Rayhill up for the Senior League and also passed on information that Morris Cornelius and Leroy Streepy are going to pass this year. Those two have been long time players in the League and will be missed. (Will hold a spot for them if they change their mind.)

Note on Curt's shot: he executed the shot very well and sent the ball on a line towards the right side of the green. Unfortunately, not enough club and came up well short. Expect he chipped it in from there but don't know for sure.

Both sunshine and high mild temperatures today

Course will be open by 11 am. Will be soggy and #4 and #6 greens may be surrounded by water. Makes for more interesting play.

High water at Lakeview

Went out for a walk in the wind and the rain this afternoon. Not pleasant. Expect better things tomorrow.

A Golf Funny and a bit more on chipping

From cbssports.com, this funny about Tiger deciding to level the playing field by playing the rest of the year with his eyes closed. But pay attention to the kicker at the end of the article.

Have had four updates to the chipping blog and am looking for more. I like the opportunity to pay attention to a part of my game that needs lots of attention and this prolonged examination of chipping has to help. Right? Come to think of it, I bet Tiger has something to say about chipping and the short game. Time for a bit more research via the magic of google.

A Lady Golfer for a Thursday

Picture: Susan F. after a couple of fine shots at #7 late today.

Of note:

Grounds are drying out nicely; carts were allowed off of the cart paths today. Winter tee boxes are done for the year - back to the regular boxes for the season. Eric cut new cups; greens were cut yesterday. Grass is starting to grow!

Daly/Harmon, Lakeview Greens, Soggy Grounds, Light

The Larger World:

-Brent Kelly at about.com links to this story: Harmon dumps Daly cause he would rather drink that make golf his number one priority in life. Me thinks the two never should have even thought about working together. Don't think I would work well with Harmon either - there really is more to life than golf, than work, than any one thing.

At Lakeview:

-Eric expects to have the greens mower back in operation today and the greens cut for the first time this year. They are a little fuzzy from the long winter but not all that bad - you have to be aggressive with the fuzz; finesse doesn't cut it...

-The grounds themselves continue to be pretty soggy - cart paths remain the rule of the day for cart riders. Expect today's sunshine and higher temperatures will help a lot.

-Short J. and Dave W. came out way after five last night and I joined them for a quick nine holes. We were all surprised at how much light still remained when we finished at 6:50. And it's early March! Me thinks golfers are going to love these new times of ours and the extended daylight.

Noon Opening Today

Deep freeze last night but sunny this morning. Course will open for play by noon.

Chipping Clips and Drills for an Improved Short Game

Am looking for a variety of short and memorable chipping clips and or drills that will be helpful for improvement of the short game. Remember the 'pop, hop and stop' shot I mentioned a while back? It is a memorable and strikingly easy shot. Go here for the blog where I first mentioned it. Doesn't come with a clip but maybe we'll be able to find one as we get into our research. Will probably find other shots that will help us out on our quest to golfing perfection as well. Got one to share? Put it in the comments or send me an email and I'll post it here as an update to this blog.

For starters, here's a clip from about.com and Michael Lamanna on the fundamentals and proper setup for chipping. Worth a couple of minutes of your time to view and then a couple of hours of your time to practice - wouldn't hurt to stretch that out throughout the week rather than try to do it all in a single practice session.

Update 1 March 12: While looking for tips on chipping, found one that suggested chipping off of a board to ensure that one's knees and lower body were still. Tried it out at the golf course yesterday afternoon - works well. Worthwhile drill though I must admit that when I went out and played competitive golf later on, my chipping was very inconsistent. Grrrr. (Blame it on end of day exhaustion and March golf...)

Update 2 March 15: Here's a whole raft of clips from The Golf Channel. I'll be going through them one by one to see what helps me.

Update 3 March 18: A few things I've been working on: less wrist and a quiet lower body when chipping. In talking with Curt Johnson yesterday, he had just read something which sounded like the 6-8-10 rule. I'm aware of it, may have even tried it somewhere in my golfing past, but it's not something I have used at all. In fact, I never use the 6 iron as a chipper and rarely the 8. Maybe I should experiment with them. Remember a few seasons back when James Hager, a young golfer who has had a lot of success here at Lakeview, went ape over the use of the 8 iron for chipping. More reason to try it out along with the 6 iron. Already use the 10, the pitching wedge, plenty.

Update 4 March 18: Curt Johnson sent this information which he gleamed from the PGA Tour Partners magazine for March/April:

Source is the PGA Tour Partners magazine, March/April 2008, Volume 12 Number 2,page 66. What stayed in my memory was the chart (carry-to-roll ratio) they had:

PW: 1:1 9-iron: 1:2 8-iron: 1:3 7-iron: 1:4

The ratio is the carry in the air to the distance of the roll that the ball takes in its journey to the bottom of the cup.

Update 5 April 4: As I was out practicing chipping, I wondered what a good up and in ratio would be. Today, while reading Golfweek, the wondering stopped with a two page spread on Tiger Woods 2001 and Tiger Woods 2008. One of the stats displayed was a Scrambling percentage and how Tiger fared with his peers. In 2001, that percentage was 70.83 with a rank of 3rd; in 2008, 74.55 and a rank of 2nd. Here's the definition (from here):

Scrambling: Percentage of holes on which golfer scores par or better despite failing to hit green in regulation.

Guess that could cover more than just chipping around the green, couldn't it?

So here's what I'm thinking. During the league season, why not a challenge that would have players hit a number of balls from off the green, say five balls from a specified spot ranging from just off the collar to fifteen yards off the green. Object would be to get up and down in two shots so a par score for the five balls would be ten. The challenge of course would be to improve as the season went along - and just getting out there and practicing should result in some improvement, right? So, are you game? If nothing else, it's something any individual could do as part of their practice routine. Remember, Tiger is one of the best with a ratio in the 70's. How about if we start with a target of 50%. Well, maybe 40%. 30%?

Update:

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Chipping from high grass video

Well, I think we could have used this earlier in the season but, what the heck, still plenty of golf left in this season and maybe we'll actually make a good shot or two. From about.com, a video on chipping from high grass here.

Golf Games for 2008

The Manager's Saturday Morning Scramble 2008

This is a nine hole event played on most Saturday mornings during the golfing season and open to all area golfers. On occasion, inclement weather and/or a planned special event (i.e., a VFW 18 hole scramble), will bump the regular scramble. Teams will be made up ten minutes prior to the start from players who have showed up, signed up or called in. Regular scramble format will be used with variations on occasion. At present, the scrambles are scheduled to start at 9am during April and then at 8am thereafter. If weather permits, a March scramble will be held. Watch for news as the snow melts and the temperatures warm.

Better Iron Contact

Something we can always do just a little better especially in the early part of the season. Here's a very short lesson clip from The Golf Channel and Tina Mickelson.

Lakeview Golf Leagues Forming

Golf Leagues are now forming at Lakeview Golf Course for the 2008 season. Three separate leagues are available: The Men's League starts play on April 8th and continues through September 9th; play is against the field and any time on Tuesdays. The Senior Fifty-Plus League starts play on April 10th and ends on September 11th with participants meeting and playing as a group on Thursday mornings; play is open to those who are 50 years young anytime during 2008. The Community League, a summer league and open to all golfers, begins during the week of May 25th and ends the week of August 10th; players in this league have the option of playing their weekly round any time during the week. To sign up, stop in or call the clubhouse at 295-5678. Additional information is available at www.golflakeview.com.

Sunday Opening

Temperatures are up and it's not raining and the grounds are more than playable. Open by 11am today.