How Did You Score? - 2025

well played fella

2 nett level par rounds at weekend, chipping costing me shots.

Bit of practice will sort that i reckon

Over in Brazil for a month so missing the start of counting golf. Managed to get a round in at São Paulo GC. It's private and guests only play with a member. Managed to get a lucky connection with a contact and get a day out.

Harrington won here a good few years back during the European Tour days. Par 71 and not particularly long. Driver not really needed tbh unless you hit it 230yds or less.

It's a lovely track in excellent condition. Bermuda is a mind wreck for a first timer. The range is short but well set up, you can see it's a premium venue. Caddys are mandatory too. A good mix or trees and water for protection. The clubhouse is being massively upgraded but you get a sniff of luxury from the parts that were still open.

Shot a 94 for +23 off a 15 playing hc. Can't be too disappointed with it. I haven't done a tap in weeks but put by clubs on a plane. Irons were the big issue and putting was just a learning experience of grain vs slope. Driving was great on the few holes I hit. Ultimately loose few balls into drink and one ob. I did however sink two nice mid range putts. The cherry on top was a bunker hole put for the first time in too long. A short pop/splash out from back bunker on the usually card killing par 3 12th. The ball landed just a few inches on to a rapid downhill slope and it was never going anywhere but centre cup after 20ft. Great memory to take away from the experience. I hope to get out again before I leave Brazil.

Also some guy took a pic of my bag near the starter hut without me realising. Was surprised that night to find it ended up on Golf Sidekick's Instagram page as I have one of his branded headcovers. Small world.

First card for the handicap signed there on Friday, 98 so not my best sowing (+28).

Big split between front adn back 9 again, 53 vs 45. Have the ability to get 90 on the course as have before, need to figure out how to warm up properly or why I've a mental block on the front 9.

Did have some great individual shots, a nice run of pars, one chip in from off the green, but driver has gone a bit AWOL on me of late so need to get that dialed back in. Seem to be either 270y screamer down the middle, or off to visit relatives two fields over. Might just need to slow the swing down entirely.

Heading back out tomorrow afternoon as I've some flexi leave to use up.

In a similar position, HI is trending upwards. For a multitude of reasons I'm having 3-4 scratches in a round. If the issue was consistent it would give me something to work on, but I've absolutely no idea what will be the problem week on week

Playing steady at the moment.

74 gross in Lucan last Saturday, playing handicap meant I had 2 shots.

Iffy start, then played decent in the middle of the round for a spell and then a horrible finish.

Made a 6 footer for bogey on one after a wayward drive and a poor effort to extricate myself from behind some trees. Was in trouble on 2 as well but played a great chip from right of the right green side bunker to a couple of feet and made par. Good par on 3, which was playing longer than usual and then made an eagle 3 on the par 5 4th, my first of the year! Nuked a drive and, as it was playing down-wind (usually into the prevailing), I only had a 9 iron for my second shot. Still had to be hit though and I played it well, into maybe 10 feet and nailed it.

Parred the 5th but then made a mess of 6, tried to hit 3 wood off the tee, way right, through the green with my third, double hit the chip and holed from 4 feet just for a double bogey. Another wayward drive off 7 and bogeyed there as well to go +2 for the day. Played 8 nicely, ripped a 3 wood, lobwedge to 20 feet (greens firming up, disappointed it wasnt closer) but fortunate to hole the putt for birdie. Good par on the tough par 3 9th to turn in +1.

Drove up in front of the green on the short par 4 10th, but a so so chip and a poor effort from maybe 5 feet left me with a substandard par. Parred the next 3 holes, twice holing from 7 foot plus to do so, then made another good putt on the par 5 14th for a birdie to get back to level. Poor drive off 15 meant more scrambling but hit a good pitch from 80 yards odd and holed from 6 feet to stay at even.

15 was a disaster. Narrow drive back into the easterly, cracked one up the right but it just didn't come back with the wind and ended up maybe 2 yards off the fairway. And anybody who has played Lucan will know that 2 yards off a fairway is sometimes all you have to be to be in trouble. Had to go under a tree with a cut but from only 90 yards odd I couldnt get the ball going left to right enough and it wound up in the greenside bunker. Didn't think I'd be too bad but the lie was appalling, with what looked like sand drift right behind the ball, to the point where I was moaning to my playing partners that I may not be able to even get the ball out. Which is exactly what happened. Second effort wasnt much better and I eventually tapped in for my second double of the day to drop back to +2 and fuming. Parred 17 in a daze and arrived at 18 needing a par for nett E par. Decent drive, mishit my layup with a 5 iron, left my third just short of the green, slightly overhit the chip and missed from 5 feet for a par 5.

Disconsolate walking off the green, convinced I'd blown not only a good score but a chance to win the gross. Wound up winning it on the b9, where another lad had come to grief on 18, making 7. Some pox of a hole 😂

Had to be happy with the putting, which has been better the last 2 weeks after countless months of misery with the wand beforehand. Driving wasn't great but iron play a little better than usual. Good result overall even with a poor finish.

I got to play Malahide at the weekend. This was the 3rd time I stuck my name down for an open and the first time I didn't have to scratch it off. I live just down the road, so always wanted to try it because it's a potential lifetime course for me. And I hate to say it, but I was really disappointed with it. It was very flat - literally and in terms of excitement. It was very samey - pretty much every hole tree lined on both sides separating you from another fairway. You could find your ball in them at least, but it just felt claustrophobic. There's a decent amount of water and some of the approaches are nice. The par 3s tended to be good in fairness. But to be honest it's one of the most forgettable courses I've played. In it's defence, I was looking at it with a far more critical eye than I normally would. And I'm factoring in the price into my opinion - between the waiting list, the sequence you'd be expected to go through to get full membership (pavillion, 5 day, full), entrance fee - I'd probably pay 20 grand before I get to play there. But comparing to other courses around the place - Balcarrick is probably a nicer course and far cheaper. Roganstown and St Margarets are in a different league and also far cheaper. I really was so disappointed with it.

And how did I play - well if every you saw a sandbaggers card it was mine on the day. Other than a duffed pitch on the second which ultimately resulted in a double bogey I played great for the first 10 holes. I was 4 over at that stage, 4 under net. A 10 on the 11th was a problem in a strokeplay comp. The lads I played with put the fear of God into me on the tee, so I aimed about 20 yards further right than I should have and sliced 2 OB. There was loads of room to go left. I recovered well with a par on the next and then proceeded to double bogey the next 6 holes. A mix of issues on those holes - a couple of bad drives, a couple of 3 putts, a couple of sliced irons. Just bad golf.

I had a look at my number of penalties per round in my last few rounds. I knew it was bad, but didn't quite appreciate how bad. I've to go back 12 rounds to find a penalty free round. Since then, I've had 3, 5, 2, 1, 4, 7, 4, 4, 7, 4, 2. An average of 4 a round. Pretty much all of those are resulting in 3 off the tee. I don't know how I'm not playing off about 30 at this stage. If I could dedicate some time to work on my driving consistency, I'd have far less stressful rounds!