I finished the long Labor Day weekend with one more golf scramble: the Tri Way Labor Day 2-Person Scramble. I initially didn’t know about this scramble, until I saw it listed in the Blueberry Festival program the day before Plymouth Rock’s 2-Person Scramble. I figured this scramble would be a good way to complete another goal for the season.

The scramble was held at Tri Way Golf Club, which is just 4 miles north of Plymouth Rock Golf Course, located in Plymouth, Indiana. The course has been family designed, owned and operated since 1966. The course offers both 4-person and 2-person golf scrambles throughout the season, including a 4-person scramble the day before Labor Day and this 2-person scramble on Labor Day.

The course features four par-3 and three par-5 holes for a total par of 71 at a length of 6,250 yards from the back tees. The par-3 holes are fairly long, ranging from 165 yards to 235 yards from the back tees. The fairway are mostly straight and flat on the front nine and narrow and hilly on the back nine, and all fairways are surrounded by medium- to large-sized trees. Two of the holes are doglegs: the 8th hole, a 490 yard par-5 (which is almost a double dogleg), and the 16th hole, a 510 yard par-5. Water hazards touch seven of the holes, four of which you must carry your shot over. Sand traps are sparsely found near the greens on just eight holes. Greens are a decent size with some challenging breaks.

For this scramble, I recruited Dirk (from my first round at Plymouth Rock and my second round at Broken Arrow). Dirk is still learning how to play, but he occasionally has some nice drives and approach shots, so I figured this would be a fun, laid-back scramble to finish the holiday weekend.

We started the scramble on the 8th hole, the 490-yar par-5 that seemed like a double dogleg, with two regulars to the golf course, Bill and Dave (a.k.a. Doc). They actually told us the coordinator of the scramble intentionally paired us with them because they thought we were out-of-towners who didn’t know the course. Nice guess.

I felt like the round went pretty well. Dirk was hitting some nice drives, equally contributing to the shots we would play, and my drives were much better than the scramble the day before, although I did have a couple drives that sliced right into another fairway, scaring the group behind us. Our approach shots were random, with both of us contributing to good shots and bad shots, and pretty much the same for our putting. I wasn’t really expecting much out of this round, except to just have fun playing another scramble, and I did have a good time. I think I started to get a little more comfortable with my drives (and I might have figured out some things I was doing wrong), and Dirk got to learn a little more about the game. Even better, Bill and Dave were nice guys who didn’t mind playing the round with a couple noobs.

We ended up shooting a 96 (25 over par), which broke down into four pars, five bogeys, seven double bogeys, and two triple bogeys. Out of 16 teams in the scramble, we got last place! In fact, we got last place by 14 strokes! For some reason, I found this pretty amusing, and was very proud of our last place status. The first place team shot a 65, and Bill and Dave shot in the low 70′s. The only thing I didn’t like about this scramble was it was a flightless tournament, and last place didn’t get a consolation prize. But, hey, what can you expect?

My first scramble of the 2010 season occured over Labor Day weekend at Plymouth Rock Golf Course, located in Plymouth, Indiana, for their Blueberry 2-Person Scramble. The scramble is part of the Marshall County Blueberry Festival. This is the same scramble that Adam and I played in last year (where we placed 24th out of 26 with our score of 91).

The Blueberry Festival tournament at Plymouth Rock is four different tournaments within a two day span. On the first day, they hold a 2-person best ball tournament in the morning, followed by an individual tournament in the afternoon. On the second day, they hold a 2-person scramble tournament in the morning, followed by another individual tournament (where you can play both days, or just one day). The tournament pays out prizes to the top teams in each flight, along with prizes for longest drive, closest to the pin, and longest putt on various holes.

Once again, I recruited Adam as my teammate, hoping to improve on our score from last year. This year, we went into the scramble with the mantra “bogey or better”, which would put our score at 90 or better. I felt this score was very obtainable, since we both have improved over the last year (and we both have new sets of clubs).

We started this year on the 14th hole, a 177 yard par-3, with a father/son team, Eric and Russ. Eric and Russ actually won the 2-person scramble last year, thanks to two eagles they made during their round. Luckily this time, we didn’t have a crowd watching us tee off. It took me a while to get warmed up with my tee shots. I kept on topping the ball, or hitting it with a very low trajectory. My drives didn’t start getting better until after 9 or 10 holes. Luckily, Adam was having good luck with his tee shots, so we mostly used his shots. For approach shots and chips, both Adam and I had good shots and bad shots, so it was really random who’s shots we used. As for putting, I feel like I had the most trouble. Most of my putts were just slightly off to the left or right; I couldn’t seem to sink any putt.

I should mention that Eric had some amazing tee shots. Not all of his drives were the best, but when he made a nice drive, it was long… really long. In fact, Eric won longest drive on the 18th hole, a 315 yard par-4, with a drive that landed on the edge of the green… a 300+ yard drive. Russ had some great drives too. He was very consistent with his shots, and made up for Eric’s occasional bad drives.

Like last year, we had the most trouble on the 17th hole, a 593 yard par-5. Our tee shot sliced right into the woods, and our approach shots were just not accurate. We ended up shooting a triple bogey on that hole again. The rest of the round was very similar to bogey golf. We shot seven pars, six bogeys, four double bogeys, and one triple bogey, putting our round score at 89 (17 over par).

Our score of 89 put us in 22nd place out of 26 teams; the same number of teams as last year. We were 2nd in our flight, but won nothing for it. The first place team shot a 67. The last place team shot a 105. Eric and Russ took 4th place with a score of 69, I think.

Once again, we were happy we didn’t get last place, we were happy we got placed with a great team, but we were even more happy we met our “bogey or better” goal. Next year, we are going to strive to make “bogey or better” on every hole, including that difficult 17th hole, in order to get a score better than 89.

Last week, I took my first golf lesson at TopGolf in Wood Dale, Illinois. I’ve always considered taking a lesson or two, more so during the beginning of this project so I could learn how to properly hit the ball, but golf lessons seemed to be just a little too expensive. Luckily, a couple months ago, Groupon.com offered a coupon to TopGolf, which was good for six free games and a 30 minute golf lesson. I quickly purchased two coupons, one for me and one for Beth.

Our lessons were given by one of TopGolf’s Directors of Golf Instruction, Matt Vinge. A Director of Golf Instruction, from what I understand, is one of TopGolf’s best instructors, so their lessons are more expensive (starting at $110 per hour). The instructors underneath them are called Certified Golf Instructors, and their lessons are a little cheaper (starting at $95 per hour).

The lesson area at TopGolf is called the TopGolf Academy, and it consists of two hitting areas and a practice putting green (not all TopGolf locations may be the same). Each hitting area is equipped with a camera that the instructors can use to videotape your swing, which is then analyzed with your previous swings or swings of professional golfers. If you take a full lesson, the instructor will upload your swing video to the TopGolf website, so you can log into the website and view your swing videos. They can also provide videos for drills you can do to make your swing better.

My lesson mainly consisted on fixing my grip, my stance, and half of my swing. I’ve played around with different grips before (see this link), but always settled on the ‘ten finger’ grip because it felt more comfortable. This was the very first thing Matt changed when he saw my swing, switching it to an ‘interlocking’ grip. His main reasoning behind switching it was “all the pros use this grip”. Ok, fair enough, I guess I can take that as an answer. It took me a while to get used to the grip; it just felt awkward. But, supposedly, it should help my slice, which has started to become predictable.

The second thing he changed was my stance. I really had no clue how I was supposed to stand. When I was first starting to learn how to play, I mainly focused on keeping my head down and my knees bent. I guess what I was really doing is not keeping my back straight, or hunching over the ball. A reason against this makes complete sense, and explains why I would top the ball a lot. When I would take my swing, I would straighten out my knees, which lifted my whole body, and moved the path of the swing away from the ball. With the new stance, my knees are just slightly bent and my back is straighter, which make it feel like I’m standing up a lot more. There’s now less room for error, as long as I keep my head in the same place.

Finally, certain parts of my swing was fixed; most notably, how weight gets shifted during the swing and how to follow through after you hit the ball. And it all makes complete sense: on your backswing, put weight on your back foot, and after you hit the ball, transfer your weight to your front foot. During your follow through, this should put your body over your front foot. With all these points, including a proper grip and a proper stance, essentially what you are doing is directing the ball to go straight.

Beth’s lesson pretty much consisted of the learning the same thing, but with a little more focus on trying to hit the ball. She’s very new to golf, and is lucky to get the ball to go more than 20 yards, much less even just hit the ball.

A couple days after the lesson, Beth and I hit the driving range and tried to put everything that we learned to use. It took a little bit of warming up, but things turned out to be better than they were before. I was hitting straighter, longer shots. I wasn’t slicing as much, and if anything, I was slightly pushing to the right. My swing still didn’t feel completely smooth and comfortable, but I think I will get used to it over time. Beth saw the most improvement. She was consistently hitting the ball, and was hitting it [slightly] farther than before. She pretty much just needs to hit more, and get used to how to swing a club.

Obviously, the lessons were a great thing for my (our) golf game. It’s just going to take some time to perfect what we learned and get comfortable with everything.

In early August, Dirk and I played a round at Plymouth Rock Golf Course in Plymouth, Indiana. While I was there, I saw that they were having a golf tournament the weekend of Labor Day, which is also the weekend that Plymouth (or rather Marshall County) has their Blueberry Festival. Knowing I was going to be in the area (and since the entry price was pretty cheap), I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to play in my first scramble and to knock an item off of the 2009 goal list.

The Blueberry Festival tournament held at Plymouth Rock is actually 4 different tournaments within a two day span. On the first day, they hold a 2-person best ball tournament in the morning, followed by an individual tournament in the afternoon. On the second day, they hold a 2-person scramble tournament in the morning, followed by another individual tournament (where you can play both days, or just one day). According to the director of the tournament, in the previous years the tournament would be 4-person, but for this year they decided to make it 2-person. To make things better (for us, at least) the tournament payed out prizes to the top teams in four flights, along with prizes for longest drive, closest to the pin, and longest putt on various holes.

I recruited Adam (from the Coyote Run round) to be my scramble partner, because I knew he has strengths in areas that I have weaknesses in. Still being somewhat of a noob, my only goal for the scramble was to be somewhat helpful throughout the round.

We started on the 17th hole, which is the course’s most popular hole, along with another team, Jason and Jerry. We had another foursome directly behind us (8 people starting on the 17th hole… no pressure…). The 17th hole is a straight 593 yard par-5 with thick trees bordering both sides. Adam teed off first, and hooked the ball into the trees on the left. (Once again, no pressure…) I teed off next and duffed the drive, which landed about 20 yards to the right of the tee box. I quickly walked to my cart, grab my next club, and headed toward the next shot, not looking back at that horrible shot. Adam and I quickly got our games back in gear, but only after shooting a triple bogey on the first hole of the scramble.

Things could only get better from that point. Nearly all of my drives were fairly straight and long. Adam didn’t feel too confident with his drives, so he teed off with a 3 wood the whole round. Most of the time, we would use my drive for our first shot. Adam typically provided the second shot, because he’s more consistent with his woods and irons. His shots would either get us on or really close to the green. To get us on the green, Adam was much more consistent than me. When it came down to putting, we were both fairly decent.

On paper, I feel Adam and I played a good round, considering our skill level. Throughout the round, we got 6 pars, 6 bogeys, 5 double bogeys and 1 triple bogey, making our round score a 91 (19 over par). The tournament had a total of 26 teams, and we placed 24th! At least we didn’t get last place, who shot a 95, I think. First place shot an 8 under par (and from what I hear, got eagles on two holes). Jason and Jerry (from our foursome) placed around 8th.

On top of that, on the 9th hole, I sank a putt (1-putted) from about 6-8 feet. After the putt, Jason told me the hole was one of the longest putt holes, and at that moment, I had the longest putt for the hole. I marked the spot and wrote my name down on the marker. I was the first one to make a long putt on the hole, and since it was very early in the round, I figured I had no chance in winning it. But I did win it! I won longest putt on the 9th hole! (Somehow.) For it, I recieved a $20 gift certificate to the course’s pro shop, which was quickly spent on some Nike golf balls and a Cleveland golf towel.

Overall, I had a great time at my first scramble. The weather was nice. The guys in my foursome were nice. Adam and I played as a team and helped each other out throughout the round… each contributing to a score that didn’t put us in last place. I’m happy with our 24th place, and I look forward to future scrambles.