Season Ending Early

Sorry it's been so long since I updated this, but there has been a lot going on in the Cleveland household this summer. One of the things that have kept me busy has been getting medical diagnosis for some troubling problems I've been having for the past several months. The most troubling of these from a golf standpoint has been shoulder pain I've been having since the beginning of the year. I just got the results today and it is confirmed that I have a tear in the labrum that will require reconstructive laparoscopic surgery. That surgery is scheduled for two weeks from tomorrow, July 31st, which will effectively end my golfing season for 2008. I won't be able to swing a golf club at all for 3 months, and I won't get full use of the shoulder for at least 4 months. The Dr indicated that it would most likely be a full year before the shoulder will feel 'normal' again. So best to get this done now vs waiting until later. Speaking of which, I will undergo ankle surgery for a double fracture of the cartilege and re-attachment of the tendon in my left ankle sometime in October. The good news, if you can call it that, is that I won't have any physical excuses for my poor game next year.

That said, I've got 2 weeks to get some good golf in. Though I'm not playing this Thursday due to a job interview I'm going on, I fully expect to get a tee time for the 24th and hope to get all of you to come out and play. I'd like to get out on the 26th or 27th as well for 18 holes if anybody is interested. Just let me know.

Lack of rain, and a leak in the Wellshire dam are causing the course to not water the rough. The result of this is that though the fairways and greens are still in pretty good shape, the rest of the course looks absolutely horrid. Your best drive is one down the rough where the ball has nothing to stop it, it will roll like it was on cement. So pray for some rain, and a good soaking at that.

The Wellshire pro shop has a sale going on that beats the Wellshire Mens Club Discount (i.e. you don't get both). 40% off Mens clothing, 30% off all equipment, and even 20% off balls and gloves. It's a good time to stock up. TGW is also running some pretty good summer specials on discontinued items as well so check them out.

With my shoulder hurting I've had to adjust my swing to something less than full which has resulted in me being a bit more consistent in my game, in fact I've shot 97 at Wellshire the last 3 rounds. In the Wellshire Men's club skill competition I even hit 11 out of 14 fairways! My drives aren't going too long, but I'm still out at least 210 (it's hard to say since my Sky Caddie has been in the shop for the last 3 weeks). In any case it seems I'm working toward Bogey golf which would be the logical next step for me. Given that this winter will be spent mostly working on putting and getting my shoulder back, it gives me something to shoot for next year.

So shoot me an e-mail and let me know when we can get together before the 31st to hit some balls, and after that to at least lift up a beer or two (with my left arm of course).

A Night Gone Astray

Well I don't know whether it was the golf balls that were 'stray' or us golfers, but things certainly were not normal last night at City Park. The weather cooperated with us and we were able to get in a nice 9 holes of golf on a pretty empty golf course. Now it might have been because we were playing the back 9 which used to be the front 9, and if you are confused, I certainly was and still am. It seems that there have been some changes at City Park. The pro-shop has been turned around, the GHIN computer is not where it used to be, the 9's have been reversed, the scorecards have been replaced by generics, and the club house pub closed before we finished our round. Add to that the fact that though I hit 5 fairways, I only hit 1 green in regulation and carded a 54 for the round (ESC 53) and it was a confusing night. The best part was having Chris and Jason on the course with me and though it was their 1st and 2nd time out this year respectively, and they kicked my butt from a score standpoint, I at least wasn't that far behind. I did hit a spectacular 60 degree lob wedge on #7 (or was it #16) over a 25 ft tall pine tree and to within 12 feet of the pin to make me feel somewhat good. Chris shot a most excellent 42 his first time out, and Jason followed up with a 46. With Bogeys at City Park closing early, we headed to The Bank for food and to catch part of the NBA finals. The only problem with The Bank was that unlike most banks where you can hear everyone else, the place was so loud we couldn't (or at least I couldn't) hear either of the guys well enough to extend a good conversation. It may be a while before I head back to City Park given the experience. In any case I think we all had a good time, and Jason has already tentatively committed to next week. Chris may also be IN, depending on his work schedule. As for next week....

Our next tee time is next Thursday, June 12th 5:31PM at Kennedy golf course. As always it's first come first served, and to reserve your spot e-mail me at n3xt@arrl.net by next Wednesday, June 11th at 1:00 PM so I can adjust the reservation if necessary. It is entirely possible that we may have a full foursome or more going forward at least for the next 4 weeks or so given these are the longest days of the year.

In fact, if there is interest in getting out on the course by 4:00 PM, it may be possible to try to get 18 in. Let me know if you are interested in a 4:00 or earlier tee time. I'm flexible and I'm sure given the traffic in front and back of us last night that we could have easily gotten 18 in if we had started at 4:00. In addition, it should be entirely possible to get on the course on Thursdays at Wellshire if our tee times were moved up to 4:00. Just let me know your thoughts by commenting on this blog post (http://www.theurbangolfer.blogspot.com/) or e-mailing me at n3xt@arrl.net .

The next Wellshire Men's club activty is this weekend; the 2 man 2 day event. Saturday is the Scramble, and Sunday is a best ball format. I will at least come up with a postable score on Sunday, though the format precludes posting the scramble score. I will at least be out there both days which are shaping up to be beautiful and in the 80's. As long as I don't forget the sunscreen I should be OK.

Saturday is the deadline for entry into the next event, the Skills by Age Group Challenge. This format will take your 18 hole score and will subtract strokes for hitting fairways, and one putting, while adding strokes for 3 putting. Doing this all on a net basis against age group will be one wide open tournament. The date of the event is Sunday June 22nd, and I got my entry in yesterday.

Next week is US Open week and will celebrate the return of Tiger Woods after his latest knee surgery. Historically he's done well after having surgery done, and though I am hesitant to put his name on the trophy just yet, remember that he one at Torrey Pines earlier this year running away. Phil Mickelson as the world number 2 and a local resident of the San Diego area also has a rather impressive record at the course. Tiger and Phil are paired together for the first round of the tournament which should make for a fascinating Thursday and Friday couple of rounds before the cut. And don't forget that the chosen 10 handicapper will play with Tony Romo, Justin Timberlake, and Matt Lauer to see if he can beat Tiger's challenge of breaking 100. NBC will show how he does sometime next weekend. Given that 56,000 golfers sent in 100 word essays on why they should be the one chosen, and the event could pull in a record number of viewers. Make sure you have your DVR's set accordingly.

The women's second major of the year is this weekend, and it will hopefully have some compelling story lines as well. Will Annika prevail in her last season? Will Lorena Ochoa continue her dominance? Who will shine out of the new young superstars? Just keep the TV turned to the tournament to find out.

It will be interesting to see how I do this weekend from a physical standpoint. On Monday I'll get the results of an MRI on my ankle to see whether and/or to what extent I may need surgery. It's given me problems for several years, and a lot will depend on how long I would be laid up to determine when I get any surgery done. In addition, my shoulder has been in pain for some time now, and though it's early in the process, physical therapy has not helped one bit. I may need surgery on it to repair the rotator cuff if the PT doesn't start to work soon. I'll keep you all posted, but whatever happens, I'll continue to be playing golf.

Until next week, hit it straight, hit it long, and get it in the hole!

David C.

What a beautiful night, Maybe even for Golf.

It was a beautiful evening for golf last night. Derek and I played the front 9 in just over 2 hours, and after I ate, I sat on the patio and watched the golfers come in until it got dark. I only wish my game was as beautiful as the evening. I shot the worst I have since last October finishing with an ESC 53. It was pretty pathetic. Didn't hit a drive all night, and though I hit the 8th and 9th greens in regulation, I 3-putted both. That part was frustrating. The good news is that I at least hit the green with my tee shot on #9 for the first time this year. Hopefully I'll continue that trend at least. The other good news is that I will be ready to do it all again next week, though the league situation at Wellshire is going to make things tough.

Going forward though, here is how the tee times will work. I will continue to get the tee time closest to 5:30pm on Thursdays with the following course preference: 1) Wellshire, 2) Kennedy, 3) City Park, 4) Willis Case, and 5) Overland. If I don't get any takers by Wednesday at 1:00pm I will try to get a 4:00pm tee time at Wellshire. The rationale is that I want to play with you guys first and foremost, and secondly to get better at the course I will be playing tournaments at. Don't hesitate to e-mail me to ask for a particular course on a particular night because I'll do my darndest to make it happen. Now on to this week's tee time.

Next Thursday's Tee Time is set for 5:32PM at City Park. Please e-mail me your intention to play by Wednesday at 1:00PM as noted above. My e-mail address is n3xt@arrl.net . As always, spots are first come first served. Cost for 9 holes at City Park is the same as for Wellshire and is $14.

The next Wellshire Men's Golf club event is next weekend June 7th and 8th with the 2-man, 2-day event. Day 1 is a scramble, and Day 2 is a best ball. A picnic is being served following the Sunday round. Prizes will be awarded for best Hawaiian shirt on Saturday, and best 'Bobby Jones era golf atire' on Sunday. The Match Play brackets are posted and it's time to schedule the first round matches. I am the number 15 seed in the C Flight and get the opportunity to go up against the number 2 seed. As I have noted here before, I have yet to win in a match play round. Maybe I will play up to my ability this time. June 7th is also the deadline for the next tournament, the Skills by Age group event. This event awards points based on hitting fairways, 1 putting, etc. and should be a fun event. I am scheduled to play this event, but do not have my registration in yet, but will get it in the mail this next week.

The US Open at Torrey Pines is fast approaching as well. It will be interesting to see how Tiger plays after his knee surgery, but the more fascinating event will come the day before the US Open when a Joe Schmoe who has been selected by us will play the Torrey pines course with Tony Romo, Justin Timberlake, and someone else I can't think of to test the Tiger theory that an average golfer would not be able to break 100 on a US Open Course. Oh, and NBC will have the cameras rolling on the event and will televise it either before or during its US OPEN coverage. It should make for some great TV, and regardless of who the guy is, I'm rooting for him.

Give me a call or an e-mail soon, and let's play some golf!

Until next week, hit'em straight and long!

David C.

A Breezy Night on the Course

Yep, it was a breezy evening for golf with winds whipping at least 20 to 30 miles an hour over the first 5 holes at Wellshire last night. The first 2 holes were direct head winds and the rest caused us to fight significant cross winds. But no rain hit us and it ended up being the best round I've shot so far this year with me carding a 47 despite poor putting. Maybe I should play in adverse weather more often. Jason did pretty well last night too given it was his first time out with the clubs since last fall. With his new found distance in his 7 iron he could be pretty dangerous this year.

Our next tee time is next Thursday evening at 5:31PM at Kennedy golf course. This may have to be the norm for every other week given the league play on those nights since the reservation system seems to not allow me to get decent tee times (anything after 4:30pm). It may not be Wellshire, but at least it's golf. Let me know if you can play, as always it's first come, first served and I need to know your intention to play before 1:00pm Wednesday to release any unused spots. Let me know at n3xt@arrl.net .

Jason and I talked about these posts and he indicated that he thought they were about right as far as length, content, and number sent per week (one that is). If you'd like to add to the conversation come to the blog and post your comments, or even better, come and play golf with me on Thursdays and we can talk about it afterwards over a beer and some 25 cent chicken wings (they are surprisingly good).

The next Wellshire Men's Golf Club events are the 2 man, 2 day event with a club picnic after the Sunday round coming up on June 7th and 8th. The skills by age group competition is scheduled for June 22nd with registration due on June 7th. I hope to see you there.

That's about it for this week, I hope to see you all soon on the course!

David C.

Temps going up, Scores coming down

Well it's been a crazy couple of weeks with the ABCD scramble, the related Calcutta as well as a trip to LA, a Sanctuary opportunity and a Thursday Tee Time. So I am way behind in keeping you all caught up in the Wellshire Thursdays Golf World.

First off though, I have a Tee Time set for this coming Thursday May, 22nd at 5:40 PM. First come, first Served as usual, e-mail me at n3xt@arrl.net to reserve your spot by Wednesday at 1:00 PM.

As far as getting tee times in the future, the Denver Reservation system has made it easier for us. The old policy was that we could make the reservations 7 days in advance with the tee times released at 7:00 pm. What this meant was that I would have to rush home after playing on Thursday night and make the reservation for the next week after letting others have their pick for a couple of hours before I got home and down to my computer. Well the policy revision is that the tee times are now available 8 days in advance for residents. So now I can make our Thursday reservations on Wednesday nights when I am generally at home and available. Given the league situation every other Thursday, it may not help in getting an advantageous tee time, but then again, it might.

The Wellshire Men's Golf Club's last event that I played in was 2 weeks ago now which was the ABCD scramble and Calcutta. By the way, the food at the event was spectacular with essentially all you can eat prime rib with all the fixings. Cash bar was reasonable and included the men's club 10% discount which is also good at the pub. Other benefits of membership that were announced at the banquet were 25% off of meals at the Wellshire Inn (not the pub) which would have been good to know for Mother's day, and 30% off of all merchandise in the pro shop. With discounts like that, the Club membership should be able to pay for itself if you lose balls or are looking for upgrades. The discount does not apply however to lessons, green fees, or range balls.

The tournament was delayed at least 40 minutes due to frost, and though I was going in an early group, I knew I would be cutting things close to make my 6:00PM flight to LA. The scramble required each member of the foursome to contribute 3 drives for the day. On number 1 I stiped it down the fairway for my first which I think caught my team off guard a little. In fact I played so well that I had contributed all 3 of my drives by the time we reached number 9. Without any pressure for the rest of the day I could concentrate on the rest of my game which did us well as we ended up in 2nd place for the day. I couldn't have been much happier as it meant I was getting a $500 check and $90 of proshop money. This tournament alone will help pay for the year. I only hope I do half as well the rest of the year. I am thinking I kind of like these Calcuttas.

At the ABCD scramble I found out a piece of information for you that will help in your game at Wellshire that I did not know about. On the holes at Wellshire, the flags are different colors. I did not think that there was any rhyme or reason associated with them, but I was wrong. It was pointed out that there are 3 flag colors in use at Wellshire. Red, White, and Blue. Far from being just patriotic, the colors identify the general relationship of the pin placement on the greens. Red flags indicate the pin is located in the front 3rd of the green, a White flag indicates the middle 3rd, and a Blue flag the back 3rd of the green. This will help those of us with Sky Caddies in determining an appropriate distance to the pin.

The next Wellshire Men's Club tournament is scheduled for June 7th and 8th with the 2 man, 2 day event. Saturday is a scramble, and the Sunday is a best ball. I had been hoping to play with Derek, but he and his daughter are scheduled for a very fun camping weekend and so I will now be stuck with a computer draw. The time has also just past this weekend for entry into Wellshire Men's Club's match play tournament. I got my entry in for the net flights, so will be interested to see how I play. I have yet to win a round in a match play event, but maybe this will be my year. The good/bad news is that my handicap continues to go down and is now at 26.8. My goal for the summer will be to get it down under 20. I know it's possible if I can get out there and play more.

Lastly I have to report that I had an opportunity, however brief, to play at Sanctuary this last week. For those that don't know, Sanctuary is the private course of the REMAX International founder. The facility is only open for charity tournaments, and the minimum buy in for a foursome is $5,000. Well, someone in the last tournament dropped out and my pastor called me at 10:45PM to see if I could fill out a foursome teeing off at 9:15AM the next day. I of course said I'd clear my calendar, but as luck would have it, the organizer of the foursome had found someone else in the few minutes between phone calls. At 11:05PM I was out. Hopefully such an opportunity will arise in the future, and maybe my game will improve such that I wouldn't be embarrased on such a beautiful golf course.

Have a great week and I hope to see you on the course!

David C.

A Great Week for Golf

As the title suggests, last week was a great week for golf. I got in 18 holes at the Wellshire Men's Golf Club Tourney, and another 9 last night. Although I didn't play particularly well on Saturday, it was still good to get out and swing the clubs. I seem to be settling into a consistent pattern of only having one hole that I totally blow up on so that my ESC score for handicap purposes is not getting too out of hand. I have noticed that the long winter layoff has set my overall game back, but I think it is improving from this point. I scored a 55-52 / 107 on Saturday and carded a back 9 52 on Thursday night. The 52 would have been shattered had I not dropped 2 balls in the hazard on 18 costing me 4 strokes. Oh well I guess that's why they call it golf. Anyway, I do have a tee time scheduled for next week, and given the longer days, it should work out better for most of you.

Tee Time, Thursday, May 1st 5:20PM at Wellshire Golf Course

Let me know by Wednesday at 1:00 PM at n3xt@arrl.net if you want to play. As always, it is first come first served.

A note to consider, is that the fairways are getting their spring aeration on Monday and Tuesday, the 28th and 29th, 9 holes each day. I'm not sure how it will effect play on the first, but I do know that the Men's Club ABCD scramble is scheduled for the following Saturday so I would think that they should have the plugs picked up by Thursday. As for the greens, they were still pretty bad on Saturday, but there seems to have been some improvement between then and Thursday. At least I was hitting more putts on Thursday night so it might not have been the greens at all, maybe I'm just getting better.

As I noted earlier, my play at the Men's club tournament last weekend wasn't stellar, but I was better than my eventual playing partner who seemed to 4 and 5 putt every green. He blamed it on his putter, but it WAS his first time out for the year. To solve his problem for the scramble he indicated he was going out and getting a new putter, probably one of the new Nike IC versions (which I like from an alignment perspective, but not a roll perspective). In anycase we ended up next to last with a best ball score of 75, the other 2 players in our foursome won the event with a net 63........hmmmm. Anyway, there was at least one group who scored worse with a Best Ball 80 which according to one of its players (who shall go unnamed) spent a little too much time in the beach. This after spending the week ON the beach in Mexico, go figure.

I don't have a website for you this week, but suggest that you go to the blog and check out my past suggestions as well as the list on the right hand side of the website. The URL is http://www.theurbangolfer.blogspot.com/ check it out and you can see how things are going in my golfing world.

One item of interest from a software standpoint is that Caddie Master Pro has a brand new version 3.03g which was just released which adds some nice new features to the software. For those of you unfamiliar, this is the sofware I use to create your scorecards when we play, and I also use to track the key statistics to see how my game is improving. I highly recommend the software and am real appreciative of Brian Yager who develops it. The price isn't too high either for having something that you own vs relying on a website.

For those interested in watching golf, The EDS Byron Nelson Classic is being held this week at the TPC at Four Seasons near Irving/Las Colinas, Texas. With a complete redesign of the course it should make for an interesting tournament and one in which the late Byron Nelson could be proud.

That's it for this week, there will not be a tee time on the 8th as I will be in LA, so get your e-mail to me so we can play sooner vs later! If not, I'll see you in the clubhouse.

David C.

Weather, Again.....Plus First Tournament

Once again the golf gods could not intervene to get us a good Thursday night of golf. The snow had mostly cleared in my neighborhood, but it was still pretty cold out. Now today should be a great day with highs in the 60's and Saturday with high's approaching 80. It's just not fair. Oh well, we didn't begin our streak of no weather delays until the end of April last year so hopefully things will improve.

Our next Thursday night event is next week, April 24th at Wellshire where I have a 5:00pm tee time. Please e-mail me at n3xt@arrl.net to reserve your spot. I need responses by about 1:00pm Wednesday in order to modify the reservation if necessary.

Now because of the lack of hitting balls the last 2 weeks I expect that I will be pretty rusty out on the course on Saturday for the first tournament of the year. Hopefully my eventual partner will bail me out accordingly. The format for Saturday's Earl Wilcox memorial tournament is a blind four-ball format where your partner for the 18 holes will be determined by blind draw AFTER the round is played. It should make for a fun and interesting day especially since you can't give advice to your partner if you don't know which one he is. For those of you unfamiliar with the term four-ball, there are two forms of play called four-ball, one dealing in match play, and the one we are using Saturday which will be the stroke play variant where each person plays their individual ball for the entire hole, and the lowest score between the individual partners on the team is the one counted.

This Saturday April 19th is also the due date for RSVP's to the Wellshire Men's Golf Club spring banquet and calcutta being held on Saturday May 3rd, and the ABCD scramble event for the following day Sunday May 4th. So be sure to get your entry form in the mail or bring it to Wellshire on Saturday as I'm sure they'll take your entry during the Earl Wilcox.

Congrats to Trevor Immelman who grabbed a green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club last week. The coverage on DirectTV was excellent and was fascinating as you got to see each player take on the various holes covered. I was torn between watching Amen corner 11, 12, and 13 vs holes 15 and 16. The green on 16 is just wicked while just getting on the green on 12 was fascinating to watch. Anyway, this week the PGA is at Harbor Town Golf Links for the only PGA tour stop in South Carolina. As I'm typing this morning, Boo Weekley has taken the lead in this tournament he won last year, his first PGA tour win. The LPGA is at the Ginn Reunion resort just South of Orlando, Florida in a tournament that has one of the highest purses on the tour. 49 of the top 50 golfers in the world are present. Lorena Ochoa will be going for her 4th straight win this year, she's making Tiger look almost pedestrian (not that he's going walking anytime soon after his surgery this week). The only downside to the LPGA event is that it only airs for 2 hours and is in standard definition. These girls deserve better coverage than this.

The latest Big Break series got underway in Kaanapali, Hawaii. It looks like we will be in for a real cat fight as at least half of the women have at least some professional golf experience. Look for the first elimination this coming Tuesday night.

The link of the week is http://www.golfnow.com/ not only can you get some discounts on some pretty good courses here in Colorado, but they have a daily trivia contest featuring a very cute Keri Murphy. The prizes are all golf related and you can earn entries each day which are good for 30 days. Today's prize was a bag boy pull cart. Check them out.

A special Happy Birthday to Derek Burnett today who has just turned 40! Hopefully he will shoot his age on the front 9 tomorrow.

That's it for now, I'll let you know how the tournament went on Monday.

David C.