2 man scramble matchplay was the format for the Sunday game. My partner and I played quite (read very) poorly on the front nine. We were 2 over par and 4 down at the turn.

We did manage to get it together but the opposition was too good for us on the day and we lost 2 and 1. We did come home in a rather nice 5 under par though.

I have no images/shot tracking to show today but the shot highlights were probably not as interesting as our combined scoring. We had 4 birdies in a row and for 2 of the birdies we had coming home we didn’t even win the holes.

The shot highlights though are mostly the norm: great drive up onto the plateau, excellent approach by my partner to about 2 meters, and putt for birdie on one of the hardest holes (not by stroke index).

To narrow it down to one shot: the 15th hole; the second shot from about 160 meters to a saucer-type green. A really nice 6 iron to the heart of the green that took the slope and ended up about 2,5 meters from the pin.

Holing the putt made it a sweet birdie and gave us some hope at that point. We lasted 2 more holes.

It was a great game though. So much more fun, for me at least, than playing your own shots all the time and losing interest early on. I still enjoy the scenery, ambiance, and company on these own-scoring days but today and similar certainly add an edge.

The weekend started with a traditional own score, lose interest after 3 holes type of round. Forest was the course, and whilst there was some sort of optimism I lost the round very early on.

I start out really badly although I can take the positives of the home 9 holes where I hit a few really good shots. The first, or best, was a 7 iron from 134 meters to about 2 meters on the 17th hole.

While I did not make the putt, the approach was sweet – just aiming for the center of the green, and luckily the ball went where I was aiming.

The 13th is always a fun hole and depending on the wind you can get quite close from the tee. On Saturday we had a slight tailwind and I was able to carry the water to leave an approach shot of about 30 meters. I managed to know that in close and get a rare birdie on the day.

Hole 12 provided the final highlight. From the yellow tees, it takes a really good shot to get up onto a plateau allowing you to at least see the green. If you take the shortest route from the tee you can get blocked out by a tree. This happened to me so I had to work a shot.

A 5 iron up the hill, aimed right with a big draw around the tree. I ended up going through the green but it was good to know that I can shape shots when I need to.

Some positives in an otherwise shit round 😀

Another midweek round. On Park again. This time we moved it forward to the blue tees for a bit of fun. Yesterday’s round was perhaps a bit of a fluke and my expectations were pretty low.

And rightly so. This round turned out to be a bit of a shocker. Yet again it was quite hard thinking back on the round and trying to pick out highlights.

Trying to pick out the good shots, the best strike of the day was on the 16th hole.

I finally hit a drive of the centre of the club face and with a tail wind and most likely a very friendly bounce I left myself an iron to the par 5 after a 273 meter smash. I duffed the iron shot onto the green and two putted for my only birdie of the day.

Another highlight was 3 hybrid driving iron. I used this club quite a bit today and high point was probably on the second hole. I managed to cut the corner and carry the trees to leave around 140 meters into the pin.

The final highlight was the driver again, overall the driver was perhaps the best club in the bag today.

Again I managed to fluff a shot in on the way to a bogey, but 246 meter drive over the trees was a nice way to finish from the tee. As you can see from the image I ended up with a bogey, to come back in 37 (1 over) so things were improving.

However, overall the iron play especially was very poor. I hope this improves over the weekend.

After a weekend away from the golf course, I was back to Park on a midweek round with some random dudes (all around the same handicap). It was windy and sunny so after a break in play I had no real idea what to expect.

This turned out to be a very strange round. I started with my usual pull shot on the par 5 first. I followed up with a reasonable hybrid up the fairway to leave around 70 meters to the pin. I nice gap wedge to about 4 meters was missed but I thought: “Solid par – more please!”.

The wheels came off immediately and I shot a quadruple bogey on the next and almost all my shots went almost straight away. It was like I had never hit a golf ball again.

Over the next few holes, with a few exceptions, I managed to steady the ship. This phase was capped my highlight #1. An 119 meter bunker shot to about 10cms.

The sand was firm and although I was quite close to the lip I was able to get a great contact on the ball.

Another collapse ensued on the next hole – mostly caused by a drive in the water but again I hit a few bad shots in a row. I was 6 over par after 8 holes – 6 strokes over on 2 holes. I’d effectively par in from there.

I had a number of looks for birdie after that. One that got away was on the 11th hole. A short par 3 playing about 110 meters directly into the wind. Having seen one of my playing partners hit to about 2 meters, I almost hit his ball from my tee-shot and rolled out to about 2,5 meters.

My final banked shot was again on the par 4 17th hole. Like a valley of death I smashed my hybrid 3 iron right down the centre of the fairway. I gave myself another look for birdie but again had to settle for a par.

As I said, it was a bit of weird round. I had a lot of chances today, played absolute crap in parts but was overall quite steady. Driving was not great and cost my most of my shots.

But tomorrow is another day. And another round on Park. Stay tuned.

I’ve been playing quite a lot of golf recently but most of it has been pretty poor and I’d seemed to have lost interest in trying to document the good from the bad.

Today I played for the fourth time this week in a practice for a better ball competition that takes place next week. We overall scored quite OK and personally took a few strokes over my handicap that were mostly down to poor execution: especially around the greens – perhaps unsurprisingly.

After a scramble in the rain yesterday in the rain from the “ladies” tees we were back on yellows on Forest.

The highlights overall were better driving and reasonable iron play but if you pick three then the putt on the 9th for a birdie was the first memory. I hit pin high about 5 meters to the right and drained the putt. This was even sweeter as I double-bogeyed the previous hole.

Although this was not the longest shot ever with my 3-iron hybrid it does cement the case that it was a good investment and I hit it pretty consistently.

The final highlight kind of summed up my round. Not a great drive, but on the fairway, I good lay-up (it was blowing a gale at this point) and then a really good 7-iron to under the hole to around 3 meters. I narrowly missed the putt.

Overall, this yet again could have been a round to my handicap but my short game is absolutely killing me.

Practice and lessons beckoning.

I’ve been playing over the past 3 days and thought I would summarize them all in one go. This is partly because the first round was mostly un-memorable. I’ve really been struggling of late and shot memories are the only thing I can really take from the game – not a great score.

Friday was Seaside. An evening round with Hannu I shot in the mid-80s. Highlights were parring the first hole — a hybrid into the middle of the fairway and a solid 9 iron t about 4 meters. I hit quite a few iron hybrids also they seem to be quite consistent.

It was a very enjoyable round nonetheless – summer is here.

Saturday was at Lakisto. Only the 2nd course I have played in Finland outside of Pickala. I played really well on the first nine but fell to pieces on the back nine – although I did finish with my only birdie of the day.

The highlights were that there was grass on the greens. I still managed to 3-putt a few greens but I did putt a lot better – 31 for the day.

Strategically I played very solid on the front nine. I was placing my drives well with hybrids and 3 wood. I was very prepared for the new course challenge. Unfortunately, I tired so I was unable to maintain the scoring.

If I were to take only one shot into the memory bank it would be the 160-meter 6-iron uphill to the third hole. It ended up about 2,5 meters from the hole on the correct plateau. I gave the putt a chance but it wasn’t to be.

Another great day out with great company though – even though the actual golf didn’t match.

Sunday was at home on Park. There was a noticeable improvement in the greens but they are still not up to standard yet – maybe next month.

The highlights were the scambles on the front nine. The only hole that I didn’t up and down led to the first bogey of the round. To be fair my chipping was saved by the putter.

Overall I putted very well, with one three-putt with a short miss that was a misread as opposed to a bad putt.

I drove pretty well today too – with a 255-meter mini-bomb on the last. My iron play was not so good though so the putting really keep the score down despite 2 double bogeys. They sandwiched my sole birdie/highlight with a long swinging put on the short part 3 11th.

Great company and weather again so a really nice few days. There may be a few signs of life in the game. Roll on Wednesday.

The second round of the week, and we are on Seaside again. Did I manage to keep the demons away?

Short answer: yes. Sort of. I introduced new bad outcomes that were hopefully one-time but I continued my poor run of form.

I won’t go into the trauma of the first hole but I did manage to find the fairway. That is where the good stuff stopped. My first real highlight came on the 5th hole. I smashed my 18,5-degree hybrid iron right down the center of the fairway about 215 meters from the tee.

After crashing from that shot, the rest of the round was about trying to make some memories. I was getting desperate.

Roll on the 17th hole following one from another hybrid tee shot this time 150 meters to the pin. I was a bit between clubs but ended up hitting a really sweet 7-iron pin high. I was 2-4 meters away and of course, missed the putt but this was probably the strike of the day.

Final highlight: the final hole. 120 meters with a pitching wedge to about the same distance as the previous hole. Obviously, this was not really close to the hole but it was a great hit, right on the line of the flag, and the outcome was really determined by a mound at the front of the green. I think if I had carried about a meter more this would have been really close.

So I managed to snatch a few nice memories from a round otherwise memorable for my ripped heels from the new golf shoes I was wearing.

I managed to sneak away for a midweek game on Seaside today. Playing from the yellows Seaside is not my favorite course but I feel I have a few demons to crush.

I didn’t crush them today unfortunately but there were a few highlights that I have picked out today.

Today I had a serious case of the “lefts”. This is not good as I have a significant issue with the water on the first hole: on the left. I managed to take a club that didn’t reach the water but I still gave myself an impossible shot.

So the first highlight was my 150-meter second shot that I hit low and hooky round a tree to end up about 25 meters left of the green. Most importantly it avoided the water in front of the green.

I left so many putts in the jaws from short-range today my putting highlight was holing a 3-meter putt on the 7th for a birdie. It just dropped but it capped a well-played hole for me.

The final highlight of the round has a chip-in from the fringe on the 11th. I hit a great approach that was just too much club, I got a bit of a flier. This left me with about 10 meters and I rolled a 4-hybrid into the cup.

Overall it was a sloppy round. The lessons learned were that I struggle with fatigue after a day of work and that I really need to warm up / hit the range before my game. Hitting a few balls before the round is a very noticeable improvement, unfortunately there sometimes just isn’t time.

Do you find range first helps you? Comment below.

Weekend game number two was a nice morning stroll around Park from the Blue tees (5400). I am more than happy to play from the more forward tees as you have less club for second shots and it makes some of the par 5s makeable.

The round started really badly: bogey; double bogey. Mostly due to really poor irons shots and a large distance from the flag, putting was especially testing today. I ended up with 37 putts.

As a general highlight, I was pretty solid for the 16 holes that followed the disastrous start but for actual shots, the first entry to the highlight reel was an 80-meter gap wedge shot to about 2 meters on the fourth hole. This was an entry because I have struggled a bit with the new wedges but today I managed to get to grips with the clubs.

A 3 hybrid of about 190 meters on the 8th hole ended up just short of the par 5 in the bunker. It was a really good strike and about 1 meter from being an excellent shot.

The final highlight was a 150-meter knockdown 6 iron on the par 3 15th. The hole was in-between clubs due to quite a strong wind. It was a beauty and ended up about 2,5 meters from the pin. My birdie attempt went sideways unfortunately so an easy par. But it was really satisfying to be able to “work” a shot.

Saturday round was a scramble on Forest from the yellow tees (5700 meters). There was very light rain throughout the round but it wasn’t too unbearable.

The highlights of the day are complicated today. We didn’t really sink any putts so we only made 3 birdies.

I suppose the highlights were the first tee. This is two rounds in a row where I have smacked the ball right down the middle albeit not as far as the previous round. I hope now that I have got over my bogey hole.

Other highlights we hitting all the greens on the par 3s. Nothing super close but it should have given 4 players a chance of getting a birdie.

The final highlights would be the drivers. I hit a few duds but in general, the drives were fairly straight and of a reasonable distance.

An early round on a day off work with my buddies. It was mostly fine despite the risk of rain. The golf was awful but the company was good as always. The golf in fact was so poor that we switched to scramble format for the second nine. I lost 5 balls today 🙁

Positive highlights were difficult to think of today but a couple of drives and one approach shot make it into the highlight reel.

A 221 meter 3 wood down to the end of the fourth fairway was the first positive. It put me into a prime position on the hole but I managed to self-destruct from there.

The next hole contained a 228-meter 3 hybrid iron tee shot. Again right to the end of the fairway. I managed to par out that hole.

The final highlight was on the eleventh hole. A 140 meter 7 iron to a tight pin position to about 4 meters. We were in scramble mode by this point and we did not manage to convert this into a birdie.

All in all the golf was not memorable or good, but at least I have a few shots to cherish.

The first of four rounds scheduled for the week, an late afternoon start in a twosome, as the other couple dropped out perhaps because of the threat of rain, we had an enjoyable round on Park at Pickala Golf Club.

The pace of play was around four hours since the 2 groups in front were held up by a foursome – but that didn’t matter. That allowed for more thought about the shots we played and to chat.

The rain stayed off, there was only a little rain (for about 1 hole) and there was some decent golf.

The course is really raw right now as it’s only been open a few weeks so I am not going to take too much from my putting stats but it is very difficult to score when you take 22 putts on the front nine. I won’t dwell on this though and my first good highlight to remember was my attitude.

I jokingly said after 9 holes that I would try to shoot 35 in to score 80 but my main thoughts were to make some memories. I did even between and hit a 2 under par 34 to actually break 80.

After struggling with putting on the front nine I managed to pull myself together so a couple of par saves and two birdie putts will be banked today.

The final highlight was a driver off the desk on the par 5 12th. I was behind a tree and needed to work the ball left to right with a little over 220 meters to the hole. I actually put too much bend on the ball but ended up pin-high in a greenside bunker.

As a side note, I was able to play with a friend today by seeing his reservation and free slots within the flight using Red Lenses Golf. If you are a NexGolf user you should really check it out. Read more on how to add NexGolf bookings to your calendar.

This weekend’s Sunday game was on Forest from the yellow tees. It was still quite windy so we tried to relieve the scoring pressure a bit by having a better ball matchplay game on the side.

The result of the game was semi-irrelevant but it was still fun – especially as the winning side both played to their handicap or better. I was on the winning team.

The highlights for me today were 2 drives and one hole. The first drive was on the first. If you’ve read the disaster that was the 20220518 Summary you will know that I have a problem on the very first hole. The same goes for Seaside come to think of it.

Anyway, today I decided to aim further right and really took care with my alignment and cracked a great drive down the center of the fairway. Hopefully, the demons are gone now.

Next up was a drive on the par 5 seventh hole. Slightly downwind from an elevated tee, I hit an absolute knuckleball. It caught a downslope and ended up at 280 meters. It left a 4 hybrid to the green. The ball just went through the green but I managed to get it up and down for a birdie.

The final memory bank shot was from deep rough after a horrible duck hook, I had about 140 meters into the par 5 for my 3 shot and caught a really crisp 7 iron that went under a tree, landed just short of the green, and ended up about 3 meters from the flag. It was the third birdie of the day.

There were a lot of positives today. Hopefully, this does not go to my head and make me think I will play like a pro next week.

A windy but sunny and moderately warm early Saturday round on Park was the start to the weekend. The usual foursome playing individual Stableford I played OK in parts but had 2 disaster holes in a row that ultimately caused the lousy score.

Again playing from the blue tees it all went to pot on the 7th hole visiting 3 bunkers on the way to a treble bogey to be followed by a double-bogey on the 8th. But on to the good.

My memory bank entries cover 2 holes. Not only were they both birdie holes every shot on that hole was good in its own way.

On the 10th I hit a 235-meter blind drive to leave about 80 meters to the flag. I hit a 52 degree to about 4 meters and holed the put aiming about 2 meters to the left of the cup.

The 17th hole of Park is a hard hole and you need to hit the fairway. I hit a hybrid about 170 meters into the center of the fairway. The highlight here was that I was actually on green grass and I said to my colleague that I should make the most of the good lie. I hit an 8 iron to about 3 meters and holed out for a rare birdie on the hole.

Given that my two 7s included taking 5 to get the ball into the hole from 110 meters or less this could have been one of the rounds where I played to my handicap. But it was not today.

There is always tomorrow though. It’s Forest on Sunday.

Today’s round was fairly impromptu. I only decided the night before to play. The weather was set to be nice, and it was: 18 degrees, and sunshine though the wind was quite strong.

Normally I play quite well with strangers. Today was an exception as I carded the worst round of the season by a long shot. The round started badly and it continued, becoming apparent that I was just looking for shots to put in my memory bank and not to shoot a good score.

A straight to course round – I have no real excuses. 3 off the tee at the first incurring the first of 7 penalty shots for the day. My tee shots got better as the round progressed but I was fatting so many shots and never gave myself a chance. I ended up hitting 4 greens in regulation.

So the highlights, what makes it into the memory banks?

Despite the overall poor performance on the tee, tee shots were the main highlight, piping drives down 17 and 18, and the best of the lot, though not the longest, was on the 12th where I comfortably made it up the slope to the plateau.

I also holed a few putts today from over 2 meters. I had my usual anomalies mid-round but overall I putted quite well and perhaps covered the cracks of the short game.

Overall a game to forget but the memory bank has good drives and putts saved for another day.

Part 2 of the pre-NATO golf weekend concluded with a windy round on Park from the senior tees.

It was quite a weather contrast from the previous day. There was plenty of sunshine, I think it hit a whopping 15 degrees at some point, but it was windy. Very windy.

Compared to yesterday’s summary I think there are more specific highlights this time around. This journal is supposed to be a collection of positives so I will steer clear of the stretch today where I completely forgot how to putt.

The first highlight was a 86M pitching wedge straight into the wind. Drilled the 75% swing to about 2 meters. I missed the putt and really putting was the highlight of the day.

The second highlight was 2 shots on one hole that make the 3 things to remember from the round. On the par 5 16th hole I really caught a driver and it went straight down the middle leaving just over 200 meters to the green.

I took out my 3 wood and promptly pull-hooked the shot into the forest. But by some fantastic stroke of luck, the ball kicked out and into the rough leaving about 100 meters to the pin.

With the ball below my feet and an adequate lie, I smashed a pitching wedge high over the impeding trees. The ball pitched on the front of the green and rolled about to about 1,5 meters – narrowly missing the pin. I holed out for my second birdie of the round.

The final good though was my bunker shot on the last. Flat lie in the bunker but downhill shot from heavy sand I targeted a hard hit but the real measure was how far behind the ball I hit.

To avoid decelerating on my shots in the bunker I need to commit to hitting the ball (or more correctly sand) hard. I almost holed out from about 10 meters and secured a nice par to finish off quite a decent round of golf.

This was quite a positive weekend overall, and again the weaknesses in my game are glaringly obvious. Lessons and practice should help.

The first round of the weekend included quite a heavy and unexpected shower after around five holes. But the rain did not dampen the spirits and the whole group managed to play within an acceptable buffer.

This was a game of 2 halves. Fairly solid in the first nine, all over the place in the second. We were playing from the “senior” tees, so there was a bit of an advantage on about 4 of the holes otherwise the tees are similar to the standard yellow tees.

The main highlight was the number of legitimate birdie opportunities I had. I would say that I had about 7 chances from 3 meters and under. Unfortunately, the greens are pretty raw and sandy since the course has only been open for a couple of weeks. I am not using that as an excuse but I am also not that worried about missing 5 of the 7 chances I had. It will come.

Driving was pretty decent. I didn’t hit the ball very far today, but I also didn’t hit it into too much trouble either. I striped a lot of irons today, thus the birdie chances. Putting was mostly poor and my chipping was crap.

Around the greens is an area that I really need to practice. If I want to get my handicap down to 4 then this part of the game must improve.

I have a voucher for one lesson with one of our club professionals and vouchers for several more. I should really get a booking.