Given the end to last summer I was really excited about the upcoming golf season. I decided that it was time to get a membership at a better course that had more to offer so I looked around last October. The first stop ended up being my last as I chose Mill Creek Golf Club in Churchville, NY. The course is one of the toughest public ones around. There are large, fast, hilly greens that will help my putting along with a large number of bunkers. To compliment the main course there is a short course that is in excellent condition also. There are 2 driving ranges, 1 at the short course and 1 up top. There is almost always a 10 mph wind blowing and it can get quite gusty. But the main reason I chose Mill Creek was the practice area. There was a practice bunker, a separate practice chipping green along with the putting green ( that actually resembles the courses greens). I got all of this along with my ghin for $1000. This was beyond a steal, although it left me broke and with no money to get any new clubs or any of the real life things I should be worried about. Regardless I was excited and as soon as the weather broke I was out there taking in all that Mill Creek had to offer.
Archive for the ‘Brian’s Journey to Scratch & Beyond’ Category
I pray that I never forget the round that changed my golfing life, or the feeling I get when I think about it. Going in to the position week (1st plays 2nd / 3rd plays 4th and so on) Jim and I were well behind 3rd place, we needed to beat them 14 to 6 to be able to take over 3rd (which in our league is a beat down). When I walked into work the day of the match I had so much confidence and I told Jim that all he needed to do was get 4 points and I would take care of the rest. That meant I needed to win my match 8 to 1, which just doesn’t happen. I shot my career low 9 that day with a par/par/bogey/Eagle/Double/Par/Par/Bogey/Par/Par = 38. The Eagle was on a really short and quirky par 4 that is only 220 yards to the center. There is a very small alley to get to the green that most can’t hit into because you have to hit a towering shot due to all of the trees on the way. This isn’t too bad of a shot for me since I hit my irons very high. I put on the center of the green and sank the 12 ft. putt that followed. That for sure wasn’t the highlight though. Brockport’s 9th hole is a 310 yard par 4. The green is elevated and there is a good size pond that starts at about 250 and continues to 275. Not to mention you can only see a small corner of the green from the tee box. Without much wind you have to hit a high long draw to make it to the green and I am known in our league to hit the ball far. One guy in the league is on me every time we play that side to go for the green but I hadn’t had the confidence to give it a go. But there was something different about that day.
From the tee box you can see an area where most of the guys in the league sit out at after their round and have a few beers as it overlooks the 9th green. I could see that pretty much the whole league was out there as they wanted to see everyone finish as it was the last week. I knew I had to at least try it. So I teed my ball up as nervous as I had ever been and hit a damn near perfect high draw that landed pin high just off the green in the rough. I can still remember hearing the murmurs from the 9th green and the one guy who had encouraged me to do it say, “That had to be Brian.” As we approached the green they were all in awe, in awe of me. They knew that no matter what, never in their lifetime had they done anything like that or ever would be able to. Sure it was just a drive that thousands of people could do, but it was just the fact that there was a group of 20-30 guys that for just a moment wished that they could be me. Yea it may sound like the biggest ego filled story in the world, but unless you have that feeling you have no idea how good it feels.
When I was riding home after the round I had to call Katie (the girlfriend) and let her know about what happened. It was then that I vowed to myself to give myself to the game, only in an effort to have that feeling once again. I don’t care if I make it in the golf world, but I do care that I give everything that I have to try to make it. Sure I have everything stacked against me: 22 years old, no money, beat up clubs that are fit to me, and no swing coach. Not to mention I have a girlfriend that I would do anything for, I am trying to get my Masters, trying to work enough to pay bills and play golf. There is no time limit on golf which is what makes it such a perfect fit for me. I will get to scratch and I will get good enough to compete in the regional amateurs, and then I will get even better than that so I can compete in State Amateurs, and then I will get good enough to compete in the U.S. amateurs. And who knows what after that, all I know is that I will give it everything I got.
2009 was just as frustrating as I had expected it to be, but I guess that’s golf. The previous summer I spent a lot of time on the range and on the course. This year my schedule changed significantly as my club began pretty much giving away golf memberships at a cost of $200. Now this isn’t some cheap pitch and put place, this is a real nice and very challenging golf course. But talk about going downhill quick. No offense, but a $200 membership doesn’t attract the most ideal golfers (I couldn’t tell you how bad tee boxes and greens looked). I could rant about that forever but I digress. The biggest issue with the $200 membership was the fact that people had tee times up till 7 o’clock. That killed my practice time compared to the previous year. I mean like most I can kill it on the range, its the course where I need to be practicing.
So on the range is where I stayed most of the time, but I didn’t spend anywhere near the amount of time at the course in 09 as I did in 08 (also the girlfriend lived just down the road that summer so I was obligated there). A big plus to the year was definitely confidence. I was finally making contact 90% of the time and not worried about topping it or hitting 6 inches behind the ball. I also learned to be able to play with other people which was nice. The previous year I would hide when others would try to play with me, but I learned quickly that even though I am not that good at golf, neither is anyone else.
I once again was in the league and I got new clubs. I played Macgregor NVG 2 irons and the matching driver. They were an absolute steal on eBay!!! I started to hit the ball a lot better in the league and my scores came soaring down. My league average dropped 8 strokes to a 46! The big difference in my game was the fact that I eliminated the 4+ bogie’s as I only had 4 for the 20 week season!
It is safe to say that by the end of the season my hopes of getting really really good at golf had diminished as my lowest league score was only in the 40′s and I had thought I was so much better than that. The final week of our league is a position week and it would turn out to be the turning point in my golfing career…………which I will get into with my next post.
First of all I would like to thank Average Joe for the opportunity to contribute to the site. I was looking to start my own blog but thought that this would be better suited for me. This post is just to give you all a background on me and my golf game.
I turn 23 years old in October and have played golf since the summer of 2008. I have received my Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education and History from The College at Brockport, in Rochester N.Y. this past May. I work at the College’s Print Shop and have for the past 3 years now. I currently live in Rochester and am a member at Mill Creek Golf Club in Churchville N.Y. Here is the link to their website if you want to get familiar with the scorecard as this is the course I play most often: http://www.millcreekgolf.com/golf-course/championship-scorecard
Now a quick recap of what got me to where I am today in my golf game. My boss who has turned out to be more of an uncle/father figure starting asking me about golf as this was his sport of choice. He wanted to play in a golf league and had no one to play with. I told him how I wasn’t much of a golfer but was more than willing to give it a go. He offered to pay for my league dues so I had to take him up on it, seeing that I had nothing better to do. We went out together a couple weeks before the league started just to see if you could give me a few pointers so I could be ready for day 1. Well turns out I needed more than a few pointers. I couldn’t tell you how many times I wiffed/duffed/topped or just flat out hit the ground instead of the ball. I am a natural athlete that is good at almost any sport so my thinking prior to this little experiment is I will just pick it up as I go. WRONG!
I was beyond embarrassed and this was in front of just one person, how could I be this bad in front of the whole league??? So my boss hooked me up with an old sit of clubs that he had 10 years ago and told me I should probably practice a bit prior to the league. I don’t think he was prepared for what he had created in asking me to get better. I got a range pass for the year from the Brockport Country Club and a membership for a meezly $450. What a steal that was for me because I was there every single day rain or shine from the time I got out of work till it got dark and even earlier on the weekends. My girlfriend lived a good distance away and all of my friends left Brockport for the summers so I had all the time in the world to practice. Week after week my hands were blistered and bloody I even cracked a rib during the season. Everyone at the course knew me by name and they all were convinced I was crazy.
As for my golf game, it got better, but I was still horrible. The league was a 20 week (9 holes) season. My first week I shot a 58 and averaged a 54 for the entire season. I didn’t even carry a driver because I knew as soon as it touched my hand I would be hitting 3 in a matter of seconds (that or hitting 2 still standing on the tee…WhIFF). I had only 18 pars for the entire year and 22 Quads or higher. To say the least it wasn’t very encouraging.
I will get into last summer and this summer in my next couple posts. I will work hard to get some updates on my game at least 2-3x a week along with a pre-tourney post and a post tourney post on the PGA tour’s event for the week and other Golf related news. Feel free to comment and e-mail me @ bshaf1012@gmail.com in reference to anything golf. Thanks!
Welcome Brian to the Average Joe team! Brian is 22 years old and just began playing golf in the summer of 2008. He will be tracking his progress to scratch golfer and beyond. Brian will also be contributing to PGA news and other gold topics. Thank you Brian and welcome to the team!