Lake Winni Golf Channel Event

June 7 - Today was a Golf Channel Am Tour event at Lake Winnipesaukee GC in New Hampshire.  A one day 18 hole scratch event.  When I saw this on this schedule, I made it a point to get here.  I played it in 2013 with my friends on our annual Sunday River trip and loved it.  This course meanders through the woods, up and down significant elevation changes, with holes cut in many different shapes and it demands good placement off the tee and a solid short game.  The weather was excellent, sunny and 70s; course conditions were solid (especially given most courses struggled from a harsh winter); greens were not running fast but rolled well.

My ball striking/putting led me to a 74 (+2) and a seven shot victory.  I hit 12 greens and 10 fairways.  Aside from two three putts, my putting remained hot.  I drained multiple putts over 15 feet, including a 35 foot birdie putt on the par 3 4th hole.  I was 2 under through 8 holes then had a hiccup mid-round with a 4 over stretch on holes 9-12.

The first hole is memorable to me.  With over a 100 foot drop from the tee to green, I drove the green last year from 340 yards.  This year, the tee was set up at 380 yards.  I like to think I can it far, but no chance reaching it this year.  I decided to hit driver anyway and got to about 45 yards away.  I pitched it to 10 feet and rolled in the birdie!  (Note, one of my playing partners drove it greenside...kid was crushing the ball all day, but had difficulty keeping the ball in play...he withdrew mid-round given the struggles; hitting it long without some accuracy is not a good formula; if he straightens it out, than potential is high)

My fellow competitor G. Barton and I commuted from Charlestown together and shared a lot of golf and business stories.  G, I hope to see you at a future event soon and maybe Kiawah next year!

Play aggressively smart,
K

2014 Sherrill Cup

June 4 - The annual Sherrill Cup at Essex County Club lived up to its usual greatness - excellent golf course conditions, good food all day long, high level but friendly competition, and great tournament staff.  A couple of different highlights this year included a new tee box on the 16th hole (perched about 50 feet high and I'd say added 30 yards to the hole), less fescue!, my best club caddy yet in S. McLean (read every putt well), and my morning and afternoon partner was S. Keegan (recent years have been with R.Lynch).  We played with Concord CC throughout the day; good group of guys that manage to play well while enjoying multiple beverages!  I couldn't do that for sure.  Hope to set up a Concord-Lex Battle someday in the near future.

Team LGC - myself, S. Keegan, R. Lynch, and S. Geldart couldn't quite break through in the afternoon; always difficult to stay steady through 18 holes alternate shot.   I generally find we have one, bad 4 hole stretch, that loses us 4 or 5 shots.  We finished T6 at 466.  The winning team of Old Sandwich won by 6 shots.  The weather forecast was very bleak coming into the day, with heavy rain expected.  Fortunately, there was only minor rain before 9am and than a few showers in the afternoon round that were gone in less than 10 minutes.  During that 10 mins of heavy rain, Steve and I made a disappointing 7 on the second hole; consecutive chips that rolled back to our feet above the greenside bunker.  I think the 2nd green is one of the hardest on the course given it falls off on both the back and front.

In my morning round, my putter remained pretty hot.  I had one three putt and 30 putts overall.  I made long putts (over 10 feet) on 18, 3, 5, and 8.  My most adventurous hole was 18.  I hit a driver, right, into the fescue.  I had a decent lie, but it was downhill and ball above my feet.  I foolishly (in hindsight) slashed a PW and the club was grabbed shooting the ball left and low.  It cleared the front stream (about 25 yards shot of green) by inches.  I hit a poor chip to 30 feet above the pin and drained the putt for par!  I got away with par, but double would have easily been in play 8 out of 10 times with that strategy.  It was my 'no reason to complain for the rest of the round' shot of the day.

My Dad walked the morning 18 with us.  His first time seeing the entire Essex course!  Thanks Dad!

50th Annual Hornblower Memorial - Putting Display

May 30-31: A bit to my surprise, I was accepted to play in the 50th annual Hornblower!  It has been at least 5 years since I tried to play in the event.  What was I thinking!?  This event is top-notch.  The field attracts the best amateurs in the state, top ranked collegiate team players, and out-of-state competitors.  You see school bags from Texas, Wake Forest, UConn as well as Mass Amateur champions.  Golf course is fantastic with greens that will drain all your energy and focus.  At 6,300 yards, you think the course will be very scorable, but it plays long with only one par-5 (par-69).  We had warm weather with healthy winds and the winning score was +5!  Not a single player in over 150 rounds played in two days broke par!

My goal coming in was to make the cut.  I made the cut and I finished T19!  This is one of my top amateur finishes and I can't wait to come back.  My ball striking was okay, but my putting was pro-like.  Over the two days, I had 58 putts including 27 putts on Day 2.  The way I was putting on Day 2 I should have shot par.  I made putts of 10ft, 15,7,12,8,15,16,10.  I stood over every putt thinking I could make.  I'm not sure the reason, but I attribute a lot of it to taking time to practice on the putting green after Round 1.  When you play greens this slick, you have to find such a fine tuned rhythm that gives you full confidence in your ability to match speed and break.  I got it and the hole looked like a bucket.

Good to see J. Burke and good to see fellow Bentley players A. Jeffers and J. Stoddard finish near the top of the leaderboard.  Bentley represented well !

Thanks to my Dad for caddying on Day 1.  Can't wait for next year!  Below are pictures of random scores, a flag they had all the participants sign, and Top 20 scores.  Cut after Day 1 was 76.

BETTS, William - Longue View Club 72 4 5 3 4 4 3 5 3 4 35 3 4 5 4 4 3 5 5 3 36 71 143 

MCLAUGHLIN, Nick - Wentworth BTS 70 4 4 3 4 3 4 5 3 5 35 2 4 7 6 4 3 5 4 4 39 74 144 

CLAPP, Doug - Old Sandwich GC 76 5 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 4 34 2 4 4 4 4 3 6 4 4 35 69 145 

SPITZ, Ben - Unaffiliated 76 4 5 3 5 4 3 3 3 4 34 3 3 5 5 4 3 5 4 3 35 69 145 

AIKENS, Herbie - The Pinehills GC 71 4 4 4 4 5 3 3 5 4 36 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 38 74 145 

PARZIALE, Matt - Thorny Lea GC 74 4 5 3 3 4 3 4 4 4 34 5 5 4 3 4 3 5 4 4 37 71 145 

STODDARD, Jonathan - Plymouth CC 74 5 4 3 4 4 3 4 3 4 34 4 4 5 5 3 4 5 4 4 38 72 146 

JOSEPHSON, Kevin - CC of Farmington 73 4 5 3 4 4 3 4 4 4 35 3 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 38 73 146 

WILLOCK, Michael - Cohasset GC 72 4 4 4 3 5 4 4 3 4 35 4 4 6 4 4 3 5 5 4 39 74 146 

GRENUS, Evan - TPC River Highlands 70 4 4 3 4 5 3 6 4 5 38 4 4 4 4 5 4 5 4 4 38 76 146 

HIGGINS, Brian - Franklin CC 74 4 3 3 4 4 4 3 3 5 33 4 4 5 5 4 3 5 5 4 39 72 146 

WALTHOUSE, Billy - Longmeadow CC 73 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 37 3 5 5 4 4 4 3 4 5 37 74 147 

PELLETIER, Ryan - Pawtucket CC 72 3 4 4 5 4 4 5 3 4 36 5 4 5 3 4 3 5 5 5 39 75 147 

HEFFERNAN, Paul - Oyster Harbors CC 74 4 4 4 3 4 3 4 3 4 33 4 5 6 4 4 3 6 5 4 41 74 148 

BURAK, Steve - Thorny Lea GC 72 4 5 3 4 5 4 4 4 4 37 4 6 5 4 5 3 5 4 3 39 76 148 

JEFFERS, Alex - Woodland GC 75 4 3 3 4 3 3 5 3 5 33 4 3 5 4 4 5 6 4 5 40 73 148 

LACAMERA, Paul - Plymouth CC 74 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 3 5 37 3 5 5 3 5 4 4 4 4 37 74 148 

HADGES, John - Thorny Lea GC 73 3 4 3 4 5 5 4 3 5 36 5 5 5 4 4 3 5 5 4 40 76 149 

KUHN, Stephen - Plymouth CC 73 5 5 4 4 4 5 3 3 5 38 3 4 5 5 4 3 4 6 4 38 76 149 

GUISE, Danny - Griffith Harris 73 5 5 3 3 4 4 5 4 5 38 3 3 5 4 5 4 5 4 5 38 76 149

CARLSON, Brian - Clinton CC 72 4 6 3 4 4 4 5 3 4 37 3 5 4 4 5 3 5 5 6 40 77 149 

FLIONIS, Kurt - Lexington GC 75 5 4 4 5 3 4 5 4 4 38 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 36 74 149 

GATELY, Kevin - Unaffiliated 70 4 4 4 4 5 4 7 3 4 39 3 4 5 4 7 3 5 4 5 40 79 149 

CAREY, Kevin - Dennis Pines 74 4 4 3 6 4 4 5 2 4 36 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 39 75 149 

Braintree Municipal

May 25 - Tee'd it up at Braintree with my brother and friend Josh H (home is Michigan - go State!).  The weather turned out excellent, sunny and high 60s, and the golf course was in great condition.  Greens were on the slower side, but very well maintained and the fairways did not draw a bad lie.  One of the best municipal courses in the area.  I'd consider it almost in the category of Wachusett CC, another gem of a municipal course.  My brother is working on his swing through lessons and took it to the course with good progress, most notably the Mashie club (makes me think Francis Ouimet) and destroyed the #11 hole, number one handicap with a solid ball striking display from tee to green!  Braintree is a tight course to challenge yourself and he managed very well.  Josh played his low cut driver off the tee and showed good touch around the greens.  #18th was a great finish for all; Derek hit his best drive with a three wood, Josh hit an 80 yard shot to inches from the hole, and I just missed birdie; keeps you coming back for more! Unexpectedly, we came face to face with a handful of goats.  Apparently there is a goat farm? They were separated by wire fence, but we got a close first hand look at their big ole' heads.  I went around in 74, two birdies (#10 and #13), two bogeys, and one double.

Fun day and great value.  $38 for 18 holes walking!  I recommend this course for those in the area.  Its a great value play!

Thanks for a great day bro and Josh a.k.a Tank.

To family and friends,
KFly