The Golf Thread

HaroldBishop

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My boy is putting me to shame at the moment with his golf game. At 14 he's now outdriving me by 50 metres at least and his chipping and putting around the green has improved so much, he's beating me overall now on Stableford points in club games. His handicap is still high but it's coming down considerably. At our Social Club round last Sunday at Calderwood Valley Golf Course, he lost 13 strokes off his handicap with a club record 61 Stableford points.

Just to put this into perspective, when he first started with the club at age 12, he had hardly played so he needed a high handicap to keep his interest. So they gave him 72. That's four strokes per hole. But at the time he needed it. He could hardly drive it off the tee, he would take four to five putts on every green and he could not chip, he'd hit it over the back every time. But slowly over time, he has got better and he's now doing golf for sport at school each Friday. That 72 handicap was 62 on Sunday and is now at 49. Still very high but with more practice I reckon he'll come down even more over the next 12 months.

Last Sunday he hit his driver out of this world. We had a longest drive hole on the 5th, almost 500 metres off the back tees. We were playing the back tees because it was the championship round. He hit it around 250 metres, straight as a die and for the first time ever, put his name on the longest drive marker. Two other guys behind us beat it but he was proud of doing that. He ended up with bogey but with a four stroke handicap on that hole that gave him a net Stableford score of an albatross and 5 points.

The 11th is a long par 3 190 metres over water. He took the driver but took a more measured swing and again hit it straight and long landing just over the back of the green. Made a nice delicate chip to 3 feet and sunk the par putt. Another hole with a four stroke handicap so that gave him a net -1 again equal to an albatross and 5 points.

You might think the guys in our club wouldn't be happy with this and might call him a burglar and all sorts of names but they've actually been really encouraging. They love him being part of the club, treat him like any other member and reckon it is great to have a junior player doing so well.

His win on Sunday was his second of the year and I think he may have finished higher than me as well in the overall Club Championship. Like his cricket though, he doesn't have the drive or ambition to do it professionally he just enjoys it for what it is. And he really loves beating me! 😆
Good at cricket and golf, you're wife must be very pleased he takes after his Mum :)
 
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Australia's Min Woo Lee has tied for 12th in the Phoenix Open which finished up this morning our time. This was from a field of 170 players, so this was an excellent effort. He beat home many top 20 players so his ranking should go up a bit after this one. Highlight today was a 21ft eagle chip in off the green at the par 5 13th!

He gets the chance to show his wares again in the Signature Event in San Diego this week, the Genesis International. Three other Aussies are also teeing it up, Adam Scott, Cam Davis and Jason Day. Tiger is also playing along with McIlroy, Scheffler, Speith, Thomas, Morikawa, and Shane Lowry, so it is a star studded line up. Smaller field of 72 players this time but that means there is no cut and every one plays on the weekend so a good opportunity to earn $$ and get world rankings even higher.
 
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Had some success yesterday in getting my young lad work experience. Like most kids his age, he has no idea what he wants to do, he just knows he doesn't want to be a tradie.

But we were at Hurstville Golf club last month and he hit upon the brilliant idea of doing his work experience there. Not as a greenskeeper but in the pro shop.

We made some enquiries, sent emails (by him from his email) and they replied yesterday to say they'd be happy to have him for the week (end of June). Brilliant!

It will be a great experience for him, not sure what they'll have him do but probably stack shelves, empty bins, collect the balls from the small chipping range etc.

Great outcome! Just need to get him there each day and hope he likes it. Never know it could lead to a part time job perhaps.
 

gando2230

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Australia's Min Woo Lee has tied for 12th in the Phoenix Open which finished up this morning our time. This was from a field of 170 players, so this was an excellent effort. He beat home many top 20 players so his ranking should go up a bit after this one. Highlight today was a 21ft eagle chip in off the green at the par 5 13th!

He gets the chance to show his wares again in the Signature Event in San Diego this week, the Genesis International. Three other Aussies are also teeing it up, Adam Scott, Cam Davis and Jason Day. Tiger is also playing along with McIlroy, Scheffler, Speith, Thomas, Morikawa, and Shane Lowry, so it is a star studded line up. Smaller field of 72 players this time but that means there is no cut and every one plays on the weekend so a good opportunity to earn $$ and get world rankings even higher.
Have you watched full swing 3 with him in it?
 
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Have you watched full swing 3 with him in it?
Yes mate, certainly have. He did pretty good although the focus was still pretty small compared to the other guys. But he's only 26, still has plenty of time on his side.

IMHO, with his overall game he just needs to be a bit smarter on some holes. Tends to get a rush of blood sometimes going for the real difficult shot. Great birdies are often followed by terrible bogeys.

But at Round 1 of the Players this morning, he's only one shot off the lead at 5 under so it is a good start. Could have been much better if he hadn't done one of his rush of blood shots when he hit his 2nd shot into the water at the par 5 11th. Ended up with bogey, although he got the shot back by getting birdie on 12. Had five birdie putts on the last 6 holes but just could not sink one.

Looking forward to watching Round 2 tonight, he tees off at 11.02pm tonight our time.
 

gando2230

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I didn't really rate him on the show, much better aussie golfers they could have focused on,
not much more than a tik tok golfer "Let him cook"
 
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I didn't really rate him on the show, much better aussie golfers they could have focused on,
not much more than a tik tok golfer "Let him cook"
Wash your mouth out Gando! He is the man!

Has the equal lead after 36 holes in the Players Championship, two great rounds of 67 and 66 with some great shot making.

Conditions will be much tougher for Round 3 with strong winds forecast so it’s not going to be easy.
 

gando2230

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Wash your mouth out Gando! He is the man!

Has the equal lead after 36 holes in the Players Championship, two great rounds of 67 and 66 with some great shot making.

Conditions will be much tougher for Round 3 with strong winds forecast so it’s not going to be easy.
not a good weekend for Min Woo round 3 was the killer for him.
 
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not a good weekend for Min Woo round 3 was the killer for him.
Yeah mate, it was horrible. I got up early on Sunday morning at 5.30am to watch and after a pretty steady first four holes, he just entirely lost it and could not get it back. Had a better round this morning, although still 1 over but a top 20 finish is still nothing to sneeze at. Finished about 8 strokes behind the leaders and that was about the carnage from Round 3. Hopefully he'll learn from it and move on.

He did finish on the same score as the World number one though, so not all bad news. :)
 
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Brilliant effort from Min Woo this morning. I'm a little bit emotional this morning, been following this kid since just before he won the Scottish Open. (not stalking!) First win on the PGA tour, really hoping the floodgates open now.

Really thought he has blown it on 16 by putting his ball into the water but he composed himself with a bogey-par-par finish to outlast top line golfers like Scheffler, McIlroy and Woodland. They threw everything at him, Scheffler shot 63, Woodland 62 and McIroy 64 but his great work on Days 2 and 3 saw him get home.

Next one is the Masters in two weeks time, let's hope he gets some decent rest and is ready to do well there!
 
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By the way, that victory this morning also got him into all of the year's remaining Signature Events as well as the USPGA. It took his world golf ranking from 55 in the world to 22.

He qualified for the Masters by finishing top 50 at the end of 2024 (he was 49th) but for some reason qualifications for the US Open and the British Open aren't there yet. Not sure what else he needs to do to qualify for them.
 
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US Masters starts this Thursday night our time.

Five Aussies have made the starting list, Min Woo Lee, Cam Smith, Adam Scott, Jason Day and Cam Davis.

Despite good form by Lee and Cam Smith on the LIV tour, I have to admit I'm not confident of an Aussie win this weekend.

Not impossible, but the field is so strong it would take a big effort to beat the top ranked players.

Scheffler, McIlroy, Schauffele, Lowry, De Chambeau, Morikawa, Aberg, Koepka, Rahm, the list goes on.

In fact every golfer in the World top 50 will be teeing it up.

Whoever puts on the green jacket on Sunday will certainly have earned it.
 
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After Round 1, here are the Aussies results:

Jason Day 2 under
Cam Smith 1 under
Min Woo Lee 1 under
Cam Davis 2 over
Adam Scott 5 over

Cut line is 50th plus ties, currently 2 over.

Leader Justin Rose is 7 under with players like Scheffler 3 shots back.

Day, Smith and Lee still in contention, Davis and Scott need a miracle.
 

gando2230

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After Round 1, here are the Aussies results:

Jason Day 2 under
Cam Smith 1 under
Min Woo Lee 1 under
Cam Davis 2 over
Adam Scott 5 over

Cut line is 50th plus ties, currently 2 over.

Leader Justin Rose is 7 under with players like Scheffler 3 shots back.

Day, Smith and Lee still in contention, Davis and Scott need a miracle.
Good to see rose leading opening round. But he won’t be inside too 15 at the end.
 
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