(Well, after all this time I finally get to write the post from April 22nd)

Saturday was supposed to be the pick of the week with rain on Friday and Sunday. Of course, that’s not the way it works at Broken Joe Golf. Saturday ended up being chilly and damp with the occasional drizzle of rain. It was just enough to let you know that it was still only April in Massachusetts. Joe T and Jake made the right call playing the week before and Eric, Matt T & Leon didn't submit a scoresheet.

After years of searching to stop the dreaded “coming over the top” golf swing which is the culprit of my slice, I finally found a video that not only explains how to stop it but also made sense to me. I had practiced this swing all week but when I got to the first tee I was not so sure that this was going to work. After all, the harder I swing the more right that ball is going to go. When I first started playing golf I almost had the ball come all the way back to me.

I step up to the tee box, my plan is to run the ball down the right side of the tree. As Broken Joe luck would have it, I set up too far left in the tee box and the ball hits the tree and bounce backwards. I am unconcern for the moment; I may have a look at the flag going down the left side of the fairway.

I get to the ball and quickly realize that I don’t really have a shot here. I could play it smart and just put it back on the fairway or take my chances and continue to run it down the left side along the line of small trees. I chose the latter. For some reason I take out my un-trust worth 4 iron and hit a poor shot which of course hits one of the small trees. I have only swung the clubs twice and I can already see its going to be a long day. I finish the first hole with a 7. I should have played the following week…

The Front 9:

The easiest hole on the front was the 2nd hole where we saw 5 pars, 3 bogeys and an 8. The worst hole we played was the par 5 fourth hole. Rock was the only person that played that day that looked like he knew what he was doing by shooting a 7. Dan had a 9, Dave & Matty Ice had a 10, Chris and Broken Joe had an 11 and Brian had a 12. After that, things start to settle down, I get my first and only par on the par 3, 5th hole, Dave blows up the par 4, 6th hole with an 8 but then comes back and birdie’s the 9th hole which was the one and only birdie of the day.

After nine holes

Jake – 45

Dave – 46

Rock – 48

Joe T – 49

Brian – 53

Broken Joe – 54

Chris – 55

Dan – 56

Matt – 56

Scores are close but with the handicaps things look a little different

Front 9 by Handicap

Jake and Rock – 34.5 (.5 under)

Joe T – 36 (1 over)

Matt – 38 (3 over)

Dave – 39.5 (4.5 over)

Brian – 40.5 (5.5 over)

Dan & Joe – 43 (8 over)

Chris – 43.5 (8.5 over)

The Back 9:

The back nine plays a little harder and in fact we can only manage a total of four pars between all of us. Matt pars the 11th hole, Brian pars the 16th hole and Dave pars 17 and 18 .

Dave – 45

Joe T – 46

Brian – 48

Dan – 51

Rock – 55

Jake – 55

Chris – 55

Joe – 56

Matt – 66

Back nine by handicap:

Joe T – 33 (-3)

Brian – 35.5 (-0.5)

Dan – 38 (+2)

Dave – 38.5 (+2.5)

Rock – 41.5 (+5.5)

Chris – 43.5 (+7.5)

Jake – 44.5 (+8.5)

Broken Joe – 45 (+9)

Matty Ice – 48 (+12)

Front Compared to Back scores

Dan & Brian – 5 under

Joe T – 3 under

Dave – 1 under

Chris – Same

Joe - +2

Rock - +7

Jake & Matty Ice - +10

FINAL SCORES

Name – Handicap score / Actual score

Joe T – 69 (-2) / 95

Brian – 76 (+5) / 101

Rock – 76 (+5) / 103

Dave – 78 (+7) / 91

Jake – 79 (+8) / 100

Dan – 81 (+10) / 107

Matt – 86 (+15) / 122

Chris – 87 (+16) / 110

Joe – 88 (+17) / 110

Adjusted Scores:

Brian – 101 / 97 (-4)

Chris – 110 / 105 (-5)

Dan – 107 / 105 (-2)

Dave – 91 / 86 (-5)

Jake – 100 / 99 (-1)

Joe – 110 / 105 (-5)

Joe T – 95 / 95 (0)

Matty Ice – 122 / 115 (-7)

Rock – 103 / 103 (0)

Leaderboard

1st – Joe T - $1.35

2nd – Brian - $1.29

3rd – Rock - $1.22

4th – Dave - $1.08

5th – Jake - $0.99

6th – Dan - $0.90

7th – Matty Ice - $0.81

8th – Chris - $0.72

9th – Broken Joe - $0.59

10th – Eric, Matt T & Leon - $0.00

I am making tees times on Wednesday. I will wait until then to see if Saturday or Sunday is the better day.