Tag: Phil

A 60 for Couples

Fred Couples is literally a living golf legend.

Shooting a 60, even on the PGA Tour Champions for the SAS Championship, is a big deal.

Heck! Even pumping out 12 birdies is nothing to sneeze at for senior players like Couples.

But that he did all that after going without a single win in the last five years in PGA Tour Champions competition speaks volumes.

Beating His Own Age

Fred Couples is 63. He just shot 60 to win the 2022 SAS Championship. He beat his own age by 3 strokes. That’s a major feat for plenty of golfers, even some top PGA golfers playing today.

At 63, he’s showing how well he can still play and compete. He finished with a 4-stroke lead (-12) over the second top spot on the leaderboard held by New Zealand’s Steven Alker (-8). The 3rd and 4th place spots went to Jerry Kelly (-5) and Rocco Mediate (-4). Couples hitting a 60 kept his competition at bay.

A Long Time Coming

A 5-year winless streak seems unheard of when it comes to a name like Fred Couples. The beloved three-time Presidents Cup captain showed that he still has it despite such an extended dry spell without a win. Playing birdie golf for 12 out of the 18 holes made this victory even sweeter for Couples.

With this victory notched for him, Couples could go on a streak or simply play out this year without another win. It’s simply a toss-up with the growing level of competition on the PGA Tour Champions circuit. Couples faces heavy competition from renowned names in golf worldwide including Miguel Jimenez and Steve Stricker to name a few. Once Lefty gets back to swinging regularly with the senior players, there might be some competition like their golden days on the PGA Tour. That is if these two pros can lay aside their differences on the business of the LIV Golf Tour. Otherwise, we’ll have to watch these two duke it out on social media and in the golf press with a war of words on the topics like LIV Golf and other things unrelated to their play on the course.

Playing a Par 3 to Strengthen Short Game

If you visit Colina Park Golf Course, you will come face to face with a sculpted bust of Ernest H. Wright, Sr., the founder and chairman of Pro Kids Golf Academy & Learning Center. Pro Kids was founded in 1994 by former AFL/NFL player Ernest H. Wright, Sr. and a group of community leaders, who saw the game of golf as a way to help underserved youth develop the character and life skills required to find success in school and in life. In addition to the course and training center in central San Diego, there is a Pro Kids-First Tee center in Oceanside in North San Diego County.

Scorecards at Colina have 1 of the 9 healthy habits of Pro Kids-First Tee on each hole
This is a keeper!!

Working on Wedge Shots

Have you ever overpacked for a trip? Or, you have at least traveled with someone else who does it? That’s how I felt armed with 3 wedges and a putter on a par 3 course the other day. It was like I had overpacked and I was toting an extra load.

Solution: pick one wedge and work that the whole course. For this course in particular, with hole yardage spanning an average of 60-80 yards, you could work on any of a variety of wedges to your heart’s desire. Think of trying varied ball placements in your stance as well as different levels of swing adjustments such as a half swing or three-quarter length swing rather than a full swing. I would also to be sure to consider the bounce and roll or the bump and run effect. Some people work on Phil Mickelson-type wedge shots such as the famous flop shot using a lob wedge or higher degree club. I would like to think more along the lines of Lefty’s handiwork on distance control with wedges coming in handy for this type of course along with his basic steps on chipping shots. Beyond Dave Pelz’s short game instruction, Lefty’s demonstrations on wedge shot lessons are remarkable.

Scores Tell Some of the Story

So +7 on a par 3 sounds good, especially when your last words before stepping up to the tee box are: “Let me see what happens if I . . .” You have a few surprises and head scratches, but you know that you should have had more greens in regulation (GIR) and par holes. There’s a story that goes along with that.

  • At least 2 holes I shorted the shot. I don’t have any other excuse except that I can barely guess the yardage of my gap wedge in the middle of my stance when using a half swing.
  • I overshot the green 4 times as I toyed with somehow controlling my pitching wedge on 3 holes on the front and my gap wedge on the 12th hole. My pitching wedge was dead weight after the front nine.
  • Switching back to the Callaway Super Soft was beneficial for my putting in general. My major issues with putting tended to stem from fast greens on the front nine which would have saved me at least 3 strokes.
  • Tee boxes are turfed mats so there were no divots as I chipped and pitched my way from hole to hole.
  • Upon check-in, they provide you with a divot tool to repair the ball marks on the greens.

Anticipating Playing Eastlake Wednesday

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Having prepaid for what seems like my final round of golf for winter break, I am eager to loosen up, check in, and attack the course. Playing Colina Park helped me discover the shortcomings of my short game. With six holes that were misjudged, that’s 1/3 of the course and you can’t help but to expect that to translate into some lost strokes. Unless you pick up some strokes with some miracle putts, that’s just natural outcome.

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Can I squeeze in a weekend round before everything officially starts back? I am hopeful, but I am not banking on it. I realize that I can stretch my frugal dollars a little further if I simply take the time to plan out my play in advance and find some of the hot deals and the bargain discount tee time available out there. Some sites and courses allow you to book up to a week in advance, so if the price is right, then the early bird might just get the biggest worm in the bunch.

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