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My Golf Page
October 14, 2023 - Repeat Champions in Match Play Today, Saturday October 14, we finally got to play our team match final. My partner (Gary Nixon) and I managed to make it to the final for the second year in a row. I shot a 2 under 34 on the front 9 with birdies on 4 and 6. The back nine started well with a birdie on 10 to go to 3 under. Unfortunately, the 11th wasn't good with a shot into the left trap. We managed to tie the hole and I birdied the next (12th hole) to go up 3 holes. Marc-Andre then birdies the par 3 13th to get to -2. Gary then eagled the 14th but our opponent Jacques, birdied it with a stroke to tie the hole. Still at +2 until Jacques chipped in on 15 with a stroke so they came within 1. Gary almost drove the green on 16 but missed his chip. Jacques then sank his birdie putt to tie us. We all pared the 17th and now the match was tied going to 18. I drove my ball way left into the water on 18 so Gary was by himself. Marc-Andre was also by himself after Jacques drove into the woods on the right and lost his ball. MAO, then put his ball about 12 feet from the hole to put pressure on Gary who came up big and stuck the pin (inside 3 feet from 112 yards). Marc-Andre missed his putt and Gary made his to win the match. I shot 34-42 so Gary\s back 9 won it for us. May 27, 2023 - Horrible Start Followed By a Miracle Not sure what was happening but this year it took me 17 games to break 80. That includes 5 games in Ocean City with less than ideal conditions. I did have a late start in the year because of our trip to Italy but that was no excuse. I was blaming my new clubs and the weather had been cold and very windy since the beginning of my season which started on May 13th. On Friday May 26th, our wedding anniversary, things took a turn for the better. I played in Bernie's 'league' with a 10:15 early tee-off time. It was by far the nicest day of the year and for the first time since May 13th, the wind was not an issue. The Friday crossover had us starting on the 10 hole which for me means I can use a new ball. When we start on the first hole, the lake on the left has a new ball magnet, so I tend to use an experienced ball on the off chance that the magnet is on full strength. The game started as usual with a bogey on the 'easy' 10th hole. Then on 11 AND 12, I got on the greens in regulation, which I have probably never done on both in one round since they are in opposite directions and the wind is almost always a factor. Also, #11 plays just over 400 yards even from the white tees and #12 has a daunting second shot over another ball magnet pond. Only one over par after those 3 holes is a feat for me. Follow that up with back to back birdies on 13 and 14 and suddenly I am -1. Then the hardest hole on the course, 15, which doesn't give up pars that easily. It does, if your missed chip ends up less than 2 feet from the pin. Still 1 under par after 6 holes, the 'easy' 16th hole throws me a curve as I get a flyer out of the right side rough. My downhill chip from over the green rolls way past the pin but I come to within an inch of saving par on the come-backer. Back to even par, I hit the 17th par 3 to about 15 feet from the pin. The golf gods are on my side and the putt drops in to be back to 1 under. Of course, 18 was designed to ruin a golf game but I manage to only bogey it (almost a par) so I am happy with my 3 birdie-3 par-3 bogey round of 36.
Now playing the front 9, I
have hope that this could be the day I break 80 unless things get back to
normal. I par holes 1 thru 4 which is a feat I will take any day. The very easy
2nd hole has been my nemesis and the very hard 3rd hole I usually can only par
with a good up and down as it's getting too long for my mediocre distance. Still
playing par after 13 holes, my confidence to break 80 is getting better but the
danger looms. I manage to birdie the 5th hole with a 15 foot sidewinder. On 6, I
get a good bounce onto the green for an easy 2 putt par. The easy 7th hole gives
me another birdie with a chip that somehow puts on the brakes about 4 feet from
the pin. Now, I am sitting at 2 under with 2 holes to go. Holes 8 and 9 are not
my favourite holes. When I am having a bad game, they usually let me through
with 2 pars. When I am having a good game, they almost always throw me a curve.
They played their usual role. After a so-so drive on 8, the toilet bowl found my
approach shot. Not many up and downs from here, so bogey it was. The final hole,
9, with the easiest red pin possible should have been there for the picking. Of
course, after an ok drive to the right side of the fairway, I would get my first
real miss of the day and skull the ball into the greenside bunker. At this
point, I am not thinking of saving par. I just want to get out of the sand trap
and 2 putt for a 72 which is what I did. Looking at the story below, I just
realized that playing the morning tee-off in Bernie's gang and playing with Yvon
Dumoulin has brought me luck. Also, I had more birdies today than the total in
the 11 previous games at our course.
September 25, 2022 - New
Irons and a Hole-In-One.
Winning the 2022 Team Match
Play comes with bragging rights and a gift certificate at our pro-shop.
Click here to see the road to the
match play finals. I have been looking to change my irons (and hybrids) for a
little while but getting the discount, convinced me to buy. I tried a few
combinations of shafts and heads and decided on
The pro-shop received my order on September 21st but because I played early on the 22nd I only got them after my round. Fortunately, I was playing a second game that day so I got to try them right away. The next day, I was playing in the early group in Bernie's gang with Yvon Dumoulin. On the 17th hole, which was our 8th hole since we started on 10, against a strong wind (Fiona was churning in the east) I used a 6 iron to a pin 138 yards away. The ball bounced and started rolling towards the hole. I stopped watching it but Yvon saw it drop in. I thought he was kidding so I had to go see for myself. Sure enough it was in the hole. It was my third lifetime hole-in-one and my second in 2 years (June 2021 on the 13th hole). I instantly liked the clubs more but still having a hard time getting used to them off the grass compared to off a tee. September 6, 2022 - Almost but not quite I was supposed to take the weekend off golf as we were going to go away for the long weekend. Since our driveway work was still in progress and there were a few other things going on, I decided (reluctantly) to play in the club championship. Thankfully, Dan had registered me for the competition in case I decided not to go away. I was reluctant to compete since this would be the first time this year that I would have to play from the blue tees. If it wasn't for a bad start with 2 three putts and a horrible double bogey on #4 in round 2. Also missing 2 very short putts on 9 and 17 in round 2 didn't help the situation. Anyway, a second place finish in a championship that I wasn't even going to play is not bad.
July 7, 2022 Interclub season is coming up and I qualified for the Clublink interclub on the 3rd day again with the best 2nd place (net score). The controversy this year was that because of my handicap they wanted me to play the black tees although I wasn't trying out for the A team at all. So I told them that I would try out for the B team in case my index would go over 10.5 by the freeze date. That way I could play from regular senior tees (white). Of course I made the B team, but as you can see below, my name is in red as I don't qualify as a B. In the senior interclub, I didn't have to qualify in the top 10 since you have to have 2 Super Seniors (65+) on the team. I came in T5 so I qualified without the SS exemption but that knocked Claude Labelle out since Jean Collin is also a Super Senior and automatically qualified by winning the senior title last year. The first ClubLink interclub match is July 21st at our course and the only Senior interclub August 2nd at Le Champetre.
June 9, 2022 First entry of the year. The season started a little later this year as we had an unexpected snowfall in April that delayed the opening of the season at all golf courses. Actually, we only opened on April 30th and the next day was our annual Bluff Point trip (pictures here). This year my game took a long time to come around and finally, these last few weeks, it's starting to get there. This week I shot a one under par 71 and on Wednesday, in the men's league, I shot a 2 under 34 on the 9 holes that counted in the league. It was a net 32 so I won the weekly prize. On top of that I was the only one out of 10 golfers to sink the put in the 50/50 draw that was up to $1080 since no one had sank a putt in the first 2 weeks. Of course, I had to split the money with 7 other people. They were happy. Below is the scorecard for that round.
Last weekend, was my last attempt at trying to qualify for the ClubLink interclub team. I got in as the fourth player on the team with the best net score in second place. There are 4 players selected to the Interclub. There are 3 qualifying rounds and the best net score of each round gets on the team. After that it's the next best net score. The club was forcing me to play from the black tees but because I am 66 years old, I wanted to use the white tees since that's where I would play in the championship. I had to try out for the B team to play from the white tees. I obviously qualified but will be cut when they remove golfers with handicap indexes under 10.5. December 28, 2021 - The year in Review Golf Canada sent an email with a graphic to share (see below). The total yardage is an interesting stat. It works out to 1120 kilometres of golf. Unfortunately, all but a few of those kilometres were in a cart. Actually, the cart travels about 12 kilometres a game so that is really more like 24 kms on the course.
November 22, 2021 - Looks like it is over Got to play one more game at Cardinal on November 11th, same last day as last year. The season for me was 212 days long (see length of season above. In those days I managed to play 204 games were I could count my score. I play a couple of tournaments with team scores. 2021 also marked my best average score for a year and under 80 for a second time ever. There are two reason for that. The first is the practice makes perfect adage although I only went to the driving range 3 times the entire season. The other reason is that I am almost playing the white tees now. I find no need to prove anything by playing tees that are too long and not enjoyable for a medium length hitter as I am. There might be one more reason that my average has been under 80 for the last 2 years. The COVID trap rule has probably saved me at least one stroke per game if not more. If you are not familiar with that rule, for the last two years rakes have been removed from bunkers for contact reasons. The modified rule for this is that you are allowed to move the ball within a club length in the hazard. This gives you a much better lie especially if your ball has plugged into the sand. When and if the rule changes next year, this will surely add an extra stroke or two to many people's games. I personally will try harder to stay away from traps when I know I can't get a good lie in the sand. Last year, I played all but one of my 181 games at Rosemère because of COVID restrictions. This year, I managed to play on 21 different courses including 13 courses on 3 ClubLink trips to Ontario. One of those games was on a non ClubLink course when were were guests at The Pulpit Club (formerly the Devils' Pulpit) in Caledon Village north of Toronto.
All in all it's been a great year for golf and the golf clubs will be going into storage for the year unless we get to play on Christmas eve like in 2015. For those who haven't seen the video of that exceptional day here is the link. November 7, 2021 - Is it over? Is the season over? If it is, it will be one of the earliest closings since I retired 11 years ago. The length of season link above will show you start and end dates since 1998 for me. Not sure it's sign of global warming but pre year 2000, I never played past October. Since then, there have been only 2 years without games in November or even December for 3 of those years. As it stands (if I don't play in November), the length of the season is exactly 200 days since it started for me on April 13th at Cardinal. Now if you look at my breaking 80 page and see that I have played 200 games, you might wonder how that could be. Did I actually play EVERY day? No, but almost. The main reason is that on many Wednesday's I would play my regular early morning round with the boys and would return in the afternoon for the men's league. This year for the men's league, I had to use my morning score as it would be an advantage to have played the course on the second time around having seen the pin placement for the day. For those who are not aware, which is no one reading this, the pins are moved every day and our greens are complex enough that it would be an advantage to have putted on them before a competition round. Another reason that I managed to play some many games is that we only got rained out 3 times all season and that includes October 31st which was supposed to be the last day our course was opened. We did get rained ON a few times, twice in competition but because we usually the first tee-off of the day and that we play in under 2½ hours we have a better chance of playing between showers. On many occasions, we would play and the rain would start as we were leaving the course. Luck was on our side pretty much all year. In case I do play again this year, I will wait to do my season wrap up for a few weeks. Stay tuned August 22, 2021 - A Busy Summer
I haven't updated this page
in a while, mainly because I have been doing the videos for the city's
centennial but also been playing golf every day. Since my last update, I played
in the Senior Interclub at Islesmere. Our team did very poorly and ended in
fourth place (last) with only 16 points. I got 2 of those points but I was
playing against very good players because I was in the second to last spot. When
the ratings were done, my handicap was at its lowest point of the year (at the
time). By the time of the competition I should have been around the fifth spot
(out of 10) which would have given a better chance to make some points.
July 4, 2021 - A Hole in One and Qualifying for 2 Interclub teams. June was a pretty good month. First I tried to qualify for the Clublink Interclub team. That team is a little harder to qualify for as it is scheduled over 3 separate days and only the best score qualifies. After the 3 weeks, the best second place golfer is the 4 man on the 6 man team which includes the Captain and the club Pro. Unlike the regular interclub qualification, the net score is used so there is no room for error. On the first day of qualification I tied for 4th saw there was no way I could be best second. On the second day of qualification, I started hole #1 with a triple bogey which used up the 3 strokes that I was assigned so I was basically out of it right out of the gate. I actually came in last with the highest net score. On the third attempt, my handicap had gone up 1 stroke so with my 4 handicap from the White tees, I shot 76 for a net 72 which won by 2 strokes. So I made the team and we will be competing in Islemere, La Bete, GreyHawk and if everything gets back to normal in Muskoka in September. The last time I competed in the Clublink Interclub, I was one of the spares and went to Muskoka to replace someone that couldn't make it.
The Senior Interclub was a different story. I didn't even try for the Class A interclub as they were playing from the back tees and I didn't think I should be on that team and potentially play against young whipper-snippers that would out drive me by 100 yards off the tee. Since I just turned 65, the Senior Interclub team has to include 2 'Super-Seniors' so my chances were better to make that team. On top of that the team consists of 10 players not only 4 like the Clublink Team. The format is also different as it uses the Stableford system. Unlike the Clublink qualification, your handicap does not come into play but with this scoring system, a triple bogey doesn't necessarily put you out of contention. Also, there were 2 days of qualification with your better of your two scores counting. The only problem was that I could only be there for the first day as we were heading to Toronto on day 2. We played on June 26th in the pouring rain. Me and only 3 other golfers finished the round and it was cancelled due to too much water in the fairways. Our scores wouldn't count but the following Saturday (July 3rd) would become day 2. For me it was best out of one round and despite 4 three putt greens and 2 double bogeys, I managed to shoot a respectable 77 (31 points) which put me tied for the 4th spot. I would have made it without being a Super Senior.
Along the way, on Friday June 18th, I didn't have a tee-off time in the morning because I was supposed to play in the Bernie league in the afternoon but because I was going to the Canadiens playoff game that night I thought I could play in the morning in case I couldn't finish some holes in the afternoon round. Anyway, I hooked up with Bernard (Corvette guy), Irving and Harrison. On the 13th hole, I hit a high 7 iron shot and the ball rolled into the hole 128 yards away for my second hole-in-one. The first hole in one that I could actually talk about since the first one was when I was playing hooky from work. May 21, 2021 - A new record Not my best round ever, but the most pars in one round. 16 pars, one bogey (#3) and one birdie (#14) for an even par 72. This week, I had 2 'career' firsts. 4 birdies in a row for the first time ever and the most pars in one round. There is still hope for new records in my game. May 18, 2021 - Four in A Row
The great thing about my
membership at Rosemère is that late in the day, your spouse (and children) can
play for free. The first year of my membership Myrna played twice (9 holes
only). Last year, due to COVID-19 she didn't get out once. This year, on the eve
of my 65th birthday, she came out to play 9 with me. I had already played 18 in
the early morning but last week I told Myrna I would happily go for an evening
walk with her as long as it was on the golf course. Since I have a cart plan, I
don't remember ever walking the course, so this was the first time. It was also
the first time in my life that I shot 4 birdies in a row.
Here is the scorecard. It started badly
as many rounds do. After a great drive, I missed my second shot and it went into
the bunker. I went too far on my sand shot and tried to chip back on with my
sand wedge which never works for me. After leaving it short, I managed to chip
on and one putt for a double bogey. I parred the shortened second hole and
managed to to get on in regulation on the long #3 hole and two putted for a par.
The 4th was a regular par with the flag at 150 yards. I was 2 over par at this
point and had no idea what was to come next. I pretty good drive on the par 5
5th hole and a good lay-up. My approach shot looked really good and I was left
with an 8 foot putt for birdie. I missed it and got my par. On the next hole,
the pin was at the bottom of the hill. My ball hit the hill and rolled back to
within 4 feet for my first birdie of the game. On the short par 5 7th hole, I
had an ok drive and was left with 204 yards to a blue flag on the left side of
the green. Somehow, my 3 wood, went over the last mound and bounced onto green.
I two putted from around 25 feet for another birdie and was now at even par.
Coming up are my two nemesis holes 8 and 9. If I can come out of these 2 holes
even, I am always very happy. On the 8th tee, there was a slight tail wind. I
had a pretty good drive which ended up to be my longest of the year so far at
250 yards. That left me 87 yards to the pin. I put it about 4 feet past the pin
and managed to sink the put for my 3rd birdie in a row, something I have only
done a handful of times in the past. I got to the 9th tee and hit another good
drive and only had a 9 iron left to the pin. Lo and behold, I hit another great
shot that rolled to within 3 feet of the pin. I sank the putt for my 4th birdie
in a row which I had never done before. A nice 2 under par 34. Alas, we were
only playing 9 holes as I maybe I could have had one of my best games although
the wind was starting to come up. April 24, 2021 - Lucky 13 Not sure what is happening on the 13th par 3 hole at Rosemère but after 8 rounds, I am 4 under on that hole. It's not that easy a hole as it's been playing around 150 yards but somehow I have birdied it 4 times and pared it the other 4. I know as soon as I write this the streak will end. (it did on my 9th game I bogeyed it). Update: After a triple bogey in my 24th game I am no longer under par on this hole. April 13, 2021 - First Game of the Year This year I wasn't in a rush to get out to play but courses were open early as the weather has been very good. Le Cardinal has been opened and fully booked each day since April 3rd. The COVID-19 rules are still in effect and this was my first experience at another course than my home course since COVID. They were very strict about mask wearing right up until you tee-off. The condition of the Cardinal golf course was amazing. I had to reach down and touch the practice green surface because I thought they might have put artificial grass down on it. Except for very few small burnt patches, the greens were in mid season shape. My first swing of the year was the first shot on the first hole so after almost exactly 5 months off the sport, it was understandable that my game would be a little rusty. Except for an incredible (and lucky) scramble out of the woods for a birdie on #5, the first 9 was a real display of horribleness. After shooting a 9 over 44, the future didn't look that bright. I did settle down on the back nine with a one over par 38 despite a double bogey glitch on the 15th. As I write this, I am a little stiff from getting out of the blocks without the least of preparation. November 18, 2020 - 177 scores but really 184 games
If you look at my breaking 80
page, you will see 177 games. Those are 18 hole games, all at my club (Rosemère)
entered for handicap on the Golf Canada website. There are 3 more rounds played
in tournaments where my score couldn't be counted and 2 more at Oka which does
not have an official CPGA golf rating. Add to that, the 2 Florida games on
January 1st and 2nd and the total is 184 games played in
2020. I am assuming that the golf clubs are hung up for the winter looking at
the long term weather reports. Since hockey is not restarted because of
COVID-19, if was hoping that somehow the weather would cooperate for a few
more rounds but unless someone calls me to play, I won't make any effort to look
for another round. Early November - Will make it over 170 games Although there was some snow falling on November 2nd, we got news that the course will open past the original November 1st closing. The season has just been extended to Tuesday November 10th as there is a 'heat' wave starting Wednesday November 4th. The highs expected to reach 18ºC. There are only opening 9 holes for a few days due to spraying some chemicals that need to dry out. We could go back to 18 by the weekend depending on the weather. The greens were spiked last week but they are not as bumpy now. All these games a bonus games and kind of makeup for the late start. Late October - Might make it to 170 games Friday October 23rd was one of the nicest days of the year. A high in the 20's and no wind, it was a perfect golf day. Within 12 hours it all changed with a frost delay the next day and a long term forecast of cold weather right until the closing date of Sunday November 1st. Every day that we can play until the final day is a bonus. The low for tonight (October 27th) is -7ºC guaranteeing a frost delay for tomorrow's early round. With a high of 7 by noon, my Wednesday afternoon round should happen. After that, there is only a potential of 4 or 5 more games but in low single digit temps. If the weather turns around somehow, there is still a chance that I could get a few games in a le Versant or Quatre Domaines as they stay open as long as they can. With COVID-19 restrictions extended until the end of November, there is no hockey, so golf may have to fill in. Other than the 2 games I played at Oka in two tournaments, this year all my games have been played at Rosemère.
October 2020 - 150 games and Counting It's now October 6th and I have already played 150 games at our course. Today was only the second rainout of the year. We got to play 5 holes and called it quits since it looked like it would rain for the count. It did and I cancelled my afternoon game. Yesterday, team sports were put on hold until October 28th due to COVID-19. All that is left to do is play golf as even travelling to other regions is discouraged. I didn't think I would get to 150 games this year but I have played 2 rounds on several occasions. It's only the 140th day of golf season since the start on May 20th. Even after 150 games, I am not playing that much better. My handicap index is staying in the 5 to 6 range. It's a little better than at the beginning of the year but I have been playing the white tees for the last month or so since the ball doesn't seem to travel as well in the cooler weather. Below is a chart of this year's handicap trend.
I use a Garmin Vivoactive3 watch to enter my score, putts and fairway hits. I have about 160 games recorded and below are the hole by hole stats at our course. It gives a pretty good picture of which holes cause me more pain than others. I knew the 3rd and 15th hole are the 2 toughest holes on the course according to the card. My average scores of 4.7 prove it and also the 27% and 22% in greens in regulation. Both of these holes play slightly over 400 yards and the 3rd hole is often into the wind. One stat that surprised me was the 1st hole GIR. Only 26% but that could probably be explained by the fact that I rarely hit the driving range before a game.
August 2020 - 100 Games and Counting
At the beginning of the
season I wasn't sure that I would play a lot of games since we only got started
on May 20 due to COVID-19. I was even contemplating not getting a cart plan
since they were promoting walking because you are only allowed one person per
cart. As of August 25th, I had already played 105 games. That means that by the
end of the season, I will probably eclipse my 136 games from last season. There
are a few reasons, that I am playing this much. One is that there is not
much else to do as travelling is not allowed. All our travel plans including a
family reunion in Newfoundland was cancelled. Two is that I have hooked
up with Barry (Mendelsohn) and Danny Lavallée during the week. They play 7 days
a week and have the first tee-off time. Since we all have our own carts, the
rounds never takes more than 2 and 1/2 hours even when we are a foursome. Today,
we were only 2 and it took 1:45 since we had to skip 3 holes as they were
spiking the fairways. I often play 36 holes on Wednesdays (Men's League) and
Fridays (Bernie's gang) since I have time to go home between rounds. The cart
plan costs around $1000 with taxes. Last year that came out to about $8 a round.
At the pace I am going, there are about 10 weeks of golf left. At 6 rounds a
week, that could be another 60 rounds. That would bring the cart price down to
about $6 a round. Playing in 2 hours and paying only $6 for the cart makes
walking the course less appealling. May 2020 - Finally the season starts after COVID-19 Confinement May 20th 2020, our first time allowed on the golf course because of COVID-19. It's a birthday present one day late. The part that is not a present is the game itself. I played two rounds and just could not hit the ball properly. Except for the occasional driver, every other club was a disappointment. My first game was a 91 with lots of 3 putts and struggled to get 87 in the afternoon's second round. I was lucky to get out twice. The first time was payback for the COVID-19 video I made for the club. Here is a link to the video I made in English and French. December 2019 - A big season with the most games ever played A recap of the 2019 season: This was my first full year of ClubLink membership and I would say I took full advantage of it. In all, on ClubLink and a handful of other courses I played a record 140 games ending with 4 games in Florida between Christmas and New Year's. I played fairly well except for a dry spell after the club championship on Labour Day weekend. I won that tournament by 4 strokes on a very windy weekend with only 2 scores below 80 for all the 5.5 to 10.5 handicappers (Class A). Later on the year, I also won the Captain's Vegas with my partners Serge and France winning by one stroke (-6) over 4 other teams at minus 5. In August, we won the Senior's Interclub which I had qualified for by 1 point in June. I got all 6 of my points and had to stop playing after the 16th hole since I had beat the 3 other guys from Le Versant, le Diamant and Napierville. In the Wednesday men's league, I came in 3rd for a prize of $250. At one point this season, for a very short time, my handicap index was at 5.2. It was in the 7's most of the time. At the end of the year, it climbed up quite a bit and with the new 2020 World Handicap System coming into effect it now stands at 9.7. The new handicap system will definitely change golfer's number this year but at lest everyone in the world will be judged on the same standard. One factor from now on will be course based on course conditions. The handicap system will actually look at all scores input for a day at a specific course. If all scores are higher than usual, it will assume that either the weather was bad, the roughs were actually harder to play than usual or that pin placement(s) made the course harder. I am sure that if this was done last Labour Day weekend, the wind would have factored in to the high scores being entered. I am interested to know if this will come into play this year and how we will see it. Also the max score of net double bogey will be a factor. The way it works it that if you are a 10 handicap of a particular course, you can enter a triple bogey on the 10 hardest holes and only a double on the 8 easiest. That in itself will bring up my handicap by at least 1 (or 2) because I was only allowed a double on all holes last year. If you enter your score hole by hole on the website, this will be calculated automatically. It should be an interesting season for sandbaggers as well as vanity handicappers. May 2019 - A Slow Start to the Season Other than courses on the south shore, no courses opened in April in the area. We (Rosemère) opened on May 3rd and Lachute will open on May 10th. There is even talk that Laval-sur-le-lac will only open in June because the greens are burnt from the ice. The flooding has not helped and golf is probably not on some people's mind as they are still affected by high waters. We went to Bluff Point on the first weekend in May (actually a Sunday-Monday combo). The cost with 2 rounds with cart and lodging in the cabins was a whopping $65US plus $10 for a replay on Sunday. The course was drenched but the weather good. December 2018 - Phoenix Trip On a whim, I said yes to an invite I got from a friend of a friend to go on a week long golf trip to Phoenix Arizona (here are the pictures) Although I only knew one of the 5 guys I was going with, it turned out to be a good trip. My highlight was birdying the 16th (stadium) hole on TPC Scottsdale and getting it on video. Click here to watch it. October 2019 - More Changes and a championship After doing miserably bad in the club championship on Labour day weekend, the Senior Championship was two weeks later. Somehow that was a different story. On day one nothing could go wrong and ended up scoring my lowest score ever and breaking par at 71 for a 6 shot lead going into day 2. Sunday didn't go so well and lost the big lead to the 3rd place guy from the day before. It really broke down when I double bogied the 17th hole by putting a ball so close to the water that the shot was almost impossible. Before the 17th I thought I already had lost the championship but with a birdie on 18th it ended up I was only 1 behind the winner. I did get the trophy for low net because the 71 - 83 combination was way under my handicap. In October we got big news that the Rosemère Golf Club had bought Fontainebleau. In 2019, our course would be known as Golf Rosemère. We will see what comes of that. There was a class action suit from 700 shareholders of Rosemère that wanted to get the money from the sale of the old course but that fell through quickly. We will see what the future brings. September 2018 - A new phase in my golf life. - Not long after writing the above in August, Groupe Beaudet announced the sale of le Victorien. It was only a few days after I shot 69 there my best round ever and the only time I have broken 70. At 4 under and 7 birdies, also a record, it's hard to think of doing it again. The 69 was shot on Monday August 13 just 2 days after the passing of my great friend, Stan Rose. I played well over my abilities that day and felt like Stan was with me throughout the round taking my shots. On the 11th (formerly the 2nd), which is a hole that I rarely par, I had a perfect drive and managed to get it within 5 feet of an impossible pin position. Sank the putt for birdie to go 5 under. At that point, I looked up to the sky through tears and said to Mike, my playing partner, Stan did that. From there on I managed to keep it together and birdie 2 more holes and had my first 3 bogies. To break 70, I had to sink downhill breaking 5 footer to birdie 18 which I did. The ball is now in my golf ball case with Stan's initials. Stan had turned 69 2 days before his death and I shot 69 2 days after. A few days before his passing, I told Stan that I was seriously considering joining ClubLink, specifically Fontainebleau. He was in complete approval and thought was surprised that hadn't already done that a few years before considering my enthusiasm for the game. Frankly, I had thought about it a few times but with B52 and our regular foursome for the last 7 years, I was happy with it and it didn't break the budget. Last time I spoke to Stan, all the paperwork for my membership was done. My 2019 membership took effect on August 15th which was a promotion for ClubLink's 25th anniversary. I could now compete in the Club Championship (Labour Day weekend) and the Senior Men's Championship (Sept 15-16). My friend and Fontainebleau Captain, Danny has also provided me with a 30 day 'trail' membership that started the day we came back from Iceland (June 13). He knew that I would take full advantage of this which I did. That particular certificate had to be activated by May 31st 2018 but they made an exception as I was away. I kept playing on B52 days but on off days I would play either Fontainbleau or Islesmere. I also got to play with Danny and his buddies each Saturday and Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoons. It wasn't long that I was hooked on ClubLink and Fontainebleau as a home course was the way to go. Other than tournaments and the Wyder Cup, I hadn't really competed in golf since the interclub championship in the late 90's when I was a member at Oka. I was really looking forward to play in the club championship on Labour day weekend. It was an experience, but I didn't do very well .....to be continued.
August 2018 - My golf page is going through a redesign this year as are many things have changed in the last 12 months. First of all I had been using the Intelligolf software since 1998 to track all of my golf games. The software was great but the version I had did not run on Windows 10. I kept a Windows Vista PC just to run the software, then last year the software started to act up probably because there was over 1,400 rounds recorded and the software couldn't handle it. The other change in my golf life, is that this will be the last year of B52 for me after 7 good years and over 300 games. When Groupe Beaudet dropped Lachute last year, we knew that most (if not all) of our games would be played at Victorien. I personally love Victorien as its a great layout and although it's a tough loop, it gets easier as you get to know more. The reason we don't play the other Beaudet courses in the B52 package: We simply hate Ste-Rose, all aspects of it. The fact that we can only play it after 10:30 really doesn't help. Chantecler is visually nice but the conditions are not up to par and the some of the greens are from nightmares as are Ste-Rose's. Golf des Iles is a nice track but it can be a 2 hour drive to get there or get back from there depending on the never-ending construction fiasco of Montreal highways. It also has an after 10:30 restriction that makes you have to beat traffic one way or another. B52 was a great program. When you are paying less than $14 a round on quality courses you can't really go wrong but Groupe Beaudet is in financial and strategic trouble as much of the golf in Quebec is. After losing le Diamant to the Champetre management team they are desperately searching for one or two courses to add to their portfolio for the 2019 season. The other major change in my golf world is, as will be, my new golf life at Fontainebleau and ClubLink. This year, thanks to Dan Klimas I had a trial membership to ClubLink which I fully took advantage of. So much that I took advantage of another offer that I am now a full member of Fontainebleau for the rest of this year and the years to come. I will even take part in the Club championship on Labour day weekend at Fontainebleau. Gone are the days of the $14 round with B52 although I will be playing the rest of the B52 days this year.
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Callaway's
to replace my Callaway XR's. The big difference is the graphite shafts which
will take a while to get use to.
