Forums

Idea for parallel Starters Virtual Tour

• bhoese 679 Posts

  Thu, Feb 20 2014 9:28 PM

  

  

  

  

  My second try featured improved putting, an 0-fer on the back 9 GIR, and a ball in the pond on 10.  It's worth mentioning that I didn't use the comp ball, but the statistically identical Srixon XV for these rounds.  

• bhoese 679 Posts

  Thu, Feb 20 2014 9:37 PM

  Cerino's post inspired me to try the Elkington with the same gear.  I was (a little bit) disappointed to find that the white (hard) tees are in play there.  Shot a 66 with by far my best round using the starter putter, even with a brain-dead 3-putt.

  

  

  It was a fun round, with a 300 yard starter 3W and one of the best putts I've made.

   

• Corwyn 2,410 Posts

  Thu, Feb 20 2014 10:50 PM

  Jerm65:

  Corwyn:

  and my Tranny ball

  Corwyn.....you`ve gotta give some advance warning if you`re dropping a gem like that into the conversation.  Coffee`s rather difficult to clean off a monitor....and the keyboard went straight to the tip.   ;-)

  I thought that line might give someone a giggle  :)  Hope your monitor's OK, Jerm!

  ----------

  Ben, thanks for all the fascinating detail on your rounds. I loved that insane pitch-in on #2... gave me a little indication of how tough champ greens must be with this setup. 

  And seeing those approaches to 8 and 10 in your 74 gave me a whole lot of respect for those playing this tourney in high wind. Just attempting to leave uphill putts because of the difficulty of the starter putter but doing so while compensating for such strong winds seems mighty hard. I had the exact same thing happen with my approach to 18 first time around when it just stuck... I think I was so conditioned by the reaction of the starter ball in those situations that I didn't allow for the better ball's ability to check.

  One thing this kind of round does offer though, is that it makes you think about every shot. A bogey can result from any shot on a hole, so the margin for error is much less, and thus plotting your way around successfully is so much more satisfying.

  Great idea with the Elk tourney. I'll certainly try that too! And wow, what a putt on #14. Perhaps the best read ever!!!

• CerinoDevoti 3,232 Posts

  Fri, Feb 21 2014 8:20 AM

  bhoese:

  Cerino's post inspired me to try the Elkington with the same gear.  I was (a little bit) disappointed to find that the white (hard) tees are in play there.  Shot a 66 with by far my best round using the starter putter, even with a brain-dead 3-putt.

  Hey Ben,

  You inspired me back to try the Elk with Starters and the starter ball as well. I play St A with all starter gear from the whites a lot so why not eh? ;)

  I shot a -2 70 but left plenty out there. Made 2 stupid mistakes that added 2 strokes for sure. Then again I also made 2 amazing putts for par saves that pulled 2 strokes off the card so I suppose I got what I got. I saved the card and stats but don't have the time right now to do them. Maybe later.

  ~CD~

  ***Edit*** Here's the card and stats

  

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

• CerinoDevoti 3,232 Posts

  Fri, Feb 21 2014 10:56 AM

  Played the Dicks Sporting Goods thing as well with starters and ball on Bethpage. Wow is that hard from the tips and Championship Greens in Legend Tier.  Started off hot with a chip in birdie on the 1st. Flopped in a par save on the 5th to get level par and felt real good at this point. Disappointing bogie on 9 with a pulled putt for par. Coulda made it too dammit. +2 at the turn that could have been +1. Then again, throwing 2 in the bucket stole me 2 strokes on the front anyway. :)

  On the 10th I tried to hit to the Ladies tee box but missed and ended up in 40-50% rough right next to it. Shoulda just hit driver short of the fairway anyway in the rough. Still have a par putt that could have gone in but I missed. Hung well for a couple of holes then 15 was the back right pin. Had to lay up on 2nd shot but messed up a bit my 3rd shot approach to off the back of the green. Once again hit a nice flop but couldn't make the par save. 16 was a woulda coulda shoulda that got away and I par'd it home.

  Shot a 75 that could have been better or worse depending... ;))

  

   

  

  

  

  

• CerinoDevoti 3,232 Posts

  Sun, Feb 23 2014 5:40 PM

  I'm throwing another Challenge out to anyone. I played the Kiawah Invitational with starter clubs and ball. The course plays very nice from the Gold(Hard) tees with the starters. I reached every fairway from the tee so it wasn't that big a deal. If I could putt half decent, I could have shot maybe 5-6 under par. I shot a -2 70. BTW, the Tourney is a random draw winner so just playing in it is an equal chance of winning the top prize. Scores don't matter anyway.

  Here's the tale of the tape. Come on, somebody beat this with all starter clubs and ball. :) ~CD~

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• turtlemtu 6 Posts

  Mon, Feb 24 2014 8:01 AM

  Why does everyone have a wedge in their hand on the green?

• CerinoDevoti 3,232 Posts

  Mon, Feb 24 2014 1:06 PM

  turtlemtu:

  Why does everyone have a wedge in their hand on the green?

  Good question. We do that to show our entire set of clubs are Starters. Run the curser over the set to make it show all of them. If the putter is in hand, the game won't do it. We like doing it on the last hole to show the game score matches the scorecard we post.

  Pick one of the Starter Challenges and try one. It's a heck of a lot of fun to knock the ball around with the junky clubs and make just a couple of great shots and par saves. I find the satisfaction is greater than making a ton of birdies with my fancy clubs and over-priced ball. :)

• Corwyn 2,410 Posts

  Mon, Feb 24 2014 2:45 PM

  Just to add... we don't actually use the wedge to play that last shot. We switch back to the putter to end the round.

  Since scorecards don't show the clubs used, this is a time-honored method of indicating what's been played, and is a standard for many community-organized tourneys.

  And I'll second Cerino's comment above: this really is a great way to experience the courses. Not only is it more satisfying to grapple with Old Man Par as the goal, but it also means that it's not a putting contest. Every shot matters... and you don't get disheartened the first time a birdie is missed. 

• Corwyn 2,410 Posts

  Thu, Feb 27 2014 12:13 PM

  CerinoDevoti:

  I'm throwing another Challenge out to anyone. I played the Kiawah Invitational with starter clubs and ball. The course plays very nice from the Gold(Hard) tees with the starters. I reached every fairway from the tee so it wasn't that big a deal. If I could putt half decent, I could have shot maybe 5-6 under par. I shot a -2 70. BTW, the Tourney is a random draw winner so just playing in it is an equal chance of winning the top prize. Scores don't matter anyway.

  Here's the tale of the tape. Come on, somebody beat this with all starter clubs and ball. :) ~CD~

  Well, Cerino, I tried to beat your score yesterday, and came up short twice. It's an excellent challenge, really forcing some good course management, which I failed to achieve, lol. On the first try I got very clumsy at the end, when I knew I couldn't catch you.

  Birdies are there if you pick your holes... I managed 6 of them on the 2nd try, but wasn't conservative enough on the tougher holes, and had 5 bogeys to balance it out.

  Here are the cards of my 2 tries (sorry, I forgot the final greenshots to show the clubs):

  

  And the 2nd attempt, a 71, which also included this 'which-side-of-the-hole-is-it-going-to-miss' putt on #1: