First to tee off in Tapiola for the season!

After a day’s break in playing Tapiola opened for the season. At 11^th March at noon my drive was in the air! That was the first official tee time for the season, but there were quite a few ball marks on the greens, so somebody have been playing there before us.

I did pay a visit to my “golf doctor” Gyltsi at Golf Center Lauttasaari on the the previous day.  Along came Cobra’s Bio Cell Spoon and Amp Cell Hybrid. These were also put into the action today. The Spoon showed it character from the first shot onwards. I had a change to make a birdie on the 1^st hole, but missed the putt with a ball length. The same on the 11th. 

11th green and the possible birdie putt.

Slow greens and timely strong winds characterized the round. The bunkers were partly filled with soft sand and partly still covered in ice. Most of the tee boxes were still frozen and I did have difficulties to put the tee into the ground. 2 hours and 30 min of sunshine and winds was all it took to complete the round. The fast pace at Tapiola is what I like about the course among the closeness to home and the future office. Here is post I wrote in Finnish last year.

Number of lost balls: 0

In total 104 shots.

Season best in Tapiola: 104 shots

Off to Hanko!

I have never started my season this early in Finland. The buzz about Hanko Golf’s condition was going around during the golf fair. From the fair I did also pick up a few interesting locations and this year’s Bägilätkä along with a #forthewin beanie.

Steigenberger Hotel Treudelberg will be on the agenda for this year. The place has good offering and located convenient close to the Hamburg Airport, so there will not be any additional cost for transportation.

But back to Hanko. Leaving home in darkness and arriving at the club in sunshine. Please note, that it was the 9th of March and as I was not aware of the weather “all“ possible gear was taken along. But the weather was great, as was the company! The play was looking for its track and the fact that I had not touched the clubs during the winter showed.

1st tee

The very first drive was a banana-candle-to-the-right. (That must be the right term.) Just missed the players on the third green and with very unusual Mulligan the game went on. Normally I play the ball where it lands, but this time the Mulligan seemed like a great idea. The result with the spoon almost as great… After a struggling start the game was on!

I like Hanko’s cosy atmosphere and the friendly girls at the caddie master. It just puts you into good mood, no matter how it goes in the game. The course was also in good condition and the greens were a bit on the slow side, but nevertheless evenly fast throughout the course.

The action with the driver continued on the 4th hole. Breaking hard to the right, but hitting a tree, the ball landed on the water hazard on the left hand side of the fairway! Since it was still frozen, I could find the ball and continue with a drop. Much better than being o tog bounds. I did however loose a ball later on the hole…trying to hit the perfect shot with the spoon from around 220 meters, the ball got a little bit of tail to the right and landed in the woods. That marks the lost ball numero uno.

Most of the time, when you tried to play it safe, it does not work. The drive on the 9th was on the right edge of the fairway. As it is a dogleg to the right and I did not have any change to hit the green from where I was, I thought that it would be a great idea to play it safe and took the nine iron, just to play around 110 meters. Well should not have done so… Skanked the ball to the forest. Second lost ball for the round.

On the way to the 7th green. Notice the balls on ice. (not mine)

The back nine was more solid game. Managed to play three pars (11th, 17th and 18th)  and a birdie on the 14th. It seemed that I did have some kind of idea of the game again.

19th hole, after a good start for the season.

Number of lost balls: 2

In total 99 shots.

Season best in Hanko: 99 shots

Round up for 2014 and targets for 2015

2014 marks the best year in golfing for me so far and I try to make this year even better!

I played 65 rounds on 29 different courses last year and all of them were played in Finland. The year before the numbers were 49 and 31. My average score sunk from 100.4 to 98.4 between these years and putting average from 2.0 to 1.9.

Most played courses were at Pickala, where I will most likely also play much during this year as well. Forest and Park tie the first place with 10 rounds each followed by Seaside with 6 rounds. The constructions made last year for the course will indicate an increased number of rounds there during this year.

During 2015 my focus areas will be in increasing both FIR and GIR. Making more Pars and Birdies in order to lower my current HCP from 15.2 to 12.9. I except to play 80+ rounds this year. I hope the season will be great!

Go low and fight for the glory.

The last lost balls for the season!

The Canadien geese marks their territory

The two last rounds of the season were not dokumenteded that well on a timely wise. But never the less in late November (15th & 16th) fun golfing was done in Pickala on two following days. First on Park in rough conditons and then on Forerst in great weather.

Not much to share with the future kiddies, but there were lost balls on both rounds, as one would expect.

I played the Park from red and got into the trouble anyway:

On the 5th hole my drive broke out to the left and the ball went swimming.

5 iron towards the green and the ball touched one of the trees on the way. I not see where it landed and the walk of shame was on the agenda.

View from 1st tee / Forest

Forrest on the next day was even worse. On the 7th 22 degree hybrid did not make all the distance over the water to the green. That marks the first lost ball in the series of three.

On the 11th a totally fucked up 7 iron from the teebox. I have no idea how I managed to hit it to the wasteland/waterhazard on the way to the green. Did not even look for it and a new ball in the air and roughly a meter left from the pin for a bogey.

Hole number 12 always creates same action. This time the spoon was on a perfect spot, but the second shot towards the green with 22 degree hybrid got an unlucky bounce at landing and in a high curve to the water instead of the green.

All in all the year was a good one. Thanks for that!

Number of lost balls in these two rounds: 5

Park:
In total 95 shots. (Red)
Season best on Park: 91 shots

Forest:
In total 103 shots.
Season best in Forrest: 92 shots played twice 2014