Golf Blog

My last two trips to Arizona have included a day of golf at the Raven at Verrado. Their all-day golf package is really a great deal. For $179 you get:

• Breakfast - tasty buffet or a cook to order omelette (or both)
• Range balls
• Unlimited golf - we’ve played 2 rounds each time
• Lunch
• Some drink and food coupons for on the course

The course was in great condition on both occasions and the staff was courteous and helpful.

The range is fine with good targets and the putting green near the first tee is a good match to the speed of the actual greens.

On the course, it can get quite windy. The course naturally plays a lot tougher in the wind. One day this was a real challenge (putts breaking uphill due to the wind), the other it was manageable.

The course has some pretty generous landing areas on some holes, but if you go offline you’re in the desert and a punch-out or drop is fairly likely. Bring a rock-club , I wish I had. If you’re hitting the ball well, the course is challenging but fair - with some nicely tricky holes.

The only negative I can think of is the course is a little ways out, so you have to get up early.

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I’ve been working on tightening up my swing, still quite a bit to do. One area I’m getting better in is swinging to a balanced finish.

These videos are from a trip to Arizona at the beginning of the month. I wasn’t hitting the ball well at all, and was rusty from 2 months of snow:

This video is from yesterday, when I swung out of my shoes on the 18th hole enroute to an easy 85.

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I played my first 9 holes of 2007 this afternoon. All in all, I’m quite pleased with the results:

• 4 pars
• 4 bogeys
• 1 double bogey - I should have taken relief from casual water and didn’t, it cost me a penalty stroke when I splashed into a hazard.

My chipping was solid on pitch and runs, but not good on flops. Putting was pretty decent. I hit the fairway with my first tee shot and only missed 2 fairways. The wind was kicking pretty strong - about 2 clubs worth. I hit a straight tee shot into a left to right cross-wind and it moved about 60 yards from left to right. Good thing I played for it; aiming OB left and letting the wind bring it back (though I didn’t expect quite that much).

The main thing I was encouraged about though was the progress I’m making keeping my swing under control. The long lay-off doesn’t seem to have hurt me much in terms of the swing changes I made last summer (that finally kicked in at the end of the year). I was ending up in a nice balanced position - something that I fought hard to attain in the past.

I’m encouraged for the rest of 2007.

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Thanks Jud!

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My golf goals for 2007:

1. Bring my average putts per round down to 30.
2. Bring my handicap down to 7.

My guess is that by meeting the first, I’ll also meet the second.

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