Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group => Topic started by: cary lichtenstein on July 22, 2022, 03:08:03 PM
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I was listened to the golf channel, 92, on Sirius today and they asked this question:
I had to best starts, birdie, birdie, hole in one...4 under after 3 holes
The other was, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle...6 under after 5 holes, funny that the eagle was about a 50 foot downside, sidehill, big sweeping left to right, all I was trying to do was get it close and it dropped in the center of the cup.
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Few days ago I got to play Pebble Beach. I started with birdie, par, birdie, birdie, birdie.
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You played golf at a high level, Cary, and I don't -- so in comparison to yours my 'best start' is not all that impressive. But two months ago, playing from 'the blacks' (on this course, c. 6500 yards), I opened with 12 straight pars, and then had a bogey and a (very gratifying) bounce back birdie to find myself at level par standing on the 15th tee.
I have *never* before in my life stood on a 15th tee at level par. Easily the best 15 consecutive golf holes I have every played.
I don't want to tell you what happened next. I think you can guess. Let's just say that I'd been scrambling for all those 12 pars, and that suddenly my strokes gained scrambling stats took a nose dive!
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You guys are better than me. My handicap ranges from 11-15. A few years ago at Rock Spring in NJ I hit all 7 fairways and all 9 greens on the front nine - made two birdie putts to shoot 33 (par 35). I promptly doubled the 10th and ended 33-47...
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Double, Double, Triple, Double......then I left the bar for the first tee.....
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That I can remember, Birdie, Birdie, Birdie on Streamsong Blue.
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Had a group of buddies out a little track in Monroe, MI - Links at Lake Erie many years ago. Not a tough course, but I had 3 college guys and a chopper like me and we were a combined -8 after two holes. One par, one eagle among us. That was fun.
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Today I played in a club competition and started:
Bogey, double bogey, bogey, triple bogey and then eagle, eagle ;D
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I was playing in a two man best ball and my partner eagled the 35th and 36th holes. We came out of nowhere to grab second. Always take the great finish.
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Two under on my first four holes at Tara Iti, with two missed birdie putts from inside 10 foot range.A late friend of mine started birdie, eagle, hole-in-one, then lost that one ball on the fourth.
Never a strong starter, I did birdie the 8th to get back to even at Tualatin CC, then birdied 9, eagled 11. Finished under par.
Finished a 144 man "company" tournament birdie, eagle, birdie, bogey, birdie, then birdied first playoff hole to win.
But best finish was eagle, birdie, birdie at Tualatin on May 17, 1980, which kept me from a photography trip to Mt. St. Helens the next morning.
Carl Johnson reminded me of another one at The Golf Club of Oregon (not Oregon Golf Club) where I one putted the first 8 holes for 8 pars (total yardage of putts sunk was 8 yards) and then hit the 9th green in reg and promptly three putted from inside 15 feet.
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My best start was at AZ Biltmore just after I graduated from college. Double eagle, birdie. It was a company sales meeting and alcohol flowed freely. My subsequent scores tracked upwards with my beer consumption.
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Several years ago I birdied six of the first ten at Nairn. There were also a couple doubles on the front nine. Final score about 73 or 74.
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Made four birdies on the trot in the first round of our local county tournament a few years and never looked back. I don't think I've had three in a row more than a small handful of times since, and certainly not in competition.
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We'll never best this opening:
On a more positive note, in the knowing when to cut your losses department, we have Woodie Platt – an excellent amateur player in his day. In the summer of 1951 he had the greatest start in the history of Pine Valley. He birdied the 1st hole, then holed his approach shot on the 2nd hole for an eagle. At the par 3 3rd hole he recorded a hole in one and then drained a putt for birdie on the 4th hole. Six under through 4 holes at Pine Valley is not too bad. In the short walk from the 4th green to the 5th tee box players walk right past the clubhouse. Woodie decided to go inside for a drink to help calm his nerves before carrying on his spectacular round at the par 3 226 yard 5th hole. He never came out of the clubhouse. He decided that it could only get worse and that he should quit while he was ahead. Can’t say I blame him.
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Check out the article in this thread!
https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,44196.msg962125.html#msg962125
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My godfather's first round of golf was on a course that opened with a par-3.
You guessed it. Ace. He was 2-under-par for life. He kept playing anyway.
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Few days ago I got to play Pebble Beach. I started with birdie, par, birdie, birdie, birdie.
You had par on the easiest hole of the first five too!
In a college match at one of our home courses, Camarillo Springs I went eagle, birdie, par, birdie, and eagle sinking a 60 ft putt for the second eagle. 6 under for for 5 holes. I wound up shooting 32-42. At the time I was playing to a 7 hdcp. 8)
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Sporting a 23 course handicap I was matched against a new member in our flight of the club's match play tournament. Reached the first green in two, and drained a long putt (>20 ft.) for birdie three. Also, reached the second green in two, and drained another long putt for birdie three. Mishit my second shot on the third hole by thinning it. But, thin shots often seem to travel the same total distance as well struck shots, and the ball finished within six feet directly below the hole. Stroked the ball straight up the slope into the hole for another three. My opponent began to question my handicap. With a bogey, and a par on the next two holes, I was five up after five holes. Then my normal scoring returned, and I won the match five and four.
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Standing on the 8th tee at Oakmont at +1, having missed an uphill 6-foot birdie putt on the 6th.
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Started a mid-am qualifier with a turkey (birdie, birdie birdie) at Tom Doak's CommonGround.
There was a back up on the 4th tee and my friend was in the group behind, comes walking up and jokingly asks my playing partners "what's this guy, three under?"
They were like, "uh, yeah actually he is!"
Sadly, I exploded to a 78 or something and was unsuccessful in qualifying. :(:(:(
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I gotta start making birdies, that's all there is to it. If I want a great start, I need birdie after birdie after birdie. Reading these posts, I realize I'm never ever gonna shoot a good score just making pars -- in part because I'm not good enough to just keep making pars all day long, and in part because without any birdies to offset them, those bogeys add up doubly fast! You know how hard it is to shoot 72 when you make like 5 bogeys but not a single birdie? It's damn nigh impossible, I'm telling you!
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I striped my tee shot on the first tee of TOC
Trust me, nervous as I was, my best start!
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Cary,
I don’t think I ever had a noteworthy start. But, it is a small world. Back in the early 1990s when I was living in Long Beach, CA, the subject of Pine Valley and Woody Platt’s famous start came up during drinks with my next door neighbor.
Turns out Woody Platt was her father’s favorite and most frequent golfing buddy.
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Funny timing, I may have had mine today! Birdie, birdie, birdie, 3 putt bogey, birdie.
2 bad swings, 1 bad bounce, and otherwise solid ball striking the rest of the round summed up to a 72. Someone take the lid off the cup please!!! ::)
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Taking the uncoveted 24th response spot...
I played Arcadia Bluffs (Old) once about 15 years ago and started with four straight birdies. I think I shot 75 for the day, and I'm pretty confident Bill McBride was a playing partner that day.
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Taking the uncoveted 24th response spot...
I played Arcadia Bluffs (Old) once about 15 years ago and started with four straight birdies. I think I shot 75 for the day, and I'm pretty confident Bill McBride was a playing partner that day.
You starting birdie birdie par at Stone Eagle the first time we played together was very impressive (and intimidating) as well Mr. Kirk. And you beat 75 that day too.
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I don’t know my best but I will never forget my worse. I was playing the the US Hickory Open years ago. I had just pulled my opening tee shot a hair when a fellow competitor (not even in my group) asked me if I wanted to know what I did wrong?
I said no thank you and he preceded to tell me that my body was pointing to the left.
I tried to get his comment out of my head but then pushed the next shot right of the green and took a bogey. On the 2nd hole I yanked two OB and took a quad, the next hole another OB and took a triple, then a double then a bogey.
I calmed the storm and on the back recorded an eagle, a couple of birdies and some pars.
I was out of the tournament but looking back I shouldn’t have tossed that scorecard in anger. How many rounds have you seen with a Quad, a Triple, a Double, a Bogey, a Par, a Birdie and an Eagle???
PS that same guy won the tournament. Assuming he may have saw me as a risk and blew me up. Shame on me for being a mentally weak golfer.
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I had a round a few years ago at Butterfield where I started with 6 straight birdies, all of them with about 10-15 foot putts. It was an early morning round and there was some dew on the greens and I could see ball tracks from other groups that helped with the reads on a few of them. Then the dew burned off and I was back to reality. I don't remember my final score, but I think that it was back up around even par and didn't include any more red numbers.
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GCAer Michael Essig was -6 through 4 in the Kings Putter at Chambers Bay. Best start I've seen.
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Years ago at Royal Cinque Ports a chap started 4, 3, 2, 1, 10 and retired to The Chequers the pub that was walking distance from the 5th green and 15th fairway.
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I had the opposite of Tim Leary’s. I shot 41-31 at Laguna Seca. Tripled the ninth hole to cap off my front nine; then went four under on the back with a double bogey on 11.
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:P 8)
First year as assistant at PV got to play with some of my favorite guys from New England who I had caddied for for years. All pretty good players. Shot about 85 in morning with them, with a bunch of one putts. Absolutely stunk it up... so embarrassed.
They were going out for nine holes late in the day and asked me to join them again. So I totally reversed what I had been working on (hook) and sliced it around in 31 with six birdies and two bogeys , best nine I ever had there. Crazy game :D
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I don't think I've ever started better than three birdies. I did start birdie, birdie, par, birdie one time, then on the 5th (stroke 1 hole) I buttoned a drive up the middle, it hit the marker post and bounced 60 yards back towards the tee and I made 5 and the magic was gone.
One of my friends at the same course once started 3, 2 (par 5 and drivable par 4) and then hit his approach on the third to an inch, so he was one revolution from starting eagle eagle eagle. Still he was -5 after 3, which is not a bad start all told.
One of the times I started with three birdies was the second round of a two round tournament. I had shot 67 in the first round. Then in the second round the longest shot for a birdie I had was a 12 foot putt. I made five of them and missed four of them for a 31 and 98 for 27 holes. Quite pleased about that one.
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I have started Eagle-Eagle (par 5 - par 4)
And on another ocasion, 5 concecutive birdies.
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I don't remember my best start, probably because none were memorable. I do remember my best turn around. Lou Graham was the asst pro at Ft. Meade when I was a kid. He was already a standout in the Mid Atlantic. This was before he won the Open at Medinah. He invited me to play in a pro-junior. I hit my first shot shot OB and proceeded to shoot 49. He calmed me down and shot 35 on the back. I was 16. It was at Argyle CC. I've never been back.
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Where is Barney when you need him, is this thread an attempt to shame higher caps? ;D
One of my best starts ever was shooting 1 over par on the front 9, which IIIRC involved 1 birdie, two bogeys and the rest pars.... but then not breaking 80 by the time it was all done.
However, I did do way better later in the round once. After shooting like 12 over or something on the front, I shot 2 under on the back 9. ;)
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I've eagled the first hole twice. Once was the first time I'd ever holed a bunker shot (greenside bunker on a par 5). The other time was with a golf group I was new to. Me and my cart partner who I'd just met both hit great approach shots all over the flag on the long par-4 first, which was playing straight into the wind to an elevated green, so we couldn't see the cup. On the way up to the green, I joked to him, "I hope that hole is big enough for both of our balls." Sure enough, I'd holed out and he was just a couple feet away.
I may have started birdie-birdie a time or two but don't recall specifics.
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Maybe 10 years ago at a maybe a 20 handicap. Even par through 8 (one birdie, one bogy and six pars). Ninth is a par four, fairly short, but with a stream directly in front of the green. Approach into the stream (did not account sufficiently for the wind in my face). Dropped, then next shot over the green into a bunker, ended up with a quad eight. What a nine it might have been for a high handicapper!
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A few years ago we had a club event, with the usual "A", "B", "C" and "D" players, where we counted the lowest two net scores of the group. Of course a shotgun start and, although I was a 2 handicap, I got off to a start that I wasn't accustomed to in the least. -4 after 5 holes. On our 6th hole, I was in the middle of the fairway with a wedge in hand. I don't remember the particulars or the exact clubs, but I do remember that I started walking 3 holes previous, no doubt channeling my inner Ben Hogan in order to put me in as serious a state of mind that I can achieve. Which ain't serious. Anyways, as everybody else hits, I'm surveying my next shot. My cart buddy, and a good friend and great guy, came driving up in the cart with my clubs. I picked my weapon figuring that with my adrenaline and spectacular shotmaking that I possessed that day I figured I hit something very hard. As I was walking to my ball, my buddy said in a hushed, laughing tone, "Man, do you know you're 4 under?" He was excited for me. Like I said, he's a great guy.
Not a shocker that I bladed my shot so badly, that I had pretty much a full shot from behind the green. No clue as to what I shot that day but suffice to say, it was nowhere near -4.
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My wife and I went to Streamsong last year. We started on the Blue, but on the tenth hole. My wife hit a five wood on the green and in for an ace on the first shot of the trip. Her third ace, and a perfect start to the week.
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At Enniscrone last Friday, with a steady 15-20 mph breeze, I started par, birdie, par, birdie, par, eagle, birdie. I can't remember ever having a start better than that.
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7 under for 10, chipped in at 1, holed a pitch at 3, holed a huge putt at 7 and another huge one at 9. Finished 4 under which is my best.
Can think of half a dozen times I have been -2 for 1
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Remembered another great start at least for me. I was teaching a friend of mine to play golf and took him out to Griffith Park in LA to play his first regulation course. I holed a putt for a birdie on the first, a par 4 and then holed a wedge for a 2 on the second, a par 4, while my friend took 16 shots to complete the same holes. I had to assure him the game was not that easy and not to give up as he would get better and I would get worse. 8)
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I started the round eagle/eagle (both dunk approach on par 4s) standing on 3 tee box 4 under at Desert Mountain Chiricahua. Played ok the rest of the round finishing at 79.
Justin
Phoenix AZ
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Best I ever had was in a high school match. Birdied the first hole in a normal fashion. Chipped in on 2 for a birdie. Cut the corner of the dogleg on the third to land near the green and got up and down for a birdie. I promptly tripled the fourth hole... :'(
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Birdie, double eagle. I’ve been -9 thru 13, and -13 thru 16. My bad days have been equally spectacular. In college tournaments, I shot 75 with a ten, 79 with an eleven, and 66-78. In an amateur tournament I shot 79-65. Rocky steady, I am not.