2022 Year in Review
The “Official” golf season on Delaware came to a close on November 14th and the winter season has kicked off. Generally, the weather has been nice and your Hack has been able to 6 or 7 rounds over the past 3 weeks. It’s basically our “Silly” season now and the only real scores we can post will come from rounds down south or west. We are hitting off mats for the par 3’s at Cripple Creek, turning 3 of the 4 short holes into 90-125 yard wedge shots with only the 16th measuring something more substantial - 145-170 depending on the pin location.
I am continuing to play well but this time between Thanksgiving and year end is ripe for reflection and an accounting. Let’s take a look back at the 2022 year in the golf life of your retired Hack.
Overall, I played 87 rounds during the season with a scoring average of 78.59, hitting fairways 53% of the time and hit greens in regulation 55% of the time. Although, I averaged 1.4 birdies per round, I also averaged 1.6 doubles per round (see goals below). Putting continues to be an issue as I averaged 33.3 puts per round, but double bogeys or worse is the big key to lowering my scores.
Your Hack was able to play 23 courses over the year in addition to Cripple Creek. Highlights of the year included Lancaster Country Club with the Broken Tee Society, Huntington Valley with the Fried Egg, and the Country Club of Maryland in the Senior Team Challenge Matches with the DSGA, GAP, NJSGA and MSGA. And, how can I not mention the golf trip to Scottsdale early in the year.
Disappointments for the year included the fizzling out of the monthly match play with the Hamsterdam Golf Club in MD, not being able to play in any Capital Golf Club events in the DC area and only playing 1 early event with the Electric Phactory Golf Club in Philadelphia. These are the internet based groups that I’d signed up to play with early in 2022. Your Hack needs to make this more of a priority in the coming year.
Handicap
Opening the year in April with a 6.4 handicap index, some good play early in the season dropped the index to 4.8 at the end of May. On June 30th, the index stood at 3.6, decreased slightly in July to 3.3 and hit a 2022 low on August 19th, standing at 2.1. Evidently, your Hack was concerned about improving too quickly and we saw the index steadily increase through the Fall and end the season at 5.0.
How is that for consistency? My “cap” jumped up and down so quickly over the season that I wondered if the golf gods were playing with me. More realistically, it is the result of a fairly wide score dispersion. I shot 68 twice in 2022 (June 3rd and August 12th), but also posted a high score of 89 in an early DSGA tournament and a long series of scores in the high 70’s/low 80’s near the end of the season.
Let’s turn to my goals for the year as I posted back in the Spring:
Goals for 2022:
Average less than 1/2 3-putts per round: [RESULT: Averaged 1.4 3-putts per round]
Average less than 1/2 double or worse per round: [RESULT: Averaged 1.6 double bogeys per round]
Make 100 birdies: [RESULT: 118 birdies]
Birdie each hole at Cripple Creek from the back (Black) tees: [RESULT: Only played the tips 4 times during 2022, but birdied every hole from the Hybrid Black/White tees]
Win the Club Championship and Sr. Club Championship at Cripple Creek: [RESULT: Missed qualifying for Championship flight, but won the 1st Flight by 23 shots. Came in 2nd on the Sr. Club Championship]
Shoot my age (67): [RESULT: Missed. Shot 68 twice]
Reflections:
Overall, your Hack continues to improve, shooting lower scores and making birdies. However, putting consistency and multiple double bogeys or worse plague the scorecard too often. 2022 saw 21 rounds with scores of 75 or better, but also 10 rounds of 83 or worse. An awful statistic - - - I posted 48 rounds with 2 or more double bogeys or worse. Even worse you ask? - - - there were 24 rounds with 3 or more 3-putts, including 2 rounds with 7 3-putts each! On a more positive note, there were 20 rounds with 3 or more birdies including 2, 5 birdie rounds.
Tournament golf continues to get in my head. Although I played our 1st Flight Club Championship over 36 holes in 2 under par, I previously missed qualifying from the same tees the week prior by 3 shots. Your Hack couldn’t break 80 in the Senior Club Championship this year and our performance in the Pro-AM tournaments this year was marginal at best. Looking back over my betting record, we played better for money than for trophies.
Looking Forward:
Your Hack’s goals for 2023 include playing more tournament golf. I’m considering becoming our club’s captain for the GAP Team matches in the BMS GAP Team matches in April & May - more on that later in the year. In addition to our club championship and senior club championships, I plan to play in the DE AM, the DE Open, and the DE Senior AM and Open in 2023. I am also planning to re-commit to internet golf and play more events in the Hamsterdam, Capital and Electric Phactory golf series.
I’ve been reading about mental golf types and focus techniques to begin working on my tournament game. Bigger money games are also a good way to introduce more pressure into things. I need to play more without fear of consequences . . . not necessarily being aggressive with each shot, but also not worrying about where the ball is going when I reach the top of my backswing.
Specifically, for 2023 your Hack is going to focus more on putting and chipping. We all know I have a putting and chipping green in my back yard, but many of my scores this year make it appear like it’s gone untouched. I’m going to be introducing scheduled regular practice sessions, game playing on the green, and experiments with different putters and grips - maybe even a left hand low stroke and a forearm lock stroke.
So, here are my statistical goals for 2023:
Reduce average putts to 31 per round
Reduce 3-putt average from 1.4 to .75 per round
Reduce double-bogey or worse from 1.6 to .75 per round
Increase GIR to 58%
Increase FIR to 58%
Make 125 birdies
Reduce handicap index from 5.0 to 2.5
Finally, my goal is to win the Club Championship and the Senior Club Championship in 2023. I accomplished this goal in 2018, the year your Hack retired, but have not one either since.
So there it is. My heart has been laid bare and once again I’ve signed up to some goals and accountability for the next year. [Maybe I should get some lessons and hire a coach!]
Thanks for following along and keep it in the short grass.