OceanStWx

Honestly the iron game just wasn't that strong. Straight but often short, right, or left. Chip and a putt later and I walked away with par or bogey. If I was consistently hitting GIR I would've easily been living in the mid to high 70s because I had a strong putter. Now we birdie and then give it away with doubles and triples.

It's a crime I have only played that course once, but I also didn't start playing seriously until 2008. Shot my first round in the 80s in 2012, and first 79 in 2016. 2017 I knew we were going to try to have a kid so it was a grind to get the index below 10. Shot my best 9 (36, +1) and had a couple 78s and managed to sneak it down to 9.7 by the end of the year. I was probably a small adjustment away on my approach shots from being really good, but the season ended and the rest is history.

When you play every week it's pretty amazing how it all comes together quickly. But there are still flashes, as long as I can hang onto those I'm happy. I've gone 50/41 and 42/46 in my most recent rounds. Chuck the 50 and I'm content.

Having a kid has done a number on my handicap (only 4 rounds so far this year) but every once and a while it still comes together for me. Played with Ekster last week and split the fairway in half on 1 about 280. Had about 120 in and parked it to 1 foot. Probably should've just walked back to the parking lot though.

I tried to do the "wave of color" through the seasons. Lily of the valley and azalea bloom early, spirea late June-ish, and Hydrangea the rest of the year. All cultivars I picked to grow generally 4-5 ft tall and wide and not block our pinched windows in the front. I also have a running list of things I'd like in the yard.

I like the name, vive le resistance! We got two Endless Summer Bloomstruck hydrangea. I think my plant coverings weren't tall enough last year, so a few stem tips got burned and didn't come back, but otherwise they are flourishing. Last season the flower were a deep blue-purple, but this year it's a light rose-purple. So I've added about 0.5 pH worth of sulfur to see if that does the trick.

I did the ziplock and paper towel route for lupine this spring. Worked great as I would say the majority of those seeds that germinated have taken root in the wild flower bed. Now slugs and snails are doing a number, but I've kept them at bay with garlic water spray. Next step will be a more potent repellent. Several clusters are doing really well though. I think I successfully saved my October glory that had crown dieback last summer. Trimmed the dead branches and sprayed neem oil for the bugs that seemed to be enjoying the open wounds a little too much. Nice full crown this year, no dieback that I can see. Hydrangea are definitely blooming purple though, so the blue flowers last year were just a sign of the potting soil the plant came in. My beds need some amendments to bring the pH down.

That's what my practice swing always looks like. I honestly think 90% of my problems could be solved with a "slow back and accelerate through" but I tend to accelerate back and overswing. I know I'm doomed when I can see the club head out of my left eye cross the plane at the top of my backswing (I'm right handed).

Is this for E Mass trying to steal your snow?

Nearly gave myself heat stroke today, but I dragged myself around 18 walking. 50 back (teed off 10) and 41 front.

I've been tracking that for a bunch of years now, I've been pretty consistently averaging about 240 carry. Depending on how damp the course is anywhere from 250-270 on the roll out. The good swings can get me 270 carry and near 300 on the roll out. I would really like to figure out how to do that consistently, because the game does get easier.

That's why I want to run the soil test first, but all signs pointing towards at least slightly alkaline at the moment.

My plan is to do the same this fall. I think I may have to mix some peat in to get the soil away from alkaline. I'll just some soil tests first, but I'm pretty sure that's a big issue for me.

First round in on Saturday at Belgrade Lakes. Normally my crap posture means I fat my shots early in the year, but my big miss was topped shots all day. 52 on the front then resorted to G&Ts and managed 3 pars on the back, actually 3 of the last 5.

We do. Honestly if it weren't for the neighbors who dropped sod across the street, I might have salvaged the best lawn on the street so far. We were all in pretty rough shape year one though.

First mow today. It's green, and good in some spots, but I've got my work cut out for me. I've always had a lot of white clover because of the very basic contractor landscaping that took a while to germinate. Seeing a lot more crab grass this year than last, or maybe it's just more obvious now that the good parts of the lawn are trying to fill in. Also as the neighborhood has filled in with houses the drainage has definitely changed in subtle ways, and a very damp side yard has seen a lot of horsetail spouting. I think my main motivation for mowing today was to eliminate these things from going to seed/spore and some spots were unsightly tall. My young lilacs look to be doing all right though, with at least one showing some signs of flowering this year (I was expecting at least another season without). The hydrangea are really leafing out now, spirea just popped buds this week, peonies really survived the winter well (probably going to triple the number of flowers this season). Projects this week will hopefully include an overseed, maybe aerating (I think my soil is too compacted which gave the weeds the best chance), and edging my flower beds with pavers.

Posted this in Wiz's severe thread to give him a hard time, but Maine is going with limited golf on May 1. I assume that means no sharing golf carts, but for us walkers that should mean no real changes. Now the fact that I haven't swung a club since early February may be more of a problem.

I like it. Load it up with drinks, snacks, music. Plus by the end of the 18 carrying I was usually way too gassed on a July day to keep a good round going.

I found a pretty slick and easy design online that require a few 2x4s and some cedar fence pickets. It's something I can throw a cover over to protect it from the elements too. Excuse for dad to hang out in the garage with his beer?

Everything is DIY this year. Raised beds, firewood rack, plantings. Which is funny because I don't really have extra time, in fact I probably have less.

Pretty soon I'll be meh-ing every precip event.

Also just laid out a bunch of loam to build up areas in the front of my lawn and the delivery truck drove right over it this morning.

Mine were definitely grubs, but so far I haven't seen any dead patches. I think my biggest issue is compacted soil to be honest. It is new construction after all. I'm going to try all natural this season and see how things go into next spring. Aerate and overseed this spring, aerate, overseed, and topdress this fall.

Since I'm not seeing any dead patches in the main part of the lawn yet, I'm wondering if they are mostly in the esplanade. I think I may try nematodes late this summer and try and deal with next season's crop of grubs then.

Lots of work to do in the yard, and no childcare to offer me the time to do it. Just threw 5 yards of loam around the yard while my son napped this past week (mostly to raise the level of the yard to our new patio). But I did notice while pulling some obvious weed/crab grass that I have grubs, at least in the esplanade between sidewalk and street. Definitely approaching 10 per square foot. I've noticed a lot of blue jay and robin activity in the yard this spring so far and I'm wondering if that's what they are trying to get after. No I may need to deal with those before it starts to really kill the lawn. So far I don't have any obvious dead patches, but I don't want it to come to that.