At no risk of upsetting the handicap system, I'll offer some insight on the game format I've been working on.
Golf...in your late 60's or 70's
I’ve been tinkering around with the Tee it Forward game for a while now.
This chart is a guideline to help golfers align their average driving distance with the course length best suited to their abilities.
Driver Distance | Recommended 18-Hole Yardages |
|---|---|
275 | 6,700-6,900 |
250 | 6,200-6,400 |
225 | 5,800-6,000 |
200 | 5,200-5,400 |
175 | 4,400-4,600 |
150 | 3,500-3,700 |
125 | 2,800-3,000 |
100 | 2,100-2,300 |
If you remember my table a few months ago…the spec on the Boundary Oaks White tees is:
Boundary White | Yards 6372 | Drives 250 |
For those of us driving 200 yards or less....
Average Drive to Tee Distance Matrix | |||
Drive | Min | Max Tee Distance | Mid Point |
200 | 5200 | 5400 | 5300 |
187.5 | 4800 | 5000 | 4900 |
175 | 4400 | 4600 | 4500 |
There is actually nothing quite that short.
Recently I have be working on playing back at the White or even Blue tees, and playing a game where
I extend my drive but hitting a 2nd short from the fairway, but counting that shot as just an extension to my drive.
This allow for sort of a fantasy play where the short driver is able to emulate the longer drive player.
It actually speeds up play, since by hitting shorter drives off the back tees one can tee off early since the players ahead clear faster.
And even on the 2nd extension drive shot, play is faster since you are only hitting a short positioning shot, rather than trying to hit it as far as you can....of course for your approach shot you still need to wait for the green to clear.
An added benefit is extra practice using the positioning club.
I also found one does not hit as many wild shots doing this.
Initially, I tried it using a wedge to extend my drive.
Lately, I’ve been trying to play positional golf on the par 4’s and 5’s.
How does this work.
1) Look at the score card hole yardage.
2) Determine your course objective for the round on what average green in regulation distance you are positioning towards.
3) For my game I use 100 yards. I’d like to be shooting to the green from on average 100 yard.
4) So for Boundary Oaks 1st hole – 396yds, I subtract 100 yard, it’s a par 4 so I want to be hitting my 2nd shot from 296yds.
5) So then I estimate what drive and extension shot do I need to reach the 296yds target. For me that is 180 yard drive and 115 yard 7 iron.
6) You can adjust this as needed for uphill or into the wind conditions.
7) So you hit those two first shots. Obviously, shots will not be perfect, so I may endup anywhere before or past the 100 yard marker.
8) I then play into the green, chip, putt as normal from where the ball ends up after my positioning shot.
This works for me on all the holes except number 8 where the down hill slope will often leave the drive near the 100 yard marker.
But for the other 13 par 4-5 holes, I take the extra shot.
On par 3 holes you are free to play from the tees of your choice...I still use the gold tees based on my shorter hitting game. At Boundary Oaks, the 4 gold par 3’s total about 100 yards shorter than the whites, so to adjusted course length is about 6,270 yards.
The goal is to get as close to par as you can for the round……of course you still have really hit those 13 other shots, but I don’t count them, I just pretend I am a 250-260 yard driver.
Call it macho golf, positional golf or fantasy golf whatever you want.
I encourage you to try it.
Or just play your normal game with your normal handicap.
But I found this more fun.
And about the Mulligans....just call it hit to your happy, HTYH!
You can still do that but with this new format you might not need to.
Subject: From the Lighthouse Blog Biblical Christianity – The Biggest Obstacle to the New AgeThis is from a writer and blogger I have followed to some extent, who just this week passed on to be with the Lord.Perhaps we can all agree that the New Age stuff is bad news, some see it's base concept..see bold below, as reaching into many of the False Religions....take Mormonism as an example...they teach that you can become a god, and even get your own planet to rule and populate, yes it's true, or eastern religion and the mysteries of many gods or perfectionist. We generally, put New Age into a box, that limits it to just the bizarre crystal worshippers, but the underlying concepts often creep into all Religions. One concern is whether or not it is true that they have been merged into The Church. The book would be an interesting read, even if only to disagree. The closer we stick to Biblical Christianity the safer we are, but then the world has been swaying from God's Word from the beginning, i.e. The garden.Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Or read about how Paul, Peter and John speak to the influx of false teaching into the church from the beginning.....or the waves of gnostic, Arianism, or pelagic teaching that comes forward, in the early centuries.The challenge is to see what really counters Biblical Christianity through the ages, into the Reformation and Counter Reformation, up to all which is muddying the waters of the Church today.As Eve saw....sometimes things look good, but then we shouldn't take it in...Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.To be direct, the closest I ever came personally to the New Age stuff was when one of the VP's at Digital Equipment, was getting everyone on the West Coast involved and trained on Visualization Techniques, we even had extensive workshops in Finance of all places to learn to apply these principles at work, I was do convinced of it's validity at the time, I even over viewed the basic concepts in a Sunday School Class I was involved with. Sigh......no one ever challenged me, and luckily, it was short lived. If you Google New Age Visualization or the more specific term The Law of Attraction, you will get too much to read about how this is in the church. All this was maybe 25 years ago, for me, and I've done my own departing from this and of a number of other things since then.Biblical Christianity – The Biggest Obstacle to the New Age
By Ray Yungen
The New Age and Christianity definitely clash on the answer to the question of human imperfection. The former—the New Age—espouses the doctrine of becoming self-realized and united with the universe, which New Agers see as God but in reality is the realm of familiar spirits. On the other hand, the Gospel that Christians embrace offers salvation to humanity through grace (unmerited favor). Romans 3:24 boldly states: “. . . being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” In Romans 6:23, we read: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This gift is not earned or given as a reward for earnest or good intentions as Scripture clearly states:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
This Scripture that tackles the issue of pride sharply distinguishes all of man’s religions from Christianity. Religion persuades us that man is innately good and, therefore, can earn his way to heaven through human perfectibility or, better yet, through the realization of his own divinity. Christianity emphatically states the opposite view that man needs to humbly recognize his own sinfulness and fallibility, and consequently needs salvation through grace.
The Holy Spirit, through the Scripture, convicts the sinner of his sinful and lost condition and then presents to the despairing and repentant man God’s solution–salvation through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Cross: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7) and then:
[I]f you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9-10)
Salvation is entirely a gift of grace bestowed on whoever believes in Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross as both God and man. Consequently, we must receive Him as Lord and Savior, understanding that it is by grace and grace alone that we are made acceptable in Christ before a holy God. Justification is God’s gift to the believer. This saving faith, also a demonstration of God’s grace, is more than an intellectual belief in Jesus’ death on the Cross but involves committing and entrusting one’s life to Jesus as both Lord and Savior–Christ’s going to the Cross was a finished work, and we as believers are now complete in Him. Nothing else can be added to this. How totally opposite from New Age thinking is God’s plan of salvation!
It all comes down to the preaching of the higher self versus the preaching of the Cross. New Agers may say God is synonymous with a person’s higher self, and the experience of God can only be discovered by way of meditation. However, the Christian admits his or her sinfulness before a Holy God and remembers he is saved only by the grace and mercy of God through the sacrificial shedding of Christ’s blood for his sins.
The message of Jesus Christ reaches out to the lost human race with the love of God who sacrificed His only begotten Son for the Swami Muktanandas of the world. The Bible teaches that man has an inherently rebellious and ungodly nature (which is evident), and his ways are naturally self-centered and evil in the sight of God. The Bible teaches that God is not indifferent to us. The sacrifice of Christ for the ungodly to reconcile us to God reveals the Lord’s love toward Man.
This explains why Christianity must be steadfast on these issues. If a belief system does not teach the preaching of the Cross, then it is not “the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18). If other ways are correct, “then Christ died in vain,” rendering His shed blood unnecessary and immaterial (Galatians 2:21).
Because of this conflict, we can safely say that Christianity is the most formidable obstacle to the New Age, standing like a bulwark against this tidal wave of meditation teachers and practical mystics. But, incredibly, many of the most successful practical mystics are appearing from within Christianity itself. Ironically, instead of stemming the momentum of New Age spirituality, it is our own churches that may very well be the decisive catalysts to propel this movement into prominence. Certain spiritual practices have become entrenched in our churches that, like an iceberg, seem beautiful and impressive on the surface but in reality will cause severe damage and compromise of truth. (from A Time of Departing, pp.24-26)
