After taking 2 weeks off because of my trip to Las Vegas (Day 1 and Day 2 summaries), I sure made up for the lost golf this weekend. On Saturday I played 27 holes and 18 more on Sunday. My friend Jere was up for the weekend and our plan was to golf, golf, golf. It was over 90 degrees both days here in Michigan and the humidity was high, especially on Sunday. Last night I was exhausted and I’m still feeling a bit tired today to go with a sore back.

I shot 49-43-52 on Saturday at Maple Leaf Golf Course in Linwood, MI. The East is the easiest of the three courses and I should have scored a lot better than a 49 but I made some dumb mistakes when I had good chances for birdies and pars. The North was next and I played well there. Finally on the West course we started to get really tired and my game kind of fell apart. If you are ever in the area, you can’t find a better deal than Maple Leaf. We played 27 holes with a cart and it was about $42 for the weekend rate.

Yesterday I shot 47-43 at Swan Valley Golf Course in Saginaw, MI. This is my favorite course in the area. It’s always in great shape and there is hardly ever anyone on the course. We played behind a three-some the entire round and still finished in 3 hours and 20 minutes. The 43 on the back nine should have been a lot better, but I took a 9 on one hole after hitting my 2nd shot into the water, flying the green after my drop, chipping short, chipping again, and taking 3 putts. I came back strong with a birdie on the next hole, a 491 yard par 5 where I hit two 3 woods and was inches off the front of the green.

The one consistent part of my game fell apart this weekend. I only had less than 17 putts for 9 holes once out of the five rounds. I’m usually right around 14 or 15 putts, but I just couldn’t hit anything. Part of that also goes back to chipping because I wasn’t exactly giving myself many 2-5 footers for a first putt. Jere on the other hand was putting like a mad man. He’ll rarely beat me in putts but did so in 4 out of the 5 nines we played this weekend.

Driving was also a bit odd. I was hitting more hooks and pulls than I was hitting slices. It’s hard to adjust on the tee box when you don’t now which direction the ball is going to end up. After league tomorrow I think the rest of the week will be spent at the driving range working on my swing. Taking time away from the game is nice, but it sure does hurt the scoring column. It’s time to start getting prepared for my big golf trip to Boyne Highlands towards the end of August.