Longwood Golf Club, Tomball, TX - Review

Longwood Golf Club is a 27 hole course. Overall I would give this course a B. The fairways and tee-boxes are mediocre and the greens could use A LOT of improvement.

The driving range was in pretty good shape (was hitting off grass), but isnt the biggest so if its busy you may have to wait for a spot to open up.

If you are spraying the ball off the tee I would recommend finding another course as this track has many tree's lining its fairways. The course is challenging in the fact that straight shots are critical off the tee and on many approach shots. However, with its tree line, you can still feel the wind in your shots if its breezy.

Though subtle, the course does have elevation changes coming into affect. Some approach shots may not seem like it, but an extra club may be needed from time to time. The course plays just under 7,000 yards from the tips, so long hitters wont find this course too short.

I paid $54 for my round (sunday) and it included two bud light drafts. I would've rather paid $40 and no bud light. Also, i have no idea what course management was thinking, but they decided to start a shot-gun tournament around us in the middle of our front nine. When we made the turn, there were two groups waiting to tee off on the 10th hole. It took us 1.5 hours to play three holes and after 14 we just gave up and came in. On our way in we were looking for a spot to jump back in and finish, but the course was stacked all the way to 18 green. Pretty terrible on their part.

I would MAYBE play longwood again, but definitely not anytime soon. It is about 25 minutes from where I live, and im sure i can find much better courses closer with a better price point.

Shell Houston Open Players

Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia are just a few of the names playing in this year's Shell Houston Open.

How to Hit Straight Putts

How to Roll the Ball Straight


This homemade training aid tells you why you miss the ones you should make

This post is for you if...

• You miss a lot of putts you think are easy.
• When you miss, you don't know which part of your stroke is to blame.

Try This

Take those pennies you've been saving for a rainy day and fill a coin wrapper, then take the roll to the practice putting green, drop it about three feet from the hole on a flat section of the green and try to putt it into the hole. This is one of the all-time great homemade training aids. Since the roll is about the same length as your putterface, it can give you clues about your stroke that normally go undetected when you're practicing with balls, which only interact with the putterface at a single point. With the roll, you get contact across the entire length of the putterface, so any miscues in your stroke are immediately made apparent by the errant movement of the roll.

If the roll spins to the left, the toe of your putter is catching it first, which means you're closing the putterface through impact.

If the roll spins to the right, the heel of your putter is catching it first, which means you're opening the putterface through impact.

If the roll rolls (instead of spinning) but misses right, your stroke is too inside out. Your typical miss is a push.

If the roll rolls but misses to the left, you're cutting across the ball. Your typical miss is a pull.

Keep putting your pennies until you can consistently get the roll into the cup. When you do, you'll know that your path is correct and your putterface is square through impact.

Cinco Ranch Golf Course, Katy, TX - Review

Yesterday I played The Golf Club at Cinco Ranch. Besides the freezing 44 degree weather with rain the course wasnt too bad.

It is very forgiving so if you are having a tough day off the tee you may not put yourself in jail as much as you would in other courses. The greens were extremely slow. This could be due to the fact it was raining/drizzling for the past few days, or if they are naturally slow there.

The driving range is well kept and the grass is good to hit off of. The range isnt protected much by tree's so if you go on a windy day be prepared for that to effect your practice. Also, the putting green does not have real cups, just the studs for you to hit your ball into. So dont expect to work on your putting game there seriously.

All in all the course is well kept. Some greens could use a little work as it was bumpy. Also, players could replace more of their ball marks too.

The carts all come with a GPS which is a great help for anyone not familiar with the course. Green Fees on the weekends are $62.95 for non Cinco residents. Not sure if that price is worth it if you are coming from a distance (i had to drive 25 minutes to get there). For residents not having to commute the $50.96 green fee seems much more worth while.

I probably wont play there again unless its for a tournament or something forcing me to drive out there. For people in the area I would recommend it.

Albatross

Albatross - A score of three under the par for a hole (known in U.S. as a double-eagle)


****Thank you to Mark Vogel for pointing out my spelling error and being such a loyal reader of this wonderful blog************

Easy Putting Drill pt 3

Now its time to tie in your putting drills with your chipping drills.

Start to practice with your chips coming within a 3-foot radius of the cup. By this time, the three foot range should start to be a distance you are comfortable with. With you working on your 3-foot putting drill combined with getting chips within three feet, you will start to be able to go "up and down" more on the golf course.

Being able to do that will save many pars. And that is never a bad thing!

Shell Houston Open

I will be attending the Shell Houston Open

Look forward to some big names and watching them prepare for The Masters. Will be interesting to see how they are playing going into the first major of the year.

Easy Putting Drill pt 2

Now that you have started to become confident from 3-foot range, when you are done with that move back to 10-feet and go for making 7 out of 10 putts.

This distance can be critical as well. For some people, this range may be birdie putts, and for others it will be them trying to squeeze in a par. Either way, the 10-foot range should be a makeable range and a lot of it is confidence which this drill will help you with. For any player, being able to make a few more 10-foot putts will not only build confidence, you will see your score drop.

Easy Putting Drill

A good habit to get into is ending every practice on the putting green and not leaving until you make 10 putts in a row from 3-feet.

The three foot putting drill will help you gain confidence from that distance, and get you better at dealing with pressure 3-footers when you start to get to 7 or 8 in a row and know you are almost done.

If you start to do this you will be amazed at how confident you will get on the green while playing. For those long 20-30 foot putts, you know that if you can get it within three feet, it will just be an "easy" putt from there since you will be confident from that range.

In the next few days I will be adding more putting drills that will build off this one. By the end of the drills your confidence/skills around the green will increase dramatically thus lowering your score.