Waddling to the Top
Tournament Time Again?
by Pat Sheridan on 07/04/15It's hard to believe it but it's time again to start prepping for a tournament. This time we are focusing on a local tournament we have played a few times - The Farmington Miniature Golf tournament. This is the 34th year of the tournament, which makes it one of the longest running miniature golf tournaments that we're aware of. The highest I've finished in this tournament is T-4 and this year Mandy will also be playing for the first time.
The other first we have going for this tournament is The Putting Penguin sponsorship contest. We're running a contest to sponsor someone who has never played in a competitive miniature golf tournament in an attempt to broaden the base of tournament players. We can't wait to announce the winner soon and we'll be doing blog posts with the lucky individual.
We've started our prep for this tournament by returning to the scene of our first minigolf course reviewed last weekend and re-familiarizing ourselves with the holes. There's 7-8 holes that are quite ace-able, a few more that can drop if you get a good bounce and the remainder you want to set up for a deuce. Those in the last category can also get away from you quickly and the key to this tournament is avoiding those 4s.
The 1st hole. Looks straightforward but there is some break to the putt. Many aces to be had on this hole though.
I probably won't keep too detailed a book for this tournament since it's lower stakes than the U.S. Open, and I'm much more familiar with the holes, but I'll definitely jot some notes on how a few putts play. In practice I was able to shoot a 39 (Mandy was a slight bit higher) and I figure if I can keep it in the 36-38 range for the 3 rounds I should be good for placing. The drawback to that practice round was that I didn't use a course ball, as is required by the tournament, but I will in subsequent practice sessions.
Pick your poison on this hole. Don't think I've aced it.
I would like to get in 3-4 more practice rounds before the morning of the tournament so we'll have to see how this summer goes. Keep looking to this space for more build up to the end of August tournament!
The Recap
by Pat Sheridan on 06/05/15I'm a few weeks removed from the tournament now but I felt I should do a final tournament recap post. There isn't much from the tournament proper that I haven't already touched upon in my previous few posts but there are a few final items:
- A big thanks goes to Dave and Mary at Champions Golf Learning Center for putting on the event. It's no small effort to host the U.S. Open and they had the course looking great.
- In the 3.5 days I was there, I estimate that I made just around 1000 putts (333 in the tournament plus roughly another 700 in practice rounds (about 16 of them) and practice putts). From what I know of the other competitors I was definitely on the low end of the number of putts made during the week.
- I was extremely happy that I did a shot book for all 18 holes at this tournament. It came in handy several times but I also didn't "trust the book" a couple of times when I should have. Lesson learned.
- I'm still trying to figure out how I took a 4 on hole 12 in one round and a 4 on hole 17 in another round - and neither were the fault of the shot book. Just goes to show how easily you can throw away 4 shots during the course of a tournament.
- My Irish skin surprisingly didn't burn and I actually got a decent tan.
- I'm already excited to play in my next tournament, whenever that may be. Getting the first tournament of the year in turns on my competitive juices.
I hope everyone marks their calendar for May 2016 and the USPMGA U.S. Open at Putt U in Pennsylvania (if not one of the earlier USPMGA tournaments like the Western Open or the 2015 Masters)!
25th Ain't So Bad...
by Pat Sheridan on 05/17/15First- congrats goes to Brad Lebo for winning the 2015 USPMGA US Open with a score of 297 over the 8 rounds. He only managed to beat me by a measly 36 strokes. I would call that a success.
Brad Lebo accepting his 1st place trophy for the 2015 USPMGA US Open
My second day ended up better than my first afternoon but not quite as good as my first morning. I ended with a 42 and a 40 in the last two rounds to finish with a 333 total and just barely squeak into a tie for 25th place and win a $100.
Putt showing off his winnings from the 2015 U.S. Open
I failed to mention in my previous posts that we also had a trophy on the line for the best finish by a New England miniature golfer, there being 4 of us from CT playing. I fell short of that trophy as well with Justin Seymour taking the prize finishing with a 318.
The 4 CT miniature golfers. We were all in the money and Justin took away the New England trophy. From L to R: Mark "The Highlighter" Novicki, Justin Seymour, John O'Leary and Pat Sheridan.
While I wasn't too happy with my final scores, I did have a great time playing in the big tournament for the second year in a row. Unfortunately I won't be able to play in the 2015 USPMGA Masters but I've already marked my calendar for the 2016 US Open to be held at Putt U in Pennsylvania. I'm hoping that folks who have read this blog and have never played in a big tournament mark that one on your calendar too. We has just under 40 participants in this year's tournament and I'd really love to see a field of 50 or more for this major event.
Over the next couple of weeks we'll do a couple of wrap up posts from this tournament and then it will be time to turn our attention back to the full website for a bit. Great putting by everyone this weekend!
The First 6 Rounds
by Pat Sheridan on 05/16/15
I have to admit that I was pretty happy with the way my first round at the 2015 U.S. Open started. I predicted that I would ace my first hole and I actually did it! It was a roller coaster ride from there though (and most of my other predictions aren't looking good).
Proudly representing both KPMG and The Putting Penguin today
The morning 3 rounds saw me slowly improving and although I managed 6 aces through 3 rounds, I finished with a 41, 40 and 39 resulting in a score of 12 over par and landing me right in the middle of the pack around 18th place. I felt like I was starting to tame the course.
Putt making his 4th U.S. Open appearance
But then the pizza showed up, the sun came out and the course bit me hard. Did I mention this course is tough? Lowest score so far is a 35 and there have only been 6 of those our of the 228 rounds of miniature golf played so far by the participants. It's not surprising that Brad Lebo, one of the best miniature golfers in the US, had two of those in his first six rounds (and is currently winning the tournament).
My afternoon was a lot less stellar. I ended with 43, 44, 44 and had a total of zero aces in those three rounds. The mental game really came into play in the afternoon for me. I had a couple bad runs and found myself not trusting my putts, even on those deuce shots I'd made fifteen times over the past couple of days. On a course where a bad-run-stopping ace is hard to get, it's definitely tough to center your mind and get back on your game.
One thing I did forget to mention about this course - the cups do not give you a favorable break. On some courses, a close lip shot and the ball will fall - you get none of that on this course. If you miss by a little, you might as well miss by a mile because either way the putt isn't falling. That, coupled with the lack of aces, can punish you when your game is slipping.
My goals for day 2:
- Have two rounds below 40
- Get 3 more aces
- Slip into the Top 25 (I'm currently 26th)
U.S. Open 2015 scoreboard
Here's to a good night's sleep and two good rounds of minigolf tomorrow!
Perfect Practice?
by Pat Sheridan on 05/15/15If practice makes perfect than I'm a few county miles away from perfection. The morning rounds weren't terrible but the afternoon fell apart pretty hard. It sounds like most of the players are dialing in their game so I'm hoping I can step up my shots on tournament day.
A few thoughts from today's rounds:
- The speed will change throughout the day - but to what extent I'm still stumped. Probably not a good thing.
- Back-to-back aces on this course are going to be rare.
- Remember to trust the book! It's the first time I've made one for all 18 holes so I might as well use it.
Some predictions for the tournament
- An average of 37.5 will win the tournament. While some players can definitely shoot lower than that I don't think there's enough consistency in the course to keep the scores that low for the entire tournament
- We will have a first time U.S. Open winner (sorry to some of my friends who I would really like to see win, but I think this course holds the possibilities of a first time winner)
- I will break the top 20
- I will ace my first hole {long shot but I'm feeling good}
- The lowest score for a round will be a 33
- The highest score for a round will be...well, I don't want to predict that because there's a chance I can shoot it
Official pairings for the 1st 3 rounds of the 2015 U.S. Open.
Whatever the outcomes of the tournament, I'm going to try to remember to have as much fun as I can because, as I've said before - it's minigolf! We'll try to get some media up during the week so you can see how much fun you're missing if you're not playing in these tournaments.
