Golf Update and some Poker Stuff

I witnessed my partner Terry1 hit a hole-in-one yesterday. It was the second Hole-in-one I have witnessed. I have yet to get one myself. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

He hit a 4 iron from 175 yards to a front, center pin location. The ball hit the green and took one hop into the cup. It was his first Hole-in-one and I made him buy me a beer.
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I had one of those rounds where you just hit the ball really good but can't score a lick. I had two bad holes on each nine that really ballooned my score but, even discounting those two holes, I just wasn't able to get the ball in the hole in regulation. It was a misty, overcast, wet day and the greens were very wet so all my putts seemed to come up short. What really screwed me up was I figured the air would be heavier with the moisture and the ball wouldn't fly as far but I was hitting my short irons at least one club length farther than normal. Thus a few of my early shots flew the pin and either flew the green or left a long putt (snaking, downhill, left-to-right, over a ridge, double breakers, of course). Maybe I was just hitting my irons really crisp and keeping my head down really good but they sure were flying far.

My driver was working real well but I just wasn't scoring. I have had a discussion with my partner Terry1 about what is better, hitting the ball well but not scoring or hitting bad shots but lucking out and getting a good score. We both agreed that hitting the ball better was the way to consistantly score better as a lucky round after hitting bad shots was not going to keep happening over time.
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I am thinking of some of my goals for golf next year and the number one goal is to get my handicap to single digits. Right now it is at 11.21 and looks like it will stay around 11 for the year. I would need some really good rounds to get it down to 10 or lower.

Secondly, I am going to really work on my chipping. Right now when I chip it is with the attitude to get the ball on the green and be putting. Next year my attitude is to get the chips close so I can one putt for pars or birdies.

My third goal is to work on my putting over the winter in my family room until I can automatically step up and sink anything less than 10 feet. My putting has improved 1,000% over previous years but I want to work on it to make it even better. Next spring I am going to work on distance control so my lag putting is much better than now.
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The "Machine" must have sprung an oil leak or threw a rod as Tiger Woods was eliminated 4 and 3 today in the Match Play Championships. It would have been extremely hard to keep his game as sharp as it has been but still this is a shocking development as he is normally a very good match play player. Hopefully he will be back on track before next week-end's Ryder Cup matches.
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I loaded Royal Vegas Poker and started to clear the raked hands I need for the bonus. This is a Prima site and very similar to other Prima sites, i.e, Crazy Poker. I will be playing one table at Titan Poker and one table at Royal Vegas, .50/$1 Limit to clear the bonus for both sites. Right now I am using Titan for my Limit Challenge site, too, but I may move the Challenge to Royal Vegas.

I only played for about 1/2 hour but so far I like the Royal Vegas site. It had two full ring games going at my limit and it looks like I will be able to get a game at the times I play. It has a good note keeping feature, too, and I am a big advocate of keeping notes on opponents. Keeping notes helps me keep my head in the game and re-reading them in the future gives me good insight on reminding my how this player plays his cards.

Here is an excellent article on keeping player notes at Tight Poker. Check it out and check out the rest of the site. Pretty nice place for learning everything poker.