Brian Quackenbush Golf

I got a note yesterday about an interesting program that is run at each week’s PGA Tour event. It’s called Birdies for Charity. Participants pledge a set amount to the participating charity of their choice for each birdie made at that week’s event. A typical PGA Tour event averages 1,600 birdies per week. One of the participating charities is the Capital Hospice. click on the link at the top of the page to learn more.

The new website is up and running. The most important new feature is that the News is now in Blog format. This allows me to update it much more easily. It also gives readers the option to subscribe and receive updates automatically through their favorite RSS Aggregator (newsreader). There are also sites where I can syndicate the Blog to broaden my readership.

As you can see, I’ve also completely overhauled the look of the website. I felt like the old simple green was getting a little dated. The results and schedule sections are slightly different for now. Expect bigger changes to them in the coming weeks. I’ve done some database work that will allow me to display more detailed round statistics. Finally, I’ve added a picture gallery. There are only three pictures up right now. I hope to add more soon.

Most importantly, I’m working on a partnership with the Capital Hospice to donate a percentage of my sponsorship funding and tournament earnings to this worthy cause. There are a few details I need to work out with the LLC, so the relationship is not finalized yet. Hopefully it will be finalized in the next few days. Click on the link at the top of the page to read more about the hospice and the partnership.

No excuses, I just played bad. 77 yesterday at Wolfert’s Roost in the US Open Local Qualifier. I got off to a bad start when I hit one right on the second hole and never found it. Then, three putted 6 and hit a flyer 9 iron 20 yards long OB on 7. So, I was 4 over through 7 and forced to start gunning for birdies on a course setup that wasn’t good for birdies. I actually hit 7 wedges exactly how I wanted to and pretty close. But, every hole was set on a severe slope so even inside 10 feet you were just trying to cozy it up close. That’s one of the differences I’ve noticed between a tournament run by a professional tour (PGA, Nationwide, mini, etc.) and one run by a local golf association. The professionals know how to setup a course so its hard, but if you hit the right shot you have a reasonable chance to make a birdie. The local golf associations sometimes go nuts and setup a course where good shots simply are not rewarded. That’s the end of my rant. Like I said above, when it comes down to it, I just didn’t play well yesterday. Or, as my Uncle Jimmy would say (in a Scottish accent), “Nay good”.

We got home today and it’s pouring rain here in Virginia. After 5 straight days on the course in Albany, the rain is probably a good thing because it forces me to take a break.

Dad and I teed it up at Pinehaven Country Club today in a cold wet mess. Nothing could have kept us off the course. Dad was a member out there for a while in the 70’s and I learned how to play there. Dad reminded me that my previous best round was an 88. I didn’t really keep score, but I feel confident that I improved on that.

What a great old shotmaker’s course! Pinehaven proves that courses don’t necessarily have to add length to keep up with technology. It’s a course that requires precision drives and approach shots and has difficult undulating greens. It doesn’t matter how far you hit it as long as it’s straight. They’ve done some great things with a few of their hole renovations…especially holes 16 through 18. The 16th hole is an absolutely great par four now. 17 has a great look off of your drive and a challenging second if you go for the green in two. 18, as it always has been, is a good, strong finishing hole.

A few of the old, original hole designs stand out in my mind. They’re both examples of unique, challenging short holes. The second hole gives you a choice on the tee shot…driver that absolutely must stay in the left side of the fairway or layup off the tee and hit your second shot over a tree. Hit the driver right and you’re blocked out by the tree. A real classic placement hole that is only about 360 yards. The 12th is a real gem at only 340 yards. It requires a drive down the right side of the fairway and then a second shot skirting a large tree to an elevated green. The further right and long you hit your drive, the better your approach shot. However, there’s hazard down the left side. Hit your drive left, and again you have to hit it over a tree. Just a few great, strategic short holes!

We played with two great kids, Bryan and Rob Bigley, sons of the superintendent at Pinehaven. They both play for the Siena College golf team and are good golfers. It was great of them to guide us around the course on a nasty, cold day.

Later on, we drove by our old house on Arlene Ave and I snapped a few pictures.

Getting ready for the US Open qualifier tomorrow. Weather looks cold and a little wet.

I’ve played two rounds over the last two days. Yesterday was a practice round for the US Open qualifier at Wolfert’s Roost. The horror stories I had heard about impossible rough and sloping, glasslike greens were completely unfounded. The rough was very manageable. The greens were about average speed. I could see them getting a little faster before Monday’s round, but probably no more than a foot or so on the stimp. Still, very manageable. It’s a great old course with a few very tricky greens. On about 6 holes, you absolutely need to make sure that you keep the ball below the hole. Aside from that, the course has taken a beating from technology. What obviously used to be a course that required you to shape shots around doglegs is now setup for blasting woods and irons over the corner trees. Tons of wedges into greens. Monday is going to be mostly a test of who can hit their wedges close and make some putts on slopey greens.

We played Shaker Ridge today and this is a course that has definitely kept up with the times. The membership keeps making little changes to retain the challenge in the course. I believe the fairway bunkers on 10 and 18 are new since I was there as well as most of the tee boxes. The new fairway bunkers change the hole routing and dictate the direction of your drive better than the old layouts. The clubhouse renovation looks great as well. This is a club that definitely knows its character. All of the changes have been made in a way that retains the club’s focus on being a quality golfer’s club while still presenting the membership with quality amenities.

Dad and I got to Albany last night and teed it up at Albany CC today. What a great old course! It’s exactly as I remember it. Very severe greens and undulating fairways. There’s just so much character to it. Unfortunately, as with most great old courses nowadays, technology is starting to take away some of its defenses. I really had no trouble hitting it over the trouble on most holes playing from the back tees. I shot a 69 with 5 birdies. The greens were definitely not as fast as they I’ve seen them before. Many holes, you normally have to aim for one side of the green to get to the other side, but the ball was actually staying where it hit most of the time. Then, there’s the second hole. Dad hit an approach that rolled to a stop in the middle of the green and then came all the way back to the front, 15 yards backwards!

I also got a chance to visit with family last night. That’s going to be a highlight of the trip.

I tested the new 905S today at the Titleist Science Van when it stopped by Evergreen Country Club. Thanks to the Professional, Chris Hall, for allowing me to come on out and use one of his time slots. My impression: the 905 is going to be a very easy upgrade for most players. It’s visually very similar to the 983 and the launch characteristics are not too much different. I tested out to a 8.5 degree 905S with a Grafalloy Blue S flex shaft. My stats changed as follows:

Their new launch monitor also records the quality of the strike on the clubface. I was more on the sweet spot with the 983 than with the 905. The 905 seems to retain its ball speed on off center hits better than the 983.

I needed to get my launch angle down and my spin rate up a bit, so the new 905 will be a good fit for me. I should be about the same carry and roll distance on center clubface hits and better distance off-center.

I’m almost finished with a new look and feel for the website. It’s a better design I think. On the technical side, I’m changing the news on the home page to use blog software. It’s a lot easier to change and add new entries. Blogs also have the benefit of being subscribed to. A user can subscribe through a news service and receive updates whenever they’re posted. So, a user could subscribe to my blog and automatically receive news updates without having to visit the site. It also gives the site some more exposure. I’ve also added a little bit of javascript to jazz up the buttons. As I learn more about the blog software, I’ll add more features to it. I’m also working on putting up more detailed statistics on my rounds. I’ve played 217 professional rounds, and I have every hole of these rounds logged in a database. Each hole includes green hit, fairway hit, and number of putts. I’ll probably get this up and running the week after the US Open qualifier.

My weight is back up to 165 lbs. and climbing. When I first left Phoenix about a month ago, I was down to almost 150 lbs. What I’ve realized is that my metabolism is so high, especially under the stress of competition week after week, that I have to almost force feed myself to keep the weight on. I’ve also gone back to taking creatine and protein supplements and am weight training several times per week. Like last year, my goal is 170 lbs., and I feel like I should hit that in a few weeks.

I played with the “pardsies” today at International CC and actually won two skins! I couldn’t believe that two of my birdies actually held up. I can’t remember ever getting two skins one round in a “pardsies” game…not even when I made back-to-back eagles on 15 and 16. Stu Levin put it well: “that’s more impressive than winning a Nationwide tour event”.

Phil Meyer rounded up 4 old Titleist 384 Tour balata golf balls, and I dusted off my old PowerBilt persimmon driver. I hit 4 shots off the tenth tee at International. The feel and sound of balata coming off of persimmon is still so sweet. It’s a shame that technology has made these obsolete. The average carry distance of all 4 drives was 27 yards shorter than the drive I hit with my 983E and Pro V1X earlier in the day. The difference was about 265 yards versus 290ish yards total carry. Phil also pointed out that the persimmon-balata combination is going to spin more and roll less on firmer fairways. So, the new technology would be about 35 yards shorter on average than the old stuff. The interesting thing is that I didn’t feel like I could hit it confidently over the corner on the tenth hole. Yet, I have absolutey no fear of this with my current setup. An experiment like this really highlights how technology has changed the game since the USGA caved into Karsten several years ago. I really hope the 15-25 yard ball rollback gets a lot of attention. Though International has not been obsoleted (yet), it’s a shame to see so many of the great old courses falling prey to new technology.

I’ve got several updates from the last few days. First, Acushnet came through again and gave me two pairs of DryJoys: one white, one black. Exactly what I was looking for…simple and comfortable. They will be well broken in before my next even in New York.

Speaking of New York…I’m leaving in a few days for Albany and the local US Open qualifier. I’m playing great across all aspects of my game.

I’ve been playing a bunch at International CC since I got back to town. The course looks absolutely fabulous (except for the punched greens). Every time I come back from a trip, the tees, fairways, rough and bunkers look great and this time was no exception. The greens are healing from being punched.

Here’s my take on the whole thing. I’ve played 217 rounds over the last 2 and a half years in 18 different states. This is only my professional career…add about 150 more rounds in the two years before this as an amateur. The courses I’ve played range from very, very public municipals to pretty good private clubs. Based on all this, I would say I’m very qualified to critique a course.

As far as International is concerned, it’s holding up better against technology than almost all of the courses I’ve played. I’m averaging about 290 carry off the tee nowadays (at sea level). That’s about 25 yards longer than 5 years ago. I’m also controlling my distance, direction and spin rate better than ever before. These improvements are due to swinging much more efficiently as well as better technology and club fitting. Despite all of this improvement, International still plays about the same as 5 years ago and is still a difficult test. The reason for this is because it’s a shotmaker’s course. You absolutey must shape the ball into the proper sides of holes off the tee. Longer usually doesn’t mean better. The only exceptions are: #1 - I can take it over the lake if the wind is following; #6 - My play is now a hard high cut with a driver over the tree at the corner instead of a driving iron over the top of the hill; #10 - I aim a little further left and have absolutely no fear of taking it over the corner; #15 and 16 - these are definitely easier to reach now. My point is that the course has not been obsoleted and probably never will because of its “shotmaker’s” character.

Everything is finally moved! I got my car from Arizona today. Took about 10 days. It was in the abyss for a few days. Nobody could tell me where it was and then I got a call this morning that it had arrived. It’s nice to have my freedom again. The stuff I shipped in boxes from Arizona are all reorganized at home. It’s a huge relief to finally have everything back to normal and in one place!

I’m gearing up for the second half of the year. The first event is in 13 days in Albany: the US Open Local qualifier. I really don’t have anything to work on right now because all aspects of my game are exactly where I want them to be. Yesterday, I went through a 2 hours practice session where I hit about one shot ever 2 minutes. I went through the entire preshot routine and tried to give myself extra time between shots to simulate conditions during a tournament. I’ll try to get in a bunch of rounds this week and really focus on scoring and shot making.