Saturday, August 9, 2008

Raspberry Ridge 3, Jared 0

Reading Michael Bamberger's "The Green Road Home" has renewed my interest in golf. Last Tuesday Pat and I played 9 holes at Raspberry Ridge, then today Dave and I played 18 holes. I kept the scorecards and ran the numbers with Excel. There's only 9 holes at Raspberry Ridge, so with three rounds I was able to get some good numbers. The course is a par 34, fairly short, with no par-5 holes. I shot 51, 50, and 53 for the three rounds, which amounts to just under double-bogey golf, or about an 18 handicap. On the Par 4 holes (there are 7) I averaged 5.9 strokes per hole, and on the par 3 holes I averaged 5 strokes. My best hole was number 9, where I averaged 4 strokes, one over par, followed closely by 4 and 5, where I averaged 5.33 strokes, or 1.33 over par - close to bogey golf. My worst holes were 3 and 7, on which I averaged 6 and 7 strokes, triple-bogey in both cases.

You might think all this data crunching is useless, but it gives me a good framework to work from, mentally. Now I know that bogey or better is an improvement on my game. And I know I need to bare (bear?) down on 3 and 7.

In other news which I have not had a chance to blog about, I crashed my bike on the way in to work on Monday. I crushed the helmet I was wearing, and I'm pretty sure it would have been a hospital trip if not for the helmet. I am a big believer in bike helmets now. I also bought my first new product not made in China, a little package of tissue paper for putting in gift bags, made in the good ol' USA. Memorex still hasn't gotten back to me, and neither has Kikkerland, who make a kitchen timer I bought recently. As for used purchases, I picked up a nice bike pump, and some pedaling shoes, both from craigslist. The search for a bike continues...

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Jared!

Just checking in and saying HI. I stop by your great blog every now and again and appreciate your much greater faithfulness to this means of communicating than I!!

Its great hearing about your purchasing habits, Leanne and I are on the same path, choosing to purchase local, used and organic as much as we can, and especially when it comes to stuff for the girls. No plastic here!

I wonder if there is such as thing as a 'golf nerd'... analyzing your game with Excel might put you in that category!!

And lastly, my folks cabin on Lake Samish finally received the permission to go ahead with the knocking down and construction of a new place. It took 2 years of dealing with Whatcom County but the greenlight was finally given. That being said, with a newer and larger cabin on the horizon we might be coming down to your neck of the woods a bit more often!


Scott

Jared said...

Hey Scott!

It's great to hear from you! I hope things in Calgary and at Awaken are going well. Michelle and I keep up with London and Warrick (and Drew and Jackie) through Facebook, and I check your blog and Eric's blog every now and then. When Luke was in Vancouver a few months ago we met in Whiterock for dinner. I try to keep connected!

I'm glad to hear that the permit was finally approved! We've had so much upheaval in our Planning department. We would absolutely love to hang out with you guys if you are ever in the Bellingham area. And remember, we've got an extra bedroom if there's ever a need.

Are you planning on coming to any Seahawks games this year?

Great to hear from you Scott - say hi to Leanne and the girls from both Michelle and I.

Jared

Anonymous said...

don't you have excel on your palm pilot? you could have updated your data and modified strategies in real-time!

Jared said...

I do actually have Excel on my Palm Pilot. Funny you should mention it - it's so big that it's annoying to carry around, and typing on it is a bit of a pain, so it's really just a glorified address book. An expensive fancy electronic address book.