Ezzino Milonga career

[ezzinomilonga]

I can't imagine why someone should be interested to the career of a unknown player that possibly will struggling at every level and that nobody knows, being me also new on this site,tour and the whole game..but in the end it will be fun to write something about my journey,at worst i'll do practice with my english!

So..i'm an italian guy,38 years old,a 16 years old daughter,i'm a bartender,a bass player,a lover of good music and movies and of almost every sport but first of all nba basket,indycar,golf and soccer (a little less every day,but this is another story). I discover golf just 6 years ago. Before that time,i don't fully appreciate how much this beautiful game is hard and challenging and magic. So i start to play the various tw games until i stuck in tw2014 for years,playing always alone cause i was not interested in online game. But a couple of months ago i discover this site and this game and i fell in love. I bought the game,i did practice with a cheap controller with master club and then,when i become good enough to complete every round between -8/-15 with a handicap rating about +24, wishing to compete fairly everytime, everywhere and with everyone (myself for first), last week i bought a ps4 controller and start to practice again. Obviously it's just another game,with the proper controller. I have not big problems with tempo,but it's quite impossible to keep a straight line. So i'm looking for a correct and more consistent grip position (i play with my left thumb,no strange positions or creative solutions) and i'm slowly improving. The real hell is the putt. Is pretty difficult now to understand the right strenght and for some reason the line give me more problems that a full swing. But i'm confident i'll menage it,in the end .

In this week i'll play the q-school and from here we will see. I'm in train to make some practice round. Details,impressions,stupid statements will follow.

[ezzinomilonga]

Pause for a cigarette after 9 holes of the Moorland course at the Legends, where this week q-school will be. It's a very tough and beautiful course. Narrow fairways with bunkers placed where it hurts,greens often little that never forgive a misjudgement. With the hard fast setting and a wind medium-high in almost every hole,i think il will be a huge challenge for a card.

My practice round started ok,two birdies after two hole but,above all,a great series of straight lines on my swing. The dream anyway ends quite immediately and at 3 and 5 i score two triple putt for a +1 total and the rest of the round i fought for a straight line. Losing the battle.

And is this that i love of this game played with the proper controller. Just as in the real life,sometimes with no evident reason you suddenly lose the confidence of your swing and start to go erratic for the course. Just like happens in the real life. Obviously it hurts,but i like it!

Cigarette ended..i come back to the figh...ehm..to my round.

[ezzinomilonga]

I made two practice rounds until now. This course is a joy. I love him. I hate him. It's smart designed. And it offers always a different challenge. I like the 4 par 3..one long,one short and 2 medium. But above all i love/hate the 4 par 5. Three of them are short. Very short. But to putt for an eagle is really a challenge. A bit for the medium/high setted wind, a bit for the hard&fast green,a lot for the greens himselves,that are little and unforgiving. There is even a short par 4,but even here the green is little and elrvated and so well defended thqt if you gamble for the eagle,it's easy that in the end you'll putt for a par. There are other two short par 4,but to be reachable is needed a wind direction that i have no found in my round.

So said..i close my first run with six birdies,but even with 4 bogies and a double..for a par. The only good thing (??) is that all the bogies came from triple putts. This means that,if i menage better thr putt,things can go better even if my swing is still too erratic.

The second round ends with seven birdies but three bogies..but this time with no triple putts. -4 and the clearcsensation that i can made a round in -5/-8, but i need more practice on putt and swing.

Other thing i noticed,is that to close a round now is absolutely more stressful that before. A lot of practice swing means that my game is slower than ever. I close the last two holes really mentally tired. As if i was playing two or three round in a row.

Honestly,i find this thing beautiful. Before the controller change,was simply a question about to decide the shot then swing it down. Now it is more..realistic? For sure is more frustrating. But if i was looking for a challenge..well. I found it,in the end. Now i'll make a round in some else place..then a last practice round before the start of my career into the q-school.

[ezzinomilonga]

After almost 2 days thinking about it,i decide to switch to the pro clubs for my q-school. Honestly is it a pretty harmful and sad decision to made,i am proud about my improvements with the master clubs,but i think is the right decision for me,now. And for 2 reasons:

1) To be really competitive with master clubs,i need a lot more time for practice. I have this new controller exactly by 7 days..and for various reasons i can't play more that 3-4 rounds for day. Too little to became confident and consistent how much is needed to be competitive on tour. I can made 6-9 birdies for round,but i can't avoid at least 3-5 bogies or worst. And i can't keep a straight line on my shots,i hit around the 66% of GIR. It would be arrogant and stupid to pretend that i'm good enough,right now. Cause i'm not. But i want to start the tour now. I'm waiting for this by a lot. I can't wait anymore. So the only reasonable solution seems to be switch to the pro clubs. But i'll improve. And outside the tour i'll continue to play and practice with master clubs, hoping that i can switch again to them as soon as possible.

2) The long thread started by crazycanuck in the clubhouse about the unfair advantage that the game give to the ps4 players using master clubs, compared with the pc and xb players, open my eyes about a reality i couldn't imagine. And,above all,i'm now aware about tge fact that the challenge tour is "setted" mainly for the pro clubs.

All this facts,together,forced me to this decision. I have already made 2 rounds of practice with pro clubs. The first just to select the right 14 clubs to use during the tournament and without thinking on my shots,closed with a -4. The second,playing more wisely,closed on -12, with 9 birdies,2 eagles and 1 bogie. Obviously that line more fat it helps a lot,considering that my main problem is to keep a right line,more that my tempo.

Now i'm going to play my first round. It would be beautiful to repeat the practice round..but it's useless to think about it too much. Every round is a lone story. Coffe&cigarette ended. Time to start my story on tour.

[ezzinomilonga]

Well..after 2 rounds i scored a -14,that is not bad at all,considering that the moorland course at the legends shows to me that is a quite challenging son of a..beach. My only regreat is that after the first round i was at -10. And my goal is to close the tournament around a -32 (scoring -8 per round). It's still possible, but if i don't play a bit better i can forget it.

In the first round (hard/hard/fast conditions with medium/low wind) actually my game was not so much good,but i was very concentrated and all the hard work on my putt (the worst part of my game,with the new controller) gave me some stisfaction,with even some long putt in the cup. In the end, a bogie free round with very few big errors and pretty solid,so i was pretty confident for my second round.

In the second round conditions were pretty tough (very hard/very hard/very fast and medium/high wind),but after 6 holes i was -3 and feeling was good. Then things starts to go bad. My bad, cause i made the capital error to no wait to be alone at home to start my round,so the real life knocked at my door and i was forced two times, first to pause the game and tgen to shut off my pc,and all this just to do a bunch of stupid things. The first time exactly after hole six. Then after hole 12. So,when i gave the "permission" to start again to play,my swing was lost,especially in my putts. And when the round ended,at least 5 putts ( two of them absolutely makeable) were missed by inches. I also made a lot of stupid par and the first bogie (obviously a three putt one) of my career in this tour. Two birdies in the second nine and that's all.

The weird thing is that looking the data,my game was almost better in the second round,but in the first round i was a lot better with the putter and this made all the difference.

Now i'm going to play these two rounds in order to end my q-school. Ineed to have the patience to wait the right moment to play, hoping no one will force me to leave. Is awful when it happens. I hate it. It steal all the magic. Real life sucks!!

[ezzinomilonga]

After the end of the third round i don't know if to feel me happy or not. The only sure thing is that i'm angry with myself,cause from tee to green this was one of the worst round i ever played in my "career" of videogame golf player in every golf game. I was too disgusted to check the stats,but probably i hit 8 GIR. Cause while my tee shots were more or less ok,in EVERY approach shot i was simply inable to keep a right line. I made the entire round scrambling. And i have to thank only my good day with chip shots and (above all) with putter. I save at least 4-5 pars with putts from 3-5 meters,almost always putting from the worst side of the hole.

So is in fact an half miracle that i end my round being bogey free and scoring a -5.

And it's a shame even cause the conditions today were good for a "moving day" (Medium/medium/fast,with medium wind). It was a great opportunity to shot a -10 and reach the -8 media that was my goal.

Standings now says that after 3 rounds i could be placed in cc-b,that it would be a quite good placement. I'm 4 strokes behind a placement good to be in cc-a,with 3 strokes ahead the placement for the cc-c. Obviously it's all still theoretical,a lot of players seems that still have to start,but in every case if i play in this way again i think i will end my q-school in cc-d or a lot worst.

And honestly is not my position that make me feel angry,cause i'm almost surprised about my standings,things goes better than i could imagine before the start,but is the knowledge that i can play better,that hurts me. Not my position. It's a question of principle.

My game was so bad that after hole 6 or 7 i stop to play to take a break. And after hole 13 i stop to transcribe my shots (i usually do it to have some feedback on my game,the club selection for next round and stuff lime this) cause i was going mad

Anyway,this round is the proof that i have to continue finding a definitive position when i play. I'm used to change my grip and seating position while i play,but doing this with this game and with this controller means that other rounds like this one will happens. And i can't be always lucky enough to scramble everything.

I need more practice. And to be more humble and disciplinated. Well..we will see tomorrow how my q-school will ends.

Now is time for a bourbon and some cigarette. Maybe some practice round in some new course. Or a movie. Well. It's all for today.

[ezzinomilonga]

So in the end i screwed up anything. After 9 holes i scored 3 bogeys and 2 doubles. +7 on my card and averything cause suddenly i became unable to putt keeping a fu@$ed straight line. Now i can understand my idol lefty mickelson. My frustration was absolute.

But my round started well. A chip in the cup in the first hole,another birdie for hole 2..and then this madness begin. So after 9 holes i was +5. After two birdies at 10 and 11,i stop myself cause i still was struggling to find a position to shot straight. After an hour i came to play,finding other two birdies and finishing my round on +1.

Two things.
1) believe it or not,before this round i was never ended a round over par in a tournament. In every golf game i ever played.
2) just some hour before to start my last round,i play a practice round with the same condotions, just to check the pin positions and to decide what clubs put into my bag. And i shot a -12. That's golf.

Now still i don't know exactly were i'll compete next week. Seems to be in cc-c. Is not bad at all,but i know that i had a great opportunity to score a lot..a lot better.

Now looking for hazeltine. Before to play it,i already know that with the distance of pro clubs it would be hard. But after struggling in this hard way in this last two rounds,i have to be mad to think about playing this tournament with master clubs. Well..i'll see.

[ezzinomilonga]

It's weird. The most i play,the worst results i have with my controller. After the good first round in my q-school last week and the -10 that was in my eyes the start of a great tournament,i begin to struggle enormously not just to make some birdie,but even to avoid bogeys. I can't shot straight anymore. Simply. Suddenly. But what is driving me crazy is the putting. I slice every single putt. And i can't understand why.
I start to think that maybe i could be infected with the jim furyk's virus,and then being damned to struggle under pressure. For ever. It would be a nightmare. But reality is that not..i struggle simply always. Even in my casual rounds.
So,i'm doing the only thing i have to do. I'm building just a totally different swing. With a different and firm position. It seems to start working,slowly...but this new position,while seems to work well from tee to green,more or less, became pure evil for my putt,because it forces me to losing the control of the distance. That was one of my strong points. Then i realize i'll need two kind of swing and grabbing, on my controller. One from tee to green,one on the greens. It's a pebble in my shoe,but it's a challenge. Not the challenge i was dreaming about...but well. It's a challenge.
The only sad thing is that,after some try,it's obvious that now is out of discussion the idea to use master clubs. But i really would to play this pga qualifying round at hazeltine playing with master clubs..not for the chance to play the pga championship (that is absolutely above my level,now),but simply to honor the event. Well. That moment will come. Soon. But is silly to think about running if you can barely to walk. So..i'll practice. And for this week i'll just do my best trying to avoid some demotion mark. And that's all,i think.

[ezzinomilonga]

Obviously,i played the pga qualifying event with the master clubs. I knew that it was the best way to struggle,but i just had the wish to "honor" the event playing it in the way it was intended.

Obviously,i struggled with no mercy But..there's a but.

If after two rounds i was desperate,cause i was absolutely not good to shot a SINGLE right line from tee to green AND,once on the green,i sliced EVERY putt (until i decide,in my desperation, to try to compensate the slice aiming much more to the left that was necessary,clearly with no results) and was almost a miracle that i was "only" +3 for the tournament...something start to chance yedterday while i was playing other courses (for my list),always with master clubs.

In the end seems that i find a good position on the controller. Finally i understand that my main problem about my new controller is that the big pad in the center forced me to keep in my right hand the whole controller in a so fifferent way that all the movement,all my routine and habits are too messed up.

So i start to change radically my position and after a couple of round (always playing with master clubs), the prize in the end is that in my fourth round at hazeltine i hit all the fairways but two (but always with the ball in the first cut just for the enormous rolling,with minimal issues for my approach shots. No tempo issues,or unpredictable crooked shots) and,much more important thing,i hit all the greens but two. And always with the ball a bit long in fringe or (last hole) short in fairway by two meters for a slow downswing.

Considering that before i was hitting 10/12 greens on 18 and i was forced to scramble almost every hole it's a huge improvement.

BUT..at the same time this new position create two big issues. Both on putting :

1) It don't seems to solve absolutely the slice on putt..or at least,not enough to menage that tiny line of master clubs without go over the borders.

2) It enormously screws up my control of distance,one of the thing i was used to do better.

So..with the union of this two issues,i close the last round with 36 putts. 36!!
And putting mainly from a range of 4-6 meters. An absolute shame. Pure madness.
I don't understand how i end my tournament in perfect par (+1,+2,-3,E).

I'm T141th,at the moment. Probably i'll take the 2 demotion marks i was expecting from the start,but i solved half of my problems.
To solve the other half,i have to be humble enough to understand that right now i'm weaker to compete with master clubs. Honestly i think that almost half of all that putts missed,with the fatter line of the pro clubs should be in the cup.

So there's the plan : As decided before this event,i'll continue to practice with master clubs,but for the tournaments i'll play with the pro clubs,at least until i don't find a way to putt without to seem the good old Phil Mickelson.
It eill be a long,slow,way. But if i stay focused and find the time to practice enough,i'll solve everything. And i will.

[ezzinomilonga]

At the end of the journey,my first cc-c tournament ends with no demotion marks,but only cause 24 players above me in the standings have not played all 4 their rounds being WD. I ended the tournament in 114 position (if i remember well). I stealed also 9000$. Then,now that i'm rich,you have to call me mr. Milonga.

Takinf a look to the cpurse of this week,i think that is an interesting course. Not exceptional,in my eyes, but interesting.

I'm practicing playing a lot of courses for the list,finding some good course but nothing exceptional. The best still remains Four Sticks,for me. I like his architecture,simple but that offers problems to solve in a very clever way.
I like also Propellor Island,cause it offers a complete range of issues (water hazards,fairway bunkers,elevation changes,trees in play,pin postions fair but not easy). My only complain about it is that,just for the natural difficulty of the course,some fairway could be a bit larger and nothing would be lost,in terms of challenging.
I played also Vallet of the Kings,but honestly i can't say i like it. Not just for the steppe theme that is not my favoured one,or for the colors too brown of..everything? But cause it offers always the same soup: Elevation changes and fairway bunkers. Nothing more. And is a bit a shame,cause tge idea should deserve a better architecture of the course and is obvious that the designer put a lot of time and effort to make a pretty looking course..but a course is not just a matter of design..without the right architecture is just an exercise about aestethic,and is not what is needed on a golf course.

Now i'm going to try the Firestone Country Club and some other,before to start my tournament,hoping that i'll score sometjing better that a E. And i'm confident i will. We'll see.

[ezzinomilonga]

Then,in the end,the plan to be more humble and to admit my limits abput the master clubs and more concentrate myself about how fully menage first the pro clubs,to made a step by step growing,it starts to pay.

First round at Shadow Hills and i end with a -12 that seems almost unbelievable looking just to a week ago.

I'm really happy. And proud of myself. But not too much about the score and the stunning standings (i'm T4th,until now,but a lot of players haven't still tee off),but about the fact that i seems to be able to shot straight again fron tee to green and,as i was hoping,the fatter line on putts with pro clubs give me a chance to putt in the proper way.
Slowly i'm also start again to menage properly,with the new position on controller,the distance with the putt.
All this things,with the course that don't penalize in fact the shorter driver i have using pro clubs..and witg the conditions that were not toi easy but for sure not too hard,have as consequence that very good score,with 1 fairway and 3 greens missed (but never of more then 6/8 meters to the pin),but the gretest news in my eyes are the 22 putts and the bogey free round.

I don't know how things will be in the tournament,but i think that,unless i find a creative way to screw up everything,for this week i could avoid the demotion marks. And for the moment is my goal. To improve and to avoid demotiob marks.

Obviously,if after the third round i will be in a position to play for something better then this,i'll fight with everything i have to have the best result i can..but being a bit realistic,i think that this round can easily be a single case.

But already from the second round i'll understand for what i'll play,i think. Cause conditions will be tougher (hard/hard/very fast) and sadly i have still not the habit to play with extreme ground conditions (and i mean the too fast ones...but even the too slow..that seems to me the worst conditions i can find on a course),i play usually just with fast conditions.

But we will see. For sure it's just another music and i'm happy to have found a way to shot straight with a certain consistency so soon. Now i have just to keep on this way. To be patient,humble,practicing and to improve and to learn all i can.

[ezzinomilonga]

And so,just as supposed,in 2nd and 3rd round the music changed.

I play not two awful rounds,but not good enough to stay in touch with the best scores.

The second was the toughest,with high wind,hard everything and very speed greens. And as i already knew,i have still not the habit to play really well in this conditions. But in the end i play not so bad. -6 with just a bogey (at the 16th) and a missed putt for birdie that screams for revenge (at the 17th),a stupid error made from 2 meters for too much confidence. And after this i was the 11th pro clubs player,in the standings,tied with others 3-4 guys at -18. That means that there was no more room for errors or poor rounds.

But in the third,that was again with high wind but a bit easier ground conditions,i struggle a bit again. In the very start for some issue with my connession that push me to lose at times the speed control,but i saved a pair of par very precious. Then for a bunch of approach shots not good enough to can pretend to make some birdie. I ended with a -5 with a bogey (a chip that stays still in rough for a "very slow" very suspect) and some regret about 2 long putts passed sloooowly away 2 inches from the cup,while 2 others just STOPPED,2 inches away from the cup. But i well know that almost any player could say the same thing at the end of every round. Only the putt that dies into the cup matters. But above all,i firmly believe that as Sheed says,"ball don't lie",that it means that this is the score i deserve.

I still have not checked the standings,but i think that with this scores (-23)i should to avoid any demotion mark,but i'm out for the promotion mark fight,that is not the essential,for now. Obviously i'm not fully satisfied,i want to win. Always. But the willing is not enough,without a game solid in every aspect. And my game still is not. Not enough,at least. But it will be.

What really matters is that i'm proving to myself that if i practice and improve and stay humble and concentrated as i'm slowly trying to do,soon or later i will be able to beat the best players of my league.

[ezzinomilonga]

I close my first tournament with pro clubs with a -12,for a -35 total and a tied 9th place in standings (tied 7th pro clubs players),that means i gain my first promotion mark.

I'm surprised cause the conditions of last round were really easy and i was thinking that a lot a people could score very low,but not.

So today i start the new tournament.
The course is a good one and seems to be easy enough. In practice round (default conditions) i scored a -9 but playing without thinking too much about my score,so i was pretty confident at the start.

But in the first round the greens were soft and slow. Maybe it could seems strange,but i struggle with this setting as it would be hard/very fast. To little habit.
So i scored a -8,with a bogey and at least 4 putts missed for some inche too short or too fast.

I hope that i'll not pay too much this stupid waste. We'll see.

I have also to think if to play the us open qualifying round at monongahela. I play one round and half for practice and i really dislike this course. I hate to play golf on courses that i don't like. It seems as if i 'm going to work. And i don't play this game to feel myself as if i'm working. I don't know,but as today i probably would to quit.

[ezzinomilonga]

Today i ended my second "real" tournament in cc-c. -34 total and this time i'm pretty sure there will be no promo mark.
It was a great tournament from tee to green,in the first three round,with 1 fairway missed and 6 or 7 greens. But,more important, almost every approach ended enough near to the hole to have a good putt for birdie. And then started the issues. I shot 24,25 and 27 putts in those 3 rounds..ending with a -27 that could be easily a - 35 or better. A waste. Really.

Then in my 4th round my swing started to kick always to the right at the end of my downswing,but the putt worked pretty well,helped by the fact that the greens were with almost always little slopes. So i was -7 after 9 holes..but then i screwed up everything on the back 9, with 2 birdies and 2 bogeys and a lot of poor swings.

I wasted a great chance to win another promo mark,but i'm happy about the general improvements on my swing. It seems another game compated to my first two tournaments. I have just to work and to play more. Still to practice and to try for better putting. These are my goals.

The big goal is to improve enough to be competitive when, in july, there will be my first special promo event. I wish to finish my first season into this tour whit some promotion. It would be great. And i'll work to reach this result.

I started also the qualifying round at Monongahela,but after two practice rounds with master clubs i realize that i dislike that course too much to play 4 rounds seriously (with all the hard work that this means). For various reasons. I play a superfast first round,closing with an E, but just after the second hole i decided to quit.

Something is to play tournaments in my challenge tour,where is obvious to play even a disliked course trying to win or to obtain a good result.

But i perfectly know that i have no chance to qualify for the US open..i need so much practice with master clubs,before to have this kind of ambition...so if i play this qualufying rounds is just for pleasure (and for practice). But if i have to play for pleasure a course that steal every pleasure i can find while i play...what should be the sense of playing?

Anyway. Now i'll work on my list (lot of changes forced me to wait and to need other time before release it), then i'll start to practice on the Wolf's Fang for the next week tournament..trying again to fight for a pro clubs top ten. Time will tell if i'm improving enough to fight every week or not.

[ezzinomilonga]

In the end i won a promo mark even this week. T8th pro clubs player. But this time i was just lucky. Really. Even cause at least 2/3 players that could easily improve my score, for some reason failed to finish their 4th round.
So i started the tournament of this week hoping to play a bit better. This week course is pretty nice, but my game is not. So after two rounds i'm around the 30th overall position, with -15 (-8,-7), that it means i'm 3/5 strokes away from the fight for a pro clubs top ten.

My two rounds were similar concerning the final score,but very different about the way i play. In the first i play an average round in everything. Some swing messed up,some decision not too smart,the usuals silly missed putts and so go on.
But the second was a shame,cause probably from tee to green i play the best round i ever played in this game with the new controller. I hitted straight actually almost every ball. And the pair of fairways or greens missed were just for some evaluation error or some unlucky bounce. But,obviously,my putt was simply awful. I was -3 (5 birdies and 2 bogeys with the usual three putt bogey) with 3 holes left to play..then birdie at 16 and 18..and at the 17 i made an absurd putt for eagle from 15 meters,downhill and with double well pronounced slopes.
Probably the longest putt i ever made in this game until now. At least between the putts tried with the real intention and effort to score it,i mean...not counting those putts scored but with the intention to just end nearest was possible to the cup.

So i think i need to score nothing less then some -20,in those two rounds left,to have some hope to continue my promo marks streak. Is not impossible to do. But i need to play better to have some real chance.

Of course..i can't pretend to be in top ten every week and i'm already super happy and honestly amazed for those first weeks results..but what should be the reason to play a tournament if not the strong feeling that i can win everytime? And i want it. So..let'see what i can do.

Meanwhile,i scored -8 in my practice round with the 3rd pin selection. They seems a bit easier,compared with the pin positions of the 2nd round..and for some reason (habit,i assume) i feel more confortable playing with the hard/hard ground conditions of this round,instead the medium/medium of the first two rounds So i think it will depends mostly by the kind of wind i'll find. And if i can find the rythm and the line on my swing.