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Mike Fraser Golf
Your golf resource for Vancouver and the Lower Mainland


CGTF - 9th year Certified Golf Teaching Professional
Master Club Fitter - GolfTown University
MFG – January 2023
Fifty-four years playing this amazing game this year. Nine years as a CGTF Golf Teaching Professional. My seventh year on the maintenance crew at the VanParksGolf – McCleery Golf Course. In the spirit of reconciliation, I call myself a land custodian. I am trying to leave this City of Vancouver land in a better state than I found it. As a golf course, the Superintendent and crew have made many improvements to McCleery that make me proud to be a part of it. I acknowledge that I am a 3rd generation uninvited settler who lives and works on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil Waututh Nations.
Got a chance to play 48 games in 2022. Seems like when I get a chance to play over 40 games in a season, it invariably ends up being a good one. This past year was no different. Three years post left thumb surgery and I’m so happy to report that my left thumb, apart from being permanently hyperextended, is fully healed. I have the mobility I need to play golf, and am doing it pain free. My right thumb is following the left, though not at a surgical state as yet. Pain comes and goes, mostly reflecting the humidity of the day.
Coming up to my 65th birthday, I’m contemplating reducing my hours at the golf course and taking on some more lessons. The lesson move will have to take in to account the nature of CoVid going forward into the summer and fall. I will keep you posted.
I’m making an early gear change for 2023. I have been following Danny Seifried – Kayson Golf, for the past couple of years. I have always been a fan of roll face putter technologies, believing that a roll face offers the same loft at point of contact, regardless of forward press or hitting the ball on the upswing, etc. Well, Danny has developed a putter that has most of its weight above the equator of the putter. This high center of gravity allows the ball to be struck with some over-spin or more roll out. It’s a mallet head, which I have never played before, and has a nice black finish with 3 different alignment markings on the top. He also gave me a smaller large grip (not the SuperStroke 5) and made it a little longer than my previous gamer.
I am really looking forward to getting this in play for the season.
Danny has also provided me the opportunity to demo a set of his Kayson Golf graphite shafted club sets. There will be another entry to evaluate the Kayson products in March, after I have had a chance to give them a good test!
Now on to last year’s review:
Handicap +0.1
Low Score 69 (twice)
High Score 77
Par or Better 15 games (nearly 1/3 of my total rounds)
Lowest Score at Langara 72 (with 1 – 3 putt)
Birdies 103
Most Ft of Putts Made 115 (6 birdies for 69)
Least Amount of Putts 22 (10/12 up & ins for 70)
Most GIR 15 (1 Birdie – 1 Double for 72)
Most Pars in a round 16 (same round as most GIR)
Most Birdies in a round 6 (twice)
I did not keep statistics for any categories this year. I was less concerned about improving in any of the categories because I simply wanted to play a shot at a time and enjoy the process. What I did find out about my game this past year was that I was not reading greens very well and subsequently didn’t make as many putts as I think I should have. Hence, the equipment change. Also, I am committed to taking a bit more time with my putting routine, with most of that time being more thorough on reading the green. I don’t 3 – putt very often, but I also don’t make some of the good chances I get round in and round out. I’m hoping I can improve upon this.
In conjunction with me pulling back my hours on the crew I’m hoping to add an extra game per week from May or June onward. If I get the chance to play 3 times a week, there is no telling how well I might play this year.
I had some nice aha moments this past year. After a bogey-bogey-bogey start, played the last 15 even for a 74. A double-par-bogey-double stretch 3-6 with 3 penalty strokes, but finished with 6 birdies and shot 72. Birdied 14 -15-16 to shoot 70. The realization was, to not give up, to not get frustrated, to keep playing shot for shot.
The consistency that this year held was really rewarding, even though my lowest score wasn’t really low (-2). My sloppy games were 74’s and 75’s. Lots of those games were played after a full day of work, with my alarm going off at 4am. Those rounds were ones where I really had to stay in the moment and push through the exhaustion to finish as well as I could.
I continue to absolutely LOVE this game! I am committed to hitting balls on the range a couple times a week during the off-season. I’m heading for what seems like an annual trip to Palm Springs a little later this year, going at the end of February. This will give me a really good start on the West Coast 2023 season!