Golf Thread

Just got back from a weekend seeing the family and some extra golf for added measure :p

On Saturday I played a place called Sweetwoods Park near Edenbridge in East Sussex, nice little course really for a reasonable £45 green fee but was mostly playing it because my Nephew who's only recently taken up golf wanted to play a full 18 (he's been playing at a 9-hole place) so we looked around and picked there at random, but like I said decent course. My nephew started off not great but think he was a bit nervous or something, into the back 9 he started hitting some much better and more consistent shots which was nice to see and he seemed to enjoy himself which is the most important bit :)

Then the last 3 days I've been doing some NCG Top 100 Tour events, and got some good results in :D

Monday, Piltdown - Nice 'heathland' course so lots of heather but no bunkers! Was playing generally ok, some errant tee shots but generally decent. Actually ended up -1 overall on the par 3's with one birdie and the rest pars, liked that stat :D Annoyingly I lost a tee shot on the 16th, we saw it jump into some heather and thought we'd find it so nope, ended up blobbing that hole. Then on the 17th I saw my drive go right towards some red stakes, thought at worst I'd end up dropping up there, nope, no sign of the ball in the hazard or anywhere else. There were a bunch of rabbit holes so my theory is it went down one of those... Overall I got 37 points coming 2nd to the winner with 38 points.

Tuesday, Crowborough Beacon - Another heathland course with a whole bunch of heather, some bunkers here but also a lot more elevation and sloping fairways. Played just generally really well, nothing exception or really to note, maybe a couple of very nice 5 woods ~210 off the deck with a lovely draw but otherwise just good solid gold. Ended the day on 40 points which was enough to win \o/

Wednesday, Chart Hills - Very different course, no heather but about a gazillion bunkers or so, including one that was 200 yards long! Ended up in a bit of a rush to start and just didn't really start off well with my swing being a bit 'off'. Feel like I got something a bit together towards the middle of the round but then kinda faded as it was hot! At least that's what I'm blaming it on :p Ended on 31 points, not terrible I guess.

With the win and 2nd place I should soon have £350 in TaylorMade vouchers, think I need to use them on the TM website though so not 100% sure what's available...
 
hey guys, been out of action for 6-7 weeks now. getting back into the rhythm now.

i wanted a quick idea on how you guys address irons?

for instance, im getting better results without the ball to far in front of my stance, and by that i mean.. i address my top end irons (GW-8) behind centre stance slightly, and in my net yesterday I was getting much better contact results adressing my (5-7) about centre stance..

the reason I ask is I know your meant to have the ball slightly further in you stance the longer the clubs go..

what do you do?
 
^ nothing back of center bar the occasional back foot chip. Wedges centre, 8/9i one ball forward, 6/7i closer to two, 5i and woods furthest forward.
 
Zeebedy said:
hey guys, been out of action for 6-7 weeks now. getting back into the rhythm now.

i wanted a quick idea on how you guys address irons?

for instance, im getting better results without the ball to far in front of my stance, and by that i mean.. i address my top end irons (GW-8) behind centre stance slightly, and in my net yesterday I was getting much better contact results adressing my (5-7) about centre stance..

the reason I ask is I know your meant to have the ball slightly further in you stance the longer the clubs go..

what do you do?
Click to expand...


Ball-Position-Driver-Woods-Hybrids-Irons-Wedges-Part-1-2017.jpg
 
stephenb said:

Spider ZT Long

TaylorMade
www.taylormadegolf.co.uk www.taylormadegolf.co.uk

Other variants available but this appears to be the only one in stock. I gather these have been selling like hot cakes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, did see that, and also noticed that a lot of the 'standard' stuff doesn't seem to be in stock/sold directly via the website...

I'll probably want some new wedges 'soon' with plans for an irons upgrade, probably end up getting 2 of them through the 'MyMG4' customiser thingy, pricey at £199 a piece but with the vouchers that'll be £50 of my money towards two shiny new wedges :D

Either that or maybe a bag, they've got a bunch of those available on the site, although my current carry bag is a TM and it's falling apart so meh.
 
It has been a while since I last posted, but the golf has been a bit mixed over the last couple of years - got down to 5.0 but a recurrence of my back problems has seen it creep back up to 5.6 currently but I expect it to go up a bit further still as I have got a couple of low differentials dropping off in the next couple of rounds (a 2.5 and a 3.4)

This year has been mixed with some good ball striking but just not able to score for some reason, although I have had some good results in our league team fixtures playing in the scratch section this year. The worst result was when I ended up playing someone off +2 and he buried me on the 13th (at his home course) with a 25ft putt for yet another birdie in that round which I think had him -3 for the holes we played

Managed to get a half this week and my opponent gave me a compliment saying it was the hardest match he had played all year and that I was a nightmare to play against - probably something to do with how well I scrambled and putted whenever I got out of position to either save a hole, or in some cases to win them

Range practice has been going well and it definitely helps having Trackman and being able to play courses rather than just hitting balls, so I just need to transfer that to the course as I don't quite feel I have got the same confidence but it is getting there
 
So, I picked up one of these earlier in the week for £265.99:

Pro Rider 18-Hole Lithium Electric Golf Trolley

Buy Pro Rider 18-Hole Lithium Electric Golf Trolley by PRO RIDER from Jack Stonehouse - @ Buy Affordable Homeware & Home Accessories - Jack Stonehouse
www.jackstonehouse.com www.jackstonehouse.com

Went for free delivery and still got it next day. Was a bit of a fiddle to setup initially and fitting the accessory kit was a bit of a work it out as you go along but took it out for 9 earlier in the week and it was fine. It's not going to win any prestige points due to the style and the name but will do just fine I hope. Lithium battery so a bit lighter than the lead acid option.

The guy I was playing with a couple of weeks back had the ben sayers branded version of this so it's a bit of a generic trolley rebadged by various companies but compared to the price of even the cheapest main brands it was worth a go. It was as quiet as any other one I've seen. Youtube reviews are generally favourable which swung it.

If anyone is looking for a cheap and cheerful electric trolley my initial thoughts are good. Out for 18 tomorrow so will see how it gets on.

If you hang around the site for a bit it should pop up offering you 5% off. (there is also a £5 off first order offer but then 5% was better and you can't combine the codes).

Played well on the 9 earlier in the week so hope I can continue this tomorrow and hopefully avoid having those two bad holes again. All the OB is left hand side on this course so when I hook one it ends badly so have a plan to play down the right towards the wrong fairway on one of the holes which should still leave a decent approach into the green and play a half 7 iron off the tee on the long par 3 which should hopefully stay in play.
 
Last edited:
Tough loss in the Foursomes today.... Lost at the 20th.

Great game - giving away 7 shots. As previously mentioned, the SI on our course is just screwed so badly it's a joke.

Giving 7 away - 3 shots in the first 6 holes..... None in the next 6 holes, then 4 in the last 6 holes including 3 in the last 4.

What a joke... Supposed to be spread throughout the round - R&A rules but our course just ignore that thanks to Local Council owned.

Close game - I think we had 3 birdies today in alt shot which is pretty good. Halfed the 19th hole, then they get a shot down the 2nd (20th hole) - Again totally against R&A rules having SI 2 in the first 3 holes for Stroke Index...

Par 5, mate sticks a wedge to like 2ft in 3.... Solid birdie, almost gimme for us. They on the green in 3, holed a 25ft putt for 4 net 3 (eagle). Ridiciulous that our course is so badly Stroke Index'd.

Also the SI's are the same for the men and women on all the holes - no changes... Again totally ridiculous....

Good game, good chat, but screwed with the stupid SI's
 
Last edited:
Another case of what could have been today, seems to be the theme of recent months.

Had been out on Thursday having had a few days off and played horribly. Everything going right with driver as I got progressively more and more out to in. Worked on the range yesterday to try and straighten out by putting a ball a couple feet in front of the tee at an angle of 10-15 degrees and swinging towards that, or at least feeling like it. Seemed to work so stepped up on the 1st tee today, hole playing downwind (and as always a fair bit downhill), with driver and absolutely piped one straight out of the middle and arrow straight. If I ever hit a better drive than this down the first I'll be shocked. With a baked out fairway it ran out to 265y or so leaving me 105y to a centre pin. Unfortunately this is a bit of bogey number for me due the gap between my pitching wedge (47deg) and 52. In retrospect I should have hammered my 52 and hoped I hit a good one to safely get over the ditch at the front of the green. As it was I went for a 3/4 PW and hit it so tamely as to put it straight in, fuming :mad: Took a drop back in line and after a little thin wedge which left me just off the back for four I scrambled well to rescue a point (6 for 1). I then proceeded to pipe two more good drives down the second and third holes, ride my luck a little on the par three 6th before hitting another beauty of a drive on the 7th (another green guarded by a ditch) to leave me well within range. Overall I came away with a very solid front nine picking up 18pts. With the back nine always where I make a score surely I couldn't eff this one up?

Big slice of luck on the 10th with my approach. Dragged it left into the tall hedge/bushes which line the left of the green and the ball pops out 90deg to the right and finishes right fringe. None of us in our group had ever seen a ball pop out from there before. Scruffy 11th hole and then hit what I thought was a ropey drive down the par 5 12th only to to be surprised when I got up to it that I was within range of making it over the lake with my second (wind must have bailed me out). Hit a 5w but rather bailed out to the left. Finished up pin high but left of the green behind the small mounds that surround it. Hit a lovely chip which rolls out to 1.5ft past the hole, tap it in for my 22nd birdie of the year :) After picking up 2pts on the 13th I was sitting on 28pts and on for a good score.

Sadly it all started to unravel from the 14th onwards. Hit my tee shot in the one place you can't afford to miss, left into some very long knee high rough. Even though I saw it bounce none of us could find it when we got up there. Was on the green in five with my provisional but couldn't sink the 8-10ft put to rescue a point. Short par three 15th. Horrific tee shot into left greenside bunker which is very compacted and firm. Thought I made a good swing but just impossible to get any amount of sand first. Rolled out through the green into the rough. Chip on for three but couldn't make the return put for a point. 16th short par 4, comfortably on the green in two with good proximity below the hole, dreadful three putt to only score two points. 17th playing downwind and with the current conditions potentially driveable with a good one. Having only picked up 2pts in the last three holes get sucked into it and put it OB right along with my provisional. 18th hit a good drive to leave a 6i over the corner of the dog leg. Thin it straight into the trees and make 6 for 1. So from being on course to potentially score around 40pts I end up with 31 :rolleyes:

Last Saturday 50/39 (off whites, par 72 36/36), today 44/48 (off yellows, par 71 36/35). Golf, don't you just love it :p
 
Last edited:
Played yesterday in Bristol, just doing a fun round/no card and started off great, birdied the first after trying for the first time ever to get to the green in 2 (par 5, ditch before the green so usually lay up) but ended up in the greenside bunker, up and down for the birdie was super solid though. Then bogey'd the 2nd followed by 3 pars to be even through 5 then it returned to a bit more like normality. Ended up with a slighty dubious +13, dubious because being a fun round I did take a few dodgy drops but whatevs :p

Then today was an interesting one, for the first time ever I represented my club in a match... There's a Wiltshire County inter-club tournament thing called the Buthlay Cup, today was a home match and I was one of 8 people picked to represent the club. I put my name down months ago but didn't really expect to get picked :p

Was good though, played with a guy I know reasonably well and it worked out today, he was (and is generally) solid overall but when he did stumble I managed to keep it together. At least till the last ~4 holes where I kinda faded, I say last 4 as there was a bit off an odd extra where although we won the match 3&1 we also had to play the last hole 'properly' as there's a "holes won/lost" ratio which counts somehow, 'we' won the 18th for a 4-up total :)

And as a club it was a clean sweep, won all 4 matches, happy days :D
 
need a quick technical question here guys..

just been out in my net, i really am struggling with my technique on them.. i was fitted for a Dynamic Gold S300 shaft as my backswing and tempo was very fast and inconsistent. Now as im trying to hit the ball softer and get that straight takeaway, I feel the shaft as very "heavy" and cant get any rhythm..

would you suggest I get another re fit on them? I have been eyeing up a deal atm from American Golf, they have the T200 / T350 from 5-GW for £899! :eek:
 
Managed to equal my lowest ever score today, 90. Decided early on to use a lower tee peg than usual even though the wind was just a whisper, resulting in a straighter ball flight. Fairway woods and irons behaved better too, my weakness was my putting, scoring 6 x 3 putts. Also, I shot 15 over the 3 par 3’s.
Overall I am happy with my game today, but I know I could easily have done better.
 
Talk about a tale of two nines today - comp was a medal and I got off to a great start with a 3 putt bogey on the first, followed by bogey, triple, bogey and then another double and a bogey. Finally managed a par on the 7th but then followed that with another triple and a bogey for an embarrassing 49 on the front

Back 9 was a complete flip with 5 pars, 2 birdies and 2 bogeys for a level par 36

Gonna need some range time to try and figure out what the heck happened on the front 9
 
Zeebedy said:
need a quick technical question here guys..

just been out in my net, i really am struggling with my technique on them.. i was fitted for a Dynamic Gold S300 shaft as my backswing and tempo was very fast and inconsistent. Now as im trying to hit the ball softer and get that straight takeaway, I feel the shaft as very "heavy" and cant get any rhythm..

would you suggest I get another re fit on them? I have been eyeing up a deal atm from American Golf, they have the T200 / T350 from 5-GW for £899! :eek:
Click to expand...

Obviously it's up to you, and can't hurt, but...

I think I've touched on this before but in the time I've been posting here you've had like 8 sets of irons now? 3 launch monitors? And yet I rarely hear you talk about going and playing a round. You do you and all that but shaft isn't going to make all that much difference, well it does but doesn't if that makes any sense :p
 
SKILL said:
Obviously it's up to you, and can't hurt, but...

I think I've touched on this before but in the time I've been posting here you've had like 8 sets of irons now? 3 launch monitors? And yet I rarely hear you talk about going and playing a round. You do you and all that but shaft isn't going to make all that much difference, well it does but doesn't if that makes any sense :p
Click to expand...

yeah, i have been overlooking shafts. its true, i have had a lot of clubs recently, but after watching some YT videos and looking into I a custom fit, shafts were transforming the guys game (was 17HC golfer), anyways, I have booked a custom fit tomorrow, as i will then at least know if its me, the head, or the shaft thats making things more difficult for me.

Oh and one more thing, when I phoned AG the prices on display are the display prices :( . Not the custom fit ones.
 
anyone use any putting training aids? I've done my left knee in and it doesn't seem to be getting any better by itself, have ordered a knee support to see if that helps at all as even getting to see the GP is going to take a couple of weeks. Will see how I get on with a knee support but if I need to take a break then I could try and really improve my putting. See people using mirrors so might look at getting something like that and a putting mat to keep me going if I can't play much for a while.
 
jaybee said:
Currently suffering with coming over the top and fading all my shorts, especially drives. Anyone got any good drills they used to fix this?
Click to expand...
Biggest help for me recently was one of Danny Maud’s videos about right hand grip. Basically hold your right arm out with forearm and palm facing outwards, then just turn your right hand at the wrist to the left and grip the club. Has really helped me keep the club face more closed and has made a massive difference producing straight shots!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom