Golf Thread

Quite an adventure this afternoon. 1hr lesson followed by 18 holes on Chichester Golf Club's Tower course.

My god I must be one of the stupidest people out there. Had three lessons back in 2020 just as I was getting back into hitting on the range and it was on the last of those that I got fitted for my irons. At the time I thought I'd spend a bit of time practicing with the new clubs and then evaluate where I was. If only I'd kept with the lesson's I could have saved myself wasting the past two years trying to perfect a defunct swing :p.

Too much bend in the knees, overusing the hips (being conscious of trying to get that rotation), lifting my feet up at impact as I tried to make way for the club as my body was in such a bad position. All wrong and completely transformed within the hour! OK I'm going to need more practice to be consistent and get used to the new positioning, got some drills to work on, but the results spoke for themselves. Immediately started hitting my 8i 10 yards further (130 carry to 140) and it felt effortless. The key was getting my club in the right position at the top of the back swing, be more like Dustin was the moto. This meant keeping my legs straighter, more hinge from the waist, keeping my hands up on the back swing and not trying to wrap them around my body. Keeping my belly button, chest in line with the ball and maintaining my height.

Money, even if it does cost a fair bit of coin, well spent. I'd booked in 18 holes afterwards which in retrospect was a bit of a stretch.

Scorecard

As you can see a bit of horror show as I tried to implement my work from the lesson. Didn't get off to a great start when a three ball on the 1st tee invited me to play through, nothing like an audience! I obliged by duffing my tee shot. The 2nd was a write off but then I struck gold on the 3rd. Hit a worldy off a 7i off the tee (zoom in to see) to within 2ft of the flag and tapped in for birdie :) Played some OK shots after this on the following holes before two shockers over the turn. Then on the back nine felt very unlucky when a well struck 5i went into the greenside bunker and finished here! I wasn't sure what to do at first and in the end decided to try putting out sideways, which I did successfully first time :D Picked up again towards the end of the round with some better striking, even on the 17th where I put one into the water (it was a good shot to get there) and ended with par at the last. Exhausting.

A couple of things I'll need for next time. Insect repellent, I had a swarm of flies following me all around the back nine once I'd worked up a bit of a sweat. A cap, with the sun being low towards the end of the round there were a few tee shots where I didn't see the ball at all and had to trust I had found the fairway based on how good the strike sounded.

And a little rant to finish, pitchmarks :mad:. If I had a pound for each one I repaired today I would have made enough to pay for my lesson :p. Lots of rain overnight, greens were soft, some absolute craters out there. I don't know how people could miss them or if it's just carelessness/lack of consideration for others. It takes five seconds to repair one!
 
@stephenb The pitch marks are a common thing and totally avoidable. Some people really do not understand golf, I don't think a lot of people do it on purpose, of course some people are just lazy / do not care.

This and raking bunkers!! :mad:
 
SKILL said:
Had my first lesson today... I noticed whilst I was at the range last Friday that they had group lessons focussing on a Monday afternoon, cost was £6 including 60 range balls (which usually cost £6...) and a coffee so seemed pretty good and I decided to go.

He made a few tweaks to my grip, informed me about ball position as I was basically hitting all the clubs from the middle except driver so now I know to move the ball a bit forward for the 6 iron etc and a bit about posture/distance from the ball.

But the biggest was some weight transfer stuff, so I was basically staying static or so I thought but ending up on the back foot. So he told me to move my weight back a bit (he said 65%) on the back swing and then forward onto the front foot lifting the rear heel off the ground by the end of the swing.

Now I can't hit the ball at all :cry:

I'm sure the changes are sound but I definitely need more practice :p Gonna try and get to the range on Wednesday or Thursday before the next game on Friday morning to actually learn how to hit the ball again :D
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I had issue with my weight transfer as well - my instructor gave me a set of these and I've found them really handy when I'm at the range or even just wee practice things in the house.
 
Superpatsy said:
I had issue with my weight transfer as well - my instructor gave me a set of these and I've found them really handy when I'm at the range or even just wee practice things in the house.
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Interesting, never seen them before, I'll take a look.

Finally got to the range after the lesson yesterday but was in a bit of a rush, thought I'd hit some driver cause that was working nicely only to be unable to hit the ball at all really, then switching to the irons thinking they'd be terrible but was actually getting some really nice shots in. Maybe not quite as much of the weight transfer as at the end of the class but still trying to add some and it looked good.

Went out for a round this morning a bit wary with the lack of the driver and having to go onto the 'hard' course, it's more that it's unforgiving with lots of oppurtunities to lose the ball and get a penalty shot. Ended up with 124 which is both 'poor' after the past two games being sub-120 but also 5 shots better than my last go on this course (3 better than my best). Good bits were some good drives, my Hybrid was actually working nicely and some good Iron shots too. Putting was still pretty poor and 2 or 3 chips onto the green came up short, and another few went skimming way over the other side and I was zig-zagging the greens :/

Still, good to get out and back out on Monday, on the 'easier' course...
 
Played with my dad this morning - hitting the ball fairly average again in comparison to a few months/weeks back. 18 holes, 3 hours - perfect. Greens in fabulous nick for this time of year at St Cuthberts.

Came off the course and got a call from the pro I was due to catch up with again next week. Did I want a cancelation today.....

So went down for a "MOT" on the work we did last year, check up kind of lesson.

Overall, he's very happy with the change in grip, looks natural now.

Next winter stage would be to get on the inside on the way down as I still tend to swing over the top around 6-8 degrees path wise, and whilst playable, he would ideally like me to get that down to around 3-4 degrees - 0 is obviously perfect but realistically, not going to happen without lots of lessons/work/rebuild etc.

So I have to feel like I'm dropping my hands/pulling down more, as I start the down swing.

Picture below has the before and after plane.....

Winter work in progress.... Left is current over the top path, right side is new "improved" work to be done.

img-20220916-wa0001-jpg.1753524
 
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booyaka said:
/snip

Next winter stage would be to get on the inside on the way down as I still tend to swing over the top around 6-8 degrees path wise, and whilst playable, he would ideally like me to get that down to around 3-4 degrees - 0 is obviously perfect but realistically, not going to happen without lots of lessons/work/rebuild etc.

So I have to feel like I'm dropping my hands/pulling down more, as I start the down swing.
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I had this all last year. impingement of the right rotator cuff caused me to reduce my back swing and severely come out to in. Almost 10deg.
2 lessons over xmas saw this and the Pro gave me the exact same routine to try. Backswing as though I'm shaking hands with someone at my 90deg then pull down on the chain to create an in to out swing. So so difficult to produce time after time. Especially with the Driver.

As the weather is cooling and winter will soon be here I'll be at the range a couple per week to try and work on this. I may even have a couple of lessons to tweak a few things and then hopefully hit my goal of single figure handicap next year
 
I had an MOT with John Gregory at Dartford Golf Club this week. While I thought my alignment was OK, he rightly pointed out my lack of a proper pre-shot routine on second shots was leaving me pointing me all over the place. Also that my summer golf shoes aren't holding my feet still enough so my downswing is inconsistent as my feet can move within the shoes. It's funny because I generally play pretty well in winter when we have lift and place (which allows me to use the alignment aids on the balls) and wetter weather so I wear proper firm waterproof shoes.

Easy things to work on which was reassuring.
 
This is without doubt the most frustrating sport I have ever played :(. Been to the range twice since my lesson and can't get close to replicating how well I was striking the ball at the end of it.

Tried to video myself today, just proping the phone up on a bucket of balls. I can see I'm not getting in the right position at the top of the backswing but seem powerless to do anything about it. Arrrgggghhhh :mad:.
 
stephenb said:
This is without doubt the most frustrating sport I have ever played :(.
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Agreed :( :p

Sunday game delayed to Monday this week, club was busy as I guess most golf clubs are/where closed today (my local one is) and back on the 'easier'/more forgiving course after Fridays outing on the harder course. It did not go well :p

Scored 124, which isn't terrible for me but my last couple of gos on this course got under 120 and I felt if I played as well as Friday I could be easily under 115 this time but nooooo. Had 3 pretty good holes to be fair, and some really nice hits especially with the hybrid which I'm finally gelling with but so many utterly awful shots/holes. Really feels like I played absolutely awfully.

Roll on Friday when I can do it all over again :D
 
Anyone else see the last hole between Homa and Willett! Talk about a nail biter and what an epic shot on the 18th.

 
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Yes, just got back home in time to see the last couple of holes live. Seeing a top Pro make a howler doesn't half make you feel better about your own game.
 
magicroundabout said:
So after inputting a couple more cards my handicap has been updated.

Now been cut to 10.6 :eek:

Now it can only go upwards :cry:
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good stuff - 9.1 for me at the moment - Can't see it coming down anymore as the winter weather sets in and course gets longer/wetter etc.

Got selected to play in the Inter club match against our big rivals this Sunday.... Always a fun match but also very competitive as neither side wants to loose as the rivals Club captain must attend the annual dinner and present the trophy to the winning club, so you can imagine the geering/ribbing that goes on if you win it and get the trophy
 
Had another lesson today. Left full of hope and optimism again :) Hopefully it sticks this time.

The key movement for me is that initial take back of the club and not allowing my hips to start rotating until the shaft is past the horizontal. This allows me to get the club into the right position at the top. Then on the downswing it's getting the weight transfer onto the left foot but keeping the leg straight and not moving my whole body forwards towards the target. He had me using a little rubber pressure plate under the ball of my left foot, which I see a few others mentioned up thread. He suggested cutting a tennis ball in half was just as effective.

Forecast for the weekend looks good so may try and get nine holes in Saturday/Sunday afternoon.
 
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Usual Friday golf again today, same course as the mess that was Monday and had a few days on the range since then as well.

So did the range work pay off? Nope. Lost my first ball off the tee so immediately on the back foot and the rest of the front nine was a bit meh, 7 shots down on my best but admittedly I have done worse.

But! Settled back into it and the back nine was way better, best back nine on that course I've managed. 115 overall for a new PB 4 bogeys and 1 par, both surprised and happy with that.

Even hit a weird par on the 13th hole, topped the driver but it ran and avoided the first bunker, thinned the 6 Iron but it also ran and avoided the second bunker, hit a pitching wedge and actually made a decent shot to be on the edge of the green, still a long putt and when I first hit it I actually thought I'd overhit it and gone too far right only for it to keep rolling and turning way more than I expected at the end to sink it from miles away.
 
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