Golf Thread

ArcticHeron said:
@Snookums that's great! Glad you enjoyed it, that really is the main thing. Keep at it and make sure to implement your lessons in practice and you'll see a lot more consistency. Was in a similar position to yourself last year after having not played for maybe 20 years, worst score was 136, now I almost consistently break 50/100.

Only tip I'd give is don't throw everything in the bag if you don't feel you can use it yet. Take clubs you feel comfortable hitting, even if it means hitting a 7 iron off the tee. You just want to stay out of the trouble and save money on lost balls when you start out. Don't get complicated around the greens, just get it on for a putt. I loved to over complicate things when I started by using all different types of wedges, you only really need a SW and PW, everything else is bump and run at this stage. Get in on the green as efficiently as possible, doesn't matter what you use.

BIGGEST tip is don't get frustrated, there's no point at the moment, not until you can understand what might have gone wrong with your swing etc. Just play and have a good time :)
Click to expand...

Appreciate that, yeah I've been pretty good at staying level headed and just taking it as it comes, mate I played with on sunday is also brand new, we actually played in Brum! I've only lost 2 balls so far across both courses, both where in the same stream at the course in Birmingham :cry: The other mate I played with last night is a good player so he was giving me tips, main one being slow down my swing. Was also showing my how to swing certain shots, mainly chipping onto the green effectively so that was handy.
 
@Snookums pretty much what ArcticHeron said tbh, mostly just enjoy it :)

Play and practice will inevitably get you better, lessons too but I think it's worth finding someone that works for you if that makes sense?

As for the bogey, hell yeah, I'm bad enough that I'm happy enough with a bogey :p Even a double bogey I don't mind really... It's more about how the hole went as a, well, whole.
 
Snookums said:
Appreciate that, yeah I've been pretty good at staying level headed and just taking it as it comes, mate I played with on sunday is also brand new, we actually played in Brum! I've only lost 2 balls so far across both courses, both where in the same stream at the course in Birmingham :cry: The other mate I played with last night is a good player so he was giving me tips, main one being slow down my swing. Was also showing my how to swing certain shots, mainly chipping onto the green effectively so that was handy.
Click to expand...

Ahh brill! What course did you play?

To have only lost 2 balls so far is very good going. I found that dropped balls where what made my early score cards so hellish so keeping those to a minimum straight out the gate is great! Your pal was right to give you short game tips. It's where most players can save the most shots but ironically us beginners tend do prioritize long game first. Every one likes to look good off the tee :P

Most important thing to remember is that it's a process, a very slow one for most of us and the learning curve is hellishly sporadic. You'll play great one day and think you've cracked it but the next time you go nothing 'clicks' and you'll tank your card and probably think it's not worth it. Keep at it. It all gets fed into the machine one way or another and before long you'll be able to recognize what you did wrong, that's when you really start to save shots.
 
Last edited:
Just back from my on course lesson, went great :) I hit the ball beautifully for the most part and even the not so great shots were OK. The only really bad one I hit was when my instructor wanted my to hit 3w off the fairway. First one I made really nice contact but sliced it into the trees, then he pointed out my grip was a bit weak and having corrected that I topped the next one about 30 yards :p Flushed, for me, a couple of really nice 7i's including one on the first hole we played which needed about 130 to carry a stream at the front of the green.

Being chauffeured around in a buggy certainly helped and he brought a couple of his putters for me to try out. As it turned out I just tried one of them, a TaylorMade Spider GT Max, which was very nice and I immediately got on with. Stroke felt a lot more solid with it than my current cheap and cheerful blade from my old package set. Having checked prices they're not cheap!
 
Evening all, I'm looking to get into golf as my fitness is not as good as it used to be for running around for 90 mins for football :cry: just looking for some pointers really, I'm wanting to get a set of clubs to go to the driving range a few times to get into the swing of things (excuse the pun) are there any particular brands or clubs I should get hold of first of all?

I done a few Driving range sessions many years back but I'm sure I'll need a lot of work to get back up to speed with it all

Thanks in advance for any help
 
^ Worth seeing if any of your local driving ranges have clubs you can use freely. My club has a box by the vending machines full of all sorts that people have donated over the years. Anyone can get out and have swing :) If you're any good at all it would be worth getting fit if you can, even if it's the lower end of the price range places like American Golf have a couple of different brands you might be able to try out in their fitting bay to see which you like best.

If you're set on buying a package set I'd start with something like this:

Fazer CTR 25 Starter Dr7PWPtrB Master Item | American Golf

Fazer CTR25 Starter Golf Package Set available at American Golf - Free UK delivery on orders over £50, also Free Custom Club Fitting, Over 100 stores nationwide.
www.americangolf.co.uk www.americangolf.co.uk

Should be enough to know if you're going to stick at it and if not it won't have cost you too much.
 
Costco do decent priced boxed sets if you have one locally, Callaway are pretty solid as are Cobra. Would have thought that would be perfect for a starter.

Golf can be an expensive hobby, like cars and computers but it needn't be.
 
stephenb said:
^ Worth seeing if any of your local driving ranges have clubs you can use freely. My club has a box by the vending machines full of all sorts that people have donated over the years. Anyone can get out and have swing :) If you're any good at all it would be worth getting fit if you can, even if it's the lower end of the price range places like American Golf have a couple of different brands you might be able to try out in their fitting bay to see which you like best.

If you're set on buying a package set I'd start with something like this:

Fazer CTR 25 Starter Dr7PWPtrB Master Item | American Golf

Fazer CTR25 Starter Golf Package Set available at American Golf - Free UK delivery on orders over £50, also Free Custom Club Fitting, Over 100 stores nationwide.
www.americangolf.co.uk www.americangolf.co.uk

Should be enough to know if you're going to stick at it and if not it won't have cost you too much.
Click to expand...

Thanks bud much appreciated, I will pop into the local driving range on the weekend and see what they have around, I'll also see what stores are local, we used to have an American golf shop but think it's gone now :(
 
Josh said:
Costco do decent priced boxed sets if you have one locally, Callaway are pretty solid as are Cobra. Would have thought that would be perfect for a starter.

Golf can be an expensive hobby, like cars and computers but it needn't be.
Click to expand...

Closest Costco we have is Reading but it's not far at all, I also visit Bristol often so could always pop in the golf shops down there
 
Well played today and what a funny old round I had.
Putter was off all game. Greens were running slow and I couldn't find the pace. Reckon I lost around 5 shots because of it.

So inconsistent with each club. Only club that was on point was my driver. Didn't find any Par 3s off the tee but my up and down seemed ok.
Mixture of finishing work at 01:30 and getting up at 7am might of been an issue :D

Shot an 85 overall which on reflection wasn't bad. Just frustrated with my approach play.
 
Minibiker said:
Thanks bud much appreciated, I will pop into the local driving range on the weekend and see what they have around, I'll also see what stores are local, we used to have an American golf shop but think it's gone now :(
Click to expand...

Just spotted you're in Swindon, sorry to hear that. :p

Not quite the same but the shop I go to for lessons is called Tony Valentine, I go to the one in Corsham but they've got another branch in Swindon, in the Corsham one they've got a bunch of second hand clubs so they could possibly put together a cheap second hand bag, worth asking. They also do lessons in a simulator and I can definitely reccomend that if/when you get hooked :D

Also checking ebay/facebook marketplace, although when I started last August there was both a lack of availability and what was there I had no idea if it was 'worth it' so felt safer going for a cheap package set. Which I've since replaced everything except the Irons :cry:
 
SKILL said:
Just spotted you're in Swindon, sorry to hear that. :p

Not quite the same but the shop I go to for lessons is called Tony Valentine, I go to the one in Corsham but they've got another branch in Swindon, in the Corsham one they've got a bunch of second hand clubs so they could possibly put together a cheap second hand bag, worth asking. They also do lessons in a simulator and I can definitely reccomend that if/when you get hooked :D

Also checking ebay/facebook marketplace, although when I started last August there was both a lack of availability and what was there I had no idea if it was 'worth it' so felt safer going for a cheap package set. Which I've since replaced everything except the Irons :cry:
Click to expand...

No need to apologise, I know Swindon is a dive but the missus doesn't want to move away from her family :cry:

Funny you say about Tony Valentine, I was speaking to someone today about the shop here, I will pop into it and see what they can offer me, like you say, I've checked the market place but have no idea what clubs are worth what and whether I'm choosing the right stuff. I will see about lessons also, if you don't mind me asking, how much do you pay? Don't have to answer if you don't want to bud
 
Another what could have been....Excellent front 9.




But on the positive side - Short game was excellent today, missed a number of greens but got up and down very well - again putted very solid, holed out well. Some loose iron shots in the middle of the back nine.

But happy to have another round in the 70's...
 
Played 9 holes at my local course today, skipped the normal/full 18 holes yesterday cause I'm not feeling 100% and got the society round tomorrow and wanted to be more rested for that.

Weather was lovely, bit cloudy but they disappeared like 5 minutes before I started and was just sun from there on in :D

Played ok overall, not spectacular, but my 5W was on form today. Right from the first tee which is outside the clubhouse so you get an audience which I hate, also the 4 ball that should've been ahead of me let me (solo) go first, so no pressure. Stepped up to the ball and hit my 5W straight down the middle of the fairway, 175 yards, perfect, walked off like I always hit it like that :cry: The only 'bad' shot with it today was catching it really thin, still would've run out nicely except it caught a bump which took everything off it.

Minibiker said:
No need to apologise, I know Swindon is a dive but the missus doesn't want to move away from her family :cry:

Funny you say about Tony Valentine, I was speaking to someone today about the shop here, I will pop into it and see what they can offer me, like you say, I've checked the market place but have no idea what clubs are worth what and whether I'm choosing the right stuff. I will see about lessons also, if you don't mind me asking, how much do you pay? Don't have to answer if you don't want to bud
Click to expand...

Sure, I pay £25 for a half hour lesson, seems reasonable to me :) Also occasionally just book the simulator, that's £30 for an hour and they're happy to put the reflective dots on some clubs so you get all the numbers from the sim which I love.
 
So last year got ruined by plantir faciatus, looks like this year will be dominated by arthritus in my middle finger, thus making holding/striking the ball well somewhat painful.

Shot 85 today so scores are much improved with the new bats. Just need to get a short game going
 
SKILL said:
Sure, I pay £25 for a half hour lesson, seems reasonable to me :) Also occasionally just book the simulator, that's £30 for an hour and they're happy to put the reflective dots on some clubs so you get all the numbers from the sim which I love.
Click to expand...

Ohhh that's alright, even the simulator sounds good to me, think I will pop over tomorrow to our local golf club who has an American Golf shop in.. See if they can sort something out for me
 
Quick update on the "potomus" DOTS for the Rapsodo MLM2.

I applied a sticker set the other day to a good condition Kirkland Ball and let it "set" for a day or so, and after an hour+ in the net, there was very little wear. Very pleased with them as a good (and cheaper) alternative to the official RPT Callaway balls!
 
Quick straw poll. Curious what style of putter everyone uses and if you had a fitting or were steered in a particular direction by anyone? Did it make a big difference to your game?

Very tempted to pick something up after hitting a couple yesterday with my pro's Spider GT Max. That particular model is at the pricey end so been looking for similar style models from the TaylorMade range. Namely this one:

www.golfonline.co.uk

TaylorMade Spider GT Single Bend Silver Putter

STABILITY FROM EVERY ANGLE Spider GT sets a new standard in terms of performance and contemporary construction. The modern wing design has sharp angular features and extreme perimeter weighting for optimal forgiveness and roll. So, no matter how you look at it, its stability from every angle...
www.golfonline.co.uk www.golfonline.co.uk
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom