Golf Thread

[MikeTimbers]

Not convinced by Aimpoint. I think it's useful as a "system" to provide structure to something which is all about feel. So for someone lacking confidence in their "feels" it's better than nothing.

I watched an old video yesterday of someone complaining in presumably an exhibition match that a putt was impossible. Then Jack - aged well into his 60s by the look of it - comes over, drops a ball, takes a quick look and then sinks it from at least 40 feet.

found it

 

[SKILL]

Today I played at St. Pierre in Mathern/Chepstow with the Golf Pairs comp setup thing, lovely course but it's bloomin' long I usually play ~5200 yard courses, one 5800 yards, off the whites at St. Pierre is 6700 yards!

I also played badly, my driver was utterly useless and ended up staying in the bag, eventually hit a few good holes around the end of the front 9 and my back 9 was a bit more stable but generally awful. But had a good time, on my own so 3 randoms in the group, two of them knew each other and the other was another solo one, but good bunch so I did manage to enjoy the game

Oddly I get there and spot someone from the society I play in/won last Sunday, didn't realise but 3 of them were going to the same event so had a bit of a chat before/after.

Not convinced by Aimpoint. I think it's useful as a "system" to provide structure to something which is all about feel. So for someone lacking confidence in their "feels" it's better than nothing.

I watched an old video yesterday of someone complaining in presumably an exhibition match that a putt was impossible. Then Jack - aged well into his 60s by the look of it - comes over, drops a ball, takes a quick look and then sinks it from at least 40 feet.

found it

That putt is

 

[Cornubia]

Well had anouther lesson tonight. Wasn't sure what to focus on but since my swing is going well I decided to focus on putting. This was reinforced with my dismal putting of late.

So with no prior tuition it turns out my grip, stance and swing were all wrong, so wholesale changes. Will be interested to see how this intergrates into my game. In the meantime I've got a few drills to practice.

 

[booyaka]

Well had anouther lesson tonight. Wasn't sure what to focus on but since my swing is going well I decided to focus on putting. This was reinforced with my dismal putting of late.

So with no prior tuition it turns out my grip, stance and swing were all wrong, so wholesale changes. Will be interested to see how this intergrates into my game. In the meantime I've got a few drills to practice.

Grip on putting is so subjective....

Anything works - just look at the pro's - All sorts of putters/grips/size of putter grips etc. I don't think you can have a "wrong" putting grip.

I putt cack-handed - have done for years - works well for me......

 

[booyaka]

Not convinced by Aimpoint. I think it's useful as a "system" to provide structure to something which is all about feel. So for someone lacking confidence in their "feels" it's better than nothing.

yeah - I don't really "need" to change anything with my putting - I'm pretty solid, always have been.

Just a bit of a geek with golf stuff and like to see what it's all about. One of the lads in the pair last night was the lad I beat a few weeks ago over 21 holes..... He's aimpointed for a couple of years now and is utterly convinced it's transformed his putting....

He is unreal at putting, very impressive to watch.

 

[Cornubia]

Grip on putting is so subjective....

Anything works - just look at the pro's - All sorts of putters/grips/size of putter grips etc. I don't think you can have a "wrong" putting grip.

I putt cack-handed - have done for years - works well for me......

Putting grip is definitely subjective. Part of the reason I gave up trying to find advice online.

However in my case my existing grip was allowing too much wrist flex resulting jn "flicky" movements in my putting stroke. The new grip calms down the wrist movement but only time will tell.

 

[MarkA]

I've had so many bad consecutive golf rounds over the last 2 months.

My driver was my strength before, has now decided to fail on me. I've turned into a big hooker of the ball off the tee and it's now been sent to the bag for the remainder of the season.
I've been hitting my 5i around 205-210 off the tee, so that's saved me some shots, but I feel the extra 30+ yards on average has really had an effect on my scoring. It's the first time ever that my handicap has started to rise again. It's gone up a whole point in the last 2 months.
Saying that though, my long irons off the tee are much stronger than they used to be, so I have gained experience there and knowing I can always fall back on my 5i is a nice feeling.

After a few rough rounds and losing balls off the tee, it's really made me think twice about playing so regularly.

Saying that though, I played a nice par5 with some good course management using my irons, for the first time ever.
I called it out with my friend/playing partner before I teed off to see how I'd fair, I said "200y off the tee with my 5i (dry & firm fairways), 180y with my 7i, leaving an 80y 60 degree to the pin".
Walked up to each shot on that par5 and hit the exact number on each. Left myself 8ft for birdie and sunk it. Great feeling! Wish I could do that every time

 

[MikeTimbers]

I've had so many bad consecutive golf rounds over the last 2 months.

My driver was my strength before, has now decided to fail on me. I've turned into a big hooker of the ball off the tee and it's now been sent to the bag for the remainder of the season.
I've been hitting my 5i around 205-210 off the tee, so that's saved me some shots, but I feel the extra 30+ yards on average has really had an effect on my scoring. It's the first time ever that my handicap has started to rise again. It's gone up a whole point in the last 2 months.
Saying that though, my long irons off the tee are much stronger than they used to be, so I have gained experience there and knowing I can always fall back on my 5i is a nice feeling.

After a few rough rounds and losing balls off the tee, it's really made me think twice about playing so regularly.

Saying that though, I played a nice par5 with some good course management using my irons, for the first time ever.
I called it out with my friend/playing partner before I teed off to see how I'd fair, I said "200y off the tee with my 5i (dry & firm fairways), 180y with my 7i, leaving an 80y 60 degree to the pin".
Walked up to each shot on that par5 and hit the exact number on each. Left myself 8ft for birdie and sunk it. Great feeling! Wish I could do that every time

golf is hard, especially when the courses are firm and fast as they are now. driver off the tee might get you a huge run out but equally likely a run into the incredibly long rough every course seems to have at the moment. So driver often leads to lost ball even off a decent shot. Irons off the tee played for position can still go for miles.

I'm in the same boat re: hooking. I have little confidence right now in hitting any of my woods - two way misses which can be either hooks or slices but also could be straight but straight right or straight left with no reproducible pattern. Off to the range again today

 

[jaybee]

I played a full 18 the other day. Hit about 105 ish. Poor I know but still had a good time. Very enjoyable.

Bad points:
- Chunked a few of my iron approach shots.
- Driver and hybrid shots still very random.
- In the rough too often
- short chips I thinned too often

Good points:
- Only lost 3 balls the whole round and kept it in play more.
- Par'd 2 holes in a row and had shot for birdie.
- Hit a few nice drives and a good 3 wood shot.
- Putting pace was better despite miss reads on the breaks


Also I hit a drive that probably rolled way over 300 on this awesome par 4 hole. Took ages to find the ball as we didn't think it reached the top of this steep hill, but realised it did when we saw it right at the bottom in the distance! :O

 

[SKILL]

Played the usual friday golf today, started out as a comp so the 'easy' course but off the white tees, still only 5551 yards so not exactly long

First 3 holes pretty good, for me at least, Bogied the first par 5, double bogied the par 3 (I get 2 shots per hole with my handicap) and bogied the 3rd which is another par 5.

Then it all went to hell. So so so so SO bad. Can't hit an Iron to save my life. Eventually decided I wasn't gonna bother handing my card in, actually improved a bit after that.

I'm actually 'ok' with my Driver and 5 Wood which is nice, Hybrid is like 50% hilarious top (like bouncing to eye level before rolling 5 yards hilarious) and 50% good solid shot.

My short game, within 50-60 yards wedges and putting is pretty solid really.

Between 150-50 yards where I have to use an Iron is just awful.

Definitely need to hit the range tomorrow and figure out how to play Irons. Playing St. Pierre again on Sunday, would like to not suck.

 

[jaybee]

I "analysed" my round by sort of quickly going round it with google maps remembering, and realised that actually, my tee shots aren't always that bad. The area I keep mucking up is my second shots on par4 holes. Unless I have a perfect lie and the ground is flat, I generally muck it up. lol. How can I improve that. If I hit irons off the mats at the range they're fine. Feels so different off grass with different lies and when the ball is on a slope.

 

[SKILL]

I "analysed" my round by sort of quickly going round it with google maps remembering, and realised that actually, my tee shots aren't always that bad. The area I keep mucking up is my second shots on par4 holes. Unless I have a perfect lie and the ground is flat, I generally muck it up. lol. How can I improve that. If I hit irons off the mats at the range they're fine. Feels so different off grass with different lies and when the ball is on a slope.

I think that's kinda something you learn 'on the course' to an extent, although if there's a range with a grass area near you that's well worth doing but it's still not likely to have slopes to deal with etc. Maybe some better clubs with a larger chipping/practice area perhaps might have something like that?

My local club/range has a grass area of range which is really nice to use for that, it's so different from matts really.

 

[magicroundabout]

Talk about 2 weeks of terrible golf.
My swing has failed me terribly over the past few weeks. Haven't been able to get a good swing thought through my mind at all.

Played yesterday and shot a 94
then played again today and shot an 83 which included 2 x double bogies on the back 9.

So frustrating

 

[Quinnaay]

As you've probably seen the last few weeks i've suffered the shanks, last couple weeks it had gone. I played today played 9 holes was +6 through the 9 struck the ball great. Back 9 shanked every iron i don't understand this game, i've got a fragile mind evidently as soon as i did it the first time i couldn't not think about it happening over and over. I just want to know what changes in my swing to eliminate it.

 

[Cornubia]

Well yesterday's round was a mixed bad

Started off poorly with 2x triple bogeys and a par for good measure which turned into a semi-respectable round in the middle only to throw it all away on the last three holes to end up with a 101. After the recent good form the drop off was inevitable and expected by myself.

After the weeks putting lesson my putting was definitely more assured both long range and close up with less error or margin. Totalled 4x three putts with two of those in the catastrophic last 3 holes to total 37 putts overall, so still some work there to do but promising.

Chipping was poor throughout which severely cost me at times so need to investigate into why that's fallen off a cliff in the space of a week.

Driver was a bit temperamental but did hit a couple of my best drives to date before turning into a slice machine at the end.

Irons seemed to struggle towards the end with lots of fat and or toe shots.

I think fatigue set in again at the end which is kind of annoying because even with a bad start I should have broke 100. Maybe I need to look at the positives which is hard to do when you a dreadful 3x holes to finish the round.

Onwards to the next range session and round, hopefully I will find some more consistency.

 

[Lonewolf]

Heading out midweek for my first round of golf in at Least 7 years. Having been to the range for the last couple of weekends it’s obvious that my body is less flexible than it was. Watched a few Mark Crossfield videos to remind me of the fundamentals. Rotation, balance and hitting the ball straight will be my main focus. I expect an aching body after the game.

I have now had 3 rounds of golf, or should I say toil.

Round 1, I lost at least 6 balls, pulled hook. I didn’t complete 2 holes and scored 100,

Round 2, again I lost several balls, scored 14 on one hole because I struggled to get out of a bunker, then hit it into another. Score was 117.

Round 3, again, lost many balls to a hook. I failed to score on one hole and scored 118.

When I played previously my bad shot was a slice. I think the reason for the hook is due to a lack of flexibility in my swing also, a lack of fitness. With time my score will improve, but I cannot afford to keep losing balls at the rate I have been.

 

[stephenb]

^ it happens sometimes. Yesterday I lost 7? balls, at least 5 off the tee with two way misses or water. Of course on the 18th I flushed driver for probably my longest ever tee shot, 239 up hill not slope adjusted! Go figure

 

[MikeTimbers]

Finding it very hard (pun) at the moment. Really struggling with the course conditions with super fast fairways, hard greens, long rough. Today for example on a par 5 having hit a good low drive into the wind went to lay up with a 7i and the damn thing went 195! On the last which is a par 3 186yd downwind I hit a 7i through the green. The wind was very variable so sometimes a two-club wind but so variable. My handicap has gone from 7.6 to 9.9 in less than a month. Anyone else suffering similarly?

 

[SKILL]

Not quite to that extent and generally I'm loving how far it's running out, did catch me out a bit today though. Poor drive lead to a 'taking my medicine' 8i back into the fairway, hit it 160 yards which for me is more like a 6i, just into the rough on the far side of the fairway and a tricky low shot required...

Played St. Pierre Old Course again today, with my uncle, his dad and cousin, first time playing with them and it was a good time, played betterball 2v2 matchplay, my uncle and I won, I even contributed on the odd occasion including winning it for us on the 17th.

Really is a nice course, but long (compared to my usual) and kinda tricky requiring decently straight/controlled shots. Not my forte

Irons were way better than Friday after going to the range yesterday so that was nice, driver still a bit tempermental, hit a few decent ones but too many right and that's a lost ball basically every time at that course.

 

[ArcticHeron]

Good round Saturday despite being burnt to a crisp. Ended up shooting 92.

Continuing to leave Driver out of the bag and just focusing on getting my irons right. Getting to dislike my cavity back Srixons though. Just can't account for distances when you catch 1 out of 4 shots in the sweet spot and it carries a mile further then you accounted for.

Got my iron fitting in a few months time and seriously considering looking into getting a set of blades. I hate the lack of feedback produced by the more forgiving irons and my I just can't trust my distances at the moment, especially when I catch something well.