Golf Thread

I went into the AG and was trying out the putters on the Putt-Out mat and Putt-Out widget/thingummy the same as the ones I have at home. With the Super Select Newport 2 I made the first putt and then four out of the next six. I've never done that at home with my other putters. For 30+ years I've had Odyssey putters with face inserts and struggle with length. I'm not saying the Scottie will fix that - it's a mental issue more than anything - but the milled metal face is firmer and seems to get a good roll going.

Of course it was seriously expensive. But putting is 110% mental so in the same way I have confidence in my other golf clubs I want to have supreme confidence in my putter. Time will tell.

I'm now in Thailand for the winter so hope to get some good golf in while I'm here. Where I am is over 90 minutes to the nearest course unfortunately - kabinburi Sports Club at 8700 yards off the tips! - but I hope to be relocating soon.
 
Out for a round today, a rare nice day for it :p

Bit of an odd round, front 9 was decidedly average at 52 but really picked up in the back 9 with a 46 (reduced to 45 in the EG app) giving a 98 reduced to 97 overall.

What's shocking though is how bad my putting was, usually I can rely on 2 putting 'most' of the time and maybe a 1.9-2.2 putts per hole average at the end, today though :eek: 11 3-putts and even a 4-putt! 2.6 putts per hole average...

Driving though was on point, still short but so consistent today, as in 200-210 yards pretty much dead straight on every hole. Only lost 1 ball on the 14th (also interestingly the hole that was reduced from an 8 to a cap of 7)
 
MikeTimbers said:
I went into the AG and was trying out the putters on the Putt-Out mat and Putt-Out widget/thingummy the same as the ones I have at home. With the Super Select Newport 2 I made the first putt and then four out of the next six. I've never done that at home with my other putters. For 30+ years I've had Odyssey putters with face inserts and struggle with length. I'm not saying the Scottie will fix that - it's a mental issue more than anything - but the milled metal face is firmer and seems to get a good roll going.

Of course it was seriously expensive. But putting is 110% mental so in the same way I have confidence in my other golf clubs I want to have supreme confidence in my putter. Time will tell.

I'm now in Thailand for the winter so hope to get some good golf in while I'm here. Where I am is over 90 minutes to the nearest course unfortunately - kabinburi Sports Club at 8700 yards off the tips! - but I hope to be relocating soon.
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Switching to a Scottie in September has certainly improved my putting - much better feel off the face and I feel a lot more confident making putts.
 
I didn’t need it..but I wanted it! :cry:

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A winter tidy up lesson today - Give me something to work on/focus on for next few months.

Main work is just continue to improve path, I need to almost "over exaggerate " an inside path, and release hands through at impact. This will still have me on a slight "out to in" swing, I'm never going to change to an inside path, but get the outside to in path down to around 2/3 degrees is the aim.

Feels weird - like I'm going to hook/pull everything but actually hit it very straight with 7 iron. Driver is harder to replicate as swinging faster/long club gives me less time to "react" to it.

Saying that - training been decent at gym/crossfit recently - Driver (Srixon zx5 with velocore shaft) was topping out at 168mph ball speed on a fairly consistent basis. That's up around 5mph from this time last year. Not bad for a 47 year old!
 
That's great gains, must be something in those soreen bars young man :)

Try a few baseball practice swings imagining your ball is at waist height, then do a few at knee height then a few at ground level.
 
Sounds like you've been given the same drills as me. My teacher always wants me to start practice sessions with a purposeful 'turning over' feel to almost duck hook the ball, then go back to swinging normal with that feel slightly less exaggerated. I always end the session with a relatively efficient draw that translates onto the course quite well.

Had another apocalyptic back 9 yesterday. 2 bogeys on the front with 3 birdies and 4 pars. Felt ecstatic on the 11th after narrowly missing an eagle putt. All tanked after then though and didn't see another par putt until the 18th. Walked into the bar with 87... absolutely gutted. Happened twice in a row now with almost identical front and back scores. Think I just need to calm down a bit and keep my expectations in check. So hard to keep a strong round going, especially in these conditions.
 
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Guys I broke 100!
I hit a 97. I know that is laughable to some but it's taken me a long time to do that. I feel like it could easily have been under 90 if I wasn't a moron on just 3 holes. I also 3 putted a lot again. :( Honestly it's become most holes I do that. This time I was giving them more of a chance due to the greens being slow and wet, but generally over hit most things. Tricky.

Chipping was poor. Putting poor. Iron play ok for me. Driving good by anyone's standard to be fair. I hit driver 14 times off the tee and didn't lose any of those balls. 2 slices (still in play), 1 hook (still in play), and 1 top due to an awful unlevel and chewed up tee box that my partner also did exactly the same off of. The rest were fine. A couple of par 4s I nearly drove the green. This is a short course though. I tend to just stick to driver if I'm hitting it ok, instead of laying up on par 4s with say an iron. Means I have a lot of short chips in, which annoyingly were poor this time and I'm usually good with them.

We went out first round of the day and remembered a reason why I don't like it. Course maintenance staff. I mean they were literally everywhere. Every single hole waiting with leaf blowers, lawn mowers, buggies, 4x4s. A bit tedious at times. I know...when else can they do it this time of year. They are all great, just get's a bit off putting when they are waiting for you or you for them and then a group catches you up.

I'm going to treat myself to a new (second hand) driver. I'm just going to risk something off the shelf, stiff shaft and 9 degree. I'm pretty much decided my drives go too high now with 10.5 degree and I'm losing distance.
 
Amazing! Well done man! As they say, you never really get better you just learn to limit your big errors and sounds very much like you've been doing that the last few months.

Get the scorecard framed, the ball saved and shots forever shaved! Now the real work starts :P
 
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ArcticHeron said:
Sounds like you've been given the same drills as me. My teacher always wants me to start practice sessions with a purposeful 'turning over' feel to almost duck hook the ball, then go back to swinging normal with that feel slightly less exaggerated. I always end the session with a relatively efficient draw that translates onto the course quite well.

Had another apocalyptic back 9 yesterday. 2 bogeys on the front with 3 birdies and 4 pars. Felt ecstatic on the 11th after narrowly missing an eagle putt. All tanked after then though and didn't see another par putt until the 18th. Walked into the bar with 87... absolutely gutted. Happened twice in a row now with almost identical front and back scores. Think I just need to calm down a bit and keep my expectations in check. So hard to keep a strong round going, especially in these conditions.
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Between your ears is 90% of the game......

Honestly can't recommend that book I've previously mentioned highly enough - excellent reading
 
jaybee said:
Guys I broke 100!

I'm going to treat myself to a new (second hand) driver. I'm just going to risk something off the shelf, stiff shaft and 9 degree. I'm pretty much decided my drives go too high now with 10.5 degree and I'm losing distance.
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Great job on the sub 100.

Don't rush into buying a driver with less "loft" - that rarely means you'll hit it lower. Shafts are usually more important than the head for height of the ball.

Is current driver adjustable?
 
booyaka said:
Great job on the sub 100.

Don't rush into buying a driver with less "loft" - that rarely means you'll hit it lower. Shafts are usually more important than the head for height of the ball.

Is current driver adjustable?
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My current driver is a Cobra Amp black and orange thing from about 2012. I inherited this. I'm not sure the shaft but will check tomorrow. It feels sort of middle of the road for flex. It's 10.5 degree. It can only be set to closed/neutral/open I believe, rather than loft.

Can you explain what you mean? What would you say different lofts are for then? I think I naturally hit quite up on the ball during drives. Not sure if it's because I'm taller. When I hit a strong drive down the range, it literally goes to the moon and ends up falling out of the sky with no momentum which to me says I'm giving up yards. This especially happens on windy days. I feel sometimes like a thinned 4 iron goes further! lol
 
jaybee said:
My current driver is a Cobra Amp black and orange thing from about 2012. I inherited this. I'm not sure the shaft but will check tomorrow. It feels sort of middle of the road for flex. It's 10.5 degree. It can only be set to closed/neutral/open I believe, rather than loft.

Can you explain what you mean? What would you say different lofts are for then? I think I naturally hit quite up on the ball during drives. Not sure if it's because I'm taller. When I hit a strong drive down the range, it literally goes to the moon and ends up falling out of the sky with no momentum which to me says I'm giving up yards. This especially happens on windy days. I feel sometimes like a thinned 4 iron goes further! lol
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Shafts are a massively complicated area from many many different manufacturers. (i'm a bit of a geek for this stuff!!!)

One companies "stiff" shaft is another companies "regular" etc - there is no "standard" stiff shaft.

Take the famous Ventus TR shafts for instance -

Generally you get Red/Blue/Black versions

Each of these has a different "profile" -
  • Red is seen as mid/higher launching, but mid/low spinning
  • Blue is seen as mid launch/low spin
  • Black is seen as low launch/ low spin
But - each of those shaft types then has a flex, regular/stiff/x-stiff etc etc. So you can have a Red stiff shaft, but a Blue regular shaft and they might do the same thing.

So picking a driver with a "stiff shaft" and a 9 degree head from say Taylor Made, will be completely different to a 9 degree head on a Titleist driver with their stiff shaft - They will launch different/spin different etc.

Then you've got all the other stuff to throw in like how the head is weighted etc - Weight at the back is normally to help you get the ball in the air, weight to the front is generally to keep the ball down/spin less etc.

So in short - grabbing a driver with a stiff shaft is fine, but it may not suit you any better than your current driver.......
 
jaybee said:
My current driver is a Cobra Amp black and orange thing from about 2012. I inherited this. I'm not sure the shaft but will check tomorrow. It feels sort of middle of the road for flex. It's 10.5 degree. It can only be set to closed/neutral/open I believe, rather than loft.

Can you explain what you mean? What would you say different lofts are for then? I think I naturally hit quite up on the ball during drives. Not sure if it's because I'm taller. When I hit a strong drive down the range, it literally goes to the moon and ends up falling out of the sky with no momentum which to me says I'm giving up yards. This especially happens on windy days. I feel sometimes like a thinned 4 iron goes further! lol
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If you're not fussed about a brand new driver, I'd consider American Golf at the start of January and see what ex-demo stuff they have. I picked up at Cobra LTDx at the start of the year for near enough half price and it was brand new - still had the wrapper on the head. Get to have a swing on the simulator and see what feels right. I'd imagine driving ranges that do custom fittings will have the same sort of sales - that way you can see what it's like out in the open, granted you'll be using a range ball.

Liked Booyaka said, the regular/stiff/x-stiff isn't a 'standard' - it's each manufacturers own iteration of what they think the three are. My last driver had a stiff shaft which was a wet noodle compared to the Hzrdus Black that I've got on my new driver, which is also stiff.
 
Frickin mine field is what it is. Of the few drivers I've tried (friends) I don't actually feel that much difference between them all. I'm not sure what that means. lol
 
ArcticHeron said:
I'd jump on a launch monitor if you get the chance and try a few out using that. Hard to go just off feel, you need numbers to help you make a choice.
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Do you mean go and get a fitting? Is it one and the same, or can you casually just use the simulator facilities of somewhere with different clubs?
 
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