Golf Thread

[SKILL]

With the wedges I had similar, mentioned before but my Dynapower set PW is a 42 degree, with my swing speed/shaft lean that's around a 100-105 yard carry and when I got that my wedges started at 52 which was ~70-75 yard so a bit too much of a gap really.

Ended up with a 48, 54 and 60. Bigger than 'normal' gaps but seems to work for me, the 48 on a full shot is more like 80-85 yards which is close enough to work imo.

My full 54 is a ~65 yard shot but rarely happens really, I actually feel a bit more comfortable with a 'three quarter' 48 for about 70 yards.

Anything inside that 65-70 is a partial shot with either the 48 or 54 depending on how I feel.

The 60 is basically useless I'm gonna try to get happier using it once it's a bit warmer/dryer and I can spend more time practicing with it.

 

[MR_Punk]

With the wedges I had similar, mentioned before but my Dynapower set PW is a 42 degree, with my swing speed/shaft lean that's around a 100-105 yard carry and when I got that my wedges started at 52 which was ~70-75 yard so a bit too much of a gap really.

Ended up with a 48, 54 and 60. Bigger than 'normal' gaps but seems to work for me, the 48 on a full shot is more like 80-85 yards which is close enough to work imo.

My full 54 is a ~65 yard shot but rarely happens really, I actually feel a bit more comfortable with a 'three quarter' 48 for about 70 yards.

Anything inside that 65-70 is a partial shot with either the 48 or 54 depending on how I feel.

The 60 is basically useless I'm gonna try to get happier using it once it's a bit warmer/dryer and I can spend more time practicing with it.

Oh I love my 58 and after my putter and driver it's probably my most used club. Give me that anywhere around the green and I'm happy.

 

[SKILL]

I use my 54 predominantly around the greens, sometimes the 48 if I want a bit more run on it. I really would like to get more comfortable using the 60 but feel like I need to spend a chunk of time at the practice area at my local. When I was last there (on Saturday) it was still pretty soft and more rain is forecast so might be a while before I can just go and spend some decent time there.

 

[Robert896r1]

I only use my 60 for greenside bunkers and it’s perfect for that for me.

 

[MarkA]

Had a really interesting session on my sim the other day, with a friend who plays of 9.

Hits the ball with a big Out-to-In path of about 7+ degrees. Hits it dead straight, maybe a very slight fade, but very consistently, he's been playing for years.

His distances are low though, even though he has a 80-81MPH 7i swing speed.

PW is 100 yards
9i is 110
8i - 120
7i - 130
6i - 140
5i - 150
4i - 160
7w - 180
3w - 190
Driver - 220-230

All very very consistent. He has a great short game too, very good player.

Goes to show that you can get your hcap down a lot, even if you're efficiency isn't great. He's been stuck around 9-10hcp for ages now though, which I reckon is possibly distance related?
He's joining me at my new club, so time will tell how better he'll get, now he'll be on a much better kept course, with green you can actually putt on!

 

[SKILL]

As someone who hits about those distances that's pretty encouraging to read

Think the distances are gonna be related to that path though, from my understanding (far from an expert!) to get a straight-ish shot with a path like that you need a fairly open, but not too open, face at impact, it's basically where I was last year...

Now I've got a much more neutral/slightly in-to-out path I can do similar distances with a slower swing speed, 70-72 ish with my 7 Iron, although lots of variety both in terms of delivery and speed.

But yeah the main thing seems to be consistency, about a month ago my Driver was perfect, dead straight right where I aimed it and 200-220 depending how much I put into it. Every. Time. So even though it wasn't far it was so consistent and it made it easy to get semi-decent scores even if the rest of the game wasn't amazing.

 

[MR_Punk]

If you can keep your tee shot in play and to some that's a big if the best players will be facing all their shots within 50 yards when distance isn't important.

 

[booyaka]

Always important to gap your bag out as best you can.

I'm Pw (45), Gw (50) both part of my irons set then 54 and 58 T22 wedges.

PW at 42 is very "strong"... but that's the way sets are built these days.

Remember that your "specialist" wedges can usually be "bent" 1 or 2 degrees stronger or weaker depending on the clubs. That's a cheaper way to fill the gaps rather than new wedges.

I'm roughly

Pw - 120-125
Gw - 110-115
54 - 95
58 - 75

 

[SKILL]

Is there anything better than a morning 9-hole round? Especially being the first one out on the course

Tee'd off at 7:48 today, finished up just after 9, lovely

Not a spectacular score but definitely some positives, my 65-100 yard approach shots were dialed in, and thanks to that my putting stats look great with a 1.7 putts per hole average. Made a birdie on the par 4 when my 70 yard approach shot pitched within half a foot of the flag and rolled to maybe 3 feet out.

Chipping though was a struggle, if I missed the green twice I thinned the chip over the other side of the green Also left myself in a few tough spots which doesn't help.

 

[MR_Punk]

Is there anything better than a morning 9-hole round? Especially being the first one out on the course

Tee'd off at 7:48 today, finished up just after 9, lovely

Not a spectacular score but definitely some positives, my 65-100 yard approach shots were dialed in, and thanks to that my putting stats look great with a 1.7 putts per hole average. Made a birdie on the par 4 when my 70 yard approach shot pitched within half a foot of the flag and rolled to maybe 3 feet out.

Chipping though was a struggle, if I missed the green twice I thinned the chip over the other side of the green Also left myself in a few tough spots which doesn't help.

For me it's the really late evening rounds in the summer, that's me in my happiest of places. It's usually without a score card in hand so it's stressless. Ahh the wait for summer.

In other news I had my first lesson back today and focussed on the big stick and the hook I'd developed. It's so good when the Pro says yep I can see what you are doing and here's a little tweak and bobs your uncle. Turns out I was getting my front shoulder in the way due to a slight front foot issue. 10 mins later and I'm striping the ball down the middle. I suppose I'm lucky that I've found a Pro who I get on with and is able to explain things really simply.

 

[SKILL]

Another morning round today, ground a bit squishy after the rain overnight but mostly ok, couple of greens somewhat damp with water in the holes but hey, it's still golf

Almost hit a greenskeeper! That was on the 4th, leaked my 7i right, oops.

Then same greenskeeper was trying to clear some water off the 8th green as I got there, he stopped to let me play, I had 113 yards to the middle of the green, Garmin says I hit it 114 yards, it was such a nice shot, dead on line with the flag, ended up landing about 3 feet past the flag and rolling another 3-4 feet. Nice to have an audience for a shot like that Also I think if we win the next Greensomes match, and he wins his, I'll be playing him in the final...

Best bit though is I hit 100% of fairways it seems \o/ Only one GIR though

 

[iGiDK]

Out today paradym testing, had the course to myself it was a lovely afternoon. Had a couple of nice birdies including an absolute worldie from a fairway bunker to 6 inches - it's always the case when no-one is around to see!

Anyway, paradym standard everything stock shaft, distance was as expected. I had a rogue max last year which I got on with however I moved away from it mid season due to the distinct left bias and left misses.

So based on today performance was ok, it deserves another audition I think, I'm booked in for a fitting at Scottsdale at the end of Mar so I'll likely punt it prior to then.

Distance - As expected on good hits
Forgiveness - Better than expected on bad hits, didn't lose much distance or dispersion.
Consistency - meh, I'm finding it quite challenging to find the centre of the face and the head is much lighter in comparison to my current gamer, not going down the lead tape route yet...
Feel - not a fan, face is lifeless, feels horrible on low misses and I'm not a fan of the sound either.

 

[MR_Punk]

41 points from 17 holes today, started off with a horrible double bogey then shot 73 from 17 holes. My horrendous play at the end of last summer has made me quite the bandit through winter when there's been no official comps to change my handicap. My last round that counted in October pushed me to 17.3 which is 18 around my own course. I've been comfortably hitting around and below 80 since November since my original lessons. First few comps in Spring should be very gettable. I think i'll be more around 11-12 before I know it or at least that's the plan.

 

[jaybee]

What do you guys pay for membership/fees?

I've been looking into potential local courses for me to join and get membership at. What a contrast in affordability between junior and adult memberships. On the plus side, I think it's lovely to see Golf even in 2024 is actually very good value for Junior Memberships. Prices ranging near me from as little as "free with a paying adult member" up to about £300 at the very high end courses for annual fee. I pay about £150 for my son and he gets everything for a year including free full length range usage and balls, practice areas, tournament entries, cup competitions.

However, adult memberships are just a joke. I gather that "joining fees" didn't even used to be a thing? Is that right? Now since COVID and the growth in Golf, clubs seem to be enforcing joining fees. Some even have additional fees, waiting list fees and then mandatory members card balance top up fee, which you WILL spend in the bar/pro shop. I also am fairly disgusted to see the ageism thing. OK so maybe make it cheaper for 18-25 year olds fine, and possibly pensioners. But why does a 40+ year old pay more per year than a 39 year old?! Why does a 35 year old pay more than a 34 year old? Seems crazy.

The same course my son plays at for me would be £2000+ joining fee with annual subs of £2000. It is a medium end Surrey club that's the problem.

I think the highest one I found near me (and I didn't even think it was rated that highly compared to others) was North Hants over in Fleet area (Hampshire). They want £250 to be added to the waiting list, which will be at least a year. Then it's £4500 joining fee and over £2000 a year subs. This is just an example. Then there's clubs like Camberley Heath which want £3000 joining fee. I'm in the Berks/Surrey/Hants border area.

I looked at other prices at places near me and found a couple of low end places which are around £1600 a year with no joining fee. Some of them are part of the Crown group where you can play other courses included. However, when I check online golf forums, people complain about Crown clubs being very busy and slow because they tend to allow public bookings as well.

I've spotted what I believe to be a sort of medium level club which is a private members club just off the hogs back outside of Guildford called Puttenham. It's a bit further for me but it's about £1600 a year plus $600 joining fee. It is meant to be a good course and has a driving range and good practice facilities. Thinking of giving this one a go.

 

[SKILL]

Ouch!

I'm a member of 2 clubs but that comes to a total of £1422

My local club is a pretty small 9-hole course, practice facilities are two small putting greens with a bunker and some space for chipping along with a range that has 5 covered mats and a grass area. This costs £447 a year and there's a £40 joining fee.

The other club is in Bristol it's got 2x 18-hole courses but practice facilities are just 2 nets and a putting green (with no chipping allowed) for this I pay £81.25 a month or £975 a year. I think the joining fee for that was £250.

Even the fancier places near Bristol aren't anywhere near that expensive though, like ~£1400-1600 + £400-ish joining for a full 7-day membership, Cumberwell Park which is like 5x 9-hole courses and real fancy is 'only' £1515.

So all those prices seem utterly mental to me, but then Surrey innit

 

[Robert896r1]

2500 joining fee and around 2500 annual. That includes 350 bar levy.

 

[Superpatsy]

I toyed with the idea of joining one of the clubs here but there prices are getting insane, one of the downsides of Fife!

I've got a rover ticket that gives me full, anytime use of 5 18-hole and 2 9-hole courses for around £370. They're local authority owned courses but the 18-hole courses are really well maintained, haven't played the 9's so can't really comment. The 18's play as well as some of the other courses I've played on.

We just keep an eye on GolfNow for a shot of any other courses nearby or use my discount card (yes, @SKILL, we'll get Crail sorted before you start! )

 

[jaybee]

I toyed with the idea of joining one of the clubs here but there prices are getting insane, one of the downsides of Fife!

I've got a rover ticket that gives me full, anytime use of 5 18-hole and 2 9-hole courses for around £370. They're local authority owned courses but the 18-hole courses are really well maintained, haven't played the 9's so can't really comment. The 18's play as well as some of the other courses I've played on.

We just keep an eye on GolfNow for a shot of any other courses nearby or use my discount card (yes, @SKILL, we'll get Crail sorted before you start! )

Golfnow? Not come across this. Is it like a golf deals website type thing?

 

[jaybee]

Ouch!

I'm a member of 2 clubs but that comes to a total of £1422

My local club is a pretty small 9-hole course, practice facilities are two small putting greens with a bunker and some space for chipping along with a range that has 5 covered mats and a grass area. This costs £447 a year and there's a £40 joining fee.

The other club is in Bristol it's got 2x 18-hole courses but practice facilities are just 2 nets and a putting green (with no chipping allowed) for this I pay £81.25 a month or £975 a year. I think the joining fee for that was £250.

Even the fancier places near Bristol aren't anywhere near that expensive though, like ~£1400-1600 + £400-ish joining for a full 7-day membership, Cumberwell Park which is like 5x 9-hole courses and real fancy is 'only' £1515.

So all those prices seem utterly mental to me, but then Surrey innit

Bloody Surrey innit fam.
I wish I was born a northern monkey. I'd probably feel richer. Down ere in south east I feel like a relative peasant when I turn up at some of these clubs with my hand me down clubs and clapped out car next to Tesla's and Jags.

 

[MR_Punk]

I'm a member of my local authority owned course but it's a bloody brilliant track. Not the longest but in summer the greens are amazing and definitely not easy. I've passed 3 years now so I get a discount. I actually just sorted my membership out yesterday for this year (Apr-Apr) for £720. There is an additional £70 for entry into all the medals, handicap, insurance but with that you get money off in the bar which is made use of through the year to pay for itself.