Golf Thread

Big few weeks of golf coming up for me, playing Minichampton this weekend and then off to Spain next week for 5 days, playing golf on 3 of them and then come back home to do a tournament with my friends.

Aiming for a range session tomorrow and a round on Thursday to warm up ahead of Saturday.

Really need to dial in my tee shots, get some more confidence with clubs other than driver because I think if I can then it will be a bit more controlled with a 3/4w and hybrid.
 
Relatively solid round today. Shotscope has it at 98 but I definitely need to add in some lost balls from some tee shots.

My driver has completely abandoned me. Swapped to 4w half way through and felt a bit more consistent but still not amazing. Irons and putting fairly solid however which I'm happy with.

Looking at getting a 2i as a driving iron and see how that goes, with a graphite shaft it should be useable for me and I feel confident with the profile of irons at the minute.
 
Club championship this weekend! Two rounds stroke play too scratch over Saturday and Sunday. I definitely won't be contending for top honours but hope to do well in the handicap section. Weather looks interesting :p Dry and breezy on Saturday. Wet, breezy and chance of thundery showers on Sunday.

Set another PB on Thursday in conditions similar to those forecast for Saturday. 38 for the front nine on the Tower off the yellows including 7 pars, 1 bogey and a triple. Previous best was 39. This is my third PB in the last two weeks so game is trending in the right direction, just need to produce with a card in hand.

Clubs have been cleaned this evening, a lot dirtier than they looked. Towels washed, new balls in the bag. My tee time for Saturday is 9:18. Sunday will depend on my position after the first round which also includes the possibility of a start from the 12th hole.

Club are doing their bit to look after us :) Driving range opening early at 6:30 for those out first with five bays reserved and complimentary balls. Some free food on offer Sunday afternoon while the prize giving takes place.
 
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Played yesterday as usual, played ok I thought but just didn't score well, kind of a theme recently where I've hit some of my best ever shots, and even feel somewhat consistent, but just not scoring well. Thankfully weather was ok but skipped the roll up cause off the rain in the afternoon.

Today though was Mens Open for my local club so did that, weather was miserable from yesterday afternoon to basically when we tee'd off, still some light showers but also some sunshine so not too bad at all.

First hole was awful, lost a ball, hacking it around, ended with a 9. But then it definitely improved, best bit of the front 9 was the 5th hole where I hit my 7 iron to about 2 foot from the pin for a tap in birdie (annoingly later beaten for nearest the pin by maybe an inch...). Ended up with a 43 gross, my previous best was a 44 so good start! EG even dropped that by 1 to a 42, the 1st hole was capped to 8.

Back 9 started even worse, got a 10 this time round (same hole, 9-hole course played twice for 18 off different tees), then really kinda screwed up the 11th, 12th and 13th before I sorted myself out and started playing golf again :p Got a 51 gross reduced to 49.

End result was 94 gross (EG reduced to 91, might stabilise my hcp a bit) for a 73 net. That was good enough for 8th on the day, winner got a net 66. Happy enough with that.
 
An eventful couple of days to put in mildly! Unfortunately I wasn't able to play my best, in large part thanks to the wonderful British weather which was absolutely brutal on Saturday :rolleyes: The winds felt way above the forecast 17-20mph, more like 25-30mph with gusts up to 35mph. Thought I was playing links golf. It couldn't make its mind up whether it was going to rain or not until a brief downpour, with the rain coming in sideways, while our group was on the 13th tee which left me temporarily soaked. Thankfully I quickly dried out once the sun returned. I capitulated completely :(

Swing never felt there from the moment I arrived on the driving range, even though I got a reasonable tee shot off on the 1st and hit a solid enough layup with my second. Wedge into the green was thinned in to the stream and that set the tone for the day, opening up with three doubles. A ten followed at the par 3 4th (don't ask) to be followed up by a very respectable seven at the 600y 5th which into the wind felt even longer than normal. Even with three decent shots (driver and 2x 6i) I didn't get close enough to consider going for the green with my fourth shot. Unfortunately after that I put two in the water at the following par 3 and another on the next. I did battle back somewhat around the turn and coming home to pick up four pars and three bogeys in the final 10 holes but by that point the damage was already done. Two 10's and two 9's on the card for 113 (63/50) gross. Reduced to 103 by EG after five of my scores were capped :p

Todays round still in tough conditions but nothing quite as ferocious as yesterday where at one point on the 11th green my ball started to move just as I'd started my putting stroke :eek: Started from the 12th tee and opened up with back to back pars while the skies were overcast but calm. The wind picked up as the round progressed. Avoided any major errors to come in with a total of four pars, six bogeys, six doubles and two triples for a 96 (51/45) gross. And miracle of miracles I kept the same ball in play from start to finish! I lost count of how many I lost yesterday but it must have been close to double figures.

Just having a quick count up there were twenty-two rounds of three figures+ yesterday and only thirteen today. A big shout out to this years champion, Sam, who carded 80/77 for a wining total of 157. Three shots clear of Tom in second who carded 77/83. Mighty impressive given the conditions (both have handicaps of 4.3). Big thanks to everyone involved in the organisation of the event and the greens keepers, course was in top condition. Hopefully I'll be back next year, playing better and with weather that reminds me it's summer.
 
Club Champs this weekend!

Saturday's round went...ok, with an 85 - including 3 bogeys, 4 double bogeys, a quad bogey, 9 pars and a birdie! Brutal conditions, wind and rain - not helped by the group in front of us playing VERY slowly - we were waiting for ~6 minutes over every shot. Completely understand that it's a championship weekend, but you don't need to pull the pin for a tap in putt! One of my playing partners made an ace on the final par 3 :eek: Ended the day T5, everyone was struggling, including the club pro going 10 over.

Sunday was a bit of a disaster - a quad bogey on the par 5 2nd, then a double on the par 3 4th - then tidied it up and made 5 straight pars. Back 9 was...interesting, some doubles and triples thrown in there. Needed a par on the par 5 last to shoot an 89 - made an 11 after 2 lost balls :(

However my goal was to make the cut to the second day and I did that comfortably, so can't complain too much. A few days off needed I think!
 
I have come to realise that I hit clubs the best where the weight is in the club head. I need to be able to feel the club head all the way through the swing and I can deliver it with full confidence. No matter if it’s mine or a borrowed club. I need the weight down there.

My hybrid and 5w are perfect examples of this. Both feel like a pendulum swinging with a weight at the end while my irons and drivers are more “floating” through space with no sense of where they are.

Took me 2 years to figure this out but it’s very much a thing for me.
 
Huge boost to my confidence today. Won our pairs comp and into the semis.. Seem to thrive in a matchplay format.. Was only 1 over after 7 holes and I'm a 15. Won 3 and 2 could easily have been 5 and 4 but putting was dogturd..
 
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Do any of you ever find yourself struggling off the tee on certain holes?

We've been playing the same course at the weekends over the past couple of months because it's playing brilliantly but I have noticed now that I seem to struggle off the tee on some holes, every single time. They're not necessarily difficult holes but I just seem to always hit a bad shot off them. They've got a flyover video of the course from 6 years ago. It's one of the 5 18-hole courses we get that is absolutely disgusting value for money with how good it always plays, plus on a nice day you've got the views over the Forth and Edinburgh.


We play off the yellows. Video doesn't really do it justice as to how hilly it is.

Hole 2 - I always end up in the field on the right-hand side.
Hole 8 - end up in the field on the left or right down the bottom of the hill on the right.
Hole 12 - always draw/hook it into the bushes on the left.
Hole 13 - always end up in the bushes on the right. This hole is hellish because it's constant up-hill.

It's these four holes that always end up hurting my score...
 
Lovely looking course!
I'm more impressed by them actually getting a real helicopter to take the video footage :p

It does look hilly though, and very unforgiving by the looks of it, miss by a little and your ball will roll down the hill!
 
This happens to me on holes where I have a lot of hazards. I have learnt to try and ignore the course as such. A line of trees down the right for instance might make you subconsciously swing towards to the left and over the top, fading it into the very thing you were swinging away from..
 
MarkA said:
Lovely looking course!
I'm more impressed by them actually getting a real helicopter to take the video footage :p

It does look hilly though, and very unforgiving by the looks of it, miss by a little and your ball will roll down the hill!
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It's absolutely a tactical course. Play sensible and you'll play well. Some holes you've got a good margin of error but others, good luck! :D

See it all the time with people who don't play it often pulling drivers out when it's the worst club you could use because all they see is a 300+ yard par 4. I'd only ever use my driver on 7, 8 at a push, and 13 which is all uphill, and only when my driver is behaving which admittedly isn't very often at the moment...
 
Superpatsy said:
Do any of you ever find yourself struggling off the tee on certain holes?
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Yes, I could name you several from my clubs two courses :p

Funnily enough the two that immediately spring to mind both have OB down the left and trees lining the right. Must be something subconscious about knowing you need to hit a straight one. On one I've never found the fairway with my driver, it's why I always take an iron off the tee now. On the other there is a required carry to get over the forward tee box and a bit of water to reach the fairway. I normally take driver for this reason even though 90% of the time I end up in the trees. Of course on the few occasions I've found the fairway sometimes my ball is mysteriously nowhere to be found!
 
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Evening down the range, driver was really good even had a comment from the gentleman in the bay next to me saying how straight the flight of the balls was. Probably jinxed it now and on Friday I’ll will be slicing it. :cry:

Spent a lot of time on my irons, my lesson on Sunday was covering irons again, as found them to be very inconsistent the last two weeks. Was an improvement, but still not where I would like to be with them.
 
Got out for a relaxed solo 18 last night. Course was empty on the back 9, so hit a few balls into each green etc. Tried to slow down club speed, working on better contact - of course it ended up going further! Didn't even score, just used my garmin for distance. Much more relaxing, took the pressure right off. Back playing in the monthly Medal this weekend :p
 
looking at purchasing a titles tour bag from my local pro shop. Trouble is my straps on my Powerkaddy aren't long enough to go around and Powerkady don't offer longer straps for the top.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to lengthen these so it fits?
 
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