Golf Thread

[booyaka]

hate slow play, people don't seem to think these days, leaving their bag on the wrong side of the green is a personal dislike of mine.

Everyone is cold, it's blowing 20/25mph - no one on a Friday morning at 10am is playing for a "score"..... Get moving. Ready golf etc.

I'm not picking on one set of people here as every age group can be/is slow. But the 2 x fourballs, (all guys in their 60/70's etc) in front of us and they were putting everything out, waiting for each other to play shots etc instead of just ready golf... Just play... then move...

 

[MR_Punk]

Right then for those who asked here are my specs for the new equipment I've ordered:

G440 Max
10.5 degree
Project X Denali Red 60 Shaft
6.0 Flex

G440 3 Wood
15 degree
Project X Denali Red 70 Shaft
6.0 Flex

i530 Irons
True Temper Dynamic Gold Shaft
S300 Flex
1/2" Extra Shaft
Green Dot
Grips Multi Compound Golf Price in Red/Black

Hopefully irons here next week, ETA for woods is 30/31 January which is sooner than I was originally told so that's a bonus, let's see if they come on time.

 

[ChroniC]

What does everyone think is an acceptable price for a golf weekend? Obviously depends on where and when but is there a way to get amazing deals.

The cheapest place that I know is the Ashbury in Devon. All inclusive (albeit it 3star) for the likes of £80 a day..

Everywhere else is in the realms of B&B 2 rounds 1 night for about £170

Weekends a way to Spain and Portugal seems be 2 nights 2 rounds for £400 without flights

Anyone got any suggestions or trips they do regularly..

 

[SKILL]

Just back from the last game of the weekend, played for each of the last 3 days

Friday was ok, started pretty badly to the point I was +10 through 7 but then I finished +15 so those last 11 holes were all pretty decent.
Saturday was more consistent but +16 overall, putting was good though at 30 putts over 17 holes (one pickup)
Today though. Oof. +24, worst score in a while it feels like. Did hit some decent shots but way too many poor strikes, and putting as well was pretty terrible, again one pickup but 37 putts. So 8 shots worse than yesterday with 7 more putts.

Did finish ok though, par - bogey - bogey, with the latter being 3-putt bogeys

Also on the last hole I managed to hit some power lines not once but twice! 3 wood off the deck, first was decent started a bit right but was drawing back when it hit the lines, second was such a nice hit it was gonna go miles but nope, third was thinned so went under the lines

What does everyone think is an acceptable price for a golf weekend? Obviously depends on where and when but is there a way to get amazing deals.

The cheapest place that I know is the Ashbury in Devon. All inclusive (albeit it 3star) for the likes of £80 a day..

Everywhere else is in the realms of B&B 2 rounds 1 night for about £170

Weekends a way to Spain and Portugal seems be 2 nights 2 rounds for £400 without flights

Anyone got any suggestions or trips they do regularly..

Not really thought about it that way really. I've done a couple of foreign trips (Marrakech, Portugal and Turkey) but all have been ~1500 for 5 nights including flights and taking my own clubs. Not sure I'd bother for just 2 nights tbh...

I did one UK trip last March but didn't do a 'stay and play' type thing, we played Aberdovey, Royal St. Davids and Porthmadog staying in an AirBnb just down the road from Royal St. Davids, think that came to ~£300 for the 3 nights BNB + green fees I think.

 

[booyaka]

18 Holes today was nice - chilly but good to be out.

Did shank one off the first tee and walked off with a quad... :laugh: ...

Still played next 11 holes in +1

Hit demo Titleist GT Driver on 4 / 8 /11/12/13.... Very nice out drove my mate on 8th and he's normally 10 yards longer than me. But felt way easier to hit than existing driver.

Beat my mate at the last as well - always good to get a victory early in the season.

Walked into pro shop and ordered GT2 Driver (10 degree / 55g Tensei 1K Blue Stiff ) - Fairly short lead times so should have it inside next couple of weeks.

That will be the bag set for the year.

 

[booyaka]

What does everyone think is an acceptable price for a golf weekend? Obviously depends on where and when but is there a way to get amazing deals.

The cheapest place that I know is the Ashbury in Devon. All inclusive (albeit it 3star) for the likes of £80 a day..

Everywhere else is in the realms of B&B 2 rounds 1 night for about £170

Weekends a way to Spain and Portugal seems be 2 nights 2 rounds for £400 without flights

Anyone got any suggestions or trips they do regularly..

We are going back to Slaley Hall again this year.

2 rounds (one on each course) - one night dinner B & B - £179. Great value for what it is - food was good, rooms were decent.

Aside from that - in the middle of the season, at a weekend - even any local private club is around £50/60 a round at weekends. Any bigger / named course near me (west coast of scotland) - will be £120-£150 a round in high season at the weekend.

Turnberry - £1000. Royal Troon - £350 per person etc.

Doing Spain again this year - one of the lads organises it - zero input from us apart from payment.

Flights from local airport with our own clubs / 5 rounds of golf / nice 4* hotel with breakfast. -5 nights. Eat out every night and LOTS of beers... Costs me about £1400 all in but that's everything from golf / travel / minibus transport to each course / all the booze you can drink etc....

 

[stephenb]

Picked up a win today and with 41+ entries it means a good pay out too, £45 should be making its way onto my account

This was despite another ropey front nine as per yesterdays monthly stableford, but at least I shot one better despite a six (no score) on the 4th when I dragged my 7w off the tee left into the water. Still should have got a point but three putted from decent proximity to the hole. Came back immediately with a good bogey at the 600y 5th. Out in 49 (14pts) compared to 50 yesterday when I could hardly hit an iron (topped almost everything it was embarrassing!) The good thing today was my ball striking was good from the off, as it has been on the last couple of range sessions, I just left a few approaches short so knew I could still post something decent. Little did I know how decent.

Started the back nine with a birdie on ten, holing out with putter from 20-25ft on the apron. Then got up and down from 55y on eleven to make par (I can't reach in two), followed by bogey on the par five twelfth. Made a good par on thirteen with a two putt from range, again putting from the apron. Then had my second birdie on fourteen with a near mirror of the putt I made on the tenth. One under through five holes (3-4, 4-3, 6-2, 3-3, 4-4), outrageous! Bogeyed the next two, par'd the seventeenth and bogeyed the last after putting my tee shot on the 1st fairway to come back with 24pts. +2 gross for the back nine which is a new PB for me , 87 (+15) gross for the round. That will be .4 off the handicap taking me down to 17.5 come the morning. At the end just a relief to have broken 90 as my last was thirteen rounds ago.

 

[Superpatsy]

Played for the first time in about 2 months yesterday so went about as well as expected.

Didn't bother scoring with it being winter tee boxes and surprisingly only 1 winter green. Had 3 brilliant holes in a row that I couldn't help but laugh at...

One of the holes (par 4) I caught the shanks and lost a ball off the tee, took a drop further up as we were conscious of the group behind, then proceeded to shank this one as well which resulted in another drop and lost ball, hooked the next shot (thankfully) to the left of the green, and ended up coming off with a 9.

Next up was a braw wee par 3. For some reason, I took the shot without actually looking where the flag was and absolutely pured my 54, ball landed about on the green about 60ft away from the hole... Whacked the put up to about a couple of feet and came of with a tidy par.

Next was a 300ish yard par which is driveable for me in the summer (if my driver plays ball) but decided to just take a 5 iron up off the tee, 54 degree from about 100 yards which landed a few feet from the hole for a tap-in birdie...

Was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster...

Has driven home that this year is all about practice and consistency.

 

[SKILL]

Went to the local shop to use the sim/try a couple of the new model drivers today (not a fitting, just trying some out), it was kinda interesting but not sure I was swinging it overly well at all, but at least seemed fairly consistent.

Did a bit of warm up and then tried to get 10 'ok' hits with my current driver (Mavrik Max). Compared to numbers I've seen on the Garmin R10 at the range it seemed to be more out-to-in and also slower swing speed than 'expected', but not sure if that's a case of being tired (the 3 previous days of playing/walking 18, and yesterday being not great could indicate being tired) or the difference of being indorrs or just poor swing or of course that the R10 is just wrong, who knows

Anyway, then moved onto the Callaway Elyte. I feel like this came across nicer in the flesh than videos, the top in that nice kinda-matte carbon look was good and the green didn't 'pop' as much as I thought it would (not a huge fan of green).

And then the Cobra DS-Adapt X, again the blue on the bottom wasn't anywhere near as vivid as I'd seen in videos and a nice club, think looks wise the Callaway edged it for me but nothing wow'd me.

Made a bit of a mistake with the data though, I did email myself the CSV numbers but forgot how foresight works and only got the ball numbers not club data. I did check the club data of the Elyte vs the Mavrik Max and the delivery was very similar but the Elyte had just under 10 yards extra carry on average. The DS-Adapt I forgot to look too closely at club data but the average carry was basically the same as the Mavrik.

Gonna be going back at some point to try the Qi35 and G440, also gonna try and time that so I've not come off consecutive days playing and see how that affects things. Gonna try and get back to the range with the R10 as well and actually work on sorting out that path, but that's a long term thing.

I've also got the Titleist fitting next Tuesday (coming off the back of 2 consecutive days cause I R Smart.) so that'll be interesting especially with a proper fitter going through things.

Of the Elyte vs DS-Adapt the numbers and looks (subjective) point towards the Elyte but not sure 10 yards is worth ~£500+

 

[magicroundabout]

What does everyone think is an acceptable price for a golf weekend? Obviously depends on where and when but is there a way to get amazing deals.

The cheapest place that I know is the Ashbury in Devon. All inclusive (albeit it 3star) for the likes of £80 a day..

Everywhere else is in the realms of B&B 2 rounds 1 night for about £170

Weekends a way to Spain and Portugal seems be 2 nights 2 rounds for £400 without flights

Anyone got any suggestions or trips they do regularly..

Been to the Ashbury a couple times. Courses are decent and some lovely holes. Accommodation lets it down as it is so dated. I wouldn't pay more than £80 a day for this.

We're going to Spain in May for 5 days and staying at Ona Valle Romano Golf & Resort. We've paid £800 incl flights, transfers and golf clubs. We're playing Marbella Golf Course, Unlimited golf on Ona Valle, Also added is 2 rounds on Dona Julia. All including buggies and breakfast through Golfbreaks.

Other than this we've paid £310 for Dinner bed and breakfast at Celtic Manor at the end of August (weekend after Welsh Open) for all three courses + 2 nights stay at Coldra Court. Buggies on top if you need them.

 

[SKILL]

So next Tuesday I've got a Titleist fitting in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire... I was hoping to play (although the weather kinda looks pretty meh) at the course where the fitting is but it seems they're still gonna be closed for visitors.

So... Can anyone reccomend a course somewhere around there, preferably west/south of there and about 1 hour or so travel? I guess also well draining courses preferred

 

[Maccy]

So next Tuesday I've got a Titleist fitting in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire... I was hoping to play (although the weather kinda looks pretty meh) at the course where the fitting is but it seems they're still gonna be closed for visitors.

So... Can anyone reccomend a course somewhere around there, preferably west/south of there and about 1 hour or so travel? I guess also well draining courses preferred

I could recommend our course, Redbourn, which is sort of on the way from where you are - just checked maps and it’s 1 hour 25 from St Ives though.

 

[SKILL]

I could recommend our course, Redbourn, which is sort of on the way from where you are - just checked maps and it’s 1 hour 25 from St Ives though.

Could work I think, the fitting in St. Ives is at 8:45 and I think it said it'd be about an hour so could get to Redbourn in time for a round... Looks reasonably priced too, do you know if they (generally) allow solo's or whether they'd be likely to group me up with others, not a problem as such just like to know in advance

Think for forecast for pretty much everywhere is a whole bunch of rain on Thu/Fri and then consistent showers over the weekend, do you reckon the course will still be 'ok' with that?

 

[Maccy]

Could work I think, the fitting in St. Ives is at 8:45 and I think it said it'd be about an hour so could get to Redbourn in time for a round... Looks reasonably priced too, do you know if they (generally) allow solo's or whether they'd be likely to group me up with others, not a problem as such just like to know in advance

Think for forecast for pretty much everywhere is a whole bunch of rain on Thu/Fri and then consistent showers over the weekend, do you reckon the course will still be 'ok' with that?

There’s a chance you’d be paired up but I don’t know how busy Tuesdays are. I could potentially take a half day and come join…

The course drains well, sure it’ll be a bit wet in places but it’s generally one of the better ones I’ve played compared to others. @-westy- is playing on Friday so could give an indication then.

 

[-westy-]

There’s a chance you’d be paired up but I don’t know how busy Tuesdays are. I could potentially take a half day and come join…

The course drains well, sure it’ll be a bit wet in places but it’s generally one of the better ones I’ve played compared to others. @-westy- is playing on Friday so could give an indication then.

Yep, it drains really well, they've put in plenty of work over the last couple of years. If it's only just rained I'm sure it'll be a bit wet in places, but nothing unexpected.

Tuesday afternoons are generally ok - just taken a look at the tee sheet and there are plenty of times. They're generally pretty flexible if you need to change your time at short notice, too.

I could also be convinced to take a half day if needed..

 

[ChroniC]

Been to the Ashbury a couple times. Courses are decent and some lovely holes. Accommodation lets it down as it is so dated. I wouldn't pay more than £80 a day for this.

That's the beauty of it though, 3 meals a day, a round of golf and accommodation for £79. Plus the use of spas, activities and evening entertainment at no extra cost. It's worth way more..

I don't see the point in a bit of extra fluff here and there that I don't need.

I've been scowering for deals but I don't think they exist. Unless it's a HDUK last minute job, the prices are pretty even across the board.

 

[SKILL]

I think @Maccy and @-westy- have convinced me on Redbourn

Gonna leave it a day or two before booking to get a bit more confidence in the forecast but I'd be looking to book sometime around 12-12:30 ish depending on availability, should give me plenty of time to get there etc.

There's no 'need' for you guys to use up holiday, I'm happy playing solo, but feel free to join if you want I'll post when/if I book, or decide not to.

 

[ChroniC]

Gonna make the hard choice to leave my golf club this year I think.. I often play with a few other people at other courses and they are all considering a move to the same course. I joined mine alone and have made the occasional aquaintence but I often feel awkward being the 4th wheel in a group, even though all of them have been nice.

A little saving on fees and the chance to play with my mates weekly has to be better even though I like my current course. I will miss it.

 

[Maccy]

I think @Maccy and @-westy- have convinced me on Redbourn

Gonna leave it a day or two before booking to get a bit more confidence in the forecast but I'd be looking to book sometime around 12-12:30 ish depending on availability, should give me plenty of time to get there etc.

There's no 'need' for you guys to use up holiday, I'm happy playing solo, but feel free to join if you want I'll post when/if I book, or decide not to.

We can book and add you as a guest so you’d get a better rate

 

[booyaka]

Gonna make the hard choice to leave my golf club this year I think.. I often play with a few other people at other courses and they are all considering a move to the same course. I joined mine alone and have made the occasional aquaintence but I often feel awkward being the 4th wheel in a group, even though all of them have been nice.

A little saving on fees and the chance to play with my mates weekly has to be better even though I like my current course. I will miss it.

That's a shame - Clubs certainly need to do more than just invite in new members - they need to help "integrate" new members into existing groups etc...