Golf Thread

Yeah, it's not been great :p

Got quite wet yesterday, if it wasn't already organised (and xmas lunch paid for) I might've bailed tbh. Trying to avoid the crazy playing in all conditions mentality of the last few years... Don't mind when the ground is wet but actually raining is meh. Even if I've got better wet weather gear now so it wasn't 'that' bad it's just not fun.

Vaguely on that note I actually used fairway mats again yesterday at Weston, not used them since the trip to Wales like 2 years ago now, found them much easier now and actually some benefits like not getting splattered with mud constantly :p There it was a £10 refundable deposit for the mat but thinking I may actually pickup a spurk or something to keep/use... Anyone havea ny reccomendations? Also can you choose to use them if the course isn't enforcing them, e.g. with preferred lies just put it down etc?
 
Lonewolf said:
Don’t think I’ve played since late September, weather hasn’t been the best in the Manchester area. Probably won’t play again until March, unfortunately.
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not great here in Ayrshire - raining for what feels like 2 weeks now

No golf in the forseeable future outside anyway
 
Appears good rounds are like buses, you wait all year and then two come along at once! Not only did I tie my PB, 84 for 41pts in the monthly stablefords, but for the first time ever I didn't make worse than bogey the whole round :D Final tally was 1 birdie, 4 pars and 13 bogeys, 42 out/42 back.
 
Was surprised to get out on the course this morning - it was damp underfoot but not as bad as I expected, but it was freezing fog so was well wrapped up

Things are definitely starting to click with another +1 for 13 holes (couple guys had to head off early so we made an early decision to miss a few holes out)

Tee game is getting there, even with some decent distance despite the cold, 3rd hole was 270yds and I had some others that were 250+ so I am looking forward to warmer weather with former fairways

Putting is always a lottery at this time of the year, but zero 3 putts was good to manage
 
Played each of the last four weekdays, ending with my best ever round today. Really feel like the new irons are settling in, but my back was a bit tired by the fourth round and I was snatching at a few of the longer irons. Putting was much better today, which is absolutely the worst part of my game.

I feel like a bit of a computer game character at times though, as if I've only got a certain amount of attribute points to spread around my game... and when I get noticeably better at one aspect of my game, another part of it falls apart. It was my driving today. What a mess.

As part of ordering some new irons, I decided to invest in a 60° wedge. Not used one before this year and it's quickly becoming my go-to club when in a spot of bother - I also find it helps get my general iron play, once I hit a couple of poorer shots, back on track once I use it.

Anyway, now that I'm getting into the game again I've decided a bit of future-proofing is in order. My six year old son has had a football season ticket with me since he was one year old, so we can go to games together. I've now bought him his first set of golf clubs last weekend and had a go on the range. He managed to clock up a 100 yard drive (not carry obviously!)! The plan is for he and I to be able to head out on the course together in a few years time.

As he went to sleep on Saturday night he mumbled "Dad... I love golf"
 
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no golf for me for a while. Knee is giving me constant issues and I think I've got it in my head now that it's gone and I can't physically swing through the ball any more, last round I played was quite poor, kept toping it as I couldn't rotate so it was all hands and arms like a duffer would play. Going to work on building up the strength in the next few months and hopefully that will get me back where I need to be at least physically, I can work on some drills to hopefully get it into my head that it's ok to swing properly again later.
 
Final game today before a few days off - matchplay against a mate, giving him 5 shots...needless to say he didn't need them :o

Worst round for me for a while - nothing especially awful, just wasn't putting it together. Didn't help that there was about a 3 club wind - which was actually fun at times - massive sling draw into a green, my 8 iron only carrying 130 yards, but probably flew about 180 with the flight path taken into account! The final par 3, full swing 7 iron and didn't even make the green :D Good fun, lost 2&1 in the end.

Back on the course on 28th :cool:
 
Recently I have adjusted my swing but honestly I've forgotten how to feel natural. I end up looking for a swing on the course. It goes wrong mostly, for instance I was 10 over after 8, but only 12 over after 18..

Takes me time each round to get it drilled in. Today was worse, slicing balls into the wind that must have gone 100ft right over the trees, only to eagle the par 5 9th.

Really struggling because my range work feels fine. To much in my own head on the course.
 
Got out this morning but skipped a couple holes due to rain that we didn't expect. Was pleasantly surprised to only have 1 winter green today after we had 3 last time out

Tee game is definitely showing promising signs, so hopefully I can take that into next year and see the handicap drop a bit lower

+3 for the 16 holes we played which included putting my tee shot on the first OB and 3 birdies
 
Played yesterday and today, a tale of two rounds.

Yesterday I had very scrappy front nine but dug in well to recover on the back once it had warmed up a little. 13/21pts respectively including a birdie on the sixteenth. This was good enough to bring my index down to a career low 16.0 this morning :)

Today the wind was up and I never seem to play well as being tall and skinny I'm prone to being blown around. So it transpired. I think the effort I'd put into my last four rounds played a part as well as I felt exhausted by the end, both mentally and physically. Normally after a bad round I feel as though I could go again to make amends, not today!

Looking forward a good chance to get my handicap even lower. Just one counter, a 17.2 differential, to come off in my next seven rounds. Anything in the 80's and I'll be into the 15's for the first time.
 
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Just had an hour at the driving range again with the kids, got to get a few lessons in over the next couple of months, I'm hitting it well but can tell there will need to be a few tweaks.... Kids just enjoy smashing the balls at the targets :p
 
Back from visiting the family on Saturday and so begins the golf overdose before getting back to work again next week :p

Played Thornbury yesterday and generally played pretty well I felt, definitely some poor holes but overall ok. Shot 92, no card as we tee'd off just after 12 so wasn't sure we'd make it round in 4 hours, definitely got quite dark but we did make it at least. Only my 4th round at Thornbury with my best being 89 in September 2024, it felt like it was playing quite long really, tees were often back where you'd expect them in the summer but with the cold/wind/soft ground it felt loooong so happy with the score.

Then today a quick 9 holes at my local, started off terribly with nothing really working and then from the 5th onwards I seemed to find something, ended up +1 from 5th to the 9th, should've really been even or better as I didn't concentrate on a short putt on the 5th which I missed and I'm sure a chip on the 8th was heading in until it hit a bit of grass/mud, considering the start though it was a surprising change :p +11 total with 10 of those in the first 4 holes...

Maybe related today I was trying to use my 3 wood again, with winter being a lot of carrying I've reduced my clubs and currently restricting myself to 2 headcovers basically. Yesterday was Driver + 5w which is a really nice comfortable setup for me but my local isn't really a driver course so decided to try 3w and 7w but the 3w just doesn't work that well, I can hit a 5w at least as well if not better. Thinking I might get rid of the 3w and replace the 5w with just a newer one, mostly for the new shinies :p
 
That time of the year i guess - unlikely any golf in the next 2 days!!!!

So wrapping up 2025 season for me

Looking back - I set these as my goals at the start of the season.

Goals for 2025.....

  • Get back into the 5.* - this needs me to practice more and play more. Was a busy year family/business wise last year and it looks better this year so hoping to improve here.
  • Play more "opens" / away comps..... I tend to play a lot at my home course but want to try playing away more - loads of options and just need to get organised.
  • Fitness / stretching - As I continue to close in on 50 years old in a couple of years - need to do more stretching / flexibility - working with a local guy who is very good at this stuff so hoping to see some improvements here.
  • Continue working on swing path... Less over the top and my game improves massively - focus on this
Good luck to everyone out there and lets here it from everyone else what are your goals for golf in 2025.
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Back into the 5.* - Done.... Finished the season at 5.8 - Consistent season - fairly solid if unspectacular....
Play more opens - failed this - busy work year and then second half of the year we lost both my Mum and my mother in law in the space of 4 months so didn't get a chance to travel/play opens etc.
Fitness - sort of.... At the end of the year went to see a TPI fitness guy - really useful, i know what are my weaknesses fitness wise within my body so looking forward to working on them in 2026
Swing path - improvements here for sure - still work to be done but I know when I get "off" what are the issues and what I can sort with it.

Other goals I gave myself were 50 birdies and 5 rounds with no doubles.

I achieved 75 birdies and 3 eagles, but only 2 rounds with no doubles. I did have a 3rd round with no double but i did have a triple in that round!! haha - That was my best round of the year scratch - shot 76 (+5) with a triple at the last....Would like that tee shot back again!

Will put up some 20226 goals soon when I get time to think them through....

Anyone else for a season review???
 
stephenb said:
^ naturally to lower my index which currently sits at 18.1. I'm sick of being a bogey golfer who never knows what swing is going to turn up from one week to the next :p

To that end I've got my first lesson of the year on Saturday. Going to someone new as I'm not sure I ever really gelled with my old coach and he now wants £80/hr! A few years ago now admittedly, but I was paying less than that for private skiing lessons in the Alps. New person I'm trying out is currently training to be a PGA Pro and still isn't cheap at £50/45min but we'll see what it's like. They offer discounted rates for block booking so if it goes well this will bring the costs down further.

My best round from the past year would give a score differential of 12.5 under normal conditions. If I can develop a consistent swing I don't see why I couldn't get my handicap out of the teens, or at least close to it.
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Thanks to a late spurt my index did come down, to be fair I kept it under 18.0 for most of the year, and my swing consistency has improved a lot. I'm still over the top and steep but you can't have everything right? The lessons I've had throughout most of the year have definitely helped and now when I step out on course I expect to hit it well/make good contact.

Thanks to a course re-rating my best differential of this year was 11.8 despite no improvement to my overall gross PB (this has also helped with lowering the handicap - the new course rating came into effect in October). I did however shoot a new PB of 81 (+10) gross on my clubs other course. Goal for next year, catch up with @SKILL and break 80 for the first time.

Areas to improve aside from swing, putting. This is still a weak point in my game as recent analysis has shown I still average around 36 putts per round. Maybe once we get into the spring I'll focus more lessons on it, at this time of year there isn't really the time to practice it outdoors if you're still playing.
 
SKILL said:
Also I played 201 rounds of golf (including 9-holes) at 26 different courses :)

Onto 2025 I've got the following currently:
1) Driver clubhead speed >100mph for a 'smooth' swing (carried over)
2) Handicap, which I've split into 'medals', Bronze is <15 (should be easy), Silver is <12 (bit more challenging but I'll be upset if I don't get it), Gold is <10!
3) Gonna start a bit of a light exercise and also golf practice 'habit', definitely need both and probably a lot of the former but want to go in slow and make it a habit rather than the usual 'new years resolutions'
4) 4 Royal courses this year, gonna try to get to Royal Porthcawl, Royal North Devon + 2 others as yet undecided.
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So yeah, I failed miserably :cry:

1) Basically did barely anything and shockingly no real improvement. I think maybe 1-2 mph onto my 'smooth' at around 96-97 still not actually seen 100mph on the launch monitor but hit 99 a bunch (will get to the launch monitor in abit...)
2) It's gone up. From 18.7 last year to 20.9 (probably, one round to go) this year. Just complete lack of consistency, it feels like my better has gotten better but my worst is still just as bad.
3) It kinda started out well and I was regularly practicing and felt actually in a good place to then have another lesson, my only one of the year because... Shortly after the lesson I managed to get tendonitis/'tennis elbow' in my lead elbow which is still kinda there but definitely on the mend, that's been since mid-august now and during that time I kept playing but did basically zero practice in that time to rest as much as possible without actually resting it :p So yeah. That's also why the launch monitor didn't get much use at all since then.
4) Also failed, played a bunch of new courses and some very very good ones but only 1 new one with the Royal tag which was Royal Ascot back in January!

Not a great result.

But some highlights I guess:
  1. Best ever round back in March, 76 at my local, score differential of 8.4! Also managed a 79 in May, SD of 11. But @stephenb whilst I may have hit that marker 3 times (2 of which were on *easy* courses btw) it's clear from the index you're easily better/more consistent than me :p
  2. Just totted it up and I've played at 38 unique courses this year! Way more than last year :)
  3. Also 202 rounds, well counting tomorrows round, that's 1 more than last year, not sure I can (or should!) increase that anymore next year :cry:
  4. Won some comps! I won 3 of the monthly comps at my local (well there's two monthly comps, a medal and a stableford, I won 1 medal and 2 stableford I believe), last time I checked that put me 5th on the Order of Merit as well! Also managed a win on the NCG Top 100 Tour at Crowborough Beacon getting me a £250 TaylorMade voucher :D
  5. Not really golf related but I started on Mounjaro back in August and I'm down like >20kg already, still overweight but it's crazy, that stuff is magical :p
  6. Had lots of fun, which is the important part :)

Not sure what to do about next year, should set goals I feel but need to be better at achieving them or something cause looking back it's really kinda depressing :p I did like @booyaka's birdie count/challenge though...
 
booyaka said:
Anyone else for a season review???
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***** for lack of a better phrase.

Wanted to get more consistent to help bring the handicap down. Was starting to make progress but the torn ligament in my back at the end of June meant I couldn't swing a club for the best part of 4 months.

By the time I could get back into it, the weather had turned so was hoping to get to the range a couple of times a week. I then go and dislocate a finger in November playing volleyball which is still giving me grief now....

So yeah, 2025 can sling its hook.
 
booyaka said:
Anyone else for a season review???
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Comedy golfing moment of the year was my mate Tony, completely blotto, addressing what turned out to be a puffball mushroom in the mist on the fairway of the 15th at Mendip Golf Club. Would have been even funnier if he hadn't realised his mistake and actually played the shot!
 
That Jekka Gal said:
Comedy golfing moment of the year was my mate Tony, completely blotto, addressing what turned out to be a puffball mushroom in the mist on the fairway of the 15th at Mendip Golf Club. Would have been even funnier if he hadn't realised his mistake and actually played the shot!
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Had similar - 1st tee at Calanova, 1st day of golf trip and mate stood up and hit the ball 2 inches on his first shot... Could bearly stand up - took him till the 9th to even make contact properly after a few litres of water!
 
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