Golf Thread

[Superpatsy]

So after being quoted a 4 to 5 week wait last Tuesday to get my putter, got a braw wee message to say that it had been delivered and picked it up yesterday! Mad that it only took the best part of a week - the pro who fitted me for it did tell me that Callaway say that 'stronger' putters seem to be getting built quicker than others but definitely didn't expect it to appear after a week.

Probably won't get a chance to use it on the course for a couple of weeks so just need to settle for putting around the house!

 

[Josh]

Treated myself to some new gear in American Golf today, changed a lot since I worked there 17 odd years ago that has.

Salesman saw me eyeing up some PING i59s so got out of there quick before I was offered a "quick blat on the simulator".

 

[kefkef]

You wouldn't make it out of the club house alive at my club shooting +4 off a 24HC.

Bandit.

my mate won the centenary medal at a club we were both at, he shot 79 nett 57, we had live resulting at the club and when the score went up the lynch mob started to form!

 

[kefkef]

Hi Booyaka

I have done, don't worry. Unfortunately even private health care physios haven't been particularly helpful. 3 different physios gave me generic exercises to do, which after causing a lot of pain, a quick google showed I shouldn't be doing! Since then I've slowly cobbled together my own exercise and strengthening programme, from various YouTube videos etc and things have been improving. I was quite lucky really, one of the dup "Bob and Brad" has the exact same injury in the exact same location as me. So I was able to use his personal plan. Currently still not lifting weights though and can't go running due to the impact, so stuck on the cross trainer, which is always fun in a gym full of men.

In the USA they have a plethora of specialists specifically for this type of condition, I'm unfortunately yet to find similar in the UK. I'll keep looking though.

I’ve yet to find anyone with decent experience with it. I got diagnosed with Isthmic Spondylolithesis of the L4-L5 and L5-S1 joints after a rugby tackle nearly 20 years ago. Had to wear a metal corset on/off for a year! It will get better and you’ll learn to live with it and adapt your daily routine, I’ve probably had 3 bad episodes of back pain since.

Strangely enough when I asked the Doc what I could do instead of rugby he said golf would be good and help keep some flex in that lower back area.

 

[booyaka]

my mate won the centenary medal at a club we were both at, he shot 79 nett 57, we had live resulting at the club and when the score went up the lynch mob started to form!

no wonder - Last time I saw a net 57 was in junior golf about 30 years ago!

 

[ShadowMan]

So despite the high scores golf is one of those games designed to make you feel like it’s trying to get you. 3 weeks of 36pts + followed by yesterdays round where I scraped 25pts and lost 5 balls. 1 was picked up by another player as I walked to it and he then denied he did it. That was on the 6th and ****** me off for rest of the round.

Back to the range to figure out what went wrong as just couldn’t get off the tee at all. Hit 3 wood mainly as wind was up and wanted to keep it lower but still took it away.

 

[MikeTimbers]

Slow rounds really wind me up and then I rush my own shots. Can't seem to stop myself doing it.

 

[booyaka]

Snagged a Garmin R10 from Facebook Market place - Pro shop down south. Used twice by the pro himself but like he said - has access to Trackman so really hasn't been used more than twice for warm ups at away comps.

Very impressed with it - simple to setup and use - numbers seemed pretty accurate to me. Yardages all checked out based on previous knowledge/fitting/trackman info, path numbers were similar to the trackman numbers as well....

Really cool bit of kit and everything seemed to track very well in terms of flight/launch/distance/direction etc.

Incredible bit of kit for the price.... Look forward to using it some more to help with numbers / path etc.

First Singles tie of the year tonight..... Driver was NOT on form last night at the range so hoping by some miracle it shows up tonight. Think I'm getting 5 or 6 shots in the tie.

 

[MarkA]

Ahh nice! Glad you're enjoying the R10.

Good luck in the comp tonight!
I popped into the shop the other day to potentially get a driver fitting, my regular shaft on my Ping G425 just didn't feel right.
I can hit it as straight as you want, up to 210-220 yards, but according to my swing speed, I should be getting a lot more out of it.

Basically, the GCQuad was telling me that I had wayy too much backspin on my flights.
I was already hitting up on the ball a fair amount, so the only way for me to drop the backspin numbers down was to get a 9 degree head.
My head was adjustable down to 9 degrees, but it would open the face up more on impact and I already suffer from a slight fade and I don't want it to be worse.
£400 quid later, I walk out with another of the same driver, but the 9 degree version, with a stiff shaft.
Computer says it's now going an extra 30 yards on average and my ball flight is much better, with spin down from 4.5k to 2.5k. My ball was going high and just dropping out of the sky before and now it's much more of a nice arc.

Got a golf society day this Saturday, so gonna stick to my current driver until after that, then learn how to hit this one a bit more consistently. Stiff shaft has a different feel, but will suit me more as my swing gets faster.

 

[booyaka]

Basically, the GCQuad was telling me that I had wayy too much backspin on my flights.
I was already hitting up on the ball a fair amount, so the only way for me to drop the backspin numbers down was to get a 9 degree head.
My head was adjustable down to 9 degrees, but it would open the face up more on impact and I already suffer from a slight fade and I don't want it to be worse.
£400 quid later, I walk out with another of the same driver, but the 9 degree version, with a stiff shaft.
Computer says it's now going an extra 30 yards on average and my ball flight is much better, with spin down from 4.5k to 2.5k. My ball was going high and just dropping out of the sky before and now it's much more of a nice arc.

Got a golf society day this Saturday, so gonna stick to my current driver until after that, then learn how to hit this one a bit more consistently. Stiff shaft has a different feel, but will suit me more as my swing gets faster.

I know how you feel - I've got G425 Max 10.5... same issue 3500 spin so same problem - decent but leaving a lot out there as it "falls out the sky" with that much spin. Tried loads of drivers, makes, models..... ended up buying G425 LST 9 degree.... Should be here next week or so.

Golf's a fun game....

Getting 6 shots tonight in Single tie...

I started bogie/par/par/par..... Found myself 3 down after 4....

Got it back to 2 at the turn, and still 2 on 15th tee. He lost a ball, we halved 16, and I won 17 when he put tee shot into the burn on the short par 3.... No idea where this came from as he was on fire most of the night.

Par 5 18th - both played it ugly, I'm in for bogie and he has 4 ft putt for half which he missed....

Keep grinding - I suppose if you are to go 3 down - make it early so you have holes to come back on. I won 4 of my 6 shot holes and halved the other 2 so made good use of them.

 

[booyaka]

Very solid net 70 this morning in Club Championship Qual Rd 1....

Found myself -1 thru 4.... Then only real bad swing of the day on 5th tee and snap hooked out of bounds. Walked off with a triple bogie 7.... Steady after that.... pars and bogies all the way. Putted very solid. Greens have come on great in the last 7-10 days.

Missed a slippery downhill 6ft for birdie on the last but overall struck the ball great.... Irons feeling fantastic at the moment.

 

[booyaka]

Holy cow - played out my skin tonight.

Another matchplay off back tees... I was getting 8 shots. (11 v 3) full difference

Ball striking is off the charts at the moment.....literally can't be happier with my irons at the moment...

Lost a ball at the first, called time on it, then found it walking back to my bag......

After that +3 over for next 12 holes - short game was great, irons were superb. 3 wood going like a rocket.

Dormy 5, standing 14th tee - 200 yard par 3, hit 5 iron to 3ft and rolled in the putt for the win (was getting a shot as well so technically a net hole in 1)

Honestly so happy with Saturdays ball striking and today... Shame no golf this weekend as I'm away for a family weekend away....

Probably all back to reality next week.... :laugh: :laugh:

 

[booyaka]

What a bizarre game it is.

Played tonight in Club Champ Qualifer Rd 2... Had a really good net 70 - 10/12 days ago in Rd 1.

Anyway tonight - smashed the new driver up the par 5 first, flew 2nd to the back of the green with 5 iron, 2 putts, birdie start....

Then after that was pretty average ball striking - was fairly windy out there....

Put 2 balls deep deep deep into the trees on 13 & 15 - found them both and somehow made an unreal double bogie on 13 from the trees (literally couldn't see the fairway for my 2nd shot)

Walked off with another net 70.... No idea how... (I did have 3,3,2,4,3 on the 5 par 3's)

Strange - two net 70's of massively differing quality.... but the same score.... :laugh:

Rd 3 in 2 weeks time but best 2 scores count so 70/70 net should see me into the handicap side of the club championship..... Another cut overnight I suspect (down 0.8 last week)

 

[MikeTimbers]

I've got to stop watching golf instruction videos on YouTube! They're doing my head in as I watch one, think it looks like an answer to all my golf prayers and make me a scratch player, and all it really does is ruin my actual game. The simplest way to improve your scores is course management; do what you're good at, play the percentage shots, learn to lag putt.

 

[MarkA]

I've got to stop watching golf instruction videos on YouTube! They're doing my head in as I watch one, think it looks like an answer to all my golf prayers and make me a scratch player, and all it really does is ruin my actual game. The simplest way to improve your scores is course management; do what you're good at, play the percentage shots, learn to lag putt.

hahaha exactly. I reckon I've watched 100% of the golf videos on youtube D) and I'm still trying to do different things. They're not always wrong though, it's difficult to do something someone is telling you from a video.
I've learned what I need to do and now when I go and see a golf coach, he helps me get into the correct positions that i need.
I like to watch them more for education these days, more so than anything else.
I'm definitely compressing the ball better now than I'm used to and have a much better swing than I first started with and I can put that down to youtube and learning from watching.

 

[booyaka]

Lessons/coaching....

Paid £200 for 6 lessons (45 minutes each) over winter/spring.... What a difference....Short game improved massively, irons are feeling great...

£200 is nothing compared to spending £500 on driver, £1000 on irons etc... Well well worth it.

Mate of mine is having an awful time at the moment - he's only started playing a few years ago but has had lessons, watches too much youtube videos etc - you can literally see him trying to remember everything about his shoulder turn/hips/knee flex/club path/rotation etc etc - whilst he's standing over the ball.... It's crazy, he's soo much going on in his head at the moment... Madness.... He's really struggling at the moment....

 

[MarkA]

Don't forget though, look around for coaches if you're going to get one. Like anything, there's good and there's bad. Check reviews if you can.

 

[ChroniC]

Mate of mine is having an awful time at the moment - he's only started playing a few years ago but has had lessons, watches too much youtube videos etc - you can literally see him trying to remember everything about his shoulder turn/hips/knee flex/club path/rotation etc etc - whilst he's standing over the ball.... It's crazy, he's soo much going on in his head at the moment... Madness.... He's really struggling at the moment....

Someone I know is suffering the same. Smashes hundreds of balls down the range and feels like he's fixed and can't replicate anything on the course.

I was the same and got so frustrated my literal last resort was lessons. Should have been my first as it really has helped. Going back for more next week for some fine tuning on ball contact. Almost all my issue was not with swing, it was hip rotation and weight distribution. Something you'll never ever just know with practicing at the range.

Went from a 22 to a 16 and the other day shot 12 over.

 

[MarkA]

I've been struggling with distance since I started the game.
Here are my distances:

PW - 95-100y
9i - 115y
8i - 125-130y
7i - 140y
4h - 160
3w - 170-180

I've spent hundreds of hours hitting balls over the last 9 months that i've been playing and i thought it was all down to strength and lack of strength slowing my swing speed.
Had a Eureka moment last night. I was trying to hit the ball more in-to-out, so i thought i'd try and close my hips a couple of degrees at setup.
Hit a couple of balls after doing that and i felt like i had loads more time and my arms were just flying through naturally, without much effort.
Setup the garmin to have a look, since it felt so good and now all of my irons are wayyyyy longer.

PW is now 130y
9i is 140~
8i is 160~
7i is 170~
4H is 180-190
3w is 205

I'm gobsmacked. I've been doing speed training trying to get extra distance and it was all just a matter of loading into my right side properly, which helps you swing through much more like snapping an elastic band. Truly excited to get practicing again with the new distances!

 

[Magicroundabout2]

The Pro said I've got great numbers for an 11.5deg club. Little bit more distance to get from it due to technique but I'm happy with my swing speed.
And to think it's not a full driver either. It's basically a big 3 wood. With a driver I reckon I could achieve around 265 average if only I could find a club/setup which I'm happy with.

Spoiler: Mini Driver

So I've changed my phone and now I've lost my two factor authenticator so cannot access my original account.

Anyway. I've sold my mini driver and changed to a full driver head but cot the shaft down to 44.25" as opposed to standard driver length of 45.75". This is in comparison to my Mini Driver at 43.75".

Gaining more distance and slightly more control at present. Feels nice off the tee.