Golf Thread

[MarkA]

I'm not a fan of people who rush simply because people are right behind them, waiting on the fairways. You need to play at your own pace, as long as it's not considered slow on average.
Having a course to yourself is brilliant though, especially when I go out on my own on a day that the weather isn't quite brilliant, I can guarantee I won't be in a rush and can think about my game a whole lot more and I tend to shoot better scores.
Well done on the new PB!

 

[SKILL]

I'm not a fan of people who rush simply because people are right behind them, waiting on the fairways. You need to play at your own pace, as long as it's not considered slow on average.
Having a course to yourself is brilliant though, especially when I go out on my own on a day that the weather isn't quite brilliant, I can guarantee I won't be in a rush and can think about my game a whole lot more and I tend to shoot better scores.
Well done on the new PB!

Yeah, that's part of it and today was nice in that there often wasn't anyone behind us, we let one oneball through early on (and met him several times on the tee boxes ) and there was another oneball that caught us up towards the end like 15th/16th that was happy to stay behind, but otherwise it was quiet so no 'pressure', which was nice.

But also one guy in particular is just plain impatient, if his ball is ahead he won't wait for me/others to take the shot but just beeline to his ball and get in the way etc, just impatient and maybe a little selfish, he's been winding me up a while but was interesting to see just how much calmer/'nicer' it was today...

Thanks

 

[magicroundabout]

Yeah, that's part of it and today was nice in that there often wasn't anyone behind us, we let one oneball through early on (and met him several times on the tee boxes ) and there was another oneball that caught us up towards the end like 15th/16th that was happy to stay behind, but otherwise it was quiet so no 'pressure', which was nice.

But also one guy in particular is just plain impatient, if his ball is ahead he won't wait for me/others to take the shot but just beeline to his ball and get in the way etc, just impatient and maybe a little selfish, he's been winding me up a while but was interesting to see just how much calmer/'nicer' it was today...

Thanks

Is this guy a regular you play with? If so you need to ditch him.
To find a mental balance with golf and to focus is a major part. We've a guy in our 8 ball when we all meet up who is annoying. plays off 5 but believes he's better and is quite bitter if he doesn't win. Winds me up and my game is never as strong when I play with him. I need to learn to change that into a positive and concentrate on wanting to beat him all the time

But as a single golfer sometimes, if I catch up with the group in front I won't rush them. I'll hang back and just take it steady. Don't like the feeling of being rushed

 

[SKILL]

Is this guy a regular you play with? If so you need to ditch him.
To find a mental balance with golf and to focus is a major part. We've a guy in our 8 ball when we all meet up who is annoying. plays off 5 but believes he's better and is quite bitter if he doesn't win. Winds me up and my game is never as strong when I play with him. I need to learn to change that into a positive and concentrate on wanting to beat him all the time

But as a single golfer sometimes, if I catch up with the group in front I won't rush them. I'll hang back and just take it steady. Don't like the feeling of being rushed

Yeah he's a regular, the group plays Fridays and Sundays and he makes every other Friday due to work, he's also one of the more active/organisers of the group. Probably not as bad in the summer as we regularly get >4 people but currently we're generally getting 4 or less so only one slot and 'having' to play with him.

I think I mentioned I'm joining a society with the first game on the 22nd of January so that's one weekend a month, and summer should be better, so think like you I just need to find a way to change it into a positive somehow... We do play poker in the same group and it is great fun beating him so maybe I just need to get better at golf

Looking at the forecast not sure I'll play much at all before the 22nd anyway seeing as it's just gonna rain constantly

 

[booyaka]

Supposed to be New Year 5 Club comp....today - feeling like crap however so going to have to miss it.

We were debating last night which 5 clubs do you take - putter has to be one of them. I was considering 3w/6i/8i/54 degree wedge and putter.....

 

[Superpatsy]

So took the new driver for a swing last night and what a difference. The club feels so well balanced from the tip of the shaft to the toe, unlike the thing I used to use. Old driver felt like it was all over the place on the back and downswing whereas the Cobra just feels fluid from start to finish, almost as if it was attached to me as crazy as that makes me sound

Dispersion wasn't the best but I solely put that down to my lack of experience with my old driver letalone a new one, and some more practice with it will sort that. Majority of the shots would have been playable on a course bar the odd howler. Probably hit about 25 shots with it and only sliced maybe 3 or 4 them but that was me trying to change my setup. Inclined to book another lesson to keep me right.

 

[MarkA]

Supposed to be New Year 5 Club comp....today - feeling like crap however so going to have to miss it.

We were debating last night which 5 clubs do you take - putter has to be one of them. I was considering 3w/6i/8i/54 degree wedge and putter.....

My clubs of choice would be:

1. Putter
2. 60
3. Pw
4. 7i
5. Driver

Driver/3H are interchangeable depending on how narrow the course is.

I've just done another bag mapping, not quite sure why the image shows a less of a carry, when on the text above it shows longer.
Also, the figures are from strikes I would do on the course, not an all out 'as hard as you can go' type shot. Just to give me some figures I can take with me to the course to get me dialled in on each hole.

6 months ago (carry):

Today (carry):

Big improvement on distances over the last 6 months, which I'm super happy with.

Full PDF here:

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[Zeebedy]

My clubs of choice would be:

1. Putter
2. 60
3. Pw
4. 7i
5. Driver

Driver/3H are interchangeable depending on how narrow the course is.

I've just done another bag mapping, not quite sure why the image shows a less of a carry, when on the text above it shows longer.
Also, the figures are from strikes I would do on the course, not an all out 'as hard as you can go' type shot. Just to give me some figures I can take with me to the course to get me dialled in on each hole.

6 months ago (carry):

Today (carry):

Big improvement on distances over the last 6 months, which I'm super happy with.

Full PDF here:

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

nice going.

I have never had a problem with distance from my strength and size, its keeping the damn ball from OB. thats my problem!

 

[SKILL]

Kinda interesting discussion but I guess it's probably quite player specific (and course for that matter!), for me my distance overall is a bit meh so I'd favour that end of the bag, probably Driver, 3 Hybrid, 7 Iron, PW and Putter. But then some courses like my local the Driver is almost useless, only 2-3 holes in 9 that it's useful really...

Went for a bit more practice today, one thing I think I realised during the round yesterday is I think I'm teeing the driver up too high. I've been using orange graduated tees which are 2.75 inches since I started but both Wednesday and yesterday I used some smaller rubber tees on the mats (the course had some winter mats in place) and wasn't slicing anywere near as much as when using the big tees. Today I used even smaller rubber tees and hit some lovely drives with no hint of a slice, didn't have anything to measure it so I put a ball next to it and it was just below the height of the ball, not sure if that's too small or not, also not sure what the ball diameter

 

[stephenb]

^ I've just moved from the orange castles to the pink (50mm Vs 40mm) as having changed my driver swing I was constantly hitting it high up on the club face, which causes a big slice. Last round was generally much better for this change.

 

[SKILL]

Back down to earth today, decided to go at the last minute as the forecast cleared up a bit and it was ok overall, some heavy rain just after we started but then after that it was just a few spots here and there. But I scored 118, ordinarily I wouldn't be too bothered but to do that a couple of days after scoring 106 on the exact same course is kinda painful...

Definitely was a very different game, weather wasn't as good, 4 ball vs 2 (including the impatient guy) I just never got into the same mindset I think, but then how much of the mindset was because I was playing well?

I actually started out ok as well, drive was pretty good and my second shot I hit a lovely 3 hybrid setting me up for an 'easy' pitch onto the green (~495 yard, today, par 5) but then it just went a bit meh and never really recovered...

Playing again tomorrow, 9 holes at the local, weather should be good, solo so should be relaxed, fingers crossed for a bit of a better game

 

[MikeTimbers]

Golf is such an odd sport. It's rare in that you do get very varied abilities within a small group. If you play football, you probably play with players with similar skill levels to yourself. You couldn't play tennis with someone much worse or better than you. But with golf you could often have a small group that has a very good player alongside a relative beginner. This does lead to tensions sometimes where players not only have different skill levels but also different ways of playing. Personally I hate carts (especially when used by young players), I play fast and walk fast and this can lead to it appearing that I'm being anti-social. But also I spend more time looking for other people's balls and more time answering requests for advice etc.

 

[SKILL]

Golf is such an odd sport. It's rare in that you do get very varied abilities within a small group. If you play football, you probably play with players with similar skill levels to yourself. You couldn't play tennis with someone much worse or better than you. But with golf you could often have a small group that has a very good player alongside a relative beginner. This does lead to tensions sometimes where players not only have different skill levels but also different ways of playing. Personally I hate carts (especially when used by young players), I play fast and walk fast and this can lead to it appearing that I'm being anti-social. But also I spend more time looking for other people's balls and more time answering requests for advice etc.

I do get that, but I'm not sure that's entirely the case with this guy (assuming this comment was aimed at me)...

In our group we kinda have 3 levels, this guy and 2 others are about the same skill level, regularly low 90's with the occasional mid-to-high 80. Then there's a few more around the 100 mark, often high 90's but sometimes creeping over 100. And then there's me and a guy who started a couple of months after me, he had an atrocious day yesterday but has scored 116 whilst I can and probably will again score in the 120's. The other two of the good players are nothing like this guy, if there ball is on the line between mine and the green they'll wait to my side whilst I'll take my shot, he doesn't. They'll help look for balls like you mention, he doesn't. They'll be chilled and relaxed and he's, well, not. He was getting annoyed before we'd even started because the groups were running a bit late and the group ahead of us weren't teeing off 'quickly enough', they group ahead of them were within what I'd class as my range (<200 yards) but still he was getting uptight about waiting.

I'm ranting too much I know, and I'm letting this guy affect me more than I should, I need to sort that out but I'll stop ranting here for now

 

[Superpatsy]

I do get that, but I'm not sure that's entirely the case with this guy (assuming this comment was aimed at me)...

In our group we kinda have 3 levels, this guy and 2 others are about the same skill level, regularly low 90's with the occasional mid-to-high 80. Then there's a few more around the 100 mark, often high 90's but sometimes creeping over 100. And then there's me and a guy who started a couple of months after me, he had an atrocious day yesterday but has scored 116 whilst I can and probably will again score in the 120's. The other two of the good players are nothing like this guy, if there ball is on the line between mine and the green they'll wait to my side whilst I'll take my shot, he doesn't. They'll help look for balls like you mention, he doesn't. They'll be chilled and relaxed and he's, well, not. He was getting annoyed before we'd even started because the groups were running a bit late and the group ahead of us weren't teeing off 'quickly enough', they group ahead of them were within what I'd class as my range (<200 yards) but still he was getting uptight about waiting.

I'm ranting too much I know, and I'm letting this guy affect me more than I should, I need to sort that out but I'll stop ranting here for now

I'd be keeping away from him if it was me, shouldn't let someone who is that ignorant ruin or put a dampener on your round.

The guys I play with are all better than me but never once got arsey or impatient when I first started out last year - always helped look for my ball, gave me tips and advice, recommendations on clubs to hit etc. Played with a guy who plays off 6 once when I was out on a solo round and he asked me to tag along with him - he was a fantastic golfer and an even better person, almost felt like I was getting an 18-hole lesson with him and he was a complete stranger to me.

 

[MikeTimbers]

I do get that, but I'm not sure that's entirely the case with this guy (assuming this comment was aimed at me)...

In our group we kinda have 3 levels, this guy and 2 others are about the same skill level, regularly low 90's with the occasional mid-to-high 80. Then there's a few more around the 100 mark, often high 90's but sometimes creeping over 100. And then there's me and a guy who started a couple of months after me, he had an atrocious day yesterday but has scored 116 whilst I can and probably will again score in the 120's. The other two of the good players are nothing like this guy, if there ball is on the line between mine and the green they'll wait to my side whilst I'll take my shot, he doesn't. They'll help look for balls like you mention, he doesn't. They'll be chilled and relaxed and he's, well, not. He was getting annoyed before we'd even started because the groups were running a bit late and the group ahead of us weren't teeing off 'quickly enough', they group ahead of them were within what I'd class as my range (<200 yards) but still he was getting uptight about waiting.

I'm ranting too much I know, and I'm letting this guy affect me more than I should, I need to sort that out but I'll stop ranting here for now

toxic golfer, best avoided. at the end of the day, golf should be enjoyable and it seems this guy a) doesn't enjoy playing and b) ruins it for others.

 

[COYS]

Agree witht he others. Golf is massively a mental game and to have that on your mind before you even set foot on the tee would just kill it for me. At your level it's even more important to enjoy the game as you are improving, and it sounds like this is sapping some of that enjoyment.

Do others also feel the same? I'd sit him down and all have a word.

 

[MarkA]

It sounds to me that this guy has set himself high expectations and isn't reaching them either - which is why he's impatient (one reason perhaps).
If he's rushing and impatient, then he's not playing as well as he hoped.
I'm not defending this guy, because I see it all of the time and when people get impatient and upset, it causes issues in my own game.
You have to let it all go and play in your own space, play the best golf you can and play within yourself in terms of skill and distance.

I find this difficult though, as an example, if I hit a wayward ball and spend the allocated 3 minutes to find it. I'll generally be left behind a little and my approach shot would be more difficult, for numerous reasons. (trying to catchup and hitting a shot outside of my skill level/distance, attempting to catchup)... doing my best to not hit my friends ahead of me, then rushing to get up and down around the green, as to not be further behind everyone more.

Perhaps next time you play with this person, if he's a bit jokey and can take some humour, make out as if he's a speed demon and impatient. Or if he's a serious player, ask him to slow-down a bit so that you can concentrate on your shots, otherwise if he's affecting you - you're going to take more shots, which will slow him down furthermore, just make him aware of this.

Just my thoughts, hope that's OK

 

[SKILL]

Agree witht he others. Golf is massively a mental game and to have that on your mind before you even set foot on the tee would just kill it for me. At your level it's even more important to enjoy the game as you are improving, and it sounds like this is sapping some of that enjoyment.

Do others also feel the same? I'd sit him down and all have a word.

Not really sure if others feel the same, there have been some comments though so maybe. I'm kinda 'new' to the group so not sure about having a chat, might just try and avoid as best as possible and/or think of ways to be less bothered by him. I said previously though that's gonna be easier in the summer when some of the group come back out of hibernation

It sounds to me that this guy has set himself high expectations and isn't reaching them either - which is why he's impatient (one reason perhaps).
If he's rushing and impatient, then he's not playing as well as he hoped.
I'm not defending this guy, because I see it all of the time and when people get impatient and upset, it causes issues in my own game.
You have to let it all go and play in your own space, play the best golf you can and play within yourself in terms of skill and distance.

I find this difficult though, as an example, if I hit a wayward ball and spend the allocated 3 minutes to find it. I'll generally be left behind a little and my approach shot would be more difficult, for numerous reasons. (trying to catchup and hitting a shot outside of my skill level/distance, attempting to catchup)... doing my best to not hit my friends ahead of me, then rushing to get up and down around the green, as to not be further behind everyone more.

Perhaps next time you play with this person, if he's a bit jokey and can take some humour, make out as if he's a speed demon and impatient. Or if he's a serious player, ask him to slow-down a bit so that you can concentrate on your shots, otherwise if he's affecting you - you're going to take more shots, which will slow him down furthermore, just make him aware of this.

Just my thoughts, hope that's OK

I was making a few jokes yesterday tbh, maybe it'll make him think twice, maybe not, who knows


In other news I booked a lesson today, been thinking for a while about getting a 1-on-1 lesson, but also want to get more numbers on my swing from a launch monitor, there's a local shop that does lessons in a simulator with the GC3/GCQuad setup so decided to book a lesson there to see what it's like both in terms of the lesson and see if the numbers about path/club face etc make sense of things like my persistent slice...

 

[MarkA]

Not really sure if others feel the same, there have been some comments though so maybe. I'm kinda 'new' to the group so not sure about having a chat, might just try and avoid as best as possible and/or think of ways to be less bothered by him. I said previously though that's gonna be easier in the summer when some of the group come back out of hibernation



I was making a few jokes yesterday tbh, maybe it'll make him think twice, maybe not, who knows


In other news I booked a lesson today, been thinking for a while about getting a 1-on-1 lesson, but also want to get more numbers on my swing from a launch monitor, there's a local shop that does lessons in a simulator with the GC3/GCQuad setup so decided to book a lesson there to see what it's like both in terms of the lesson and see if the numbers about path/club face etc make sense of things like my persistent slice...

Before your lesson, to learn a bit more about your slice before you go to fix it. I'd suggest trying to learn to bring the end of the club from behind you, as part of your backswing, and your follow through swing end up going high and to the right of you - so you can see how it effects your ball flight. It should prevent a slice and would create a draw shape. The most beneficial thing that I did in my learning, was taking the club to different places, eg. keeping it infront of your hands, to placing it behind your hands and watching how it affects your flight.
Once you learn how to control this, you learn how to do so much more in golf.

 

[TheCSSDoctor]

Before your lesson, to learn a bit more about your slice before you go to fix it. I'd suggest trying to learn to bring the end of the club from behind you, as part of your backswing, and your follow through swing end up going high and to the right of you - so you can see how it effects your ball flight. It should prevent a slice and would create a draw shape. The most beneficial thing that I did in my learning, was taking the club to different places, eg. keeping it infront of your hands, to placing it behind your hands and watching how it affects your flight.
Once you learn how to control this, you learn how to do so much more in golf.

I would agree with this to a point, but face angle will also affect the flight of the ball

In the example above, you can still slice the ball if the club face is open to the swing path, so don't necessarily expect to see a draw just because your follow through is high and right - this will only happen if the club face is closed to the path

If the instructor is even semi-decent, they will be able to explain the numbers on a monitor, what they mean, and be able to teach you how to get your swing in a better place and be able to recognise what you have done wrong if you see a particular ball flight