The golf thread...

Finally got out to Apple Valley today. Course was great, still really wet in spots though. Was stupid slow, which really pissed me off. But it is what it is. 

been playing well as of late after a June swoon 83 at eaglesticks yester

I'm in a huge funk right now. After shooting my personal best 88 I've played 27 rounds of absolutely awful golf. I stopped keeping score after 12 holes yesterday it was so bad. I think I'm probably pushing 160 strokes over my last 27 holes. I think I'm going to play the next week without keeping score, just practice rounds to work on some stuff. Because nothing is working for me right now.

posted by justincredible

I'm in a huge funk right now. After shooting my personal best 88 I've played 27 rounds of absolutely awful golf. I stopped keeping score after 12 holes yesterday it was so bad. I think I'm probably pushing 160 strokes over my last 27 holes. I think I'm going to play the next week without keeping score, just practice rounds to work on some stuff. Because nothing is working for me right now.

Drives? Good/left/right/rolling?

irons? Slicing/blading/rolling/chunking?

Putting? Blowing by, missed direction?

posted by Ironman92

Drives? Good/left/right/rolling?

irons? Slicing/blading/rolling/chunking?

Putting? Blowing by, missed direction?

Drives - inconsistent. Huge slice, then bad hook. Every once in a while I catch a good one.

Irons - right distance, hit well, but ALWAYS off line. Mostly right. Yesterday at the range I developed a huge draw out of nowhere.

Putting - Mostly fine, just sick of leaving putts short more often than I should be.

Irons - right distance, hit well, but ALWAYS off line. Mostly right. Yesterday at the range I developed a huge draw out of nowhere.

Putting - Mostly fine, just sick of leaving putts short more often than I should be.

Irons: try taking the club back slower. Same acceleration down and through the ball, just slower on the backswing. Sounds like your hands/arms are just a little behind the rest of your body and blocking the ball a little right because of a slightly open clubface at impact. Slower on the take back often ensures you start the forward/downswing process all at the same time.

Putting: I spent a solid 6 months only putting from 5’ and in on the practice greens. Didnt bother with anything longer. It helped me have confidence I could miss a putt from 14’ and make the comebacker. This allowed me to make sure the line I picked held the entire putt because I was forcing myself to hit it a foot past the hole. The results were 1-2 more made putts from 15ish feet per round, depending on how many I left myself. Less gimmes, but I feel so much better about my putting. 

I don’t personally do this, but a friend of mine will completely open his putting stance inside 5’, to see hole and ball at same time. Like a baseball player opening stance. Helps him not pull or push the shorter putts.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm walking 9 tonight, just a practice round, so I'll work on making sure my backswing is slower. Nice thing about Monday is the clubhouse is closed but you can still walk. Weather is going to be cool enough tonight that walking is an option, but I will likely be the only person on the course so I can take my time.

Good advice by laley. Try that for sure. If things don’t improve I’d KISS (keep it simple stupid).....shorten your swing a bit but keep a nice fluid motion and let the clubs do the work.

If a constant slice you can take your right hand on your grip and thumb is likely in 6:00 position...rotate right hand a small amount to the left until thumb is in about 5:00 position. That’s typically an easy short term fix.

Also a good habit is when taking your club back for your backswing...exaggerate dragging the club back (keep in contact with grass for about 6 inches)

Those two small adjustments tend to heal a swing kinda like exaggerating your follow through tends to help fix a jump shot

posted by justincredible

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm walking 9 tonight, just a practice round, so I'll work on making sure my backswing is slower. Nice thing about Monday is the clubhouse is closed but you can still walk. Weather is going to be cool enough tonight that walking is an option, but I will likely be the only person on the course so I can take my time.

How’d you hit them?

Hit some good shots. Hit some bad shots. Putted pretty well. I made it my goal to not leave any putts short, and didn't for the most part.

Walking 9 tonight with my brother-in-law. Probably won't keep score, but will likely only play one ball.

Question about ball position: do you maintain the same ball position for all clubs or do you vary it? 

posted by justincredible

I was playing Army golf.

I just now saw this. Ha ha!

Left right left right

And, yes, avoid the hero shot. 

I used to be an expert on bump and run. Course has got to be dry, though. 

Question about ball position: do you maintain the same ball position for all clubs or do you vary it? 

No. Driver and woods even with front heel. Will shift slightly depending on how I am hitting that day.

3-iron about 2 inches more to center of feet. Then about 1 inch per club from there (taking a divot from 5-iron on). My 56 degree/sand wedge is basically even with my back foot. I take pretty big divots with 7-iron through 60 degree wedge, so I am probably more on the exaggerated side of ball placement for short irons and wedges. 

The further back the ball is in your stance, the better contact you will make, imo. It’ll feel weird at first, but you’ll get higher spin/distance control and overall a bit longer of distance. You’re basically forcing the club to make impact on the downswing, which creates the best of everything.

I love the open stance and light grip chipping and putting 

Made progress tonight. Shot a 45 with a few really bad swings that kept me from a great score (for me).

I actually got my irons going straight, mainly working on my elbow placement. Started rereading Ben Hogan's 5 rules and got the elbow placement from that. Surprise, it worked. 

My wife and I had a golf "stacation" this past week.  Played 18 at Darby Creek on Friday and then 18 at Raymond Memorial on Saturday.  Went to Springfield on Monday and played 27 at Windy Knolls (nice course that's not too long) on Monday.  On Tuesday we played 18 at The Virtues (Longeberger) followed by 9 at the Denison Golf Club.  The Virtues was really slow and long!  The fairways were so wet I kept backing up my driver in the fairways.  Makes a long course even longer.  We finished the week on Wednesday by playing 18 at OSU Scarlet followed by 18 at Mentel Memorial in Grove City.  Here's a tip; unless you are really good don't play a championship caliber course the day after a U.S. Amateur sectional qualifier.  The Scarlet course was set up as hard as it could be.  The greens were lightning fast, the rough really long and thick and every pin placement was on some hump tucked behind a bunker! 

Overall it was a good week but I certainly learned my place in the golf world.  Playing the long nice courses is fun but I'm just not going to score well on them!

posted by Tom

My wife and I had a golf "stacation" this past week.  Played 18 at Darby Creek on Friday and then 18 at Raymond Memorial on Saturday.  Went to Springfield on Monday and played 27 at Windy Knolls (nice course that's not too long) on Monday.  On Tuesday we played 18 at The Virtues (Longeberger) followed by 9 at the Denison Golf Club.  The Virtues was really slow and long!  The fairways were so wet I kept backing up my driver in the fairways.  Makes a long course even longer.  We finished the week on Wednesday by playing 18 at OSU Scarlet followed by 18 at Mentel Memorial in Grove City.  Here's a tip; unless you are really good don't play a championship caliber course the day after a U.S. Amateur sectional qualifier.  The Scarlet course was set up as hard as it could be.  The greens were lightning fast, the rough really long and thick and every pin placement was on some hump tucked behind a bunker! 

Overall it was a good week but I certainly learned my place in the golf world.  Playing the long nice courses is fun but I'm just not going to score well on them!

Cool week though

Heck of a run of courses. Windy Knoll is a good track. 

Just got my handicap back under 12 (11.9) for the first time in a few years. Goal is single digits, which has been over a decade. Right after college I was able to play a ton and got down to a 7.6. Doubt I’ll hit that again, but would love under 10. Amazing what actually playing will do for your game lol. 

Lived in NC for 5 years, but didn’t have a lot of friends who golfed, and my travel killed any weekend availability. Now in Chicago I can get s game with about 15 people. Just wish the season was a bit longer.

posted by Laley23

Just got my handicap back under 12 (11.9) for the first time in a few years. Goal is single digits, which has been over a decade. Right after college I was able to play a ton and got down to a 7.6. Doubt I’ll hit that again, but would love under 10. Amazing what actually playing will do for your game lol. 

Lived in NC for 5 years, but didn’t have a lot of friends who golfed, and my travel killed any weekend availability. Now in Chicago I can get s game with about 15 people. Just wish the season was a bit longer.

Well I peaked at 19 lol

posted by Ironman92

Well I peaked at 19 lol

Great thing about the sport is it’s all relative. If you know what you typically shoot, all you need to do is beat that score to have a great time and round.

And to further that, getting the handicap strokes if you are playing competitively (either tournament or with friends) makes it so every hole is even.